How to understand the relationship between five zang-organs and five elements in traditional Chinese medicine

How to understand the relationship between the five elements and the five internal organs Anyone with a little medical knowledge should know that all organs in the human body are related. For example, the gallbladder is wrapped by the liver, and the stomach and duodenum are also connected. However, some organs in the human structure that are far apart, such as eyes and liver, lungs and skin, and large intestine, are there any connections between them? From the perspective of western medicine, the answer is no, and this system rarely treats people as a whole. Lung is lung, skin is skin, and large intestine is not beside the first two. Because from an anatomical point of view, their correlation is not high. The lung belongs to the respiratory system, the large intestine belongs to the digestive system, and the skin has its own system. If we look at it in the way of western medicine, we should study the relationship between large intestine and small intestine instead of focusing on the relationship between lung and large intestine. However, from the perspective of Chinese medicine, this is not the case. When I was a child, I should have heard the saying that "the liver opens to the eyes, the kidney to the ears, the heart to the tongue, the lung to the nose, and the spleen to the mouth". Not only are the five internal organs corresponding to the five senses, but there are also many similar sayings in Chinese medicine. For example, "the lung governs fur", "the lung and the large intestine are inside and outside" and so on. So, in this example, is Chinese medicine right? We might as well look at some conclusions in biology first. The skin and large intestine of many fishes, amphibians and reptiles are respiratory organs. Among fish, Monopterus albus, which we often eat, has a highly degraded respiratory organ gill, which mainly uses the skin and throat to breathe. Also, turtles breathe in water through cloaca (also called rectum). In amphibians, the skin of salamanders and frogs are both respiratory organs. Don't think that these animals are far away from us. In fact, each of us should complete a complete process of evolution from lower animals to higher animals in the womb when we are still fetuses. At a certain stage, the fetus is like a fish, with a split cheek and a tail. It sounds incredible, but it is. If you are interested, you can go to the Beijing Museum of Natural History to see the fetal development specimens. From the above example, it is not difficult to see that when we were still fetuses, the lung, skin and large intestine had established some mysterious connection. The same example, for example, Chinese medicine says that "sweat is the liquid of the heart" and "the heart is the tongue". On the surface, sweat seems to have nothing to do with the heart. It is secreted by sweat glands on the skin. The tongue is a part of the digestive tract, not beside the heart which belongs to the circulatory system. However, if you look at the dog at home, it has no sweat glands on its skin and relies on its tongue to dissipate heat. Is it just a coincidence? Judging from the current situation, although biology and medicine have made great progress, the human body is too complicated and mysterious, and we can't find enough biological and medical evidence for every theory of Chinese medicine. Of course, not getting enough evidence does not mean that we give up completely. If we ignore some objective facts and wait for the further development of medicine to solve the problem, it will undoubtedly bring immeasurable losses to our health. Now, we can learn and understand the five zang-organs theory of TCM with a modest heart. Now that we have mastered some basic laws, we may be able to prevent myopia and cataracts from the perspective of nourishing the liver, or prevent deafness from the perspective of tonifying the kidney. Considering the space, we can't explain the theory of five zang-organs in TCM at once. It doesn't matter, it's easy first, then difficult, and step by step. In the next manuscript, we will talk about the corresponding relationship between the five internal organs and the five senses, as well as the philosophical truth. Philosophical association of the purpose of liver opening Let's take a look at the explanation of liver in Huangdi Neijing (don't simply correspond to liver, Chinese medicine pays attention to system, not local organs). "Wind is born in the east, wind is born in wood, wood is sour, acid is born in liver, liver is born in tendon, tendon is born in heart, and liver is the main eye." "God is the wind of the sky, the wood of the earth, the muscle of the body, the liver of dirty, the pale color, the horn of sound, the call of sound, the change of grip, the purpose of knowing, the taste of acid, and the anger of ambition. Anger hurts the liver, and sorrow is better than anger; Wind hurts tendons, and dryness leads to wind; Acid hurts the tendons, and it is sour. " Oriental wind, wind-borne wood and wood-borne acid are all evolutionary processes that existed before the formation of animals. Once the earth is formed, its orientation