Theory of Five-Elements:an introduction.

Introduction.
Theory of Five-Elements:Introduction. ✵Theory of Five Elements:one of the basic theories in traditional Chinese medicine, introduced from ancient natural philosophy concerning the composition and evolution of the physical universe.

Introduction of the Theory of Five-Elements.

 Introduction: The basic terms for Theory of Five-Elements are introduced:Theory of five elements, Five elements, Classification according to the five elements, Generation in the five elements, Restriction in the five elements, Inhibition and generation in the five elements, Subjugation in the five elements, Reverse restriction in the five elements, Mother-child relationship in the five elements, Mother, Child, Qi of the viscera, Wood restricting earth, Exuberant wood subjugating earth, Wood subjugating asthenic earth, Wood fire torturing metal, Fire failing to generate earth, Earth failing to control water, Reversed restriction of water on asthenic earth, Coldness of metal and water, Water failing to moisten wood, Five circuit phases, Five normal phases, Six Qi, Circuit Qi, Heavenly stems, Earthly branches.

 Five-Elements ✵Theory of five elements: one of the basic theories in traditional Chinese medicine, introduced from ancient natural philosophy concerning the composition and evolution of the physical universe.

 ✵Five elements: wood, fire, earth, metal and water, with their characteristic properties and their generating and restricting relationships- an ancient natural philosophy purporting to explain the composition and phenomena of the physical universe, and used in traditional Chinese medicine to expound the correspondence between man and the universe, and the physiological and pathological relationships between the internal viscera.

 ✵Classification according to the five elements: classification of things according to the properties of the five elements either by analogy or by deduction,e.g., the liver, heart, spleen, lung, and kidney are classified into the categories of wood, fire, earth, metal, and water, respectively.

 Five-Elements ✵Generation in the five elements: the generating relationships of the five elements in the following sequence-wood, fire, earth, metal, and water- in which each element is conceived as producing or promoting the subsequent one,i.e., wood generates fire, fire generates earth, earth generates metal, metal generates water, water generates wood, and so forth.

 ✵Restriction in the five elements: the restriction relationships of the five elements in the following sequence-water, fire, metal, wood, and earth- in which each element is conceived as restricting or checking the subsequent one,i.e., water restricts fire, fire restricts metal, metal restricts wood, wood restricts earth, earth restricts water, and so forth.

 ✵Inhibition and generation in the five elements: the producing and checking relationships of the five elements which form a self-limiting balanced process,e.g., wood checks earth which produces metal that will check wood in turn, and so forth.

 ✵Subjugation in the five elements: abnormally severe restriction of the five elements in the same sequence as ordinary restriction.

 ✵Reverse restriction in the five elements: restriction opposite to that of the ordinary restricting sequence of the five elements.

 ✵Mother-child relationship in the five elements:  disease of the "mother" may involve the "child", and vice versa.

 ✵"Mother": the element that generates in the generation sequence of the five elements,e.g., wood being the "mother" of fire, fire being the "mother" of earth, earth being the "mother" of metal, metal being the "mother" of water, water is the "mother" of wood, and so forth.

 ✵"Child": the element that is generated in the generation sequence of the five elements,e.g., fire being the "child" of wood.

 ✵Qi of the "Chila"(viscera): Qi of the viscera that is generated in the generation sequence of the five elements,e.g.,for the heart(fire), spleen(earth) Qi being the Qi of "child" viscera, and for the spleen(earth), lung(metal) Qi being the Qi of the "Child" viscera.

 Five-Elements ✵Wood restricting earth: (1).the physiological relationship between the liver(wood) and the spleen and stomach(earth),(2).a pathological condition in which a hyperactive liver impairs the functions of the spleen and stomach, also known as wood subjugating earth.

 ✵Exuberant wood subjugating earth: a pathological change involving disharmony between the liver and the spleen and stomach, in which hyperactivity of the former is primary, while insufficiency of the latter is secondary.

 ✵Wood subjugating asthenic earth:  a pathological change involving disharmony between the liver and the spleen and stomach, in which hyperactivity of the former is secondary, while insufficiency of the latter is primary.

