The zangfu ( simplified Chinese : 脏腑 ; traditional Chinese : 臟腑 ; pinyin : zàngfǔ ) organs are functional entities stipulated by traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). These classifications are based on east Asian cosmological observations rather than bio medical definitions that are used in Western evidence based medical models. In TCM theory they represent the energetic representation of the internal organs rather than the anatomical viscera that is referred to in Western medicine.
31-448: Each zang is paired with a fu , and each pair is assigned to one of the wuxing . The zangfu are also connected to the twelve standard meridians – each yang meridian is attached to a fu organ and each yin meridian is attached to a zang . They are five systems of Heart, Liver, Spleen, Lung, Kidney. To highlight the fact that the zangfu are not equivalent to the anatomical organs, their names are often capitalized. To understand
62-498: A metaphysics based on cosmic analogy. Wuxing originally referred to the five major planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury, Mars, Venus), which were with the combination of the Sun and the Moon, conceived as creating five forces of earthly life. This is why the word is composed of Chinese characters meaning "five" ( 五 ; wǔ ) and "moving" ( 行 ; xíng ). "Moving" is shorthand for "planets", since
93-479: A feng shui practitioner attempts to rearrange energy to benefit the client. According to the Warring States period political philosopher Zou Yan ( c. 305–240 BCE), each of the five elements possesses a personified virtue ( 德 ; dé ), which indicates the foreordained destiny ( 運 ; yùn ) of a dynasty; hence the cyclic succession of the elements also indicates dynastic transitions. Zou Yan claims that
124-703: A system of allocation to one of five elemental qualities (i.e., the Five goings or Five Phases). The zangfu share their respective element's allocations (e.g., diagnostics of colour, sound, odour and emotion etc.) and interact with each other cyclically in the same way the Five Elements do: each zang organ has one corresponding zang organ that it disperses, and one that it reinforces or tonifying and sedative. The correspondence between zangfu and Five Elements are stipulated as: The zang organs' essential functions consist in manufacturing and storing qi and blood (and, in
155-633: A wide array of phenomena, including cosmic cycles, the interactions between internal organs , the succession of political regimes, and the properties of herbal medicines . The agents are Fire , Water , Wood , Metal , and Earth . The wuxing system has been in use since it was formulated in the second or first century BCE during the Han dynasty . It appears in many seemingly disparate fields of early Chinese thought, including music , feng shui , alchemy , astrology , martial arts , military strategy , I Ching divination, and traditional medicine , serving as
186-479: Is gogyo ( Japanese : 五行 , romanized : gogyō ). During the 5th and 6th centuries ( Kofun period ), Japan adopted various philosophical disciplines such as Taoism , Chinese Buddhism and Confucianism through monks and physicians from China. As opposed to theory of Godai that is form based and was introduced to Japan through India and Tibetan Buddhism evolving the Onmyōdō system. In particular, wuxing
217-466: Is a Yang (Fu) organ; its paired Yin (Zang) organ is the Kidney. Both are associated with the element of water and the emotion of fear. As opposed to western medicine, where the bladders function is the storage and excretion of urine, the bladder in traditional Chinese medicine has extended functions, including how fluids are transformed during urine production. Fluids are still sent from the small intestine to
248-469: Is a life art with roots in Confucian, Taoists and Buddhist theory. It centers around applied peace and health studies rather than defence or physical action. It emphasizes the unification of mind, body and environment using the physiological theory of yin, yang and five-element Traditional Chinese medicine . Its movements, exercises, and teachings cultivate, direct, and harmonise the qi . The Japanese term
279-434: Is based on wuxing , with the structure of the cosmos mirroring the five phases, as well as the eight trigrams . Each phase has a complex network of associations with different aspects of nature (see table): colors, seasons and shapes all interact according to the cycles. An interaction or energy flow can be expansive, destructive, or exhaustive, depending on the cycle to which it belongs. By understanding these energy flows,
