They produce, transform, regulate and store fundamental substances – Jing, Chi Shen, Blood, Fluids. They transform, store and do not drain.
Fu or Yang Organs:
Small Intestine
Large Intestine
Gallbladder
Stomach
Urinary Bladder
Triple Warmer
They receive, breakdown and absorb that part of food that will be transformed into nutrition. They drain and do not store.Yin organs are deeper inside the body and are considered more important than the Yang organs.
Six Extraordinary Organs.
Bone marrow
Brain
Blood vessels
Uterus
Gallbladder
They resemble Yang organs in form but Yin organs in function. They ‘store Yin and do not disperse’.
Yin Organ Functions.
Heart – ‘The Sovereign Fire – The Emperor’.
Controls blood & blood vessels
Stores Shen
Opens into the tongue – ‘tongue is the mirror of heart’.
Manifests in the face.
Lung ‘the Lid of Yin Organs – A Tender Organ – The Prime Minister’.
Rules Chi.
Regulates water to ‘descend and liquify, circulate.
Rules the skin and body hair. Manifests in body hair.
Is the foundation of Chi.
The nose – the thoroughfare for respiration, the door of lung and the home of the vocal chords.
Spleen/Pancreas – ‘the Foundation of the Postnatal Existence – ‘The food granaries’.
Governs transformation and transportation
Governs blood
Rules muscles, flesh and four limbs
Opens into the mouth, distinguishes five tastes
Manifests in the lips
Holds the organs in place – raises Chi
Pericardium – ‘the Ministerial Fire – ‘The Messenger – A Civil servant’
Protects the heart
Liver – ‘Adjusts and Makes Smooth- Rules Flowing and Spreading – the General, makes plans.’
Stores blood, disharmony shows in the eyes and menstrual flow
Harmonizes emotions
Controls the bile secretion
Rules the tendons
Manifests in the nails
Opens into the eyes to distinguish ‘five colours’
Kidney – ‘Root of Life – the Mansion of Fire and Water, the Residence of Yin and Yang – Channel of Life and Death – The Minister of Health’.
Responsible for growth, development and reproduction
Stores Jing, the Essence
Rules water – sends mist upwards
Receives Chi – rules grasping of Chi – is the root of Chi
Opens into the ear – distinguishes five tones
Rules bone and produces marrow, which forms the brain, teeth are the surplus of bones
Manifests in the head hair – the surplus of blood
Chinese Medicine; Yang Organ Functions.
Gall Bladder – ‘the Judge, makes decisions with the Heart’.
Stores and discharges bile (the bitter yellow fluid produced by surplus liver Chi) into the small intestine
Rules decisions with the heart – GB disharmony and weakness can lead to indecision and timidity
Stomach – ‘the Sea of Food and Fluids – the food granary’
Receives and ripens (decomposes) food and fluids – pure go to Spleen, turbid to Small intestine.
With Spleen – aids digestion and absorption
SP/ST is a source of health
‘Spleen rules ascending – Stomach rules descending’
Large Intestine – ‘the Official of Transportation.’
Receives waste material from SI
Absorbs water and sends it to UB
Forms feces and eliminates them
Small Intestine – ‘the Treasurer– The receiving official’.
Separates the pure from the turbid – the clear go to SP, the turbid to LI and turbid fluid to Kid/UB
Receives and temporarily stores partially digested food
Urinary Bladder – ‘the District Official.’
It stores then excretes urine (formed in KID from the turbid fluids transmitted from LU/LI/SI
The functions of UB are assisted by KID Chi
San Jiao or Triple Warmer – ‘the officer of the bursting water dam –where the water channel arises – Has a name but not shape’
An insubstantiate organ, it coordinates all functions of water metabolism.
Upper Warmer – head and chest (HT/LU) – vapour – spreads Chi and blood
Middle Warmer – below the chest and above the navel – foam (SP/ST), decomposition and dissolution of substances
Lower Warmer – the abdominal area below the navel (KID/LI/SI/UB – excrete impure substances.
TCM; Extraordinary Organs’ Functions.
Brain – ‘The Sea of Marrow, upper part – DU 20, lower part – DU 16.
Thinking, memory and expansion of consciousness
Responsible for the fluidity of movement, sensitivity of eyes and ears
Jing – the Essence of Kidney produces marrow that forms the brain
He/Liv/Kid are closely related to mental and spiritual activities
Bones are ruled by the Kidneys to give the body structural support
Uterus – ‘Palace of the Child’
Presides over menstruation and gestation
Related to Kid/Liv/Sp/Chong/Ren – yin organs are involved in menstruation
Ren and Chong channels originate in the uterus
Chi and Blood of the twelve channels pass into the uterus through these two extra channels
Blood Vessels – ‘the Yang Organs of the Blood’
The means by which most blood is transported through the body
Blood vessels carry more blood and channels carry more Chi
Related to HE/Liv/SP
Fundamental Substances – Jing, Chi, Shen, Blood and Fluids are presented on their respective pages.
