The basic theory of TCM is rooted in the theory of Yin-Yang and Five Elements. The philosophical thought of epistemology includes simple materialism and primitive dialectics, universal connection and wholeness.

The theory of Yin-Yang and Five Elements is China's ancient philosophical theory, which summarizes the ancients' understanding of the laws of development and change of nature and is an original inductive dialectical method. As early as about two thousand years ago, the theory of Yin and Yang was introduced into the medical field of China and became a medical theory. In traditional Chinese medicine, the theory of yin-yang and five elements is applied to organizational structure, functional activities, occurrence and development of diseases and drug treatment. In order to fully understand the essence of TCM, it is necessary to understand the theory of Yin-Yang and Five Elements.

theory of the five elements

First, the basic concept: the five elements refer to wood, fire, earth, gold and water. The theory of five elements is a philosophical theory in ancient China, which holds that the five elements are the basic material elements that make up the universe, and all kinds of substances in the universe can be classified according to the attributes of these five basic substances, and there is a certain relationship between the five elements. Traditional Chinese medicine borrows the theory of five elements to explain the relationship between human body and external environment to supplement the theory of yin and yang.

(a) The five elements complement each other: they are complementary, which means that they nurture, promote and encourage each other; Mutual restraint means mutual restraint, inhibition and overcoming.

The five principles are: wood makes a fire, fire produces soil, soil produces gold, and gold produces water, aquatic wood. The rules of mutual respect are: Mutuko, Tukeshui, Shuihuoke, Huojinke and Jin Kemu. In the symbiotic relationship, every line has the relationship of "giving birth to me" (mother) and "giving birth to me" (son), and in the mutual respect relationship, every line has the relationship of "I win" and "I am invincible", which is called "victory" and "invincibility".

The five elements are mutually generated, and at the same time, they are mutually generated and mutually restrained: there are also mutually generated and mutually restrained (Figure 1).

Mutual prosperity and mutual restraint are indispensable conditions for all things to maintain relative balance. Therefore, it is normal for the five elements to exercise restraint.

If there are too many or too few "lines" in the five elements, there will be abnormal phenomena, which will lead to multiplication or aggression. Take advantage of the intention to enter; Bullying is bullying. Multiplication is excessive, exceeding the normal level, and its law is the same, but the victim is weaker. Opposing each other is "anti-gram", also known as anti-gram, that is, what you could have defeated is defeated by it, and its law is just the opposite of that of Xiang Ke (Figure 2). For example, at ordinary times, the soil is filled with water. If the rustic spirit is weak, or water evil is rampant, water will invade the soil in turn.

(2) Classification of Five Elements: According to the five behavioral centers of TCM, things and phenomena related to nature and human body are divided into five categories according to their similar attributes and forms, and their relationships are briefly described in the following table:

2. Clinical application: The five elements theory of Chinese medicine divides all parts of human body into five categories: wood, fire, earth, gold and water. There is a vertical connection between similar things and a horizontal connection between various things. As far as the vertical relationship is concerned, such as wood, there are liver, gallbladder, eyes, tendons, anger, blue, acid and wind. Their relationship is "the liver opens the eyes", "the liver governs the ribs" and "anger hurts the liver", which is prone to liver disease. Clinically, symptoms and signs of viscera are often distinguished by complexion, such as liver wind in cyan, heart fire in red, spleen temperature in yellow, lung cold in white and kidney deficiency in black. When taking medicine, you can sometimes choose according to the relationship between five zang-organs and five flavors, such as sour taste entering the liver, bitter taste entering the heart, sweet taste entering the spleen, pungent taste entering the lungs, salty taste entering the kidney and so on.

In the horizontal relationship, that is, between various things, changes such as production, restriction and abuse are used to explain the relationship between the five zang-organs under physiological and pathological conditions.

