Root Spirit * The Divine Pivot

Teacher:
Julie Miller

Pages 69 – 72

Translated by Zhu Ming

The Emperor asked: “Whether acupuncture would be effective is fundamentally based on the spirit of the patient. The blood, vessels, nutritive qi, and essence are stored by the five zang-organs.

If one experiences excessive emotional frustration, the essence will be lost, and the soul will escape. Absent-mindedness will occur, and wisdom and thoughts will leave the body.

Why does this happen? Is it the crime of the heaven? Is it the mistake of the patient? The virtue of the heaven and the benevolence of the earth produce men’s spirit, essence and yang soul, yin soul, mind, idea, resolution, consideration, farsightedness, and wisdom. What about this?

Uncle Qi answered: “The heaven bestows its virtue on people. The earth endows people with its benevolence.

The virtue of the heaven descends, and the benevolence of the earth ascends so that people may live.

1 So, what is generated before birth is essence (sperm and ovum). Two essences wrestle, then the spirit is produced.

The yang soul goes with the spirit.

2 the yin soul goes with the essence.

3 What learns and deals with things is mind.

What is immature in the mind is idea. What is determined firmly is resolution. To think about this resolution over and over again is consideration.

To ponder things from long distances and many angles is farsightedness. Dealing with all things with farsightedness is wisdom.

“So, when a man with wisdom cares for his life, he must obey the rules of seasons, and acclimatize to cold and heat.

The man should appease joy and anger, and be satisfied with his residence. He should be moderate in the yin and yang, and adjust the rigidity and softness.

4 In this way, evils will not intrude, and one can live indefinitely.

“Therefore, fear and thought impair the spirit. The impaired spirit induces greater fear.

Ceaseless seminal emission occurs.

5 When one’s viscera are injured by sorrow, the qi of the viscera dries up, and his life is lost. Great joy makes the spirit escape and not to be stored.

Melancholy causes the qi to be blocked and stagnant. Rage causes one to be distracted and to lose self-control. Fear causes the spirit to dissipate and not be drawn back.

“Fear and thought of the heart impair the spirit. The impaired spirit induces greater fear, loss of self-control, haggardness, withered body hair and wizened colour. The patient will die in the winter.

6 Unrestricted melancholy of the spleen damages the idea. The damaged idea makes depression, vexation, feeble limbs, withered body hair and wizened colour. The patient will die in the spring.

“Sorrow of the liver injures the viscera and the yang soul. The injured yang soul causes madness, stupidity, huddling up and cramp when facing others, failure of sustenance of the ribs, withered body hair and wizened colour. The patient will die in the autumn.

“Great joy of the lungs damages the yin soul. The damaged yin soul results in insanity, and behaving as if no one else were present.

Dried-up skin, withered body hair and wizened colour are also induced. The patient will die in the summer.

“Rage of the kidneys harms the resolution. The harmed resolution makes the patient forget what he has said, destroys the flexibility of his back, and causes withered body hair and wizened colour. The patient will die in the summer.

“Uncontrolled fear spoils the essence. The spoiled essence makes soft bones, atrophy, qi reversal and frequent seminal emissions.

Therefore, the five zang-organs that store the essence should not be damaged, or the essence will not be conserved, and yin deficiency will occur.

The yin deficiency makes the qi vacant. The vacant qi induces death.

“So an adept acupuncture doctor usually observes the state of the patient at length to know the existence or disappearance and gain or loss of the essence, spirit, yang soul, or yin soul. If the five zang-organs are injured acupuncture will not be efficacious.

“The liver stores the blood. The yang soul dwells in the blood. Deficiency of the liver qi makes fear. Excess of the liver qi makes anger.

“The spleen stores the nutritive qi. The idea dwells in the nutritive qi.

Deficiency of the spleen qi causes disabled limbs and uneasiness in the five zang-organs. Excess of the spleen qi makes abdominal distention, irregular menstruation, and impeded urine and stool.