is determined, and the east is where the sun rises. The wind was born in the east, which is understandable; Wind gives birth to wood, just like spring breeze revives everything; Sour taste can only be the smell of vegetation. Acid produces liver, which means that the acidity of vegetation determines the generation of liver, or that the generation of liver is determined by the acidity of vegetation. As a living body like the human body, the liver is inevitable. The liver is considered as a chemical factory in the body, which decomposes harmful components and macromolecular substances, synthesizes necessary life substances and produces energy substances. Without the liver, the human body can't use the energy and substances in food, so it can be considered that the acid of wood must be the human liver. In the process of food digestion, it must pass through the acidic environment of the stomach, and the PH value of the stomach is often 2~3. In short, the relationship between acidity and digestion and synthesis, as an understanding of PH value, is only a convenience when it has a broader meaning. Liver gives birth to muscle, and muscle is muscle. The existence of human muscles is determined by the liver, and there are two attributes that can help to understand. First, the wind is born in the east, and the wind is born in wood. Both wind and wood are in motion, and the muscles of human body exist for motion. Therefore, the nature of the liver inevitably determines the nature of the muscle; On the other hand, muscle exercise needs to digest a lot of energy, which can only be provided by liver metabolism, while pyruvate produced by excessive muscle activity can only return to the liver, which generates glucose and then sends it to the muscle for oxidation and utilization. Tendon gives birth to heart, and from the five elements, it gives birth to heart fire for liver wood. From the perspective of biological evolution, the heart is also a muscle, a moving striated muscle. Lower organisms have muscles first, then hearts, and hearts can be regarded as specialized muscle organs. From these theories, it is not difficult to understand that the liver governs hair growth. The biggest function of natural vegetation is to convert energy (mainly sunlight), inorganic salts and carbon dioxide into organic matter through photosynthesis. So is the liver, but what does it have to do with the eyes? I'm not sure. Roughly speaking, vegetation is very sensitive to sunlight, and both sunflowers and mimosa move with the light. Without light, eyes are useless. In addition, the liver belongs to the East, which is the place of sunrise and the birthplace of light. From real life examples, "the liver begins to understand the eyes" has been repeatedly proved to be correct. For example, the liver is the largest detoxification organ in the human body, and some toxins are excreted through tears. According to modern medical research, tears contain protein which can change people's mood, that is, catechol and amine salts. Only by shedding tears can this harmful chemical be discharged. The liver opened its eyes, maybe we can catch a glimpse of it. So, are irritable old people more likely to cause cataracts and glaucoma? Glaucoma may be caused by high intraocular pressure. People who are often angry, especially the elderly, should pay attention not only to the liver, but also to glaucoma and cataracts. As before, the philosophical association of "heart opening tongue" begins with the introduction of heart in Huangdi Neijing. "Fire is hot in the south, fire produces bitterness, bitterness produces heart, heart produces blood, blood produces spleen, and heart governs tongue." "The heat is in the sky, the fire is in the ground, the pulse is in the body, the heart is dirty, the sign is in the color, the sign is in the sound, the smile is in the sound, the worry is changing, the tongue is in the mouth, the bitterness is in the taste, and the joy is in the ambition. Happiness is sad, fear is better than happiness; Heat hurts qi, cold beats heat; Bitter spirit, salty wins bitter. " The south of the earth is the direction of the morning, and it is easy to understand that the south generates heat and makes a fire. Fire brings suffering. How did it come about? Things without bitterness often have bitterness after burning, and people often have bitterness in their mouths when they have a fever and thirst, which is enough to explain the truth that fire brings bitterness. The fire and heat in the south promoted the pain on the ground. Bitterness produces the heart, why does the heart produce it? The production of foreliver is the need of metabolism, and the production of heart can be considered as the need of fever in the south. The stimulation of bitter taste may be the driving force to promote heart activity. The response of human mouth to bitterness is to spit out quickly, while the response to acid is to close and inhale, so the function of bitterness is to promote discharge, expel blood or push the heart, which may be related to this. If the southern fire is considered, the function of the heart should be the southern fire, which is relatively straightforward. Ancient Greek scholars believed that