真邪

zhēn xié

True and evil · zhen xie

Also rendered: true and evil (Keeps 真 as true and 邪 as evil, the pairing this site uses throughout) · genuine qi and pathogenic qi (Explicative; loses the starkness of the Chinese pair)

Core vocabulary

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin: zhēn xié
Simplified: 真邪
Literal: 真 is what is genuinely a thing's own — 說文 glosses it as the shape a transformed immortal takes when it ascends, which is at least honest about how strange the word is — and 邪 began life as the name of a commandery, borrowed early for what is off, slanting, not straight. Put together they are not two kinds of qi so much as a relation between them: the qi that belongs to the person and the qi that has come in and does not. Chapter 27 is named for the moment that relation turns — 離合, separating and joining — because everything in the chapter depends on whether the two have merged yet. While they are still separate the evil can be drained out; once they have joined, the pulse stops swelling and there is nothing left to take.
Shuowen: 《說文解字》：真，僊人變形而登天也；邪，琅邪郡也，从邑牙聲，邪之本義為地名，引申為邪曲、不正之稱。真邪連言，謂真氣與邪氣之對待。本篇之目：然真邪以合，波隴不起。

In brief

True qi and evil qi, named together as a pair because what matters clinically is not either one alone but whether they have joined. Chapter 27 turns on exactly this. While the evil is still loose in the blood it rises like a swell and can be met at the instant it arrives; once 真邪以合 — true and evil have merged — the wave-swell stops rising, there is nothing to wait for, and the physician must fall back on the three regions and nine indicators and regulate by what is full and what is empty. The chapter’s closing indictment is of the physician who cannot tell them apart: he takes repletion for vacuity and the evil for the true, attacks the upright, and cuts short a life that should have been long.

Senses in the classical corpus

The pair the chapter is named for 真邪

真氣與邪氣，離則可瀉，合則不可攻

然真邪以合，波隴不起 — Suwen 27

True qi is channel qi 真氣者，經氣也

本篇直以經氣釋真氣，界說最明

真氣者，經氣也。經氣太虚 — Suwen 27

Why the evil must not be met head-on 其來不可逢

真氣太虚，故邪來不可逢迎而瀉

經氣太虚，故曰其來不可逢，此之謂也 — Suwen 27

What happens when they are confused 以邪爲真

不别真邪則釋邪攻正

用實爲虚，以邪爲真 — Suwen 27

The evil alone, left lodged within 邪獨内著

真氣已失而邪獨留著於內

真氣已失，邪獨内著 — Suwen 27

The evil before it joins 此邪新客

新客未與真合，故可推之引之

此邪新客，溶溶未有定處也 — Suwen 27

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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2 passages

素問·離合真邪論 Suwen 27 · 離合真邪論 Read in context →

然真邪以合，波隴不起，𠉀之柰何？歧伯曰：審捫循三部九𠉀之盛虚而調之，察其左右上下，相失及相減者，審其病藏以期之。然真邪以合，波陇不起，候之奈何？歧伯曰：审扪循三部九候之盛虚而调之，察其左右上下，相失及相减者，审其病藏以期之。

Rán zhēn xié yǐ hé, bō lǒng bù qǐ, hòu zhī nài hé?Qí bó yuē: shěn mén xún sān bù jiǔ hòu zhī shèng xū ér tiáo zhī, chá qí zuǒ yòu shàng xià, xiāng shī jí xiāng jiǎn zhě, shěn qí bìng zàng yǐ qī zhī.

But when true qi and evil have already merged, and the wave-swell no longer rises, how does one watch for it? Qibo says: Examine carefully — palpate and follow the fullness and emptiness of the three regions and nine indicators, and regulate accordingly. Observe what is to the left and right, above and below; where they lose correspondence or are diminished, determine the affected depot and set a time for it.

此問是本篇的轉關：上文問補瀉、答以攻邪出血，至此忽轉而問「真邪已合」——真與邪既已相合，則脉中不再有波隴可候，取之無所取，故下文不復言「逢而冩之」，而改言「審捫循三部九𠉀之盛虚而調之」。**「以」讀 yǐ，通「已」，已經之義**，「真邪以合」即真邪已經相合。「隴」讀 lǒng，本篇三見，底本作隴不作「壟」；「柰」讀 nài，本篇二見，與「奈何」之「奈」三見並存於一篇之中。一個字面上極小的問題——真邪離還是合——決定了整篇下半段治法的全部走向：未合則攻而去之，已合則調而待之。

素問·氣交變大論 Suwen 69 · 氣交變大論 Read in context →

黄帝問曰：五運更治，上應天期，陰陽往復，寒暑迎隨，真邪相薄，内外分離，六經波蕩，五氣傾移，太過不及，專勝兼并，願言其始，而有常名，可得聞乎？黄帝问曰：五运更治，上应天期，阴阳往复，寒暑迎随，真邪相薄，内外分离，六经波荡，五气倾移，太过不及，专胜兼并，愿言其始，而有常名，可得闻乎？

Huáng dì wèn yuē: wǔ yùn gēng zhì, shàng yìng tiān qī, yīn yáng wǎng fù, hán shǔ yíng suí, zhēn xié xiāng bó, nèi wài fēn lí, liù jīng bō dàng, wǔ qì qīng yí, tài guò bù jí, zhuān shèng jiān bìng, yuàn yán qí shǐ, ér yǒu cháng míng, kě dé wén hū?

Huang Di asked: the five circuits govern in turn and answer above to the periods of heaven; yin and yang go and return, cold and summer heat meet and follow; the true and the evil press upon one another, and the inner and the outer are pulled apart; the six channels are tossed like waves and the five qi lean and shift. There is surplus and there is falling short; there is prevailing alone and there is being swallowed up. I wish to hear how it begins, and whether it has a constant name — may it be told to me?

「寒暑迎隨，真邪相薄，内外分離」——**「真邪」本篇1見，止此一見**；**真者正氣，邪者邪氣；真邪相薄，故内外分離而六經為之波蕩**；**「真」讀 zhēn、「邪」讀 xié**

Compounds built on this term

真邪

zhēn xié

true and evil

篇名之目，離合之際即真邪之分合

真氣

zhēn qì

true qi

本站已立目（id 153），本篇曰真氣者經氣也

邪氣

xié qì

evil qi

本篇十八見邪字，皆與真氣對待

經氣

jīng qì

channel qi

本站已立目（id 797），本篇以之釋真氣

How it has been translated

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

Wiseman & Feng	genuine and evil	They keep 真 as genuine and 邪 as evil, preserving the two-word opposition the chapter depends on rather than expanding either side into a phrase.
Unschuld	true and evil	Unschuld uses the same pair and notes that the chapter title is about the coming together of the two, not about either one in isolation.
This site	true and evil	We keep the literal pair because chapter 27 is built on their relation — the whole argument turns on whether they have joined, and any rendering that expands 邪 into 'pathogen' loses the way the word is set against 真 as one single-syllable word against another.

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

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