Chiyang Daoren, Eastern Taoism
Life cannot do without eating and drinking, but eating and drinking are not the purpose of life. Carelessness in eating and drinking produces illness that disturbs our health. Yet some people say: “People eat the five grains; who never falls ill? Medicine is advanced now and we have medical insurance, so there is nothing to fear.” Yet today all kinds of strange and incurable diseases have appeared that leave even doctors helpless. What exactly is the reason for this?
The theory of Western medicine is a theory of external causes: it holds that illnesses are all caused by germs invading the body from outside, and that fever is caused by pathogens invading the body and inflaming some part of it. But philosophy makes it very clear that what plays the decisive role in the change of things is the internal cause; the external cause is the condition that speeds up internal change, and external conditions take effect only when the internal cause contains the factors for change. For example, however suitable the outside temperature, an unfertilized egg will never hatch a chick.
A fever is not necessarily an inflammation caused by germs. Here is a case. For several years in a row, when the patient was in his forties, he ran a fever for five or six days each spring around the solar term of Awakening of Insects. His temperature was lower in the mornings and began rising gradually in the afternoons to around 38.5 °C. Because he was in good spirits at the time, did not feel chilled, and his limbs were not achy or listless, he never saw a doctor, and on the seventh day he would return to normal on his own. The last time, however, after five in the afternoon on the fifth day, his temperature suddenly shot up above 40 °C, and his whole body shook with cold as if he had walked into an icehouse. The patient grew frightened, knowing that a high fever could damage his lungs or even burn his brain and leave him a fool, so he hurried to see a doctor.
At the hospital he registered at the emergency department. The nurse took his temperature three times, and each time it was over 40 °C; she said she needed to check whether he was hiding something hot under his armpit. She said: “That's not right! Theoretically, anyone with a fever over 40 degrees would be unconscious; how could you have come to the hospital by yourself?” When he got to the doctor, the doctor said: “With a temperature this high, why isn't a nurse helping you? Go back and have her help you over here!”
After a finger-prick blood test, his white blood cell count was normal, and the doctor said this was an “unexplained fever.” The patient asked what had caused it. The doctor said: “Western medicine can't easily explain it; from the point of view of Chinese medicine, there may be internal heat in the body.”
The patient suddenly understood the cause. When winter came, to strengthen his body, he had drunk a small cup of ginseng-steeped wine every evening, but his body had not fully absorbed the high heat of the ginseng. So in spring the surplus heat was released, triggering the unexplained high fever, which would soon subside on its own.
The next day, a whole layer of skin, as thin and translucent as gauze, peeled off the roof of the patient's mouth. It seems this high fever had done considerable harm to his body after all.
Many young parents in China today like to give their babies foreign formula milk powder, saying that foreign milk powder is of better quality. In fact, so-called better quality means higher calories. Because the calories are too high, some babies cannot absorb them and often run fevers to release the excess heat; babies who drink it without running fevers often become obese babies.
In fact, high heat also affects the health of the heart, which is why the heart beats faster during a fever. If a child runs a fever every few days, that is not a good thing. Chinese medicine holds that “dry heat harms the heart,” and frequent fevers may affect the health of the heart.
The Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic (Huangdi Neijing) has specific discussions of how diet and emotions affect health; they are an important guide for our health cultivation.
The five zang organs and six fu organs are the foundation of life. The five zang organs are matched to the Five Phases as follows: “The lungs belong to Metal, the liver to Wood, the kidneys to Water, the heart to Fire, and the spleen to Earth.” They both generate and overcome one another.
1. The Lungs: (The lungs govern the skin and body hair; their phase is Metal; their corresponding grain is rice; their corresponding color is white; their corresponding animal is the horse.)
Pungent flavors nourish the lungs; cold harms the lungs; sorrow harms the lungs.
Lung excess: panting, coughing, and counterflow qi, with clear nasal discharge; discomfort in the shoulders and back and a tendency to deficiency sweating; pain from the tailbone down to the knees and feet.
Lung deficiency: shortness of breath, hardness of hearing, difficulty breathing, and a dry throat.
Pungent flavors are good for the lungs—is that why people along the Yangtze River love spicy food? In winter the air there is damp and cold, and people do not use heating, so the incidence of chilblains is especially high. Some people who sit for long periods even get chilblains on their buttocks, which shows how bad the chilblains on hands, feet, and ears can get. Because cold injures the lungs, they must be tended with pungent flavors, so people in these regions have the habit of eating spicy food. Winters in the north are even colder, but because people there are used to heating, their lungs are not much eroded by cold and do not need so much pungent flavor for nourishment. So if people in northern China eat too much spicy food, then by the Five Phases law that “Metal overcomes Wood,” it may affect the health of the liver.
2. The Liver: (The liver governs the sinews; its phase is Wood; its corresponding grain is wheat; its corresponding color is green-blue or green; its corresponding animal is the chicken.)
