It is unclear historically when the Five Element theory arose, but it does appear in the literature by about 500 BC. Initially, the Five Element theory (the term Five Agent theory is technically more correct, but Five Element has become more popular and familiar and so I use it here) was simply a grouping. Phenomena were grouped into five categories, with no relationship between items within a group or between the groups discussed. And, as is typically Chinese, there were many variations of these groupings. In the Huang Di nei jing su wen (Huang Di’s Inner Classic, Basic Questions; see Disposition), there are 26 chapters which discuss 50 types of such groups. It is also historically unclear why in the company of groupings of three, four, and six, five survived and became the most prevalent. From an internal perspective of Chinese medicine, there is more clarity on this issue.
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Nothing to Study – The Concept of an Organ in Chinese Medicine
The concept of organs in Chinese medicine can sometimes be a confusing topic for patients. In a Western culture, it can be very difficult to understand that Liver depression (this is the technical term for Liver Qi stagnation) is not going to show up on a blood test. This brings up the very important topic that in Chinese medicine, we do not study organs. In fact, there is no study of any body part in Chinese medicine. Chinese medicine does not study tissues, or cells, or organs, but instead studies relationships.
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The Kidneys Store the Jing
“The Kidneys store the Jing” is one of the stated functions of the Kidneys in Chinese medicine. The term Jing is one which has no English language equivalent. It refers to a substance which is endowed to each person, through their parents, at the moment of conception. It has both a qualitative and a quantitative component, is finite in quantity, and is stored in the conceptual space of the lower dan tian (literally “elixir field”) between the Kidneys. It gives root to the Yin and Yang, the fundamental substrates out of which all bodily substances and processes arise.
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Honesty – The Virtue of the Spleen
The Spleen is the organ whose Chinese function is most difficult to understand from a Western biomedical perspective. Unlike all of the other organs, the Chinese concept of the Spleen has very little to do with the anatomical spleen (see also Nothing to Study – The Concept of an Organ in Chinese Medicine). Some of its physical functions related to transformation can be correlated with the pancreas and the thyroid, but there is no one organ which fully describes the Spleen organ system.
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Benevolence – The Virtue of the Liver
Each of the five Chinese organs, or Zang, has associated with it a corresponding emotion. This emotion is the quality of energy governed by the respective organ, experienced on a human level. In health this energy flows freely, but in imbalance it becomes stagnant, expressing itself as a recurring emotion. Because the Liver governs the smooth flow of emotion, it plays a role in the stagnation of any of the five emotions. Like the other organs though, it has resonance with a specific quality of energy. The emotion of the Liver is anger.
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Wisdom – The Virtue of the Kidneys
The basic paradigm of virtue in Chinese medicine is as follows: Virtue, “de” in Chinese, implies contact with original nature. The character symbolizes accordance between and action in accordance with one’s heart-mind (the Chinese term “xin”, or Heart, literally translates at heart-mind. Virtue is what manifests when one acts in accordance with one’s true nature. Virtues are part of the Chinese concept of an organ system. Each organ has association and resonance with a given virtue, just as each organ system includes a set of channels, functions, symptoms of imbalance, etc. Just as red and blue are on a continuum of the visual color spectrum, and as the visual color spectrum is part of the electromagnetic spectrum, so is each individual virtue part of a larger “virtue spectrum”. The virtue of a particular organ is simply an entrance into the larger realm of virtue.
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Propriety – The Virtue of the Heart
How can a person know the Dao? By the heart.
How can the heart know? By emptiness, the pure attention that unifies being and quietude.
The heart is never without treasure, yet it is called empty.
The heart is never completely filled, yet it is called unified.
The heart is never without movement, yet it is called quiet.
The heart is alive, and possesses knowledge; it knows, and from knowing makes distinctions.
To make distinctions is to know all parts of the whole at once.
Xunzi, Confuscian philosopher from 3rd century B.C.
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Preciousness and Righteousness – The Virtues of the Lungs
As summer comes to an end and fall begins, the inner beauty of nature is revealed in bright colors and clear skies. At the same time, having peaked, flowers and trees begin to outwardly die as their energy returns to the earth for restoration over the winter. The beauty of fall is tied to its fleeting nature. Experiencing the beauty as complete in the moment is the virtue of Metal called preciousness (precious – highly refined; of great value). Experiencing the loss is the emotion of Metal called sadness.
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