 ✵Wood fire torturing metal:  a pathological change expressed in the light of the five-elements theory that excessive liver fire consumes lung Yin, causing dry cough and chest pain or even hemoptysis accompanied by irritability, bitterness in the mouth and blood-shot eyes.

 ✵Fire failing to generate earth: a pathological change expressed in the light of the five-elements theory that fire of the life gate(i.e., kidney Yang) is insufficient to warm the spleen and stomach, bringing on such symptoms as diarrhea, indigestion, intolerance of cold and edema.

 ✵Earth failing to control water:  a pathological change expressed in the light of the five-elements theory that a weak spleen unable to control the water flow may lead to flood, manifested by edema or retained fluid.

 ✵Reversed restriction of water on asthenic earth:  an expression for insufficiency of the spleen with anasarca according to the five-elements theory.

 ✵Coldness of metal and water: a figurative expression for deficiency-cold of both the lung and kidney.

 ✵Water failing to moisten wood:  a pathological change expressed in the light of the five-elements theory that kidney Yin deficiency deprives the liver of its nourishment, resulting in the insufficiency of liver Yin with stirring of liver wind.

 Five-Elements ✵Five circuit phases: a collective term referring to wood, fire, earth, metal and water in motion.

 ✵Five normal phases: the same as five circuit phases.

 ✵Six Qi: also known as six climatic factors, a collective term for wind, cold, summer-heat, dampness, dryness and fire.

 ✵Circuit Qi: an abbreviation for the five circuit phases and six climatic factors.

 ✵Heavenly stems:  a sequence of symbols, ten in number, used as serial numbers and also in combination with the twelve Earthly branches to designate years, months, days and hours.

 ✵Earthly branches:  a sequence of symbols, twelve in number, used in combination with the ten Heavenly branches to designate years, months, days and hours.

 
Theory of Five-Elements:the basics.

 Five-Elements  The Basics: The basics for the Theory of Five-Elements are briefly as:

 ✵Wood is that which can be bent and straightened.

 ✵Fire is that which flames upward.

 ✵Earth is the sowing and reaping.

 ✵Metal is a product of smelting.

 ✵Water is moistening and descending:a metaphor to explain the downward tendency of pathological changes due to dampness such as diarrhea, and edema of the lower extremities, also known as water tends to flow downwards.

 ✵Wood(or tree) tends to spreads out freely:a figure of speech to explain the physiological function of the liver in smoothing the flow of Qi and blood.

 ✵Earth prefers warmth and dryness:a figure of speech to explain the physiological property of the spleen, which functions well in warm and dry conditions and is liable to be impaired by cold and dampness.

 ✵Earth engenders the myriad things:a metaphor to explain that the spleen and stomach provide the material foundation for the whole body by digesting food and supplying nutrients.

 ✵Metal Qi is depurative and descending:a figure of speech to explain the functional property of the lung, whose disorder often leads to cough, dyspnea and expectoration.

 ✵A broken gong does not sound:an expression figuratively referring to hoarseness due to impairment function of the lung.

 ✵A muffled gong does not sound:an expression figuratively referring to sudden onset of hoarseness due to attack on the lung by exogenous pathogens such as wind-cold or wind-heat.

 Five-Elements ✵Hyperactivity will do harm, so restriction is necessary.

 ✵The restrained is what I check.

 ✵Disease of the "Mother"(viscera) affects her "son"(viscera):an explanation of a group of pathological conditions using the five-elements theory,e.g.,hyperactivity of liver Yang developing into exuberant heart fire, weakness of spleen Qi leading to deficiency of Lung Qi.

 ✵Disease of the "child"(viscera) affects its "mother"(viscera):an explanation of a groups of pathological conditions using the five-elements theory,e.g.,Lung Qi deficiency developing into spleen Qi deficiency with failure of the transporting function.Also known as A "child"(viscera) robs its "mother"(viscera) Qi.

 
References:
  • 1.Theory of Five-Elements:an introduction.

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