the function of the heart was to bring heat to the whole body. With a special heart, there is a special blood flow, so the heart produces blood, which is the inevitability of its production. Blood begets spleen. Among the five elements, heart fire gives birth to spleen, and spleen has the function of regulating blood. With blood, you should have a spleen. Tongue is dominated by heart, and tongue is dominated by heart. Perhaps the relationship between the heart and the tongue has been observed. Excessive heart fire often manifests as sores on the tongue coating. As we said before, the way dogs dissipate heat is to stick their tongues out of their bodies. The south is characterized by hot weather, fire and blood. The south between these kinds of heaven and earth has obvious southern attributes, which are hot and vigorous. Such as joy, laughter and red are all symbols of enthusiasm. The original attribute of Nanhuo is happiness, and the variation attribute is trouble. Knowing the relationship between the heart and the tongue, when we maintain the cardiovascular system, we suffer more. Kuding tea, bitter gourd, bitter chrysanthemum, etc. , are conducive to lowering blood lipids and regulating blood pressure. In addition, the elderly with cardiovascular diseases should pay more attention to the performance of tongue coating. Be careful not to be overjoyed. Happy and sad, how many people died of heart attack and cerebral hemorrhage when rubbing hemp cards on holidays! Spleen began to understand the old routine of oral philosophy, starting with the proverbs in Huangdi Neijing. "The center is wet, the soil is wet, the soil is sweet, the spleen is sweet, the spleen is born, the flesh is lung, and the spleen dominates the mouth." "Wet in the sky, the soil on the ground, the meat in the body, the spleen in the dirty, the color in the yellow, the palace in the sound, the song in the sound, change in the mouth, mouth in the mouth, sweet in the taste, thinking in the heart. Thinking hurts the spleen, and anger overcomes thinking; Wet meat, wind wins wet; It hurts its meat, and acid is better than sweetness. " In the center of the square, there is a depression where water gathers, so the center is wet. With wet water, land grows, and wet soil is born. Those sweet, sweet and fat foods mainly come from crops growing on the land. The history book says: the soil is fertile. Tian Tian was born in her native land. Liver gives birth to spleen, and the function of spleen is to digest sweets. Therefore, organs such as spleen are necessary for all beings to use sweets. On the contrary, sweets promote the formation of spleen. With the digestive function of the spleen, sweet and fatty things gather in the body, showing the image of obesity, that is, the spleen is raw, and people with poor digestion are often skinny. Meat gives birth to the lungs, and gold comes from the five elements. Carbohydrate, a sweet substance digested by the spleen, is all meat except bones. Meat is constantly consuming oxygen to produce carbon dioxide, which determines the formation of the lung, an organ that absorbs oxygen and discharges carbon dioxide. The spleen governs the mouth, and the normal function of the spleen has a good appetite. The spleen mentioned in Chinese medicine is more complicated. Now most people think that the spleen mainly refers to the pancreas. Of course, again, Chinese medicine sees the problem systematically, and the so-called spleen is the pancreas. It should be said that the spleen is mainly responsible for the treatment of carbohydrates, and the main representative of carbohydrates is starch. After digestion, starch becomes glucose and enters every corner of the body to provide energy. The center is wet in the sky, the soil is on the ground, the meat is on the body, and the spleen is dirty. The various manifestations of the central government between heaven and earth have the nature of being native to the central government. Yellow is the color of the earth; Song is a symbol of pride and smoothness, because it is smooth and happy. Thinking is to generate new ideas, which is consistent with the growth properties of soil. The change of temper is burping and unsmooth. There is something wrong with the spleen. A typical symptom is diabetes, that is, there is something wrong with glucose metabolism. In addition, patients with hypoglycemia also have spleen problems. Both of these diseases are that glucose metabolism is not in a balanced and moderate state. Managing your mouth and paying attention to sugar metabolism are the practical instructions for us to open the spleen to the mouth. The lung is inspired by the philosophical association of the nose: "the west produces dryness, dryness produces gold, gold produces pungent, pungent produces lung, lung produces moss, moss produces kidney, and lung governs the nose." "It is dry in the sky, gold in the ground, fur in the body, lungs in the dirty, business in the sound, crying in the sound, coughing in the change, nose in the orifices, pungent in the taste, worrying about ambition. Sad for the lungs, joy wins sorrow; Heat hurts fur, and cold is better than heat; Hurt his fur and suffer his heart. " After steaming in the south, the west