Classica Sinica Medica

時化之常 简体 时化之常

shí huà zhī cháng

What is regular in the season's transformation · shi hua zhi chang

Also rendered: What is regular in the season's transformation (this site; 常 read as what holds unless something disturbs it) · The constant of seasonal transformation (compact; 'constant' as a noun reads as a quantity)

Cosmology

Reviewed · 2026-10-14

At a glance

Pinyin
shí huà zhī cháng
Simplified
时化之常
Literal
What is regular in the season's transformation. 時 shí — the season, the time; 化 huà — transformation; 之常 — what is regular, what holds (《說文》: 常，下帬也, extended to what is constant). The phrase closes the first of the thirteen paragraphs of 所至, and it is the first of the eight categories the passage uses.
Shuowen
**「時化之常」本篇1見，止在此段之末**；**其句曰「太陽所至爲寒雰，時化之常也」**；**八者之目：時化、司化、氣化、德化、布政、氣變、令行、病之常，錯見於十三段之間**；**「常」本篇31見，以「之常」為結者凡八見**

In brief

The first of the eight categories that the closing passage uses. Its paragraph runs 厥陰所至爲和平，少陰所至爲暄，太陰所至爲埃溽，少陽所至爲炎暑，陽明所至爲清勁，太陽所至爲寒雰，時化之常也 — six clauses, one for each qi, and the last names what the six together are: the season’s ordinary transformation. The category is 常, not 變: what each qi does in the season that belongs to it, with nothing added and nothing held back. Against it the passage will set the 氣變之常, where the same six are given their storms.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The phrase 時化之常
四時之化，各如其常
時化之常也 — Suwen 71
2
Its six clauses 和平、暄、埃溽、炎暑、清勁、寒雰
六氣各繫一語
太陽所至爲寒雰 — Suwen 71
3
Its place 十三段之首段
六氣所至，此為第一
厥陰所至爲和平 — Suwen 71
4
What 常 means 常者對變而言
不失常則為時化
時化之常也 — Suwen 71
5
Its companions 司化之常、氣化之常
八者錯見於十三段
司化之常也 — Suwen 71
6
Its sum 凡此十二變者
八者俱在十二變之内
報德以德 — Suwen 71

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 71 Suwen 71 · 六元正紀大論 Read in context →
歧伯對曰：夫六氣正紀，有化有變，有勝有復，有用有病。不同其候，帝欲何乎？帝曰：願盡聞之。歧伯曰：請遂言之。夫氣之所至也。厥陰所至爲和平，少陰所至爲暄，太陰所至爲埃溽，少陽所至爲炎暑，陽明所至爲清勁，太陽所至爲寒雰，時化之常也。 歧伯对曰：夫六气正纪，有化有变，有胜有复，有用有病。不同其候，帝欲何乎？帝曰：愿尽闻之。歧伯曰：请遂言之。夫气之所至也。厥阴所至为和平，少阴所至为暄，太阴所至为埃溽，少阳所至为炎暑，阳明所至为清劲，太阳所至为寒雰，时化之常也。
Qí bó duì yuē: fú liù qì zhèng jì, yǒu huà yǒu biàn, yǒu shèng yǒu fù, yǒu yòng yǒu bìng. Bù tóng qí hòu, dì yù hé hū? Dì yuē: yuàn jìn wén zhī. Qí bó yuē: qǐng suì yán zhī. Fú qì zhī suǒ zhì yě. Jué yīn suǒ zhì wéi hé píng, shào yīn suǒ zhì wéi xuān, tài yīn suǒ zhì wéi āi rù, shào yáng suǒ zhì wéi yán shǔ, yáng míng suǒ zhì wéi qīng jìng, tài yáng suǒ zhì wéi hán fēn, shí huà zhī cháng yě.
Qi Bo answered: the upright record of the six qi has its transformations and its changes, its prevalences and its revenges, its uses and its illnesses; their watchings are not alike — which would the emperor have? Huang Di said: I wish to hear them all. Qi Bo said: let me speak of them in order. As to where the qi arrives: where ceasing yin arrives there is peace and harmony; where lesser yin arrives, warmth; where greater yin arrives, dust and sultry damp; where lesser yang arrives, scorching heat; where yang brightness arrives, clear hardness; where greater yang arrives, cold vapour — the constant of the transformation of the seasons.
**「時化之常」本篇1見，即此段之末**；**此段以和平、暄、埃溽、炎暑、清勁、寒雰六者分繫六氣，而以時化之常總之**；**八者之常錯見於十三段，此為其首**

Compounds built on this term

氣變之常
qì biàn zhī cháng
what is regular in the qi's changes
本篇一見；與時化之常相對
病之常
bìng zhī cháng
what is regular in disease
本篇4見
十二變
shí èr biàn
the twelve changes
本篇一見；八常皆在其内
其常
qí cháng
what is regular
本篇1見

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 season's transformationthe first of the eight closing categories, and the rendering keeps all four graphs
Literalseasonal transformation's regularityexact and clumsy
Glosswhat each qi does in its own season, with nothing addedwhat the paragraph says, and too long for a term

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-14

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Reading path

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