Classica Sinica Medica

眚

shěng

Calamity · sheng

Also rendered: Calamity (this site; it keeps the visitation and the direction together, which is what 眚 does in these chapters) · Sheng (transliteration; used where the graph is being distinguished from 省, which this chapter reads differently)

Cosmology

Reviewed · 2026-10-08

At a glance

Pinyin
shěng
Simplified
眚
Literal
眚 shěng — originally a fault in the eye, a film over it (《說文》: 眚，目病生翳也), and from that any blight or visitation: what falls on a place and spoils it. In the 運氣 chapters it is the half of a disaster that says *where* it lands. The chapter always gives it a direction: 其眚東、其眚南、其眚四維、其眚西、其眚北. The disaster itself is 災; 眚 is the disaster as it falls somewhere, on a quarter of the world and on the viscus that belongs to that quarter.
Shuowen
**「眚」讀 shěng，本篇8見**；**《說文》：眚，目病生翳也；引申為災眚、過誤**；**「災眚」本篇2見，二字連言**；**本篇五方之眚各有其方：東、南、四維、西、北**；**「省」本篇3見而讀 xǐng，與「眚」之 shěng 同篇二讀，各从其處**

In brief

A blight that falls, and in this chapter always a blight that falls *somewhere*: 其眚東、其眚南、其眚四維、其眚西、其眚北. It is paired with 災 throughout, and the two are not the same word — 災 is the disaster, and 眚 is where and on whom it lands. Each of the five passages that give it a direction goes on to give the viscus and the places the illness lodges in, so that a direction, an organ, and an outside are named together: wood falling short has its calamity in the east, its viscus the liver, its illness within in the flanks and without in the joints. The graph began as a film over the eye, and the sense of a visitation that spoils came from that.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The graph 眚
目病生翳；引申為災眚、過誤
其眚東 — Suwen 69
2
Where it lands 其眚東
眚必有所，東西南北四維是也
其眚東，其藏肝 — Suwen 69
3
With the viscus 其眚東，其藏肝
一方有一藏，眚至則其藏應之
其藏肝 — Suwen 69
4
Within and without 其病内舍胠脅，外在關節
眚之所在，内有舍，外有在
其病内舍胠脅，外在關節 — Suwen 69
5
Paired with disaster 災眚者，傷之始
災言其事，眚言其及
災眚者，傷之始 — Suwen 69
6
As a sign overhead 大常之二，其眚即也
星大過常則眚至
大常之二，其眚即也 — Suwen 69

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display
2 passages
Suwen 69 Suwen 69 · 氣交變大論 Read in context →
帝曰：善。願聞其時也。歧伯曰：悉哉問也。木不及，春有鳴條律暢之化，則秋有霧露清涼之政。春有慘淒殘賊之勝，則夏有炎暑燔爍之復。其眚東，其藏肝，其病内舍胠脅，外在關節。 帝曰：善。愿闻其时也。歧伯曰：悉哉问也。木不及，春有鸣条律畅之化，则秋有雾露清凉之政。春有惨凄残贼之胜，则夏有炎暑燔烁之复。其眚东，其藏肝，其病内舍胠胁，外在关节。
Dì yuē: shàn. Yuàn wén qí shí yě. Qí bó yuē: xī zāi wèn yě. Mù bù jí, chūn yǒu míng tiáo lǜ chàng zhī huà, zé qiū yǒu wù lù qīng liáng zhī zhèng. Chūn yǒu cǎn qī cán zéi zhī shèng, zé xià yǒu yán shǔ fán shuò zhī fù. Qí shěng dōng, qí zàng gān, qí bìng nèi shè qū xié, wài zài guān jié.
Huang Di said: good. I wish to hear about its seasons. Qi Bo said: how thorough the question is. When wood falls short, if spring has the transformation of sounding branches and tuned pipes, then autumn has the governance of mist and dew, clear and cool; if spring has the prevalence of the bleak and the ravaging, then summer has the revenge of blazing heat that scorches. Its calamity is in the east, its viscus is the liver, and its illness lodges within in the flank below the armpit and shows without in the joints.
**「眚」本篇8見，此段有其1**；**「其眚東，其藏肝」是五方之第一方：東、肝、内舍胠脅、外在關節**；**本篇五方之文一式：一化一政，一勝一復，然後眚、藏、内外**；**「省」本篇3見而讀 xǐng（省下、省遺過），與此「眚」之 shěng 同篇二讀**；**「慘淒」之「淒」底本作「淒」，本篇3見，來稿作簡體「凄」，已還原**
Suwen 70 Suwen 70 · 五常政大論 Read in context →
上宫與正宫同，蕭飋肅殺，則炎赫沸騰，眚於三，所謂復也。其主飛蠹蛆雉，乃爲雷霆。 上宫与正宫同，萧飋肃杀，则炎赫沸腾，眚于三，所谓复也。其主飞蠹蛆雉，乃为雷霆。
Shàng gōng yǔ zhèng gōng tóng, xiāo sè sù shā, zé yán hè fèi téng, shěng yú sān, suǒ wèi fù yě. Qí zhǔ fēi dù qū zhì, nǎi wéi léi tíng.
Where the upper is gong it is one with the upright gong. Then the soughing of desolate flaying comes and blazing heat seethes; the calamity falls in the third palace — this is what is called revenge. Its charge is flying grubs, maggots and pheasants, and therewith thunder and lightning.
**「眚」本篇10見**；**此段「眚於三，所謂復也」為委和之紀之眚**；**本篇眚各繫其數：眚於三、眚於九、眚於七、眚於一**

Compounds built on this term

災
zāi
disaster
本篇13見；災眚者，傷之始
災眚
zāi shěng
disaster and calamity
本篇2見；災眚變易，非常而有也
其藏肝
qí zàng gān
its viscus the liver
本篇1見；五方各有其藏
省
xǐng
to inspect
本篇3見而讀 xǐng；是謂省下、省遺過，與「眚」同篇而二讀

How it has been translated

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

This sitecalamitythe word for a blight that falls on a place; the chapter always says where, and that is what the word carries
Transliterationshenghow the graph appears in writing on the 運氣 method; right about the referent, and it collides with 省 in the same chapter
Descriptivethe afflicted quarterexact about this chapter's use, and too narrow for the word elsewhere, where it is any visitation

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-08

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