is dry. In China, the northwest is a dry desert. In mountainous areas, the mountains in the west are also dry, because the sun shines from sunrise to sunset. Land, animals and plants become hard after drying. Bricks are made of dried soil, and real metals are also made of heated mineral soil, so drying produces gold. The pungent taste of iron refers to the taste of metal. Plants are sour when they grow, sweet when they mature, and often pungent when they wither and dry, which is probably the reason for Jin Shengxin. Pungent smell is a rising and diverging smell, which is excreted in the body. Therefore, the smell in the body should be excreted with the lungs; The lung itself has pungent taste, which can be considered as the result of pungent taste. The lungs have fur, but no lungs. Animals that breathe by gills have no hair. Breathing with lungs means that they can survive on land. Skin and hair play an important role in keeping warm and exchanging materials and information with the outside world (sweating, absorbing sunlight, secreting hormones, etc.). In addition, the skin can also play the role of gas exchange in the lungs. Therefore, lung coating is established. Fur gives birth to kidney, and the five elements belong to golden water. With lungs and fur, the function of metabolizing water and salt through the skin like amphibians is greatly reduced. Therefore, special organs are needed to be responsible for water and salt metabolism, so fur gives birth to kidneys. The lungs breathe through the nose. It is easy to understand that the lung governs the nose. The size and function of nostril and nasal cavity are consistent with those of lung. The west is dry in the sky, golden on the ground and hairy on the body. All these types have the properties of western gold-dryness and convergence. The drying of fur is conducive to heat preservation, and convergence is conducive to isolation and protection; White is the color of dryness and metal; Sadness, sighing and crying are the manifestations of sadness and poor lung qi, and autumn qi kills the scenery, so it belongs to the west. The lung qi becomes unsmooth, and the reverse of qi causes cough. Interestingly, white people's lungs are not very good. People in China, for example, think nothing of it. When I was a child, I saw a lot of chicken plague (bird flu), and few people made a fuss. White people are different. A flu came and countless people died. The Spanish flu that ravaged the United States that year sent countless people to the cemetery. But at that time, the workers in the United States and China survived smoothly, despite poor sanitary conditions and malnutrition. What is even more paradoxical is that the liver belongs to the orientals, and the liver of the orientals is not good. The lungs are western, and white people (mainly westerners) have bad lungs. Does nature have its own arrangements? The kidney began to understand the ear. Philosophical association: "cold in the north, cold in water, salty water, salty kidney, kidney gives birth to bone marrow, marrow gives birth to liver, and kidney governs ears." "The cold of the day, the water of the earth, the bone of the body, the dirty kidney, the black color, the feather of the sound, the moan of the sound, the chestnut of change, the ear of opening, the salty taste and the fear of ambition. Afraid of hurting the kidney, think more afraid; Cold hurts blood, and dryness overcomes cold; Salty hurts blood, sweet is better than salty. " The north of the earth is always a symbol of cold. Cold condenses water vapor, so cold produces water. Salty taste is the taste of salt. Only when salt is dissolved in water can it produce salty taste. The water in the sea is salty, so it is called aquatic salty. The regulation of salt-containing substances in the body or the regulation of water-salt balance depends on the function of water, and the organ that the body completes this function is the kidney, so it is called salty kidney. Kidney produces bone marrow. Now we know that erythropoietin produced by the kidney acts on bone marrow hematopoietic cells and promotes hematopoietic function. Kidney affects bone growth or absorption by regulating calcium and phosphorus metabolism, which can be said that kidney controls bone marrow. But how did the ancients know about this relationship? Kidney is the image of winter in the north, where the land is bare and desolate. At this time, the mountains and rivers are like the supporting structure of human bones, so bones and marrow are the images of cold water in the north; Bone marrow lives deep in the body, wrapped in flesh, and also has the image of cold water in the north. Therefore, if the body has a kidney, it will be like bone marrow. The marrow gives birth to the liver, and the five elements belong to aquatic wood. Kidney produces marrow, marrow and even yin, and the two poles will be reversed, yin produces yang, and liver produces east, so marrow produces liver is an inevitable law. The kidney is the image of the north, and its ears are opposite to the eyes, nose and mouth, and it is similar to the north, so it can be seen that the kidney dominates the ears. Spring is born in winter, and essence is hidden in the