Classica Sinica Medica

氣變之常 简体 气变之常

qì biàn zhī cháng

What is regular in the qi's changes · qi bian zhi chang

Also rendered: What is regular in the qi's changes (this site; 常 applied to 變 because the storm is as much a rule as the calm) · The regularity of qi change (shorter, and it keeps the paradox of the Chinese)

Cosmology

Reviewed · 2026-10-14

At a glance

Pinyin
qì biàn zhī cháng
Simplified
气变之常
Literal
What is regular in the qi's changes. The seventh of the eight categories, and the one that hands the passage over from weather to violence: 太陽所至，爲寒雪、冰雹、白埃，氣變之常也. The word 變 is the chapter's own for what a qi does when it is not at peace — the same word as in 六變 and 十二變.
Shuowen
**「氣變之常」本篇1見，止在此段之末**；**其句曰「太陽所至，爲寒雪、冰雹、白埃，氣變之常也」**；**「變」本篇27見，「氣變」連文止此一處**；**八常之中惟此目以「變」名，下文病之常四段即由是而起**

In brief

The seventh of the eight categories, and the hinge of the passage. Its paragraph gives each qi a storm: 厥陰所至爲飄怒太涼，少陰所至爲大暄寒，太陰所至爲雷霆驟注烈風，少陽所至爲飄風燔燎霜凝，陽明所至，爲散落温，太陽所至，爲寒雪、冰雹、白埃，氣變之常也. Read against 時化之常 four paragraphs earlier, the same six qi are given twice: once as the season’s ordinary weather and once as its violence. What makes the passage a whole is that the chapter calls both of them 常 — the storm is as regular as the calm, and both are to be expected of the qi in its own season.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The phrase 氣變之常
其變亦有其常
氣變之常也 — Suwen 71
2
Its six storms 飄怒太涼、大暄寒、雷霆驟注烈風
六氣各繫一變
爲寒雪、冰雹、白埃 — Suwen 71
3
變 elsewhere 六變、十二變
與此目同一變字
六化六變 — Suwen 71
4
常之意 變亦曰常
變之來有定，故亦謂之常
氣變之常也 — Suwen 71
5
Its place 十三段之第七段
布政之後，令行之前
氣變之常也 — Suwen 71
6
What follows 病之常四段
由變而言其病
病之常也 — Suwen 71

Occurrences in the classics

Passages where the term does real work, with the original, pinyin and English on the same line.

Display
1 passages
Suwen 71 Suwen 71 · 六元正紀大論 Read in context →
厥陰所至爲飄怒太涼，少陰所至爲大暄寒，太陰所至爲雷霆驟注烈風，少陽所至爲飄風燔燎霜凝，陽明所至，爲散落温，太陽所至，爲寒雪、冰雹、白埃，氣變之常也。 厥阴所至为飘怒太凉，少阴所至为大暄寒，太阴所至为雷霆骤注烈风，少阳所至为飘风燔燎霜凝，阳明所至，为散落温，太阳所至，为寒雪、冰雹、白埃，气变之常也。
Jué yīn suǒ zhì wéi piāo nù tài liáng, shào yīn suǒ zhì wéi dà xuān hán, tài yīn suǒ zhì wéi léi tíng zhòu zhù liè fēng, shào yáng suǒ zhì wéi piāo fēng fán liǎo shuāng níng, yáng míng suǒ zhì, wéi sàn luò wēn, tài yáng suǒ zhì, wéi hán xuě, bīng báo, bái āi, qì biàn zhī cháng yě.
Where ceasing yin arrives there are wild raging and great coolness; where lesser yin, great warmth and cold; where greater yin, thunder and sudden downpour and fierce wind; where lesser yang, wild wind and burning and congealed frost; where yang brightness, scattering and falling and warmth; where greater yang, cold snow, hail and white dust — the constant of the changes of qi.
**「氣變之常」本篇1見，即此段之末**；**此段以飄怒太涼、大暄寒、雷霆驟注烈風、飄風燔燎霜凝、散落温、寒雪冰雹白埃分繫六氣**；**與前文時化之常同一六氣而異其象，一常一變，二者皆謂之常**

Compounds built on this term

布政之常
bù zhèng zhī cháng
what is regular in the spreading of governance
本篇一見；十三段之第六
令行之常
lìng xíng zhī cháng
what is regular in the carrying out of commands
本篇一見；十三段之第八
六變
liù biàn
the six changes
篇首「六化六變」之變
十二變
shí èr biàn
the twelve changes
本篇一見；八常之總收

How it has been translated

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

This sitewhat is regular in the qi's changesthe passage's own way of saying that violence too follows a rule
Literalqi change's regularityexact and clumsy
Glossthe storms each qi brings in its own season, which are as regular as its weatherright, and long

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-14

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