Spoiled disease · huai bing

Also rendered: Ruined disease (Literal) · Disease spoiled by mistreatment (Clinical)

Reviewed · 2026-10-28

At a glance

Pinyin: huài bìng
Simplified: 坏病
Literal: 壞 huài is to be broken or gone bad; 病 bìng is the illness. The phrase does not name a new disease but a condition the old one has been reduced to: sweating, vomiting, purging and warming needles have been applied and the illness still does not resolve, because it is no longer the illness it was.
Shuowen: **《說文》：「壞，敗也。」从土，褢聲。**「病，疾加也。」**底本一見**（5-19）。**壞病之義，在「仍不解」三字**：非病本難治，乃汗吐下温鍼四法遍施而病不去，證候因此錯亂。**故其治不一法**，曰「觀其脉證，知犯何逆，隨證治之」，與太陽病之有一定方者大異。**此條亦桂枝湯之界**：桂枝不中與，非桂枝無效，乃壞病無定證。

In brief

What an illness becomes after the wrong treatment has been repeated. Sweating, vomiting, purging and warming needles have all been tried and the disease still stands; the original pattern is gone and no single prescription fits. The book’s instruction is therefore not a formula but a method: read the pulse and the signs, find what was violated, and treat that. It is also where 桂枝湯 stops — not because the formula is weak, but because there is no fixed pattern left for it to answer.

Senses in the classical corpus

The condition defined 此爲壞病

汗吐下温鍼遍施而病仍不解，證候錯雜，故名壞病

When sweating, vomiting, purging and warming needles have all been used and the illness still does not resolve, the condition is called a spoiled disease.

太陽病，三日，已發汗，若吐、若下、若温鍼，仍不解者，此爲壞病 — 傷寒論·辨太陽病脉證并治上第五

The method it demands 此爲壞病，桂枝不中與也

壞病無定證，故無定方；觀脉證、知所逆、隨證治之，三句為壞病之治法

Cinnamon twig no longer fits. Read the pulse and the signs, learn what was violated, and treat according to the pattern: those three clauses are the whole method for a spoiled disease.

此爲壞病，桂枝不中與也。觀其脉證，知犯何逆，隨證治之 — 傷寒論·辨太陽病脉證并治上第五

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

傷寒論·辨太陽病脉證并治上第五 Read in context →

太陽病，三日，已發汗，若吐、若下、若温鍼，仍不解者，此爲壞病，桂枝不中與也。觀其脉證，知犯何逆，隨證治之。太阳病，三日，已发汗，若吐、若下、若温针，仍不解者，此为坏病，桂枝不中与也。观其脉证，知犯何逆，随证治之。

tài yáng bìng sān rì yǐ fā hàn ruò tǔ ruò xià ruò wēn zhēn réng bù jiě zhě cǐ wéi huài bìng guì zhī bù zhòng yǔ yě guān qí mài zhèng zhī fàn hé nì suí zhèng zhì zhī

In taiyang disease of three days, having already been sweated, or vomited, or purged, or warmed with the needle, if it is still unresolved this is a spoiled case, and Cinnamon Twig is not fitting. Observe the pulse and signs, know which mistreatment was committed, and treat according to the signs.

**「壞病」五篇共1見**（經文，不含成注），本文引第5篇第19段。

Compounds built on this term

此爲壞病

cǐ wéi huài bìng

this is a spoiled disease

辨太陽病脉證并治上第五

知犯何逆

zhī fàn hé nì

knowing what was violated

辨太陽病脉證并治上第五

隨證治之

suí zhèng zhì zhī

treat according to the pattern

辨太陽病脉證并治上第五

How it has been translated

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

This site	spoiled disease	names the damage done by treatment, not a new illness
Literal	broken disease	exact, and sounds like a collapse
Clinical	mistreated, patternless illness	clear, and longer than a headword

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-28

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