kidney. Tinnitus is caused by deficiency of kidney essence, which is the basic sign of human body deficiency and aging, and we can also know the relationship between kidney and ear. It's cold in the north, with water on the ground and bones on the body. These categories between heaven and earth all have the attributes hidden in northern Shui Han. Black is a symbol of night, but also a sign of cold and hiding. Groaning is a manifestation of pain and a symbol of struggle in the cold winter; The qi of all internal organs should be communicated to the outside, and the north kidney should be enlightened to the head, back and ears. People are still in a moment of panic, which is different from other emotions. This is similar to the return of the north to Tibet, so the north is emotionally fearful. The northern half and kidney are hidden in silence, so its variation is frightening. Besides, do you know what the smallest bone in the human body is? The ossicles in the ear. The ossicles are not connected with other large bones. Under the arrangement of nature, bones grow in the most unlikely places and are the main organs of hearing. Also, the skull is an important hearing organ. Anyone who has heard of headphones should know that most headphones use skulls to transmit sound. The kidney begins to understand the ear, which sounds mysterious, but who can deny the connection between the two? The greatness of TCM lies in the philosophy that readers who read the above words have an idea that the theory of TCM is indeed profound. However, our ancient masters have no basis for biological evolution. Without B-ultrasound, microscope, blood circulation theory, anatomy and biochemistry theory, how can we connect some seemingly unrelated organs? You'll never guess. This has to talk about the theoretical basis of traditional Chinese medicine. Generally speaking, Chinese medicine is based on Huangdi Neijing and originated from Yijing. Perhaps in the eyes of many people, the Book of Changes is a feudal superstition and a tool for divination. How can we become an elegant palace and even become the basis of TCM theory? In fact, people underestimate the Book of Changes. He is not only a fortune teller, but also a philosophical thought. Philosophy is the mother of science, a world outlook and methodology, and a universally applicable truth. Not only medicine, but also other sciences need the guidance of philosophy. To put it simply, man is a product of nature, and nature has its inherent laws. If there is a rule, there is a connection. The sages summarized the world as the movement of Yin and Yang through the Book of Changes, which has always existed. Speaking of medicine and biology, there is also a famous saying in the western scientific community that "the so-called life is the highest form of material movement". It can be said that in philosophical theory, the ideological height of a modern person is not necessarily higher than that of ancient sages. It is only now that the classification of disciplines is more detailed, people have a more detailed understanding of many fields and have produced many practical tools. But its origin is still those basic philosophical thoughts. And with the development of science and technology, it is further proving and enriching philosophical thoughts. Since philosophy is so important, how does it guide the development of science, including medicine? Some ancient people's comments on the Book of Changes may tell us the answer. Anyway, what does this sentence mean? That is, when people have unsolvable problems or don't know the future direction in production and life practice because they don't have comprehensive information or lack necessary information and tools, they might as well consider it with philosophical thoughts. Medicine is an extremely complicated subject. People can land on the moon, but they can't fully understand how the body that has been used all the time works. For example, the facts we mentioned earlier, from the experience and observation, the five internal organs and the five senses are indeed related, but the specific connection is not clear. No way, we can only explain it with the theory of traditional Chinese medicine. You can say that this explanation is superficial, but it's better to have an explanation than nothing. In fact, in the field of modern science, with the improvement of theoretical level and the emergence of advanced tools, more and more disciplines become more like philosophical research, such as mathematics and physics. Medicine will definitely come to this step in the future. Obviously, our ancient masters of traditional Chinese medicine understood this truth long ago, and they guided their work according to the Book of Changes, Huangdi Neijing and various theories derived from it. If western medicine represents science and technology, Chinese medicine represents philosophy. Then I believe that one day in the future, with our in-depth understanding of more details, Chinese medicine and western medicine will be integrated, and the philosophy of Chinese medicine will lead you to do further detailed research, and the results of these detailed research will in turn prove the wisdom of Chinese medicine philosophy.