The Five Elements are arranged in the order of Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water, each nurturing the next in a continuous cycle of generation, while also having a restrictive relationship with one another. This cycle is unending: Wood generates Fire, Fire generates Earth, Earth generates Metal, Metal generates Water, and Water generates Wood, repeating endlessly. Conversely, Wood restrains Earth, Earth restrains Water, Water restrains Fire, Fire restrains Metal, and Metal restrains Wood. This may seem simple, but it is the essence of the Five Element theory. The generative relationships exist among three adjacent elements, while also containing the restrictive relationships. For example, in the relationship among Wood, Fire, and Earth, Wood generates Fire, Fire generates Earth, but at the same time, Wood restrains Earth. They are interdependent yet mutually constraining, creating a balance within the Earth.
Looking at the entire Five Element system, any one element is simultaneously influenced by both generative and restrictive forces, preventing excessive growth or excessive restraint. They mutually contain and constrain each other, creating a complex yet dynamic balance within the Five Element system.
As Liu Wansu stated in “San Xiao Lun”: The human body “contains all Five Elements, nurturing each other in succession, which is called harmony.” Similarly, Zhang Jingyue discussed in “Liu Jing Tu Yi”: “The mechanism of creation cannot be without generation, nor can it be without restraint. Without generation, there is no development; without restraint, there is excess and harm. There must be generation within restraint and restraint within generation for the cycle to continue, creating a balance between opposites.”
1. Establishing a Self-Regulating System within the Human Body Based on the Five Elements
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) utilizes the generative and restrictive relationships of the Five Elements to explain the body’s self-regulating mechanisms. The generative relationships among the Five Organs illustrate their inter-nurturing connections, as seen in the “Su Wen: Yin Yang Ying Xiang Da Lun”: “The Liver generates tendons, tendons generate the Heart,” which means Wood generates Fire; “The Heart generates blood, blood generates the Spleen,” meaning Fire generates Earth; “The Spleen generates flesh, flesh generates the Lungs,” meaning Earth generates Metal; “The Lungs generate skin and hair, skin and hair generate the Kidneys,” meaning Metal generates Water; “The Kidneys generate bone marrow, marrow generates the Liver,” meaning Water generates Wood.
This is the source of the continuous generation among the Five Organs.
The restrictive relationships among the Five Organs illustrate their mutual constraints, as seen in the “Su Wen: Wu Zang Sheng Cheng”: “The Heart is associated with the pulse, its glory is color, and it governs the Kidneys,” meaning Water restrains Fire; “The Lungs are associated with the skin, their glory is hair, and they govern the Heart,” meaning Fire restrains Metal; “The Liver is associated with tendons, their glory is nails, and it governs the Lungs,” meaning Metal restrains Wood; “The Spleen is associated with flesh, their glory is lips, and it governs the Liver,” meaning Wood restrains Earth; “The Kidneys are associated with bones, their glory is hair, and they govern the Spleen,” meaning Earth restrains Water.
This illustrates how the Five Organs, according to the restrictive order of the Five Elements, mutually restrain each other, forming a self-regulating mechanism of the Five Elements.
Each organ in the human body has relationships of generation and restraint with the other four organs. As noted by Zhang Zhizong in “Lü Shan Tang Lei Bian: Cao Mu Bu Diao Lun”: “The Qi of the Five Organs is interconnected.”
In the TCM theoretical system centered on the Five Organs, the Five Element theory is used to deduce the attributes of the Five Organs, Six Bowels, Five Bodies, Five Orifices, Five Fluids, and Five Emotions, categorizing them within the Five Element system centered on the Five Organs. Within each system, the organs, bowels, bodies, orifices, fluids, and emotions have intrinsic connections.
“Su Wen: Xuan Ming Wu Qi” associates the Five Tastes, Five Qi, Five Essences, Five Fluids, Five Prohibitions, Five Organs, and their governing functions with the Five Organs.
For example, “The Five Tastes: Sour enters the Liver, Spicy enters the Lungs, Bitter enters the Heart, Salty enters the Kidneys, Sweet enters the Spleen.”
The Liver and Gallbladder are interrelated, associated with tendons, opening to the eyes, their glory is in the nails, in fluids as tears, and in emotions as anger, forming the Liver Wood system.
Opening to the tongue, their glory is in the face, in fluids as sweat, and in emotions as joy, forming the Heart Fire system.
