Categorization of things according to the properties of the five elements (Part 2)
Take the four seasons for another example.
- Spring, characterized by gradual ascendance of yang-qi, warm weather and resuscitation of all things, is similar to the properties of wood. So spring pertains to wood.
- Summer, characterized by hot weather and luxuriant growth of all things, is similar to the properties of fire. That is why summer pertains to fire.
- Autumn, characterized by decrease of yang-qi and decline of all things in the natural world, is similar to the properties of metal. Thus autumn pertains to metal.
- Winter, characterized by cold weather and storage of all things, is similar to the properties of water. For this reason winter pertains to water.
For dealing with things difficult to compare directly with the abstract properties of the five elements, inference and deduction can be used to decide the properties of these things in the light of the properties of other related things induced according to the defined properties of the known things.
Take the liver for example. The physiological characteristic of the liver is to function freely, quite similar to the properties of wood. So the liver pertains to wood in the five elements. However, the gallbladder, tendon and eyes are difficult to compare with the properties of the five elements directly. Because these organs and tissues are intrinsically related to the liver, they also pertain to wood.
In this way TCM classifies, with the methods of categorization, inference and deduction, various things in the natural world as well as the viscera, organs and tissues in the human body respectively into the categories of wood, fire, earth, metal and water according to their properties, thus formulating a structural system of the five elements with close interrelationship between the internal and external environments of the body.
NOTE : The same applies to the study of Chinese Metaphysics
This structural system of the five elements mainly includes the five flavors, the five colors, the five transformations, the five kinds of qi, the five directions and the five seasons as well as the five zang-organs, the five fu-organs, the five sensory organs, five constituents (tendon, vessel muscle, skin and bone), the five emotions, the five kinds of liquids and the five states of pulse in the human body as illustrated in the following table.
The five elements possess specific properties respectively. They are related to each other and act on each other. Though the five categories of things classified according to the properties of the five elements are complicated and changeable, they still can be expounded with the theory of the five elements. The interactions among the five elements are either normal or abnormal. The former includes inter-promotion and inter-restraint and the latter includes over restraint (or subjugation) and reverse restraint which are actually the abnormal manifestations of inter-restraint.
Life is the flower for which love is the honey.
- Victor Hugo
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