升降出入

shēng jiàng chū rù

Ascent and descent, exit and entry · sheng jiang chu ru

Also rendered: Ascent and descent, exit and entry (this site; literal, and it keeps the four as two pairs rather than as one list) · Sheng jiang chu ru (transliteration; used when the four are being discussed as a set phrase)

Physiology

Reviewed · 2026-10-06

At a glance

Pinyin: shēng jiàng chū rù
Simplified: 升降出入
Literal: 升 shēng — to rise; 降 jiàng — to fall; 出 chū — to go out; 入 rù — to come in. The four movements by which anything alive keeps going, and the close of this chapter: 出入廢，則神機化滅；升降息，則氣立孤危. One occurrence of all four together, and the argument it closes is the chapter's last. Rising and falling are heaven and earth taking turns; exit and entry are the vessel's own. Without the first pair there is no being born, growing, transforming, gathering and storing; without the second, no being born, growing, maturing, ageing and ending.
Shuowen: **「升」讀 shēng，本篇10見**；**「降」讀 jiàng，本篇10見**；**「出」讀 chū，本篇3見**；**「入」讀 rù，本篇3見**；**「升降出入」四字連言，本篇止1見**

In brief

The four movements without which nothing lives, and the standard the chapter ends on: 是以升降出入，無器不有 — there is no vessel without them. Rising and falling belong to heaven and earth taking turns, exit and entry to the thing itself. Remove the second and the spirit mechanism perishes in transformation; remove the first and the qi that stands is isolated and in peril. Vessels differ in size and their terms are near or far, but what matters in all of them is to hold to the constant: 反常則災害至矣. The sentence that closes it — 無形無患, without form there is no affliction — is the same thought from the other end.

Senses in the classical corpus

The graphs 升降出入

升者上，降者下，出者外，入者內

是以升降出入，無器不有 — Suwen 68

What rising and falling are 氣之升降，天地之更用也

升降屬天地之更用

帝曰：其升降，何如？歧伯曰：氣之升降，天地之更用也。 — Suwen 68

How they make change 高下相召，升降相因，而變作矣

高下相召，升降相因而變化生

故高下相召，升降相因，而變作矣。 — Suwen 68

What exit and entry give 非出入則無以生長壯老已

無出入則無生長壯老已

故非出入則無以生長壯老已。 — Suwen 68

What rising and falling give 非升降則無以生長化收藏

無升降則無生長化收藏

非升降則無以生長化收藏。 — Suwen 68

What is asked of them 而貴常守，反常則災害至矣

四者貴在常守，反常則災

四者之有，而貴常守，反常則災害至矣。 — Suwen 68

Occurrences in the classics

Passages where the term does real work, with the original, pinyin and English on the same line.

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1 passages

Suwen 68 Suwen 68 · 六微㫖大論 Read in context →

帝曰：不生化乎？歧伯曰：出入廢，則神機化滅，升降息則氣立孤危。故非出入則無以生長壯老已。非升降則無以生長化收藏。是以升降出入，無器不有。小大，期有近遠，四者之有，而貴常守，反常則災害至矣。帝曰：不生化乎？歧伯曰：出入废，则神机化灭，升降息则气立孤危。故非出入则无以生长壮老已。非升降则无以生长化收藏。是以升降出入，无器不有。小大，期有近远，四者之有，而贵常守，反常则灾害至矣。

Dì yuē: bù shēng huà hū? Qí bó yuē: chū rù fèi, zé shén jī huà miè, shēng jiàng xī zé qì lì gū wēi. Gù fēi chū rù zé wú yǐ shēng zhǎng zhuàng lǎo yǐ. Fēi shēng jiàng zé wú yǐ shēng zhǎng huà shōu cáng. Shì yǐ shēng jiàng chū rù, wú qì bù yǒu. Xiǎo dà, qī yǒu jìn yuǎn, sì zhě zhī yǒu, ér guì cháng shǒu, fǎn cháng zé zāi hài zhì yǐ.

Huang Di said: is there no generating and transforming? Qi Bo said: if exit and entry are abandoned, the spirit mechanism perishes in transformation; if rising and falling cease, the qi that stands is isolated and in peril. Therefore without exit and entry there is no means to be born, to grow, to mature, to age and to end; without rising and falling there is no means to be born, to grow, to transform, to gather and to store. Thus rising and falling, exit and entry: there is no vessel that is without them. Vessels are small or great, their terms near or far; these four being present, what is precious is to hold constantly to them. To go against the constant brings disaster.

**「升降出入」本篇1見，即在此段**；**「廢」讀 fèi，本篇1見，止在「出入廢」一句，是全站首見之字**；**「息」讀 xī，本篇1見；升降息則氣立孤危**；**「器」讀 qì，本篇1見；無器不有，有形之屬皆是**；**「災」讀 zāi，本篇1見，止在「災害至矣」，是全站首見之字**

Compounds built on this term

神機

shén jī

the spirit mechanism

本篇1見；出入廢則神機化滅

氣立

qì lì

the qi that stands

本篇1見；升降息則氣立孤危

生化

shēng huà

generation and transformation

本篇3見；制則生化，又出入廢則神機化滅

shōu cáng

gathering and storing

本篇1見；非升降則無以生長化收藏

How it has been translated

Every rendering below is a decision about which reader is being addressed. There is no neutral option.

This site	ascent and descent, exit and entry	literal from the four graphs; the two pairs are not the same kind of thing — one is heaven and earth taking turns, the other is the vessel's own
Transliteration	sheng jiang chu ru	how the phrase appears in writing on the closing of this chapter; right about the referent, and it drops what the four graphs say
Descriptive	the four movements	acceptable and common, and it flattens the two pairs into a list — the chapter's point is that without either pair a different thing is lost

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-06

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