Section 1 Outlook on Life
The life view of TCM health preservation is its basic understanding and views on the essence of life, the characteristics of life activities and the attitude towards life and death. From a macro point of view, all life comes from the movement of the qi of heaven and earth, and depends on the material and space provided by heaven and earth to survive and continue. Humans are no exception. People's birth and death, food, clothing, housing and transportation are inseparable from the external environment formed by heaven and earth. Therefore, the source of human life is the combination of heaven and earth in nature, that is, "Su Wen Bao Quan Ming Xing Lun" said: "Heaven and earth are in harmony, and life is called man." But for everyone, individual life directly comes from the innate essence formed by the combination of parents' reproductive essence, and then develops into an adult through the nourishment of acquired essence. Outlook on life is a view formed by the ancients' long-term observation and thinking about life phenomena. Among them, essence, qi and spirit are the foundation of life, and exercise is the fundamental feature of life, which further derives the basic attitude that individuals should hold when facing life and death. First, the foundation of life
Traditional Chinese medicine believes that the essence of life is materiality, life is produced by materialization, and the essence of life activities is material movement. Essence, qi and spirit are the three elements of life, and essence is the source of life. Qi is the maintenance of life, and God is the master of life. Essence, qi and spirit are inseparable, coordinated and unified, and * * * maintains a normal life state of "both form and spirit".
(1) refinement
Essence is a kind of essence formed by combining the living matter observed by parents with the subtle essence of the afterlife valley. It is the most basic substance that constitutes the human body and maintains human life activities, and it is the origin of human life. As "Su Wen. "The Golden Chamber is in an array" says: "A man with a fine husband is the foundation of his body." Ben here means basic and basic. There are broad and narrow definitions in essence. Essence in a broad sense refers to all subtle substances in the human body, such as qi, blood and body fluid. The essence in narrow sense is the essence of human body defined and discussed in this section.
Essence is divided into congenital essence and acquired essence according to its source. Congenital essence, born with parents, is the original material of life formation; Acquired essence, produced after birth, comes from Shui Gu's diet and changes from spleen and stomach to Shui Gu's subtle essence. It is the basic substance of life.
Parental reproductive essence is the original source of human innate essence. In other words, Lingshu Jueqi said: "Er Shen is a combination of war, and it is often called the essence." The innate essence gives birth to the fetus in the mother's body and gradually turns into the human body, that is, the spiritual pivot. Meridian said: "Mr. Man, after essence, the brain is born, the bones are withered, the pulse is camp, the tendons are rigid, the flesh is the wall, the skin is firm, and the hair is long." In the process of transforming the innate essence into human body, part of it is transformed into the essence of viscera, which becomes the material basis of the structure and function of human organs, and part of it is sealed in the kidney and becomes the material basis of vitality. After the formation of human life, the acquired essence can be continuously transformed under the impetus of the vitality provided by the innate essence. At the same time, with the nourishment of the acquired essence, the innate essence can be continuously filled, and the acquired essence and the innate essence are interdependent and integrated, providing a material basis for the normal function of human organs and tissues. Except that the essence is partially consumed in functional activities, the other essence becomes the essence of viscera. If the viscera essence is full, the excess essence will be hidden in the kidney to nourish the dense and metaplastic essence, and various life changes will occur with the rise and fall of kidney essence.
? —— Excerpted from the planning textbook "TCM Health Preservation" of colleges and universities in China.