Five elements
In Chinese Taoist thought, things in nature can be classified in five types:
metal, wood, earth, water, fire These Five Elements are not just the materials
that the names refer to, but rather metaphors and symbols for describing how
things interact and relate to each other. The original Taoist reference was
about the seasons (or the heavens), and they would then be more accurately
described as the five phases. In Taoism, everything we know or think of as
reality is a symbol, and a reflection of the heavens, so by understanding the
macrocosmic relationship of things we can understand these same relationship
on a smaller scale: in the body, in personal astrology, or in politics.
Taoism describes both a production cycle and a control cycle acting upon the
elements. In the production cycle, wood produces fire; fire produces earth;
earth produces metal; metal produces water; water produces wood. In the
control cycle, wood controls earth; earth controls water; water controls fire;
fire controls metal; metal controls wood. The production cycle outlines a
pentagon and the control chain outlines a five pointed star. These
interactions and relationships form a framework for different schools of
philosophy. The interaction of five elements becomes a tool that helps Taoist
scholars sort out observations and empirical data. Based on observations of
how things interact, things are classified into one of the five elements so
that they fit into the observed pattern. Then one can draw high level
conclusions or predictions based on the element types.
In Chinese medicine, each organ of the human body is associated with an
element. The liver, tendon, eyes are of the wood element type; heart, blood
vessels, tongue are fire element type; spleen, muscle, mouth are earth element
type; lungs, skin, hair, nose are metal element type; kidney, bone, ears are
water element type; etc. This classification is followed in diagnosing and
adjusting the balance in the body. To further understand this, in Chinese
medicine, the organs are not simply anatomical organs we understand in western
medicine, but actually refer to phases, system, and energies in the bodies.
These include the above mentioned body parts, as well emotions linked to each
phase, a sound of voice, a smell, a direction, a food, a taste, etc.
In herbal medicine the properties and effects of each herb are classified
according to empirical observations on how the herb affects the body. For
example, if one herb causes dry mouth and chapped skin, it would be classified
as "fire" type. The element type of the herbs can serve a useful purpose when
designing a herbal cocktail remedy because the "fire" ingredient can be
controlled by adding some "water" ingredients; or the addition of "metal"
ingredients can assist the "water" ingredients to do their job in controlling
the "fire". A "water" type herb or food is believed to benefit a "wood" type
organ etc. The principle of the five elements is used extensively in Chinese
medicine.
While these five elements or phases are used by all branches of Chinese
medicine, there is also a branch of Chinese medicine that calls itself Five
Element Acupuncture. This branch tends to focus on the psycho-emotional
component of health and it treats solely on a constitutional basis, and only
uses acupuncture and moxa. The Five-Element School was founded by J.R. Worsley
who founded the Worsley Institute of Classical Acupuncture in England and in
the US. The practice is still largely an oral tradition in the states, passed
down from master to a student already holding an acupuncture degree. However
their protocols are becoming mainstream enough among practitioners that they
are being included on national board exams.
The study of Feng Shui focuses on how the five elements within people, objects
and the landscape, affect the harmony of the environment. Even Chinese
astrology is based on the five elements. The five visible astrological planets
are associated with the five elements: Venus is metal; Jupiter is wood;
Mercury is water; Mars is fire; Saturn is earth.
It appears that there may have been cultural transmission between Egypt and
China at a very early time, because the sequence given immediately above,
which first occurs in the Bo Hu Tong, is the reverse of the sequence of the
five visible planets used to name the five days of the week exclusive of
Sunday and Monday. The Western sequence is Saturn, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, and
Venus, whereas the Chinese sequence is Venus Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, and
Saturn. The arrangement in nature (whether one examines distance from the sun
or how fast the planets move across the nighttime sky from day to day) is
Mercury, Venus, (Earth), Mars, Jupiter, Saturn. It is well known how the
Egyptian sequence was obtained, the sequence that eventually passed into
Western calendars. Information regarding the formative process in China
appears to have been lost, but applying a simple variant of the Egyptian rule
provides the Chinese sequence.
Source:
Wikipedia.org |
