Classica Sinica Medica

靈蘭之室 简体 灵兰之室

líng lán zhī shì

The Chamber of the Numinous Orchid

Also rendered: the Numinous Orchid Chamber (Word-for-word) · the Spirit Orchid Room (靈 as spirit, 室 as room) · Linglan Chamber (Pinyin)

Core vocabulary

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin
líng lán zhī shì
Simplified
灵兰之室
Literal
靈 numinous, effective; 蘭 the orchid, the fragrant herb; 之室 the chamber of. 王冰：「靈蘭，謂靈臺蘭室，黃帝藏書之府。」
Shuowen
《說文解字》：靈，巫也（引申為神妙、效驗）；蘭，香草也；室，實也。黃帝乃擇吉日良兆，而藏靈蘭之室。

In brief

The archive in which the teaching is sealed, and the name the chapter takes. The Emperor does not simply accept the doctrine: he fasts, chooses an auspicious day, waits on a good omen, and only then stores it away — 以傳保焉, to hand on and keep safe. The rite is the point, and it is the earliest statement in the book of what a medical text is for: not to be heard once, but transmitted.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The archive of the teaching 靈蘭之室
Where the chapter's doctrine is stored after the fast and the chosen day
黃帝乃擇吉日良兆，而藏靈蘭之室 — Suwen 8
2
The name the chapter takes 靈蘭秘典論
The 'secret canon' is the canon stored in that chamber
靈蘭秘典論篇第八 — Suwen 8

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display
1 passages
素問·靈蘭秘典論 Suwen 8 · 靈蘭秘典論 Read in context →
黃帝乃擇吉日良兆，而藏靈蘭之室，以傳保焉。 黄帝乃择吉日良兆，而藏灵兰之室，以传保焉。
huáng dì nǎi zé jí rì liáng zhào, ér cáng líng lán zhī shì, yǐ chuán bǎo yān.
The Yellow Emperor thereupon chose an auspicious day and a good omen, and stored it in the Chamber of the Numinous Orchid, to hand it on and keep it safe.
王冰：「靈蘭，謂靈臺蘭室，黃帝藏書之府。」「藏」讀 cáng，與篇首「十二藏」（zàng）同名異讀。齋戒擇吉而後受，是全書最早言醫書當如何傳授之文。

Compounds built on this term

靈蘭秘典論
Líng lán mì diǎn lùn
the secret canon of the numinous orchid chamber
The chapter's title; 秘為「祕」之俗字
齋戒
zhāi jiè
fasting
What the Emperor requires before receiving the way
傳保
chuán bǎo
to transmit and keep
保讀 bǎo，保守不失之義

How it has been translated

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

Common Englishthe Numinous Orchid Chamber / the Spirit Orchid HallBoth current. Hall is too public; 室 is a room that is shut.
This sitethe Chamber of the Numinous Orchid靈 is kept as numinous rather than spirit so it does not collapse into the 神 the chapter has just used of the heart, and 室 is kept as chamber because the whole point of the place is that things are sealed away in it.

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

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Reading path

Guided routes through the corpus, each built on a handful of chapters and their key terms.

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