Sour flavors nourish the liver; much talking harms the liver; much anger harms the liver; cold winds and evil winds harm the liver; many tears harm the liver.
Liver qi excess: pain below the right ribs radiating to the lower abdomen; a tendency to frequent anger. Frequent anger affects the health of the liver.
Liver qi deficiency: dim, blurred vision in both eyes; inability to hear clearly with both ears; frequent fear and fright. That is why heavy drinkers' eyes grow dim early: the liver has been damaged.
The liver generates the sinews. (Sinews here mean the ligaments. The Shuowen Jiezi says: “Sinews are the strength of the flesh.” In popular usage the word refers to blood vessels; prominent veins are described as “green sinews standing out.”) When the liver is healthy, the ligaments are supple and the limbs move freely.
3. The Kidneys: (The kidneys generate the bones; their phase is Water; their corresponding plants are beans; their corresponding color is black; their corresponding animal is the pig.)
Salty flavors nourish the kidneys; fear harms the kidneys; too much sex harms the kidneys; restlessness and agitation harm the kidneys; much spitting harms the kidneys.
Kidney qi excess: a swollen, distended abdomen; swollen feet and shins; coughing and panting; heaviness of the body; sweating during sleep; aversion to wind.
Kidney qi deficiency: cold limbs; depression and gloom in the heart; pain in the chest; pain in the upper and lower abdomen; frequent yawning and sneezing.
4. The Heart: (The heart generates the pulse; its phase is Fire; its corresponding grain is broomcorn millet (sticky yellow millet); its corresponding color is scarlet or red; its corresponding animal is the sheep.)
Bitter flavors nourish the heart; dry heat harms the heart; extreme joy harms the heart.
Heart qi excess: tightness and pain in the chest; pain in both shoulder blades; pain along the inner sides of both arms.
Heart qi deficiency: distension of the chest and abdomen; pain below both ribs radiating to the lower back.
A joyful heart makes one live long, but it must not be excessive. The saying “extreme joy begets sorrow” shows that excessive joy brings tears, and tears themselves show that the liver has been harmed. Excessive joy harms the heart, which is why some heart patients become so overjoyed on leaving the hospital that their hearts suddenly stop beating.
5. The Spleen: (The spleen generates the flesh; its phase is Earth; its grain is foxtail millet; its corresponding color is yellow; its corresponding animal is the ox.)
Sweet flavors nourish the spleen; dampness harms the spleen; si harms the spleen.
[Note: Si here does not mean “thinking.” The Shuowen Jiezi glosses it: “Si means to contain,” that is, to take in and accept. When the heart cannot accept something but is forced to accept it anyway, so that one cannot come to terms with it, that is si. According to the Five Phases principle that “Wood overcomes Earth,” Chinese medicine says: “Si harms the spleen, and anger overcomes si.” If you really cannot accept something, you get angry, and venting your frustration through anger keeps it from affecting the health of the spleen.]
Spleen excess: heaviness of the body; easily hungry; weakness in the leg muscles and frequent cramps.
Spleen deficiency: abdominal fullness and distension; rumbling intestines and diarrhea; indigestion.
Western medicine holds that “as people age their bones become porous, which is why leg cramps occur.” Chinese medicine holds that if the spleen is unhealthy, then by the law that Earth overcomes Water it will affect the health of the kidneys, and the kidneys generate and nourish the bones. When the kidneys and spleen are unhealthy, osteoporosis results; so people who develop osteoporosis show that both their kidneys and spleen have been damaged.
From the theory of Chinese medicine we can see that health is very closely linked to one's emotions and daily diet. Eating foods of the color corresponding to each of the five zang organs benefits that organ, but eating too much of any one food harms another organ, so one must balance one's food. Yet some people always think that eating well necessarily means good health, and pursue fine food and the pleasures of the palate without restraint; chicken, duck, fish, and meat alone no longer satisfy their appetite for novelty. That is why so many patients with all kinds of strange “diseases of affluence” appear.
Emotions also affect health: “Joy harms the heart, sorrow harms the lungs, anger harms the liver, fear harms the kidneys, and si harms the spleen.” Many people's emotions rise and fall sharply with their personal gains and losses and with the influence of their surroundings. They are just as Laozi said: “Startled when they gain it, startled when they lose it!” Whether they crave money and material things or fame and status, they are happy when they get them and heartbroken when they lose them. Some stock traders kill themselves when their stocks crash and they lose their capital; some take their own lives over a loss of face.
That is why Laozi's Tao Te Ching asks everyone to quiet their hearts and cultivate themselves according to the requirements of the Tao, to reduce material greed and the pursuit of fame and gain, and to be “calm in heart and even in temper, simple in living, neither elated by things nor saddened on one's own account.”