For example, a disease of one dirty organ can be transmitted from another dirty organ through the relationship between birth and gram, and can also be transmitted to another dirty organ through the relationship between birth and gram. Therefore, in the treatment, in addition to treating the pathological changes of an organ itself, other organs should also be considered for comprehensive treatment. (synopsis of the golden chamber) said: "when you see the disease of the liver, you can know that the liver transmits the spleen and strengthen the spleen first." There is also the so-called "deficiency of the mother, in fact, it is the mother", which is the therapeutic principle established according to this truth. For example, lung qi deficiency can be treated by warming spleen and soil according to the principle that soil produces gold and deficiency supplements its mother; For example, if the liver fire is too strong, it can also be treated by clearing the heart and purging the fire according to the principle that wood fire is actually a diarrhea.

The theory of five elements classifies things according to the characteristics of five elements, and compares the properties and functions of various things and phenomena in nature with the characteristics of five elements, and then belongs to five elements respectively. If the characteristics of things are similar to wood, they belong to wood, and if they are similar to fire, they belong to fire.

According to the theory of five elements, there is a relationship between the five elements: birth, grams, multiplication and humiliation. The relationship between the five elements can explain the relationship between things, and the multiplication of the five elements can be used to show the mutual influence after the balance between things is broken.

Common growth means mutual endowment and mutual encouragement. The order of the five elements is: wood fires, fire produces soil, soil produces gold, gold produces water, and aquatic wood. Symbiosis can also be called mother-child relationship, such as wood making a fire, that is, wood is the mother of fire and fire is the son of wood.

Contain and restrict each other. The order of the five elements is: Mutuke, Tukeshui, Shuihuoke, Huojinke and Jin Kemu.

Mutual growth, mutual restriction and inseparable. Without life, things cannot happen and grow. Without constraints, things will not be bound, and normal coordination will not be maintained. Only by maintaining the dynamic balance of mutual growth and mutual restriction can things happen and develop normally.

If the five elements interfere with each other too much or too little, it will destroy the normal relationship between birth and gram, and there will be multiplication or abuse. Multiplication, that is, one of the five elements is too restrained to the other. For example, if wood is too strong and gold cannot restrain wood normally, wood will overwhelm the soil and make it more virtual. This is wood borrowing. Abuse each other, that is, there are so many lines in the five elements that the other line can't restrain it, but is restrained by it, so it is also called anti-aggression or anti-aggression. For example, water can kill fire under normal circumstances, but when there is too little water or too much fire, water can't kill fire, but it will be dried by fire, that is, fire can kill or insult water. Application of Five Elements Theory in Traditional Chinese Medicine

Traditional Chinese medicine uses the theory of five elements to explain the physiological function of human body and the pathological changes of the body, which is used for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases.

The theory of five elements classifies the five internal organs of human body into five elements respectively. Judging from the endowment of the five internal organs, the essence of kidney water is nourishing liver wood, which stores blood and helps heart fire. The heat of heart fire is warming spleen soil, and spleen soil turns into Shui Gu's subtle lung gold, and lung gold clears up and helps kidney water. This shows the relationship between the five internal organs. Judging from the mutual restriction between the five internal organs, clearing away lung qi can inhibit hyperactivity of liver yang, that is, Jin Kemu; Liver-qi can relieve stagnation of spleen soil, that is, Muketu; The transportation of spleen can avoid the flooding of kidney water, that is, soil water; Moistening kidney water can prevent intense heart fire, that is, water can overcome fire; The yang heat of heart fire can restrict the lung from being too clear, that is, fire can kill gold. Chinese medicine also uses the theory of five elements to explain the relationship between human body and natural environment, climate and diet.

The changes of human body in pathological state can also be explained by the theory of five elements. Because the zang-fu organs belong to the five elements, their interaction is also based on the law of the five elements theory. If the liver disease spreads to the spleen, that is, take soil from the wood; And spleen disease liver, that is, soil insults wood; The mutual pathological influence between liver and spleen is stagnation of wood and deficiency of soil or stagnation of soil and wood. Liver disease affects the heart, which is a maternal disease and a child disease; Affect the lungs, that is, wood insults gold; Affect the kidneys, that is, the child's illness and the mother.

