王氣简体王气

wàng qì

The qi in its season · wang qi

Also rendered: The qi in its season (this site; 王 read wàng, the qi at the height of its power, which must be left alone rather than treated) · The kingly qi (it keeps the graph, and in English 王 is a ruler, not a season)

Pathology

Reviewed · 2026-10-14

At a glance

Pinyin: wàng qì
Simplified: 王气
Literal: 王 here is read wàng and means 旺, to flourish, to be at the height of one's power — the same graph used for a king, borrowed for the sense of what is in its season. 王氣 is therefore the qi of the season that is now at its full, and the chapter uses it to name the one cause of failure a formula cannot be blamed for.
Shuowen: **「王」讀去聲者為旺，《說文》王从人从土从一，王天下也，假借為旺盛之義**。**「王氣」本篇一見**；**「王」字本篇2見，一在「治其王氣」，一在「不治王而然」，皆讀 wàng**；**二字同段，問答相承**；**底本此二處之「王」不作「旺」，故仍其字而存其讀**

In brief

The qi that is in its season and at its full. The chapter explains with it the one failure of treatment that is not the formula’s fault: 帝曰：服寒而反熱，服熱而反寒，其故何也？歧伯曰：治其王氣，是以反也. To treat the season’s own qi is to treat what is strongest and should be left; the medicine reaches the qi that is at its height and drives it, and the patient’s cold turns to heat or his heat to cold. Pressed further — 帝曰：不治王而然者，何也？ — the chapter gives the second cause, 不治五味屬也, and the passage on the five flavours entering the stomach follows. The word therefore carries both halves of the argument: what happens when the season’s qi is treated, and what happens when the flavours go to their own viscera and the qi grows with use — 久而增氣，物化之常也；氣增而久，夭之由也.

Senses in the classical corpus

The word 王氣

王讀旺，一歲當令之氣

治其王氣 — Suwen 74

How it is treated 治其王氣

治其所當旺之氣

治其王氣，是以反也 — Suwen 74

What follows 服寒而反熱，服熱而反寒

治王則藥不從病

服寒而反熱 — Suwen 74

The other cause 不治王而然者

非治王，乃五味各歸所喜

不治五味屬也 — Suwen 74

Where the flavours go 酸先入肝，苦先入心

五味各自歸其藏

攻酸先入肝 — Suwen 74

What long use does 久而增氣

增氣久則為夭之由

物化之常也 — Suwen 74

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 74 Suwen 74 · 至真要大論 Read in context →

帝曰：善。服寒而反熱，服熱而反寒，其故何也？歧伯曰：治其王氣，是以反也。帝曰：不治王而然者，何也？歧伯曰：悉乎哉問也，不治五味屬也。夫五味入胃，各歸所喜，攻酸先入肝，苦先入心，甘先入脾，辛先入肺，鹹先入腎。久而增氣，物化之常也。氣增而久，夭之由也。帝曰：善。方制君臣，何謂也？歧伯曰：主病之謂君，佐君之謂臣，應臣之謂使。非上下三品之謂也。帝曰：善。服寒而反热，服热而反寒，其故何也？歧伯曰：治其王气，是以反也。帝曰：不治王而然者，何也？歧伯曰：悉乎哉问也，不治五味属也。夫五味入胃，各归所喜，攻酸先入肝，苦先入心，甘先入脾，辛先入肺，咸先入肾。久而增气，物化之常也。气增而久，夭之由也。帝曰：善。方制君臣，何谓也？歧伯曰：主病之谓君，佐君之谓臣，应臣之谓使。非上下三品之谓也。

Dì yuē: shàn. Fú hán ér fǎn rè, fú rè ér fǎn hán, qí gù hé yě? Qí bó yuē: zhì qí wàng qì, shì yǐ fǎn yě. Dì yuē: bù zhì wàng ér rán zhě, hé yě? Qí bó yuē: xī hū zāi wèn yě, bù zhì wǔ wèi shǔ yě. Fú wǔ wèi rù wèi, gè guī suǒ xǐ, gōng suān xiān rù gān, kǔ xiān rù xīn, gān xiān rù pí, xīn xiān rù fèi, xián xiān rù shèn. Jiǔ ér zēng qì, wù huà zhī cháng yě. Qì zēng ér jiǔ, yāo zhī yóu yě. Dì yuē: shàn. Fāng zhì jūn chén, hé wèi yě? Qí bó yuē: zhǔ bìng zhī wèi jūn, zuǒ jūn zhī wèi chén, yìng chén zhī wèi shǐ. Fēi shàng xià sān pǐn zhī wèi yě.

Huang Di said: good. To take cold and grow hot instead, to take heat and grow cold instead — what is the cause? Qi Bo said: it is treating the qi in its season, and hence the reversal. Huang Di said: what of one who does not treat the qi in its season and yet has this? Qi Bo said: how thorough the question is — it is not to treat what the five flavours belong to. When the five flavours enter the stomach each returns to what it likes to attack: sour enters the liver first, bitter the heart, sweet the spleen, acrid the lung, salty the kidney. In time they increase the qi — the constant of the transformation of things. And when the qi is increased and it goes on, that is the cause of an early death. Huang Di said: good. What is meant by sovereign and minister in the making of a formula? Qi Bo said: what governs the illness is called sovereign, what assists the sovereign is called minister, what answers the minister is called assistant. It is not what is meant by the three grades above and below.

**「王氣」本篇一見，即此句**；**「王」字本篇2見，一在「治其王氣」，一在「不治王而然」，同段相承**；**二字皆讀去聲，義為旺，故入校勘而不改字**；**此段之下接「五味入胃，各歸所喜」，是治王之害終歸於五味之偏**

Compounds built on this term

物化

wù huà

the transformation of things

本篇2見；久而增氣者，物化之常

五味

wǔ wèi

the five flavours

本篇4見；不治王而然者，咎在五味

反

fǎn

to turn against

本篇多見；藥與病相反而致新病

夭之由

yāo zhī yóu

the cause of an early death

本篇一見；氣增而久者是

How it has been translated

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

This site	the qi in its season	what is at full power and must not be driven; the chapter's first cause of a treatment that reverses
Literal	the flourishing qi	exact about 旺, and it does not say of what
Descriptive	the qi that is at its height in the season	clear, and too long for the four graphs the chapter uses twice in a row

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-14

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