310-606: Is closely related to the Heart, and its stipulated main function is to protect the Heart from attacks by Exterior Pathogenic Factors . Like the Heart, the Pericardium governs blood and stores the mind. The Pericardium's corresponding yang channel is assigned to the San Jiao ("Triple Burner"). The Spleen: The Liver: Yin Metal. Home of the po ( 魄 , Corporeal Soul), paired with the yang organ
341-449: Is extensively used in traditional five phase acupuncture today, as opposed to the modern Confucian styled eight principles based Traditional Chinese medicine. Furthermore, in combination the two systems are a formative and functional study of postnatal and prenatal influencing on genetics, psychology, sociology and ecology. The Huainanzi and the Yueling chapter ( 月令 ; Yuèlìng ) of
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#1732851771547372-623: The Bladder . The Kidneys store jing Essence, govern birth, growth, reproduction and development. They also produce the Marrow which fills the spinal cord, brain and control the bones. The Kidneys are often referred to as the "Root of Life" or the "Root of the Pre-Heaven Qi". The concept of the zangfu is not identified by evidence based medicine – the underlying assumptions and theory have not been verified or falsified by controlled experiments. As
403-508: The Book of Rites make the following correlations: Tai chi uses the five elements to designate different directions, positions or footwork patterns: forward, backward, left, right and centre, or three steps forward (attack) and two steps back (retreat). The Five Steps ( 五步 ; wǔ bù ): The martial art of xingyiquan uses the five elements metaphorically to represent five different states of combat. Wuxing heqidao , Gogyo Aikido (五行合气道)
434-547: The Large Intestine . The function of the Lung is to disperse and descend qi throughout the body. It receives qi through the breath, and exhales the waste and helps the peristaltic action of the gastrointestinal tract.The Lung governs the skin and hair and also governs the exterior (one part of immunity) and the closing of the skin pores. A properly functioning Lung organ will ensure the skin and hair are of good quality and that
465-510: The Mandate of Heaven sanctions the legitimacy of a dynasty by sending self-manifesting auspicious signs in the ritual color (yellow, blue, white, red, and black) that matches the element of the new dynasty (Earth, Wood, Metal, Fire, and Water). From the Qin dynasty onward, most Chinese dynasties invoked the theory of the Five Elements to legitimize their reign. The interdependence of zangfu networks in
496-434: The wuxing element " Wood " is more accurately thought of as the " vital essence " of trees rather than the physical substance wood. This led sinologist Nathan Sivin to propose the alternative translation "five phases" in 1987. But "phase" also fails to capture the full meaning of wuxing . In some contexts, the wuxing are indeed associated with physical substances. Historian of Chinese medicine Manfred Porkert proposed
527-427: The zangfu it is important to realize that their concept did not primarily develop out of anatomical biological considerations but from cosmological patterns and influences. The need to describe and systematize the bodily functions was more significant to ancient Chinese physicians than opening up a cadaver (dead body) and seeing what morphological formal structures there actually were. For example traditionally viewing
558-444: The (somewhat unwieldy) term "Evolutive Phase". Perhaps the most widely accepted translation among modern scholars is "the five agents", proposed by Marc Kalinowski. In traditional doctrine, the five phases are connected in two cycles of interactions: a generating or creation ( 生 shēng ) cycle, also known as "mother-son"; and an overcoming or destructive ( 克 kè ) cycle, also known as "grandfather-grandson" (see diagram). Each of
589-455: The Five Elements into 60 ming ( 命 ), or life orders, based on the ganzhi . Similar to the astrology zodiac, the ming is used by fortune-tellers to analyse individual personality and destiny. The wuxing schema is applied to explain phenomena in various fields. The five phases are around 73 days each and are usually used to describe the transformations of nature rather than their formative states. The art of feng shui (Chinese geomancy )
620-429: The Heart of pericardium was forbidden. Thus, the zangfu are functional relational entities first and foremost, and only loosely tied to (rudimentary) anatomical assumptions. Each zangfu organ has a yin and a yang aspect, but overall, the zang organs are considered to be yin, and the fu organs yang. Since the concept of the zangfu was developed on the basis of wuxing philosophy, they are incorporated into