Chi Energy transformation within the Five Phases or Elements is central to Chinese tradition.
Five tastes of pungent, salty, sour, bitter and sweet are used in everyday cooking to affect the flavour of food, and five tones in music make music sound truly Chinese.
Melting and mixing of colours white, dark blue or black, green, red and yellow are used in chi energy transformation if something disagreeable is sensed in the environment.
The Five Phases or Elements of Metal, Water, Wood, Fire and Earth are regarded as five features inherent in all living things and should be understood as processes or tendencies in chi energy transformation rather than concrete physical manifestations.
The processes express the interdependence and restraint that is evident even in tiniest particles of life. The Five Phases are one with the natural progression toward balancing Yin and Yang, while each phase simultaneously represents its own related functions and qualities.
Nature is intelligent beyond our comprehension through its constant chi energy transformations. We can only fathom that within every cell of each living organism is a ‘Tao code’, which determines the form, function and quality of the cell’s unique expression of life.
And that expression, when not interfered with from its alignment with Tao, is always life-giving and harmonious, even in time of decay as the beauty ‘burns’ to ashes and nourishing continues in a new way.
The Interaction of Five Phases within the Body
The cyclic interaction within the body mirrors that of the Five Phases in greater nature. In the practice of Chinese Medicine, they are used in diagnosis and treatment.
Metal – Lung/Large intestine – represents autumn, decline but also substance, strength and structure. The colour is white, the flavour pungent and the negative emotions are grief and sadness; positive courage, dignity, appropriateness.
Water – Kidney/Urinary bladder. The associated season is Winter when nature is at rest before starting another cycle of growth. The colour is black or dark blue, the flavour is salty and the emotion fear or fright, which through the chi energy transformation becomes alert stillness and gentleness.
Wood – Liver/Gall Bladder – is associated with spring and activity, constantly growing and rapidly changing. The colour is green, the flavour sour and the negative emotions, when Chi is not flowing naturally, are anger, resentment, jealousy; positive are kindness, forgiveness and assertiveness.
Fire – Heart/Small Intestine and Pericardium/Triple Warmer – is associated with summer. It represents a function which has reached its maximum stage before it begins to decline – Fire is dynamic and moving, brilliant in its activity. The colour is red, the flavour bitter and the negative emotions are hate, impatience; when transformed they are love, joy, gratitude, creative enthusiasm, honour, etc.
Earth – Spleen-Pancreas/Stomach – is associated with the harvest time. It is the patient and nourishing mediator, it represents balance and neutrality. The colour is yellow, the flavour bland or sweet and the negative emotions are worry and over thinking; positive is fairness and openness – and singing is associated with the free flow of spleen Chi. You can learn more by watching the following short video. The Five Phases correspond to each other through nourishing and controlling cycles. Metal nourishes Water, Water nourishes Wood, Wood nourishes Fire, Fire nourishes Earth, Earth nourishes Metal.
In the controlling or destructing cycle Metal shapes Wood, Water quells Fire, Wood controls Earth, Fire forms Metal and Earth controls Water.
Each element within the phases relates to the functioning and chi energy transformation of the internal organs. It promotes the following element and controls the element across the cycle.
However, if the organ function is unbalanced, that organ, not being able to complete the chi energy transformation within the natural meridian circuit, may act adversely across the cycle.
For instance, if Chi within the heart is unbalanced it may overact on the lung (since fire controls metal) causing congestion. This results in a lack of oxygen, which can lead to congestive heart failure.
The law for nourishment and control is an important consideration in any treatment plan. “In order to bring the body into harmony, one observes and keeps constant the standard of the Five Phases of Water, Wood, Fire, Earth, and Metal.” – Neijing.
In this constant chi energy transformation, we could describe Chi as matter OR matter as Chi. Divisions dissolve . . . AHA! Could we correlate this to the ongoing quandary about quantum objects which Einstein described as being light waves OR particles?
“The cosmos itself is an integral whole, a web of inter-related things and events . . . Within this web of relationships and change, any entity can be defined only by its function and has significance only as a part of the whole pattern.” – ‘The Web That Has No Weaver’ by Ted Kapchuk.
When we habitually attune to the unseen, unified dynamics of life we learn to understand the interrelationships or patterns within the web of our wonderful creation.
By doing this we can knowingly assist Mother Nature in her constant chi energy transformations, and balancing Yin and Yang, not only within our own being but also within the greater cosmos.
The complex Chi Energy systems operating relentlessly within us determine our awareness and our health; they affect everything we do, think and feel.
