What are the five elements of TCM?

The five elements refer to the movement of wood, fire, earth, gold and water. The ancient Chinese people realized that wood, fire, earth, gold and water were the most indispensable basic substances in their long-term life and production practice, which extended that everything in the world was produced by the movement of five basic substances: wood, fire, earth, gold and water. These five substances are mutually enriched and restricted, and maintain a dynamic balance in the constant movement of mutual development and mutual resistance, which is the five elements.

According to the theory of five elements, "straight wood is straight", and everything that has the function or nature of growth, rising and smoothness belongs to wood; "Fire is inflammation", and everything that is warm and uplifting belongs to fire. "Soil and crops", all things with biochemical and bearing functions belong to soil; "Jin says' follow the leather', and everything that has the functions of cleaning, reduction and convergence belongs to gold;" Water is moist ",and everything that is cold, moist and moving downwards belongs to water.

The theory of five elements classifies things according to the characteristics of five elements, and compares the properties and functions of various things and phenomena in nature with the characteristics of five elements, and then belongs to five elements respectively.

According to the theory of five elements, there is a relationship between the five elements: birth, grams, multiplication and humiliation. The relationship between the five elements can explain the relationship between things, and the multiplication of the five elements can be used to show the mutual influence after the balance between things is broken.

Traditional Chinese medicine uses the theory of five elements to explain the physiological function of human body and the pathological changes of the body, which is used for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases.

Classification of five elements

The theory of five elements classifies things according to the characteristics of five elements, and compares the properties and functions of various things and phenomena in nature with the characteristics of five elements, and then belongs to five elements respectively. If the characteristics of things are similar to wood, they belong to wood, and if they are similar to fire, they belong to fire.

Generation, Restriction and Abuse of Five Elements

According to the theory of five elements, there is a relationship between the five elements: birth, grams, multiplication and humiliation. The relationship between the five elements can explain the relationship between things, and the multiplication of the five elements can be used to show the mutual influence after the balance between things is broken.

Common growth means mutual endowment and mutual encouragement. The order of the five elements is: wood fires, fire produces soil, soil produces gold, gold produces water, and aquatic wood. Symbiosis can also be called mother-child relationship, such as wood making a fire, that is, wood is the mother of fire and fire is the son of wood.

Contain and restrict each other. The order of the five elements is: Mutuke, Tukeshui, Shuihuoke, Huojinke and Jin Kemu.

Mutual growth, mutual restriction and inseparable. Without life, things cannot happen and grow. Without constraints, things will not be bound, and normal coordination will not be maintained. Only by maintaining the dynamic balance of mutual growth and mutual restriction can things happen and develop normally.

If the five elements interfere with each other too much or too little, it will destroy the normal relationship between birth and gram, and there will be multiplication or abuse. Multiplication, that is, one of the five elements is too restrained to the other. For example, if wood is too strong and gold cannot restrain wood normally, wood will overwhelm the soil and make it more virtual. This is wood borrowing. Abuse each other, that is, there are so many lines in the five elements that the other line can't restrain it, but is restrained by it, so it is also called anti-aggression or anti-aggression. For example, water can kill fire under normal circumstances, but when there is too little water or too much fire, water can't kill fire, but it will be dried by fire, that is, fire can kill or insult water.

Application of Five Elements Theory in Traditional Chinese Medicine

Traditional Chinese medicine uses the theory of five elements to explain the physiological function of human body and the pathological changes of the body, which is used for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases.

The theory of five elements classifies the five internal organs of human body into five elements respectively. Judging from the endowment of the five internal organs, the essence of kidney water is nourishing liver wood, which stores blood and helps heart fire. The heat of heart fire is warming spleen soil, and spleen soil turns into Shui Gu's subtle lung gold, and lung gold clears up and helps kidney water. This shows the relationship between the five internal organs. Judging from the mutual restriction between the five internal organs, clearing away lung qi can inhibit hyperactivity of liver yang, that is, Jin Kemu; Liver-qi can relieve stagnation of spleen soil, that is, Muketu; The transportation of spleen can avoid the flooding of kidney water, that is, soil water; Moistening kidney water can prevent intense heart fire, that is, water can overcome fire; The yang heat of heart fire can restrict the lung from being too clear, that is, fire can kill gold. Chinese medicine also uses the theory of five elements to explain the relationship between human body and natural environment, climate and diet.

The changes of human body in pathological state can also be explained by the theory of five elements. Because the zang-fu organs belong to the five elements, their interaction is also based on the law of the five elements theory. If the liver disease spreads to the spleen, that is, take soil from the wood; And spleen disease liver, that is, soil insults wood; The mutual pathological influence between liver and spleen is stagnation of wood and deficiency of soil or stagnation of soil and wood. Liver disease affects the heart, which is a maternal disease and a child disease; Affect the lungs, that is, wood insults gold; Affect the kidneys, that is, the child's illness and the mother.