The Spleen and Stomach are interrelated, associated with flesh, opening to the mouth, their glory is in the lips (or the four whites of the lips), in fluids as saliva, and in emotions as thought, forming the Spleen Earth system.
The Lungs and Large Intestine are interrelated, associated with skin, opening to the mouth, their glory is in the hair, in fluids as mucus, and in emotions as worry (sadness), forming the Lung Metal system.
The Kidneys and Bladder are interrelated, associated with bones, opening to the ears and the two yin, their glory is in the hair, in fluids as saliva, and in emotions as fear, forming the Kidney Water system.
In the Five Element system centered on the Five Organs, each organ within the system has its intrinsic connections; between systems, they mutually generate and restrain each other, maintaining the physiological balance and functional stability of the body. Thus, the Five Element system, led by the Five Organs, maintains its stability and coordination through the process of “restraint leads to transformation.”
2. Using the Five Elements as a Medium to Explain the Imbalance in the Body’s Self-Regulation
When the normal generative and restrictive relationships among the Five Elements are disrupted, the self-regulating mechanism becomes abnormal. The functions of the Five Organs are interconnected as an organic whole due to the generative and restrictive relationships of the Five Elements. Any dysfunction in one organ inevitably affects the other four organs, leading to regulatory imbalance.
For example, lung disease affects the kidneys, as the mother organ and child organ; it affects the spleen, as the child organ and mother organ; it affects the liver, as mutual restraint; and it affects the heart, as mutual insult. The other four organs follow this pattern.
As stated in “Su Wen: Yu Ji Zhen Cang Lun”: “The Five Organs receive Qi from their generating organs, transmit it to their winning organs, Qi resides in their generating organs, and dies in those they cannot win. When a disease leads to death, it must first transmit and circulate until it reaches the organ it cannot win, and then the disease leads to death… The Kidneys receive Qi from the Liver, transmit it to the Heart, Qi resides in the Lungs, and dies in the Spleen.”
The mutual influence of diseases among the Five Organs can generally be analyzed in two forms: one is the transmission of the generative relationship, which includes the mother affecting the child and the child affecting the mother, often due to deficiency leading to deficiency or excess leading to excess; the other is the transmission of the restrictive relationship, which includes mutual restraint and mutual insult, often due to one being strong and the other weak or both being present.
As stated in “Su Wen: Wu Yun Xing Da Lun”: “If Qi is excessive, it will restrain what it has won and insult what it cannot win; if it is insufficient, it will be insulted and overcome by what it cannot win, and what it has won will be lightly insulted.” This means that if Wood is deficient (insufficient), then Metal will recover; if Water is deficient (insufficient), then Earth will overcome Wood and Fire.
The human body often experiences an excess in one organ due to various factors, making it easy to restrain what it has won, or a weakness in one organ, making it easy to be restrained by what it cannot win, leading to a disruption of normal physiological balance and resulting in illness.
As stated in “Su Wen: Liu Wei Zhi Da Lun”: “Excess leads to harm, restraint leads to transformation, transformation leads to external manifestations of excess and deficiency, harm leads to chaos and disorder, and transformation leads to major illness.” This indicates an internal regulatory mechanism that manifests when one organ is excessively active or not timely addressed.
Zhang Yinan further elaborated on the principles of the Five Elements and the mechanism of “excess harm and restraint” in “Huang Di Nei Jing Su Wen Ji Zhu”: “Within the Five Elements, there is generation and transformation, restraint and overcoming. If there is no restraint and excess reaches its peak, it leads to harm; if there is restraint, then transformation occurs.”
Zhang Jingyue stated: “Excess is the peak of abundance. Restraint is to suppress it due to its peak. The way of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements is such that when there is excess, there is discord, and the strong and weak harm each other. Therefore, whenever there is a tendency towards excess, there must be a tendency towards deficiency, causing the strong to become stronger and the weak to become weaker, leading to greater discord and chaos. Thus, when there is excess, it harms what it has won, and those below must restrain it. This is the natural principle of heaven and earth, and there is no constant victory or constant defeat.” (“Liu Jing”).
Thus, “excess harm and restraint” is the body’s internal self-balancing mechanism.
The generative and restrictive relationships of the Five Elements are not only used for theoretical explanation but also have practical significance in guiding clinical diagnosis and treatment.
