Five elements are one of the basic categories of China's ancient philosophy and China's ancient primitive scientific thought. "Five" refers to five substances: wood, fire, earth, gold and water: "Xing", which extends in all directions and is popular and useful, is the ancient meaning of action and movement, that is, the meaning of movement change and endless operation. The five elements refer to the movements and changes of five substances: wood, fire, earth, gold and water.

Yin and Yang are the universal laws of the universe, and also the internal contradictory elements of Qi itself: Qi has Yin and Yang, and Qi is divided into five elements, so the five elements also contain Yin and Yang. The movement of the five elements is bound to be restricted by yin and yang. Yin turns to Yang, and five elements are born. In the five elements, wood fire belongs to yang, and golden water belongs to yin. Each line in the five elements has its own yin and yang.

The characteristics of the five elements are:

"Mu Yue Qu Zhi": Qu, Qu Ye; Stretch straight. Straight means bending and stretching. Wood has the characteristics of growth, bending, stretching and rising. Wood represents the performance of vitality, indicating that everything in the universe has endless functions. All things or phenomena with such characteristics can be attributed to "wood".

"Fire says getting angry": inflammation, heat also; Get up. Get up. Fire is characterized by fever, warmth and upward movement. Fire represents the sublimation, brilliance and thermal performance of vitality. All things or phenomena with the properties of temperature, rising and depression can be classified as "fire".

"Land loves crops": planting crops in spring and harvesting crops in autumn means sowing and harvesting crops. Soil has the biochemical characteristics of carrying things, so it is called soil carrying four lines, which is the mother of all things. Soil has the meaning of life and is the foundation of all things in the world and human existence. "Four images and five elements all borrow soil". The five elements are heavy. All things or phenomena with biochemical and enduring properties belong to "soil".

"Jin Shu Yan Sui Ge": surrender, surrender, surrender; Reform, reform, transformation. Gold is flexible, hard, changeable and cold. Gold represents the properties of solids. After everything grows, it will reach a state of solidification. Gold is used to show its firmness. Extended to kill, potential, convergence, clean meaning. Everything or phenomenon of this nature can be attributed to "gold".

"Moisturizing": Moisturizing and moistening; Get down! Get down! Water stands for freezing and storage. Water has the characteristics of moistening, lowering and storing. Everything or phenomenon that is cool, moist, ready to go down and hidden can be classified as "water".

It can be seen that the five elements mentioned in medicine do not refer to the specific five substances themselves, but an abstract summary of the different properties of the five substances.

In a word, the Five Elements Theory takes the correspondence between man and nature as the guiding ideology, and takes five behavioral centers, five aspects of spatial structure, five seasons of time structure and five internal organs of human body structure as the basic framework, and summarizes all kinds of things and phenomena in nature and physiological and pathological phenomena of human body according to their attributes, that is, all hair that grows and is soft belongs to wood; Those with the characteristics of yang heat and inflammation belong to fire; Those with long-term cultivation and chemical education characteristics belong to soil; Those who have the characteristics of quietness and killing belong to gold; What is cold, moist, underground and hidden belongs to water. Thus, the life activities of the human body are linked with things and phenomena in nature, forming a five-element structure system, and linking the internal and external environment of the human body to explain the unity of the human body and the natural environment.

Normal adjustment mechanism of five elements: restraint of five elements: restraint of five elements is an automatic adjustment mechanism of five elements structure system under normal circumstances.

The order of the five elements is: wood fires, fire produces soil, soil produces gold, gold produces water, and aquatic wood. In the mutual relationship, any line has the relationship between "giving birth to me" and "giving birth to me", which is a metaphor for the relationship between "mother" and "son" in the difficult classics. Those who give birth to me are mothers, and those who give birth to me are children. Therefore, the relationship between the five elements is also called "mother-child relationship". Take fire as an example. If wood can make a fire, then wood is the mother of fire. "I" gave birth to soil, and fire can give birth to soil, then soil is the son of fire. I can make an analogy.

The order of the five elements is: Mutuke, Tukeshui, Shuihuoke, Huojinke, Jin Kemu and Mutuke. In the relationship of mutual respect, any line has two aspects: "I" and "I". Huangdi Neijing calls it the relationship between "victory" and "invincible". Those who "resist me" are invincible and those who "resist me" win. Therefore, the relationship between the five elements is also called the relationship between "victory" and "invincible". Take soil as an example. "Beat me" means "invincible". "I can" water, then the water will be "won" by the soil. I can make an analogy.

Restraint method: the restraint relationship in the five elements is the combination of the five elements. Mutual development and mutual restriction are two inseparable aspects. Without life, there will be no occurrence and growth of things; Without gram, it is impossible to maintain the change and development under the normal coordinated relationship. Therefore, it is necessary to have a life in harmony (there is a system in culture) and a life in harmony (there is a system in culture), which are opposite to each other in order to maintain and promote the relative balance, coordination, development and change of things. This five-element relationship of being born with control, being born with control, being born with biochemistry and being born with control is called control. Its method is: Muketu, Tujin, Jin Kemu; Fire produces gold, gold produces water, and aquatic fire; Tukeshui, aquatic wood, Muketu; Jin Kemu, wood fire, fire grams of gold; Water can replace fire, fire can produce soil, and soil can replace water.