When we feel exhausted after long days of work, has the energy disappeared? Of course not, for energy never disappears, it only changes its way of functioning. What has happened then?
By learning to understand and work with the awesome Chi systems of our bodies and know how they relate to the outer cosmos, we can learn to be in charge of them. We then know exactly what happened and are able to free and transform the stuck energies in order for them to flow naturally once more.
Chi is one with the Fundamental Substances of the body. Their English translations Energy, Essence, Spirit, Blood and Fluids are only approximations of their Chinese meaning, which defines five fundamental properties inherent within us.
Why Chi, not Energy?
In practice, the term Chi is used in preference to Energy since the latter in Western languages implies energy as opposed to matter. In TCM energy-matter is a continuum, Chi having both energetic and material attributes.
Within the Chi systems some Chis are Yin, most are Yang in their characteristics, yet Chi means a tendency to, as well as motion itself. In general, the term Chi is for the functional, active aspect of the body.
Discomfort and certain symptoms appear when the Chi system is out of balance. Therefore different manifestations of Chi are examined and measured in diagnosis.
Jing Chi’s many Functions within the Chi systems
Jing or Source Chi provides the basis for all the functional activities of the channels. This essential Chi is one with the universal Generative Force – Wu Chi, which underlies all life in Creation with Its unfathomable Power and Intelligence.
In the human body, Jing is thought of as fluid-like, it is nutritive and supportive. It activates harmonious transformation throughout the Chi systems and controls growth, reproduction and development.
And it holds the secret of the physiological mechanism or Generative Force for the human brain’s transformation and expansion of consciousness.
Jing, as the ‘Essence of Human Nature’ is the basis for all movement and takes on characteristics according to the needs of the body.
It manifests as Organ Chi for organ functions, Channel Chi for transporting and moving functions, Nourishing Chi for transforming and creating blood as well as for helping the blood to nourish the tissues of the body.
Protective Chi warms and travels between the skin and the flesh. It regulates the opening and closing of the pores therefore, protects the body from external pathogenic influences, and it moistens the skin and hair.
Shen or Ancestral Chi
Ancestral Chi or Shen collects in the chest and underlies breathing and speaking, it regulates the beating of the Heart and is important in clarifying the Spirit and strengthening the body when cultivated in meditation.
According to Neijing the Spirit of the Heart or Shen rules the mental and creative functions.
The spirit of the Liver rules the nervous system and gives rise to the extrasensory perception.
Spirit of the Spleen rules logic or reasoning power.
Spirit of the Lungs rules animistic instincts, physical strength and stamina.
Spirit of the Kidneys rules the will, drive, ambition and survival instinct.
The Birth of Yin and Yang
In order to understand how these various qualities of Chi relate to the greater cosmos, it is important to learn about Chinese cosmology.
Wu-Chi, which underlies all living phenomena of the universe is the manifestation of the Generative Will of the Source and is One with Motion, the first law in Creation.
The original Loving Source Radiation, being one with the Will to Create, became receptive Yin, the transcendental Feminine Principle. Through Her, the brilliantly and creatively acting Will – Yang, became the Masculine Principle.
Carried by the Power of the original Radiation, the receptive Yin substance and the dynamically penetrating Yang manifest the great Law of Love – Tao – in forever re-birthing Creation.
The masculine and feminine qualities or Yin and Yang are eternally one with the Primal Intelligence, God or Wu, the original Intention and the guiding Principle of all that exists.
Truane Wu Chi, the Original Vital Energy
All the universes are created out of this Triune Wu Chi, the original Vital Energy. This continual forming works harmoniously in most spheres of Creation creating new combinations of love and beauty through cyclic radiations and in the rhythmic way of Tao.
On the material level, we can observe WuChi in Five Phases of Nature through birth, growth and development, even through decay in plants and animals.
Nature follows the great Tao or Law of Love. Only, when disturbed by wrongly directed human free will do things go wrong. And this has been going on for millenniums – the humans have subjugated their free will to their limited intellect instead of following the guidance of the Source Intelligence accessible through intuition and commitment to the universal Laws.
Ming, the Royal Command or Destiny
The impersonal and original Triune, the sub-stratum of Life (Ming – royal command or destiny) is in every cell.
In the human body it is called Jing and while impersonal, it is receptive (Yin) compared to Wu Chi, dynamically active (Yang) and observable in the harmonious nature.
Jing is based in the kidney domain as the Essence of Life and as a potent source of original Power, the Generative Force (Kundalini).
When Jing Chi is consciously cultivated with Shen Chi (spirit) through disciplined meditations and virtues, it rises as ‘the fiery Dragon’ to the brain.
New neural pathways are built, through which dormant areas of the brain are awakened. When awake, they reveal a new level of consciousness filled with blissfulness, clarity and creativity of a genius, and ultimately cosmic consciousness – the great AHA!