Based on the generative and restrictive laws of the Five Organs, the treatment principles determined by the generative relationships of the Five Organs are “nourish the mother” and “drain the child,” as stated in “Nan Jing: Sixty-Ninth Difficulties”: “For deficiency, nourish the mother; for excess, drain the child.” Utilizing this mother-child relationship, for deficiencies in the Five Organs, one can apply the nourishing method for the mother organ, and for excesses, one can apply the draining method for the child organ. For example, for Liver deficiency, nourish the Kidneys; for Liver excess, drain the Heart, which is the application of this method.
Additionally, “nourishing Water to support Wood,” “cultivating Earth to generate Metal,” “Metal and Water generating each other,” and “benefiting Fire to nourish Earth” are all treatment methods based on generative relationships. The treatment principles determined by the restrictive relationships are “suppress the strong and support the weak,” meaning to drain the strong that restrains and nourish the weak that is being restrained. These principles focus on adjusting the pathological changes between two organs in a restrictive relationship. For example, if the Liver is strong and overcomes the Spleen, the excessive Liver Wood should be drained, while the Spleen Earth, which is being overcome, should be nourished, which is known as the “suppress Wood and support Earth” method. Furthermore, there are methods such as “assisting Metal to balance Wood,” “draining the South and nourishing the North,” and “cultivating Earth to restrain Water,” all based on restrictive relationships, aimed at restoring the generative and restrictive balance among the Five Organs and promoting the recovery of the body’s self-regulating mechanisms.
3. Using the Five Elements as a Pivot to Explain the Interconnection between the Body’s Self-Regulation and the Natural World
The application of the Five Element theory in TCM strengthens the close connection between humans and the natural world, constructing a Five Element system in nature, forming five functional activity systems centered on the Five Organs, responding to the five directions, five seasons, and five Qi, while internally linking the Six Bowels, Five Orifices, body, and emotions, establishing the integrity of the human body and the unity of humans with the natural environment.
As stated in “Su Wen: Bao Ming Quan Xing Lun”: “Heaven covers and Earth supports, all things are complete, none is more precious than humans. Humans are born from the Qi of Heaven and Earth, and the laws of the four seasons are established.” This fully reflects the holistic view of the relationship between heaven and humanity in TCM theory.
“Su Wen: Yi Fa Fang Yi Lun” states: “Each disease is treated differently, and all can be cured. Why is that? Qi Bo replied: It is due to the terrain.”
Furthermore, in “Su Wen: Yin Yang Ying Xiang Da Lun”: “Heaven has four seasons and five elements, (for growth, storage, cold, heat, dryness, humidity, and wind. Humans have five organs that transform into five Qi, producing joy, anger, sadness, worry, and fear.”
The above texts summarize the impact of the changes in the Qi of the Five Movements on the natural environment and the human body. By using the Five Elements as a pivot, it organically combines humans with the natural world, forming a holistic view of the relationship between heaven and humanity, thus illustrating that the body’s self-regulating mechanisms are closely related to the phenomena and events of the natural world.
“Shang Han Za Bing Lun: Zi Xu” states: “Heaven distributes the Five Elements to operate all things; humans inherit the Five Constants to possess the Five Organs.” This means that “Heaven has Five Elements, nurturing life.” (For example, in the natural world, the Five Qi corresponds to the Five Elements: Spring belongs to Wood, Wind is the main Qi of Spring, thus Wind also belongs to Wood; Autumn belongs to Metal, Dryness is the main Qi of Autumn, thus Dryness also belongs to Metal; and so on.)
Taking the human body’s Six Bowels, Five Bodies, Five Orifices, and Five Emotions as examples: The Liver belongs to Wood, and the Liver and Gallbladder are interrelated, governing tendons, opening to the eyes, their glory is in tears, thus the Gallbladder, tendons, eyes, anger, and tears also belong to Wood; the Heart belongs to Fire, and the Heart and Small Intestine are interrelated, governing the pulse, opening to the tongue, their glory is in sweat, thus the Small Intestine, pulse, tongue, joy, and sweat also belong to Fire; and so on.
“Su Wen: Yin Yang Ying Xiang Da Lun”: “The East generates wind, wind generates Wood, Wood generates sour, sour generates the Liver, the Liver generates tendons, tendons generate the Heart, the Liver governs the eyes. In heaven, it is mysterious; in humans, it is the way; in the earth, it is transformation. Transformation generates the Five Tastes, the way generates wisdom, the mysterious generates spirit, the spirit in heaven is wind, in the earth is Wood, in the body is tendons, in the organs is the Liver. In color, it is green; in sound, it is the horn; in voice, it is the call; in movement, it is the grip; in orifice, it is the eye; in taste, it is sour; in emotion, it is anger. Anger harms the Liver, sadness overcomes anger, wind harms tendons, dryness overcomes wind, sour harms tendons, and spiciness overcomes sour.” (This shows that under the holistic view of the relationship between heaven and humanity, every breath, every drink, and every food is closely related to the natural world. Therefore, the body’s self-regulating mechanisms are inseparable from the natural world we rely on for survival, and the dynamic balance of the human body needs to maintain the same rhythm as nature. The Five Elements serve as a pivot, and the relationships of transformation inherently possess the ability to maintain their dynamic balance.
