Believe in Science: Understanding the Five Elements and the Zang-Fu Organs of Traditional Chinese Medicine Correctly
Amid the discussion, Su Ziyang began his second topic.
The Five Elements.
When the Five Elements were mentioned, someone in the audience started talking non-stop again.
For example, they talked about things like clashes, harms, and relationships of mutual generation and restraint. Some of them were even fortune tellers who spoke eloquently, and people nearby would immediately add their contact information to have their fortunes told.
Seeing this, Su Ziyang nodded repeatedly, and could only tap the blackboard to quickly clarify the matter for everyone.
"When learning about the Five Elements, please don't mystify or superstitiously believe in them. Just treat it as a diagram showing the functional relationships of the five internal organs. The key is to understand that the human body is an interconnected whole, not a simple combination of isolated organs."
Wood, fire, earth, metal, and water are abstract terms representing five attributes, not five specific substances. They correspond to five characteristics: growth, warmth, support, contraction, and coldness, respectively.
Traditional Chinese medicine uses the Five Elements to correspond to the five organ systems: liver, heart, spleen, lungs, and kidneys.
The relationships of mutual generation and mutual restraint are used to describe the mutual promotion and mutual restriction among the internal organs.
Mutual generation relationship:
Wood generates fire, fire generates earth, earth generates metal, metal generates water, and water generates wood.
The relationship between the liver and the heart, the heart and the spleen, the spleen and the lungs, the lungs and the kidneys, and the kidneys and the liver represents the nourishing relationship between the internal organs.
The relationships of mutual restraint are: Wood restrains Earth, Earth restrains Water, Water restrains Fire, Fire restrains Metal, and Metal restrains Wood.
The relationships of mutual restraint between the internal organs are as follows: the liver restrains the spleen, the spleen restrains the kidneys, the kidneys restrain the heart, the heart restrains the lungs, and the lungs restrain the liver.
The generating, restraining, and transforming relationships among the five internal organs work together to maintain the overall balance of the five internal organ systems. An abnormal function of one organ can affect other organs through the generating and restraining relationships. This is the logical basis of traditional Chinese medicine's holistic view of disease.
It doesn't mean that lungs are made of iron or metal.
The liver is made of wood.
Absolutely not!
The audience was increasingly convinced of Su Ziyang's statement.
Those who had previously been dismissive gradually began to take it seriously, realizing that this course was unique and different from anything they had experienced before, yet it certainly made sense!
Su Ziyang chuckled and continued talking about one of the major functions of the human body, the theory of Zang-Xiang (visceral manifestation).
The theory of Zang-Xiang (visceral manifestations) is the core theory of human physiology in Traditional Chinese Medicine.
"Zang" refers to the internal organs in the body.
"Xiang" refers to the outward functional manifestation.
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) infers the functional state of internal organs by observing external symptoms and signs. Therefore, the internal organs in TCM are essentially functional systems, not simply anatomical organs.
The five internal organs are the core functional systems of the human body.
The heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys share the common characteristic of maintaining basic human life activities.
These theories include the functions of Western medical anatomy, as well as theories unique to traditional Chinese medicine.
The main functions of the heart:
Firstly, it governs the blood vessels, propelling blood through the vessels and nourishing the whole body;
Secondly, it refers to the supreme deity, who governs people's spirit, consciousness, and thought processes.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the concept of "heart" encompasses some functions of the heart and brain in modern medicine; it is a collective concept of functions, not just referring to the anatomical heart.
"I know that! People say this person is muddle-headed, that he's been blinded by lard!"
Everyone burst into laughter upon hearing this!
Su Ziyang chuckled as well, surprised to find so many lively characters here.
Main functions of the lungs:
First, it governs respiration, responsible for the exchange of gases between the body and the external environment; second, it governs the dispersing and descending of Qi, distributing fluids and nutrients throughout the body.
Third, it regulates waterways and participates in water metabolism.
The main functions of the spleen...
After explaining the functions of each of the internal organs, Su Ziyang concluded by saying...
"The key to learning about Zang-Xiang (visceral manifestations) is to abandon mechanical anatomical correspondence thinking and understand the function of each organ from the perspective of functional systems, avoiding confusion with the organ concepts of modern medicine."
Everyone nodded in agreement!