Five Elements

The Five Elements

From five materials to five elements  

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The five elements refer to wood, fire, earth, metal and water. The five elements theory resulted from the observations and studies of the natural world by the ancient Chinese people in the course of their lives and productive labor. Since ancient time, wood, fire, earth, metal and water have been considered as basic substances to constitute the universe and they are also indispensable for life. It came to recognize that everything in nature might be respectively attributed to one of the five elements.

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In TCM, the five elements theory as a theoretical tool, is used to explain different kinds of medical problems by analogizing and deducing their properties and interrelations. It also used to guide clinical diagnosis and treatment.

Nature of Five Elements Wood has the nature of growing freely and unfolding.  Anything that grows and flourishes freely has the character of wood.  Fire has the nature of flaming upwards.  Fire symbolizes anything that is hot and has such an upward flaring pattern. 

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Earth has the nature of giving birth to all things. Then it represents the promotion of growth and the nourishing process, the “earth is the mother of all things”. Metal has the nature of purifying and descending. Anything that purify and descend corresponds to mental. Water has the nature of moistening and flowing downwards. Anything that moistens, cools and flows downward corresponds to water.

Application of five elements       

Doctor classified all things into five elements according to their nature, function and form. In TCM, five Zang organs are classified into five elements according to their nature. Liver-wood Heart-fire Spleen-earth Lung-mental Kidney-water

Five Elements Classification WOOD

FIRE

EARTH

METAL

WATER

Season

Spring

Summer

Late Summer

Autumn

Winter

Climatic Qi

Wind

Heat

Damp

Dryness

Cold

Colour

Green

Red

Yellow

White

Black

Taste

Sour

Bitter

Sweet

Spicy

Salty

Orientation

East

South

Center

West

North

Development

Germination

Growth

Transformation

Reaping

Storing

Zang Organ

Liver

Heart

Spleen

Lung

Kidney

Fu Organ

Gallbladder

Sm. Intestine

Stomach

Lg. Intestine

Bladder

Sense Organ

Eyes

Tongue

Mouth

Nose

Ears

Body Tissue

Sinews

Blood Vessel

Muscles

Skin

Bone

Emotion

Anger

Joy/Shock

Worry

Sadness

Fear

Sound

Shout

Laugh

Sing

Cry

Moan

Example  2. 3.

4. 5.

A 32 year old man had a fight with his wife during breakfast. He became very angry and forgot about finishing his meal. He presented at the clinic with strong cramping pain around the lower right front ribs, greenish facial complexion, and a frontal headache which seemed to affect his eyes.

Analysis 1. 2.

3. 4. 

Anger is the emotion of Wood Pain around the lower right front ribs Possible gallbladder pain-Wood Green is the color of wood Eyes are the sense organs of Wood Diagnosis: The gentleman’s Wood element is out of balance.

Normal relationship and disruption Among the five elements, there exist  The normal relationships of generation and restriction  The disruption of over-restriction (overmaster) and counter-restriction(rebel)

Generation relationships among five elements In ancient time     

people made fire by drilling wood, so “wood produce fire” people burn some substance such as tree to ashes for fertilizing the soil, hence “fire produce earth” people obtained metal from rock and earth (ore), thus “earth produce metal” Water come from ore (mineral water), hence “metal produce water” Without water, plants could not grow, so “water produce wood”

Generation 

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Generation implies that one kind of thing can promote, aid or bring forth another wood generates fire, fire generates earth, earth generates metal, metal generates water, Water generates wood.

The Mutually

Generation Cycle 

fire wood

earth 

water

metal

The clockwise sequence on the circle represents the Generation cycle. Each element is mother to the next element.

"mother-child" relationship 

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Each of the five elements contains the dual nature -"being generated" and "generating". This relationship of the five elements is called the "mother-child" relationship. The element that generates is called the "mother", while the element that is generated is called the "child".

Take wood for example    

because wood generates fire, it is the mother of fire; but wood is generated by water, so it is child of water.

Restriction 

 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Restriction means bringing under control or restraint. The order of restriction goes as follows: wood restricts earth, earth restricts water, water restricts fire, fire restricts metal, Metal restricts wood.