The information obtained from the four clinics of traditional Chinese medicine, Wang, Smell, Question and Qie, has its five elements, so that patients' diseases can be comprehensively judged. For example, patients with blue complexion, love to eat sour food and rapid pulse can be diagnosed as liver disease; Red complexion, bitter taste and heavy pulse can be diagnosed as hyperactivity of heart fire. Another example is spasm with acute convulsion, which is classified as wood disease according to the five elements and can be diagnosed as liver disease from the perspective of human viscera; The whole body is swollen, and urination is unfavorable. The five elements are classified as water disease, and the disease position can be defined as kidney.

According to the theory of five elements, when treating diseases, we should not only consider the diseased viscera themselves, but also control the spread of diseases according to the relationship between the viscera. As "Difficult Classics" said: "When you see the disease of the liver, you should know that the liver should be transmitted to the spleen, and strengthen the spleen first."

According to the law of "mutual growth" of the five elements, Chinese medicine puts forward the therapeutic principle of nourishing the mother in deficiency but nourishing the child in fact:

1. Mother-supplementing is mainly used for deficiency of mother-child relationship. In acupuncture therapy, all deficiency syndromes can be supplemented by mother meridian or mother point. For example, when treating liver deficiency syndrome, choose the Yin Valley point of the kidney meridian. If this is not enough, we will make up for it, and if we make up for it, we will be safe.

2. Diarrhea is mainly used to demonstrate the relationship between mother and child. In acupuncture therapy, whenever there is redundant evidence, the sub-meridians or sub-acupoints to which it belongs can be removed. If the liver qi is insufficient, it can be treated by heart meridian Shaofu or Xue Ying. This is actually diarrhea. Diarrhea is mom's safety. According to the mother-child relationship, the following principles are put forward:

1. the method of nourishing water and containing wood, that is, nourishing kidney (water) yin and liver (wood) yin, is suitable for liver yin deficiency syndrome caused by kidney yin loss.

2. The method of tonifying fire and nourishing soil, that is, warming kidney-yang (fire) and tonifying spleen-yang, is suitable for spleen-yang deficiency syndrome caused by the decline of kidney-yang. In the five elements, fire refers to the heart, but it calls itself the theory of door rising. The warmth to the body refers to the role of fire in the life door, that is, the role of kidney yang.

3. The method of nourishing lung (kidney) and kidney (water) yin deficiency is suitable for those who are unable to transport fluid and nourish kidney due to lung deficiency, or those who are unable to nourish lung due to kidney yin deficiency and essence.

4. The method of nourishing soil and producing gold, that is, the method of invigorating spleen (soil) qi and lung (gold) qi, is suitable for spleen and stomach weakness syndrome, and cannot nourish lung, leading to lung deficiency and spleen deficiency.

Chinese medicine has established the following therapeutic principles according to the law of "mutual generation and mutual resistance" of the five elements:

1. The method of cultivating soil to make water is suitable for the syndrome of spleen deficiency and water swelling caused by excessive water. Soil and water refer to spleen and kidney, and nourishing soil and making water refers to warming spleen and yang, or warming kidney and strengthening spleen, also known as warming kidney and strengthening spleen method. Deficiency of kidney yang can not warm spleen yang, kidney can not control water, spleen can not make water, and water can not be wet. Therefore, the treatment should be based on warming kidney and strengthening spleen.

2. The method of restraining wood and supporting soil is suitable for the syndrome of liver looseness and wood flourishing. Both wood and soil are liver and spleen. Restrain wood and help soil, that is, soothing the liver and strengthening the spleen to treat liver depression and spleen deficiency, also known as soothing the liver and strengthening the spleen, calming the liver and stomach, and regulating the liver and spleen.

3. The method of purging the south and tonifying the north is suitable for the syndrome of deficiency of kidney yin, excessive heart fire, poor fire and water, and disharmony between heart and kidney. Heart governs fire, and fire belongs to the south; Kidney governs water, and water belongs to the north. The method of purging the south and tonifying the north is to purge the heart fire and nourish the kidney water, which is also called purging fire and replenishing water.

4. The method of assisting gold and leveling wood is suitable for the syndrome of lung deficiency and liver fire excess. Jin Mu is both a lung and a liver. Zuojin Pingmu, that is, clearing lung qi and suppressing liver wood, is also called clearing lung and purging liver.