The balance of the human body’s Five Element system is influenced by natural phenomena, such as diet and medicine. In “Su Wen: Zang Qi Fa Shi Lun”, it is discussed: “Toxic drugs attack evil, the Five Grains nourish, the Five Fruits assist, the Five Livestock benefit, and the Five Vegetables fill. Qi and flavor combine to nourish essence and benefit Qi.” This shows that medicines and foods each have their strengths, and diet can replenish the essence and Qi of the organs. When the essence and Qi are sufficient, the spirit is vigorous, and the righteous Qi is strong, thus enhancing the normal functioning of the organs and achieving self-regulation.
Furthermore, as stated in “Su Wen: Liu Jie Zang Xiang Lun”: “Heaven feeds humans with the Five Qi, and Earth feeds humans with the Five Tastes. The Five Qi enters through the nose, is stored in the heart and lungs, and enables the Five Colors to be bright and the sounds to be clear. The Five Tastes enter through the mouth, are stored in the intestines and stomach, and flavors are stored to nourish the Five Qi. When Qi is harmonious, fluids are generated, and the spirit is naturally born.” Humans rely on the products of the natural world, using the mutual application and mutual restraint of the Five Elements to maintain the regulatory relationships that balance the body, forming a powerful self-regulating ability.
“Su Wen: Wu Chang Zheng Da Lun” also emphasizes the importance of dietary nourishment in the later stages of disease treatment: “Grains, meat, fruits, and vegetables should be consumed to nourish completely, without excess, to avoid harming the righteous Qi.” Zhang Jingyue noted: “When the illness has mostly resolved, but some remnants remain, one should use grains, meat, fruits, and vegetables to cultivate the righteous Qi, allowing the remaining evil to dissipate.” This emphasizes that during the treatment of diseases, one should not rely solely on medicines but should also pay attention to dietary regulation to restore balance in the body, thus strengthening the righteous Qi and allowing the evil to dissipate, promoting recovery to health.
However, proper dietary nourishment can support the righteous Qi, while improper nourishment can sometimes worsen the condition or trigger diseases. In “Jing Yue Quan Shu: Shang Han Yin Shi Yi Ji”, it is pointed out: “After recovery, when the stomach Qi is just awakening, one must not indulge in food; indulging will lead to a relapse.” Diet must transform into the body’s essence and Qi, relying on the Spleen and Stomach’s transport functions. After the initial recovery from illness, the patient’s Spleen and Stomach functions are still weak, and the stomach Qi has not yet recovered. Excessive eating, especially of indigestible foods, will only burden the Spleen and Stomach further, further damaging their functions. At this time, improper diet will not only fail to support the righteous Qi but will also leave the door open for the evil to return, leading to a relapse of the disease. Thus, improper dietary nourishment can hinder the body’s self-healing ability and obstruct and restrain the body’s self-regulation.
Therefore, “Su Wen: Tian Yuan Ji Da Lun” states: “The Yin and Yang of the Five Movements are the way of heaven and earth, the framework of all things, the parents of change, the origin of life and death, and the abode of the spirit. Can this not be understood?” This means that Yin and Yang and the Five Elements are the general laws of the universe and the life activities of the human body. “Yin is balanced and Yang is secret” is a high-level summary of TCM’s steady-state view and the best state of self-regulation. “Yin and Yang harmonize” is the self-regulating process by which the human body achieves “Yin is balanced and Yang is secret,” with the main regulatory mechanism being the feedback regulation of the Five Elements. Foods, medicines, and other methods of treating diseases actually mobilize and utilize the body’s potential, restoring the harmony of Yin and Yang and the normal transformation of the Five Elements. The Five Element theory focuses on the generative and restrictive transformations of the Five Elements, forming a continuous movement that maintains the harmony of Yin and Yang in the human body, which is the self-regulating mechanism of the body and has significant importance for protecting and promoting human health.