The Five Elements Around You

Transcript

Have you ever heard of the five elements?
Namely the wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. What exactly are the five elements?
And how can it be applied in Chinese Medicine? Hello Alex here! Today I'm going
to be talking about another very important philosophical concept in
Chinese Medicine, the theory of the five elements. The five elements theory is
used to understand and analyze interrelationships between our body
organs, and between our body and the nature. It is then used to act as a
guide in terms of diagnosis and treatments. The five elements are wood,
fire, earth, metal, and water. Actually at first the five elements only refer to
the five substances that people worked with in their daily lives,
for example people grew crops (or wood), need a fire to cook, soil (or earth) is
needed to grow plants, metal are used as tools, and water to drink or irrigate.
Then throughout time the five elements expanded and all things in the universe
are classified into the five elements according to their properties. Let's take
a look at the properties of each elements. Wood. The basic properties of
wood is that it can be bent and straightened. Plants expand and try to
reach for the Sun. Therefore anything that represents growth or expansion and
outward movements are categorized as wood. Fire. Fire flares upward, anything that
has a function of warmth, heat and ascending are categorized as fire. Earth.
Earth provides for sowing, growing and reaping. Therefore anything that has the
function of generating, holding and receiving are categorized as earth. Metal.
Metal can be molded and changed. Anything that has the function or properties of
purification, elimination and reformation are categorized as metal. Water. Water
moistens and flows downwards. Anything that has a function of
being cold and cool, moistening or flowing downwards are categorized as
water. The table here shows extension of the five elements to different aspects.
For example, season-wise wood is spring, fire is summer, earth is late summer,
metal is autumn and water is winter. Just understanding the properties of the five
elements are not enough. We also have to understand the interrelationships
between the five elements. The five elements are in constant motion and
moving. So today I'm going to be sharing with you the two most basic
relationships among the elements, 1) the generating cycle and 2) the destructive
cycle. The law of the generating cycle is wood generates fire, fire generates earth,
earth generates metal, metal generates water, and water generates wood. It may
seem complicated to understand at first However let's use a simple example. Wood
can be burned to produce fire, thus wood generates fire. The burnt remains is
transformed into ashes and it gets absorbed back into the soil which is
earth, thus fire generates earth. Metal mines are buried in the earth, thus earth
generates metal. Metal can be melted into liquid thus metal generates water. Water
is a fundamental ingredient for life water is used for irrigation to grow
plants, thus water generates wood. However as I mentioned in the last video, there
must be a yin and yang balance. If the five elements keeps generating then
there will be an excess of everything, so therefore we must have a destructive
cycle, and the law of destructive cycle is, water restrains fire, fire restrains
metal, metal restrains wood, wood restrains earth, and earth restrains
water. And again let's use a simple example to describe. Water can put out a
fire, thus water restrains fire. Fire can melt metal and make it weak, thus fire
restrains metal. Metal in a form of tools such as an axe can cut through woods or
trees, thus metal restraints wood. Wood can grow down into the earth and
consume the nutrients of the soil thus wood restrains earth. Soil can be
gathered to build a dam that blocks water, thus earth restrains water. Without
generation there is no birth and development. Without destruction,
everything will be in excess and there will be harm. Therefore a well balanced
system must include both generation and destruction.
However this graph is actually not the best representation of the five elements.
And the earth should be in the middle, like this. If you like to understand the
deeper meanings of the five elements, it is important to also understand the
"He Tu:, or the "Yellow River diagram", but I think it's good for now. In the future I
will make a series talking about the "Yellow River diagram" and also another
very important diagram known as the "Luo Shu" or the "nine halls diagram".
Comment below if you're interested in this topic. Now let's talk about the
application. Like the Yin and Yang theory the five elements theory are used
by Chinese people in all sorts of applications. For example "Feng Shui", which
is the exterior and interior design of your house to balance the five elements,
so we can live healthy and in harmony with the environment. The five elements
can also be applied in Chinese music. For example the five notes corresponds to
the five elements, let's say one has a deficiency in water, by listening to a
piece that has a major in water element will have a healing effect. And of course
the five elements is widely used in Chinese medicine. However the topic is so
wide that I can spend a full semester just talking about this, so today I'm
just gonna talk about the surface level and among all, the most important is to
understand the core relationships between the five elements and the five
"Zang" organs. In the future I will describe more in details about the "Zang" organs.
However today all you need to know is wood is to liver, fire is to heart,
earth is to spleen, metal is to lung, and water is to kidney. And the key to be
healthy is to maintain the balance of the five elements.
For example if there is an excess in liver wood it will over-restrain the
spleen earth, thus injuring and affecting the normal functions of the spleen.
Therefore understanding the five elements helps Chinese medicine doctors
in terms of treatment principles. For example if there is a deficiency in lung
energy, doctors can reinforce the spleen energy in order to tonify the lung
energy. Of course in reality cases are much more complex and it is not too
simple. However the five elements model is really helpful in helping Chinese
medicine doctors to help analyze the patient's issues. I hope you found the
five elements theory interesting. In the future I will be talking a lot more
about how to apply the five elements into your diet, into your exercises for
better health. If you like this video, and stay tuned. Up next
I would be talking about the most important substance in the universe, the
"Qi (Chi)". So I'll see you in the next video!