Abnormal regulation mechanism of five elements: mother and child of five elements and overcoming invasion; The automatic adjustment mechanism of the five-element structure system under abnormal conditions is mother and child and overcoming invasion.

Harmony between mother and child: harmony, meaning influence. Mother-child harmony refers to the abnormal phenomenon after the restraint of the five elements is destroyed. Including mothers and children and children and mothers. Mother and son are in the same order, while son and mother are in the opposite order. If the wood line affects the fire line, it is called mother and child; If it affects the water flow, it is called the mother and son.

Multiplication and aggressiveness: Multiplication and aggressiveness are actually phenomena that resist each other under abnormal conditions.

Law of multiplication: Multiply, that is, multiply virtual invasion. Multiplication is too much, which exceeds the normal restriction and makes things lose their normal coordination. The order of multiplication of the five elements is the same as that of mutual restraint, but the victim is weak.

There is a difference between "mutual containment" and "multiplication". The former is a restrictive relationship under normal circumstances, and the latter is an abnormal mutual restrictive phenomenon in which the normal restrictive relationship is destroyed. In the human body, the former is a physiological phenomenon and the latter is a pathological manifestation. However, people are used to confusing each other with abnormal proliferation, and pathological wood takes soil, also known as wood soil. Law of mutual bullying: bully the soft and fear the hard, bully the soft and fear the hard. Aggression means that any one of the five elements is so abundant that the original one can not restrain it, but is restrained by it, which is anti-aggression, also called anti-aggression. The phenomenon of mutual crimes is also manifested in two aspects, such as taking wood as an example: First, when the wood is too prosperous, gold is originally made of wood, but because the wood is too prosperous, gold cannot be made of wood, but it is restrained by wood, which damages gold. This is called wood regret gold. Secondly, when the wood is too weak, gold can resist wood and wood can resist soil. However, due to the excessive weakness of wood, not only gold can use wood, but also soil can use the decline of wood to resist. Traditionally, it is called "soil stagnation"

Bully the weak, attack or bully because it is too much. "Multiplication" is more than enough to resist the opponent, but it is harmful to the victim, that is, a certain line is excessively restrained by its "victory". "Insult" is more than enough for the bullied person, and those who oppose it are also a line of resistance to their own "invincible".

Law of Victory and Recovery: Victory and recovery refer to the relationship between victory and recovery. The theory of Five Elements refers to the excessive restraint on self-victory caused by too much or less than "victory" as "victory", and this kind of victory will inevitably produce an opposite force (revenge) in the five elements system, which can retaliate against "victory" and is called "recovery".

The prescribed law of victory and recovery is: victory first, then recovery, in order to repay its victory. "winning qi" is heavy, and "recovering qi" is also heavy; "winning qi" is light, and "recovering qi" is also light. How much is too much between the five elements with reciprocal relationship, which will lead to how much is not enough; How much less, how much more. Because the five elements are singular, for any line, there must be "qi victory" and "qi recovery", and the number is equal. Therefore, it is said that "the weight is complex; Don't win, don't win. " .

In short, the five-element structure system has two adjustment mechanisms, one is the birth control adjustment mechanism under normal circumstances, and the other is the victory recovery adjustment mechanism under abnormal circumstances. Through these two adjustment mechanisms, the dynamic balance and circular motion of the five-element structure system are formed and guaranteed.

On the basis of matching the five elements of TCM with the five internal organs, according to the manifestations and characteristics of the internal organs, the organizational structure of human body is divided into five elements, with the five internal organs (liver, heart, spleen, lung and kidney) as the center and the six internal organs (actually, the five internal organs: stomach, small intestine, large intestine, bladder and gallbladder) as the coordination, and the six internal organs dominate the five bodies (tendons, pulse and gallbladder).

According to the theory of five elements, the five internal organs of human body belong to the five elements respectively, and some physiological functions of the five elements are explained by the characteristics of the five elements. For example, wood is flexible and straight, smooth and has the characteristics of hair growth. Therefore, the liver is fond of depression and has the effect of stopping diarrhea; The fire is warm, its nature is inflammation, and the heart belongs to fire, so the heart yang has the function of warming; The soil is rich and has the characteristics of biochemical substances. Spleen belongs to the soil, which can digest Shui Gu, transport essence, nourish the internal organs and limbs, and is the source of qi and blood biochemistry. The golden nature is clear and astringent, and the lung belongs to gold, so the lung has the property of clearing diarrhea, and the lung qi has the ability of clearing and descending; Water is wet and has the characteristics of cold, moist, healthy and hidden. The kidney belongs to water, so the kidney holds the essence and water.

