Classica Sinica Medica

靈室 简体 灵室

líng shì

Chamber of the spirit · ling shi

Also rendered: The chamber of the spirit (this site; literal, and it keeps the room as a room — a place with a door, not a figure of speech) · Ling shi (transliteration; how the phrase is written where the parallels with the 靈蘭之室 are being discussed)

Core vocabulary

Reviewed · 2026-10-08

At a glance

Pinyin
líng shì
Simplified
灵室
Literal
靈 líng — the numinous, what answers when it is addressed (《說文》: 靈，靈巫也；以玉事神); 室 shì — a chamber, a room (《說文》: 室，實也；从宀从至，至，所止也). 靈室 is the chamber of the numinous: the room in which a house keeps what belongs to its spirits and its ancestors, and so the place where a teaching that is not to be shown to just anyone is laid away. Huang Di lays this discourse in one, and reads it every morning. Suwen 8 lays its discourse away in the same kind of room, calling it the 靈蘭之室.
Shuowen
**「靈」讀 líng，本篇1見，止在「靈室」一詞內**；**「室」讀 shì，本篇1見**；**《說文》：靈，靈巫也，以玉事神；室，實也，人所止也**；**「靈室」本篇1見，止在此一句**；**第八篇「藏之靈蘭之室」與此同例，皆藏書之所**

In brief

The room in which a teaching is laid away, and the last thing this chapter does with its discourse: 乃擇良兆而藏之靈室，每旦讀之，命曰氣交變，非齊戒不敢發，慎傳也 — he chooses a good omen, lays it in the chamber of the spirit, reads it every morning, names it, and says it may not be opened without fasting and purification, and is to be handed on with care. It is not a metaphor for memory. It is the room a house keeps for what belongs to its spirits, and the same kind of room Suwen 8 means by its 靈蘭之室: the place where a text is kept because it is not for everyone.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The graphs 靈室
靈者神也，室者人所止；藏神之室
乃擇良兆而藏之靈室 — Suwen 69
2
What it is for 藏之靈室
藏書之所，非人所常至
藏之靈室，每旦讀之 — Suwen 69
3
How it is used 每旦讀之
藏而復旦旦讀之，非藏而不用
每旦讀之 — Suwen 69
4
What is laid in it 命曰氣交變
所藏者即此篇，名之曰氣交變
命曰氣交變 — Suwen 69
5
On what condition 非齊戒不敢發
不齊戒則不敢發視
非齊戒不敢發 — Suwen 69
6
The same room elsewhere 靈蘭之室
第八篇藏書之室，與此同類
藏之靈室 — Suwen 69

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 69 Suwen 69 · 氣交變大論 Read in context →
帝曰：善。所謂精光之論，大聖之業，宣明大道，通於無窮，究於無極也。余聞之，善言天者，必應於人；善言古者，必驗於今；善言氣者，必彰於物；善言應者，同天地之化；善言化言變者，通神明之理。非夫子孰能言至道歟？乃擇良兆而藏之靈室，每旦讀之，命曰氣交變，非齊戒不敢發，慎傳也。 帝曰：善。所谓精光之论，大圣之业，宣明大道，通于无穷，究于无极也。余闻之，善言天者，必应于人；善言古者，必验于今；善言气者，必彰于物；善言应者，同天地之化；善言化言变者，通神明之理。非夫子孰能言至道欤？乃择良兆而藏之灵室，每旦读之，命曰气交变，非斋戒不敢发，慎传也。
Dì yuē: shàn. Suǒ wèi jīng guāng zhī lùn, dà shèng zhī yè, xuān míng dà dào, tōng yú wú qióng, jiū yú wú jí yě. Yú wén zhī, shàn yán tiān zhě, bì yìng yú rén; shàn yán gǔ zhě, bì yàn yú jīn; shàn yán qì zhě, bì zhāng yú wù; shàn yán yìng zhě, tóng tiān dì zhī huà; shàn yán huà yán biàn zhě, tōng shén míng zhī lǐ. Fēi fū zǐ shú néng yán zhì dào yú? Nǎi zé liáng zhào ér cáng zhī líng shì, měi dàn dú zhī, mìng yuē qì jiāo biàn, fēi zhāi jiè bù gǎn fā, shèn chuán yě.
Huang Di said: good. This is what is called the discourse of essential light, the work of the great sage: it proclaims and makes bright the great way, reaching into the endless and fathoming the boundless. I have heard it said that he who speaks well of heaven must find its answer in the human being; he who speaks well of antiquity must find its proof in the present; he who speaks well of the qi must find it displayed in things; he who speaks well of answering is at one with the transformation of heaven and earth; he who speaks well of transformation and of change penetrates the pattern of spirit brightness. Who but you, master, could speak the utmost way? So I have chosen a good omen and laid it away in the chamber of the spirit, reading it every morning; it is named the Meeting of the Qi and Change. Without fasting and purification I dare not open it — hand it on with care.
**「靈室」本篇1見，止此一句，是本篇之末事**；**「齊戒」本篇1見，亦止此一句；「齊」讀 zhāi，通行本作「齋戒」**；**「氣交變」本篇1見，即本篇之篇名**；**「善言天者，必應於人」以下是本篇最見稱引之文，四句一式**；**「兆」讀 zhào，本篇2見；底本作「擇良兆」，通行本多作「擇良兆」同**

Compounds built on this term

齊戒
zhāi jiè
fasting and purification
本篇1見；非齊戒不敢發
氣交變
qì jiāo biàn
the meeting of the qi and change
本篇1見；命曰氣交變
擇良兆
zé liáng zhào
choosing a good omen
本篇1見；乃擇良兆而藏之
慎傳
shèn chuán
handing on with care
本篇1見；慎傳也

How it has been translated

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

This sitethe chamber of the spiritliteral from 靈 and 室; the chapter closes by putting the text somewhere, and that somewhere is a room
Transliterationling shihow the phrase appears in comparisons with Suwen 8; right about the referent, and it turns a room into a label
Descriptivethe archive of the spiritsacceptable, and 室 is not an archive: it is the room in a house where the spirits are, and the text is put there because the spirits are there

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-08

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