Classica Sinica Medica

亂氣 简体 乱气

luàn qì

Disordered qi · luan qi

Also rendered: Disordered qi (this site; literal from the two graphs, and it keeps 氣 untranslated as everywhere else on this site) · Chaotic qi (the rendering used in some modern writing on the Suwen; same picture, and 亂 carries more of tangling than of chaos)

Pathology

Reviewed · 2026-10-05

At a glance

Pinyin
luàn qì
Simplified
乱气
Literal
亂 luàn — thrown into disorder, a skein tangled past the finding of an end; 氣 qì. The chapter uses the word three times and always of the same thing: the disorder that puncturing against the season makes. First, what prevents it — 除其邪，則亂氣不生, drive the evil out and disordered qi never comes to be. Then the emperor's question, which is the question the rest of the chapter answers — 帝曰：逆四時而生亂氣，柰何. Then the verdict, after the list of twelve wrong punctures — 反之，則生亂氣，相淫病焉: do the opposite of what the season asks and disordered qi arises, and the qi then encroach on one another and there is disease. The chapter writes the same disorder onto the qi that ought to have kept its order: 正氣内亂，與精相薄 — the correct qi is in disorder inside, and it struggles with the essence.
Shuowen
**「亂」讀 luàn，本篇5見：「亂氣不生」一、「生亂氣」二**；**「氣」讀 qì，本篇35見**；**「亂氣」本篇3見：「除其邪，則亂氣不生」一見、「逆四時而生亂氣」一見、「反之，則生亂氣」一見**；**本篇「亂」凡5見，其二在「亂氣」，其一在「正氣内亂」**；**「正氣」讀 zhèng qì，本篇2見；「精氣」讀 jīng qì，本篇1見**；**「相淫」讀 xiāng yín；「淫」本篇1見，浸淫相犯之義**；**「辟」讀 pì，辟除也；「度」讀 dù，本篇1見，「不可爲度」謂其變化無方可量**；**「柰」讀 nài，本篇1見，底本从「柰」，不从「奈」**

In brief

Disordered qi — 亂 luàn, thrown into disorder; 氣 qì — and the second half of this chapter exists to say how not to make it. The reasoning is given in one sentence: 是故邪氣者，常隨四時之氣血而入客也，至其變化，不可爲度，然必從其經氣，辟除其邪 — evil qi comes in as a guest, riding the qi and blood of the season; its changes cannot be measured; but it must be followed along the qi of its channel and driven out. Drive it out and 亂氣不生. Puncture against the season and 亂氣 arises — 反之，則生亂氣，相淫病焉 — and the disorder does something worse than the evil did, because it turns the body’s own orderly qi against itself: 正氣内亂，與精相薄. It is not a disease with symptoms of its own. It is this chapter’s word for what bad needling does.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The graphs 亂氣
亂者，紊也；氣者，人身之氣
反之，則生亂氣，相淫病焉。 — Suwen 64
2
What keeps it from arising 除其邪，則亂氣不生
邪既除去，則氣不亂；此一篇之要，先言其所由不生
然必從其經氣，辟除其邪。除其邪，則亂氣不生。 — Suwen 64
3
The emperor's question 逆四時而生亂氣，柰何
逆四時而刺則生亂氣；帝問其狀，歧伯乃舉十二誤刺之變以答
帝曰：逆四時而生亂氣，柰何？ — Suwen 64
4
The verdict after the twelve 反之，則生亂氣，相淫病焉
反四時之刺則亂氣生，氣既亂則相淫而病
凡此四時刺者，大逆之病，不可不從也。反之，則生亂氣，相淫病焉。 — Suwen 64
5
The disorder turned inward 正氣内亂，與精相薄
刺不知四時之經，以從為逆，則正氣亂於内而與精相薄
故刺不知四時之經，病之所生，以從爲逆，正氣内亂，與精相薄。 — Suwen 64
6
What the chapter wants instead 正氣不亂，精氣不轉
必審九𠉀而後正氣不亂、精氣不轉；「𠉀」讀 hòu，本篇2見
必審九𠉀，正氣不亂，精氣不轉。 — Suwen 64

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 64 Suwen 64 · 四時刺逆從論 Read in context →
除其邪，則亂氣不生。帝曰：逆四時而生亂氣，柰何？ 除其邪，则乱气不生。帝曰：逆四时而生乱气，奈何？
Chú qí xié, zé luàn qì bù shēng. Dì yuē: nì sì shí ér shēng luàn qì, nài hé?
Once the evil is cleared away, disordered qi does not arise. The Emperor asks: and if one goes against the four seasons so that disordered qi arises, what then?
**「亂氣」本篇3見：引文取「亂氣不生」與「逆四時而生亂氣」二見，其一在「反之，則生亂氣」**；**「除其邪，則亂氣不生」——邪去則氣不亂，一篇之要**；**「帝曰：逆四時而生亂氣，柰何」——帝問而後歧伯舉十二誤刺之變以答**；**「亂」本篇5見：亂氣二、正氣内亂一**；**「柰」讀 nài，底本从「柰」，不从「奈」；本篇1見**；**「辟」讀 pì，辟除也；「度」讀 dù，「不可爲度」謂變化無方可量**；**「相淫」讀 xiāng yín，「淫」本篇1見**

Compounds built on this term

正氣内亂
zhèng qì nèi luàn
the correct qi disordered within
本篇1見；以從為逆之果，正氣亂而與精相薄
相淫
xiāng yín
encroaching on one another
本篇1見；亂氣既生，則諸氣相淫而病；「淫」讀 yín
血氣環逆
xuè qì huán nì
blood and qi counterflowing all round
本篇1見，春刺肌肉之變；「環」讀 huán
精氣不轉
jīng qì bù zhuǎn
essence qi not turning
本篇1見；審九𠉀則精氣不轉，與「正氣不亂」對舉

How it has been translated

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

This sitedisordered qiliteral from the graphs — 亂 thrown into disorder, 氣 qi — and kept as a state rather than a disease, because that is what this chapter makes it: the thing that does not arise if you needle right and does arise if you do not
Later usagechaotic qithe form modern writing prefers; says the same thing, though 亂 is a skein tangled rather than a system gone chaotic, and the chapter's picture is of qi that has lost the order it had
Clinicaliatrogenic qi disturbancethe modern phrasing, which is honest about the cause — the physician did it — and turns a word the chapter uses as a verdict into a category of adverse event

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-05

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