Explain the relationship between zang-fu organs with the five elements: if wood generates fire, that is, the liver can help the heart fire, the liver can store blood, and the heart can control blood vessels. The normal function of the liver can help the heart control blood vessels. Fire produces soil, that is, heart fire warms spleen soil, heart governs blood and mind, spleen governs transport and transformation of blood, and heart governs blood and blood can nourish spleen; Spleen can transport, generate blood and regulate blood. Gold comes from the soil, that is, the spleen can help the lung to produce gold, and the spleen can replenish qi, transform qi and blood, regulate subtle substances to fill the lung, and promote the function of the lung to control qi to make it normal. Jin Sheng Shui, that is, lung gold nourishes kidney water, lung governs purgation, kidney governs storing essence, and the decline of lung qi helps kidney store essence, absorb qi and control water. Aquatic wood, that is, kidney water nourishes liver wood, kidney stores essence, and liver stores blood. Kidney essence can transform liver blood and help the normal function of liver function. This relationship between the five zang-organs is expounded through the theory of the five elements generating each other.

Explain the mutual restriction between the five internal organs with the five elements: If the heart belongs to fire and the kidney belongs to water, water can control the fire, that is, kidney can restrict the heart fire and kidney can help the heart, so it can prevent the heart fire from flourishing. Lung belongs to gold, heart belongs to fire, and fire can kill gold, that is, heart fire can restrict lung gold, such as yang heat of heart fire, which can inhibit lung qi from being too clear. Liver belongs to wood, lung belongs to gold, and Jin Kemu, that is, lung gold can restrict liver wood, while excessive lung qi can inhibit hyperactivity of liver yang. Spleen belongs to soil and liver belongs to wood, indicating that liver wood can restrict spleen soil. If the liver qi is excessive, it can relieve the stagnation of temper. Kidney belongs to water and spleen belongs to soil, which means that spleen soil can restrict the transport and transformation of kidney water, such as spleen soil, to prevent kidney water from flooding. This mutual restriction between the five zang-organs can be explained by the theory of mutual restraint of the five elements.

As far as the relationship between the five elements is concerned, in addition to mutual restraint, there is also mutual concealment between the five elements. "Five elements, fire, water, wood, gold and earth are also ... The first person knows that five is five, but he doesn't know that there is a wonderful way to hide each other between five, five, five and twenty-five (The Analects of Confucius, Illustration and Wing Five Elements). That is, in any of the five elements, there are five more elements. If there is more fire, earth, gold and water in wood, and so on. Traditional Chinese medicine has formed the theory of mutual hiding of five zang-organs, that is, the regulation mechanism of five zang-organs network.

The five zang-organs should be at five o'clock, so the law of six qi is generally that the zang-fu organs are affected by evil at the main time. Because each of the five internal organs suffers from its own diseases, those who suffer from it must suffer from it first. Therefore, in spring, the liver is first affected by evil; In summer, the heart suffers evil first; In the long summer, the spleen is affected by evil first; In autumn, the lungs suffer evil first; Kidney comes first in winter. It is a general rule that the zang-fu organs are affected by evil, but it also has advantages and disadvantages. The climate is abnormal, and there is too much gas before the festival; The season has come, and the gas hasn't arrived yet, so it is worse than the gas.

Diseases of this organ can be transmitted to other organs, and diseases of other organs can also be transmitted to this organ. This pathological interaction is called transmission.

The evolution of the relationship includes two aspects: "mother's sick child" and "mother's sick child". The pathogen of the mother's sick child, also known as "mother's deficiency child", comes from the mother's organ and invades the mother's organ, that is, the disease of the mother's organ comes first and the disease of the mother's organ comes later. Sick mother: also known as "the child stole the mother's anger." The maternal evil of sick children is introduced from the child's viscera and invades the mother's viscera, that is, the disease of the first child's viscera and the disease of the second mother's viscera.

The evolution of the relationship of mutual respect and mutual respect includes "multiplication" and "anti-aggression". Multiplication: It's just that pilgrims are so abnormal. Mutual insult: also known as anti-insult, it is anti-gram.

In a word, the pathological influence between the five zang-organs and the law of its transmission and change can be explained by the law of the abuse of the five elements. If the liver is sick, it can be called a mother's disease; Carrying on the family line means that the child is sick and the mother is born. This changes according to the law of mutual development, and its disease is light and shallow, so it is difficult to be called "shun chuan" If liver disease spreads to the spleen, it is called taking soil from wood; Clearing the lungs is called attacking gold with wood. This spread according to the law of aggression and humiliation, and it was very sick. Difficult classics are called "reverse transmission".

To use the five elements to generate grams, we should distinguish between primary and secondary, or give priority to mothers and give consideration to children; Give priority to treating children and giving consideration to mothers. Or suppress the strong, support the weak, support the weak, suppress the strong. But we should consider it from two sides of the contradiction, and we should not lose sight of one thing and lose sight of the other.

In the five elements, there are yin and yang, the armor of wood, the third of fire, the fifth of soil, the Geng of gold, the nonunion of water as yang, the second of wood, the ding of fire, the self of soil, the Xin of gold, and the decyl of water as yin.

Qi has yin and yang, which combine to produce five elements, and the five elements combine to produce everything. The contradictory movement of the five elements system structure is the universal law of the universe and the universal law of life movement. The contradictory movement of Yin-Yang and Five Elements is the concrete expression of human qi movement, the movement law of human viscera and meridians, and the universal law of life movement.