“The heart stores the vessels. The spirit dwells in the vessels. Deficiency of the heart qi causes sorrow. Excess of the heart qi causes ceaseless laughing.

“The lungs store the qi. The yin soul dwells in the lungs. Deficiency of the lung qi causes nasal congestion and shortness of breath.

Excess of the lung qi causes gasping, suffocated chest, and raising of the head for air.

“The kidneys store resolution. The resolution dwells in the essence. Deficiency of the kidney qi causes qi reversal.

Excess of the kidney qi causes distention and restlessness of the five zang-organs. Doctors should ascertain the level of illness of the five zang-organs to grasp the deficiency or excess of the qi, and adjust it meticulously.”

Commentary

This article expounds the concepts of the spirit, yang soul, yin soul, mind, idea, resolution, consideration, farsightedness, wisdom, etc. Their relationships with the five zang-organs are clearly explicated.

The article points out that although human psychological and ideological activities are generally controlled by the mind, they are also separately governed by the five zang-organs.

Excessively strong emotions can harm the zang-organs and induce disease. Conversely, the ill zang-organs can also induce abnormal emotional activities. The two issues interact as the cause and effect.

This relationship is practically meaningful to the “syndrome identification and treatment determination,” life care and anility resistance. In addition, some mental diseases will get worse, even to the point of causing death, when the seasons alter and the patients cannot adapt to the changes of seasons and climates. This is very common in clinical practice.

When the five zang-organs become unhealthy, psychological and emotional disorders appear. These symptoms can help us to analyze causes and determine treatments.

For example, “deficiency of the liver qi makes fear, and excess of the liver qi makes anger.” “Deficiency of the heart qi causes sorrow, and excess of the heart qi causes ceaseless laughing.”

These conditions are usually seen in clinical experience. What merits attention is that shortages of the spleen qi and kidney qi can make the five zang-organs restless. This idea is valuable in treating some chronic disease and in the consolidation of effects.

So, the Discussion on the Spleen and Stomach, an ancient medical masterpiece written by Li Dongyuan, provides the idea of “curing the spleen to pacify the five zang-organs.”

At the end of the article, “doctors should ascertain the level of illness of the five zang-organs to grasp the deficiency or excess of the qi, and adjust it meticulously.” They should strictly abide by this principle in treating the patient by oral administration and by acupuncture.

Annotation

1. The heaven bestows its virtue on people. The earth endows people with its benevolence. The virtue of the heaven descends, and the benevolence of the earth ascends so that people may live:

The heaven provides climate, including sunshine, dew, rain, etc. The earth provides necessary conditions for living, including the five smells, five flavours, etc. The heaven and earth provide all living things with the necessary material conditions.

2. The yang soul goes with the spirt: the yang soul is the yang part of the soul and pertains to the yang. The spirit pertains to the yang as well. The yang soul dominates a man’s perception. The liver stores the yang soul.

3. The yin soul goes with the essence: The yin soul is the yin part of the soul and pertains to the yin. The essence pertains to the yin as well. The yin soul dominates a man’s movement. The lungs store the yin soul.

4. Be moderate in the yin and yang, and adjust the rigidity of softness: Be moderate in the sex.

5. Ceaseless seminal emission occurs: Because fear damages the kidneys.

6. The patient will die in the winter: Because water curbs fire, so a patient with heart disease will die in the winter.

In the same way, the patient with spleen disease will die in the spring; the patient with the live disease will die in the autumn; the patient with lung disease will die in the summer; the patient with kidney disease will die in the late summer.

Definitions

Five zang-organs: Liver, heart, spleen, lungs and kidneys
Five flavours: sour, bitter, sweet, acrid, salty
Five smells: rammish, burned, fragrant, fishy, and rancid

Source:http://lightworkers.org/wisdom/julie-miller/211178/root-spirit-divine-pivot