The information obtained from the four clinics of traditional Chinese medicine, Wang, Smell, Question and Qie, has its five elements, so that patients' diseases can be comprehensively judged. For example, patients with blue complexion, love to eat sour food and rapid pulse can be diagnosed as liver disease; Red complexion, bitter taste and heavy pulse can be diagnosed as hyperactivity of heart fire. Another example is spasm with acute convulsion, which is classified as wood disease according to the five elements and can be diagnosed as liver disease from the perspective of human viscera; The whole body is swollen, and urination is unfavorable. The five elements are classified as water disease, and the disease position can be defined as kidney.

According to the theory of five elements, when treating diseases, we should not only consider the diseased viscera themselves, but also control the spread of diseases according to the relationship between the viscera. As "Difficult Classics" said: "When you see the disease of the liver, you should know that the liver should be transmitted to the spleen, and strengthen the spleen first."

According to the law of "mutual growth" of the five elements, Chinese medicine puts forward the therapeutic principle of nourishing the mother in deficiency but nourishing the child in fact:

1. Mother-supplementing is mainly used for deficiency of mother-child relationship. In acupuncture therapy, all deficiency syndromes can be supplemented by mother meridian or mother point. For example, when treating liver deficiency syndrome, choose the Yin Valley point of the kidney meridian. If this is not enough, we will make up for it, and if we make up for it, we will be safe.

2. Diarrhea is mainly used to demonstrate the relationship between mother and child. In acupuncture therapy, whenever there is redundant evidence, the sub-meridians or sub-acupoints to which it belongs can be removed. If the liver qi is insufficient, it can be treated by heart meridian Shaofu or Xue Ying. This is actually diarrhea. Diarrhea is mom's safety.

According to the mother-child relationship, the following principles are put forward:

1. the method of nourishing water and containing wood, that is, nourishing kidney (water) yin and liver (wood) yin, is suitable for liver yin deficiency syndrome caused by kidney yin loss.

2. The method of tonifying fire and nourishing soil, that is, warming kidney-yang (fire) and tonifying spleen-yang, is suitable for spleen-yang deficiency syndrome caused by the decline of kidney-yang. In the five elements, fire refers to the heart, but it calls itself the theory of door rising. The warmth to the body refers to the role of fire in the life door, that is, the role of kidney yang.

3. The method of nourishing lung (kidney) and kidney (water) yin deficiency is suitable for those who are unable to transport fluid and nourish kidney due to lung deficiency, or those who are unable to nourish lung due to kidney yin deficiency and essence.

4. The method of nourishing soil and producing gold, that is, the method of tonifying spleen (soil) and lung (gold), is suitable for the syndrome that the spleen and stomach are weak and the lungs cannot be nourished, leading to lung deficiency and spleen deficiency.

Chinese medicine has established the following therapeutic principles according to the law of "mutual generation and mutual resistance" of the five elements:

1. The method of cultivating soil to make water is suitable for the syndrome of spleen deficiency and water swelling caused by excessive water. Soil and water refer to spleen and kidney, and nourishing soil and making water refers to warming spleen and yang, or warming kidney and strengthening spleen, also known as warming kidney and strengthening spleen method. Deficiency of kidney yang can not warm spleen yang, kidney can not control water, spleen can not make water, and water can not be wet. Therefore, the treatment should be based on warming kidney and strengthening spleen.

2. The method of restraining wood and supporting soil is suitable for the syndrome of liver looseness and wood flourishing. Both wood and soil are liver and spleen. Restrain wood and help soil, that is, soothing the liver and strengthening the spleen to treat liver depression and spleen deficiency, also known as soothing the liver and strengthening the spleen, calming the liver and stomach, and regulating the liver and spleen.

3. The method of purging the south and tonifying the north is suitable for the syndrome of deficiency of kidney yin, excessive heart fire, poor fire and water, and disharmony between heart and kidney. Heart governs fire, and fire belongs to the south; Kidney governs water, and water belongs to the north. The method of purging the south and tonifying the north is to purge the heart fire and nourish the kidney water, which is also called purging fire and replenishing water.

4. The method of assisting gold and leveling wood is suitable for the syndrome of lung deficiency and liver fire excess. Jin Mu is both a lung and a liver. Zuojin Pingmu, that is, clearing lung qi and suppressing liver wood, is also called clearing lung and purging liver.

Relationship between Yin and Yang and Five Elements

Yin-yang theory mainly explains the interdependence, mutual growth and decline and mutual transformation between opposing sides of things; The theory of five elements is to explain the relationship between the attributes of things and the laws of birth, punishment, abuse and humiliation based on the five elements classification of things. In traditional Chinese medicine, both of them are based on viscera, meridians, qi, blood and body fluids. They all analyze, study and explain the physiological activities and pathological changes of the human body and all kinds of relationships inside and outside the human body from the macroscopic natural phenomena (including the changing laws of the human body), and guide clinical syndrome differentiation and treatment with the method of image comparison.