How restriction happen     

Plants grow and absorb fertilizer from the earth, so wood subdues earth Earth blocks water, so earth subdues water Water puts out fire, so water subdues fire Fire can melt metal, so fire subdues metal Tools made of metal are used for cutting down trees, so metal subdues wood

The Mutually Restriction Cycle Wood Water

Metal

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Fire

Earth

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The sequence on the circle represents the Restriction cycle. Water can extinguish Fire, Fire can melt Metal, Metal can cut Wood, Wood can contain Earth and Earth can absorb Water.

For example 

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Any one of the five elements has two aspects, being restricted and restricting. the water restrict fire, and the water is restricted by earth. is restricted

restrict

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Generation and restriction have the correlations inseparable in the five elements. They oppose each other and yet also complement each other. Without generation, there would be no growth and development of things; Without restriction, there would be no balance and coordination during development and change, thus resulting in excessive growth would bring about harm.

For example   

wood generates fire, fire restricts metal; metal restricts wood.

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Precisely because generation resides in restriction and restriction resides in generation,

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the relative balance maintained between generation and restriction ensures normal growth and development of things.

Over-restriction and counter-restriction However, once any one of the five elements becomes excessive or insufficient,  there would appear abnormal relationship among five elements: over-restriction and counterrestriction 

Over-restriction 

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Over-restriction is meant that one of the five elements overacts upon another one when the latter is weak. Therefore, it is also called "double restriction".

The

Over-restriction Cycle 

Wood Water

Fire

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Metal

Earth

The sequence on the circle represents the Over-restriction cycle. The sequence is same to restriction cycle; But it is too over Because of the restricting element is too strong or the restricted element is too weak

For instance  

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Normally, wood restricts earth, While excessive wood may over-restrict earth, and resulting in insufficiency of earth, so called wood over-restrict earth.

Counter-restriction  

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Counter-restriction means that the strong bully the weak. It is also a morbid condition in which one element fails to restrict the other in the regular order, but in reverse order. It is clear that the order of counterrestriction is just the opposite to that of restriction.

The

Counter-restriction Cycle Wood

Water

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Fire 

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Metal

Earth

The sequence on the circle represents the Counter-restriction cycle. The sequence is just opposite to restriction cycle; Because of being restricted element is too powerful.

For example    

under normal conditions, metal should restrict wood, but in case of wood-Qi excess, or metal-Qi deficiency, wood will counter-restrict metal instead of being restricted by metal, which is known as "wood counter-restrict metal."

Essential Question states "When Qi of a certain element is sufficient, it will Over-restrict the restricted element and counter-restrict the restricting element.  When Qi of a certain element is insufficient, it will be Over-restricted by the restricting element and counter-restricted by the restricted element," 

Application: 1.Normal—generation and restriction Wood(liver) Water

Fire

(kidney)

(heart)

Metal (lung)

Earth (spleen)

Each of the internal organs pertains to the five elements

Application: 2. Abnormal—over-restriction Wood(liver) Water

Fire

(kidney)

(heart)

Metal (lung)

Earth (spleen)

Application: 3. Abnormal—counter-restriction Wood(liver) Water

Fire

(kidney)

(heart)

Metal

Earth

(lung)

(spleen)

Example –wood excess kidney (water)

Lung (metal)

counter-restrict over-restrict liver spleen (wood) (earth) (The disorder of mother affects son) heart (fire)

purging the son organ

supporting the weak

Example –wood deficiency kidney (water)

Lung (metal)

reinforcing the mother organ

(The disorder of son involves mother) over-restrict counter-restrict liver spleen (wood) (earth) Inhibiting the excess heart (fire)

Treatment principle According to the theory,  Treating the excess syndrome of mother organ by purging the son organ  The excess of liver fire can be reduced by purging heart fire

Treating the deficiency syndrome of son organ by reinforcing the mother organ  Building up kidney essence to generate liver Qi 

Inhibiting the excess, supporting the weak  Purging heart fire, nourishing kidney Yin 

Review Five elements  Nature of Five Elements  Normal relationship and disruption  Application 