651-463: The Liver channel "opens" into the eyes). In listing the functions of the zang organs, TCM regularly uses the term "governing" ( 主 ; zhǔ ) – indicating that the main responsibility of regulating something (e.g. blood, qi , water metabolism etc.) lies with a certain zang . Although the zang are functional entities in the first place, TCM gives vague locations for them – namely, the general area where
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#1732851771547682-460: The anatomical organ of the same name would be found. One could argue that this (or any) positioning of the zang is irrelevant for the TCM system; there is some relevance, however, in whether a certain zang would be attributed to the upper, middle or lower jiao . The Heart: Since there are only five zang organs but six yin channels, the remaining meridian is assigned to the Pericardium. Its concept
713-426: The bladder for storage, but the bladder's capabilities are dependent on the kidney yang. If the kidney is yang deficient, the bladder may not have the sufficient qi and heat to transform fluids properly into urine. This could result in overly clear urine that must be excreted more frequently. This China -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about alternative medicine
744-506: The body was said to be a circle of five things, and so mapped by the Chinese doctors onto the five phases. In order to explain the integrity and complexity of the human body, Chinese medical scientists and physicians use the Five Elements theory to classify the human body's endogenous influences on organs, physiological activities, pathological reactions, and environmental or exogenous (external, environmental) influences. This diagnostic capacity
775-408: The case of the Kidney, essence). The hollow fu organs' main purpose is to transmit and digest (传化, pinyin : chuánhuà ) substances (like waste, food, etc.). Each zang has a corresponding "orifice" it "opens" into. This means the functional entity of a given zang includes the corresponding orifice's functions (e.g. blurry vision is primarily seen as a dysfunction of the Liver zang because
806-429: The immune system is strong and able to fight disease. The normal direction of the Lung is defending, when Lung qi "rebels" it goes upwards, causing coughing and wheezing. When the Lung is weak, there can be skin conditions such as eczema, thin or brittle hair, and a propensity to catching colds and flu. The Lung is weakened by dryness and the emotion of grief or sadness. Water. Home of the zhi ( 志 , Will), paired with
837-403: The study and practice of Traditional Chinese medicine's mechanisms are comparatively new in the west it has been criticized as pseudoscientific . Wuxing (Chinese philosophy) Wuxing ( Chinese : 五行 ; pinyin : wǔxíng ), usually translated as Five Phases or Five Agents , is a fivefold conceptual scheme used in many traditional Chinese fields of study to explain
868-515: The two cycles can be analyzed going forward or reversed. There is also an "overacting" or excessive version of the destructive cycle. The generating cycle ( 相 生 xiāngshēng ) is: The reverse generating cycle ( 相 洩 / 相 泄 xiāngxiè ) is: The destructive cycle ( 相 克 xiāngkè ) is: The excessive destructive cycle ( 相 乘 xiāngchéng ) is: A reverse or deficient destructive cycle ( 相 侮 xiāngwǔ or 相 耗 xiānghào ) is: In Ziwei divination, neiyin ( 納音 ) further classifies
899-519: The word for planets in Chinese literally translates as "moving stars" ( 行星 ; xíngxīng ). Some of the Mawangdui Silk Texts (before 168 BC) also connect the wuxing to the wude ( 五德 ; wǔdé ), the Five Virtues and Five Emotions. Scholars believe that various predecessors to the concept of wuxing were merged into one system with many interpretations during the Han dynasty . Wuxing
930-520: Was adapted into gogyo. These theories have been extensively practiced in Japanese acupuncture and traditional Kampo medicine. Urinary bladder (Chinese medicine) As distinct from the Western medical concept of urinary bladder , this concept from traditional Chinese medicine is more a way of describing a set of interrelated functions than an anatomical organ. (See Zang Fu theory ) The Bladder
961-528: Was first translated into English as "the Five Elements", drawing deliberate parallels with the Greek arrangement of the four elements . This translation is still in common use among practitioners of Traditional Chinese medicine , such as in the name of Five Element acupuncture. However, this analogy is misleading. The four elements are concerned with form, substance and quantity, whereas wuxing are "primarily concerned with process, change, and quality". For example,