The essence of traditional Chinese medicine treatment: the rise and fall of qi and the five elements

Spleen earth rises to the left, liver qi and kidney water rise with it, stomach qi falls to the right, bile qi and heart fire fall. Is this a circle with the left side rising and the right side falling?

In this circle, the spleen and stomach, yin and yang, are the central axis, and everything revolves around them.

In the human body, the internal organs are distributed up and down, and their functions also have directions. The qi machines guided by these internal organs are in a dynamic state.

Let me describe this picture to you.

First of all, the kidneys are at the bottom and belong to the water organ. Traditional Chinese medicine says that the kidneys are water containing fire, water is kidney yin, and fire is kidney yang. We understand fire. It must go upward. What does it produce? Fire generates earth, that is to say, the fire nature moves upward, making the spleen and earth warm. So what is the spleen responsible for? It is responsible for sending the nutrients absorbed by the stomach (called subtle substances in Chinese medicine) to the whole body. The spleen has a special characteristic. It moves upward, because some of the nutrients have to go to the lungs, where they combine with the subtle substances in the inhaled air and are distributed throughout the body with the help of the lungs.

The Qi of the spleen rises from the left.

As for the water in the kidneys, water produces wood. In other words, under the nourishment of water, the wood energy also begins to be nourished. When it is about to develop, its development direction is also upward, just like the tree, this Liver Qi also rises from the left. As the earth Qi in the spleen rises, there is a saying in traditional Chinese medicine that "the liver rises with the spleen and the gallbladder falls with the stomach." This is what it means.

Many people say, why is the liver in Chinese medicine on the left, but in anatomy it is on the right? Chinese medicine talks about liver qi, the function of the liver, a functional system, not just the essence of the organ.

Therefore, if the left side of the body is sick, sometimes it is necessary to consider whether the increase in liver and spleen qi is normal, especially liver qi.

The liver belongs to wood, and the four seasons match spring, symbolizing the growth of all things.

At this point you can see that this qi machine has risen to the top along with the liver and spleen, where are the lungs and heart. As you know, wood generates fire, and the five internal organs of this fire are the heart. The four seasons match summer. The characteristics of the heart fire are actually upward. However, due to the existence of the lungs, the heart fire is brought downward.

The lungs are made of metal, and autumn matches the four seasons, and is mainly responsible for descending. No matter how hot it is in summer, in autumn, Qi begins to decline. This heart fire was originally going to rise, but because there is lung metal on it, it then goes down, straight into the kidneys, so that the kidney water will not become too cold and the kidney water will be warmed. The kidney water follows the liver wood and reaches the position of the heart fire, so that the heart fire will not overheat. This is called "the combination of water and fire".

Sometimes, this downward process is destroyed, so the inner fire cannot descend. If it is held up, you will see a situation where the top is hot and the bottom is cold.

I am thirsty, my eyes are red, my mouth and tongue are sore, but my legs below are still cold.

At the same time as the Lung Metal decreases, the food eaten in the mouth enters the stomach and then moves downward, so the Stomach Qi decreases. The spleen is Ji earth and belongs to yin, and the stomach is Wu earth and belongs to yang. The yang should go down and the yin should go up.

While stomach qi decreases, bile qi also decreases, which is what we call "bile qi descending with the stomach." Nowadays, there are many stomach problems, which are gastric qi going up and bile refluxing. This is the result of qi going retrograde.

Everyone should also pay attention to the fact that the decline of stomach qi and bile qi is from the right side.

Therefore, if there is a disease on the right side of the human body, you should consider whether there is trouble in the downward flow of Qi.

Now look at it, the spleen earth rises to the left, the liver qi and kidney water rise with it, the stomach qi falls to the right, the bile qi and heart fire fall with it. Is this a situation where the left side rises and the right side falls? What about circles?

In this circle, the spleen and stomach, yin and yang, are the central axis, and everything revolves around them.

This is Huang Yuanyu's theory. He finally attributed all diseases to the abnormal operation of this circle. If there is a problem anywhere, the movement of the circle will be blocked there. , it cannot rotate, and a problem occurs. What should I do at this time? It is necessary to use medicine to regulate the Qi machinery and allow them to resume up and down operation, so that the human body will return to health.

I described this circle simply, and it is roughly the same principle. Huang Yuanyu himself discussed it more carefully and used more terms. You can refer to his book.

Then it’s time for someone to ask, does this circle make sense? Can it cure diseases?

I told you that Huang Yuanyu’s fifth-generation successor, Ma Ruiting, an old Chinese medicine doctor, took out a recipe called "Xiaqi Tang" from Huang Yuanyu's book, and gave it a little After some additions and subtractions, it became a prescription that has ascending and descending properties and harmonizes the spleen and stomach. This old man basically used this prescription to treat diseases all his life. When a patient came, he would adjust the prescription, add or subtract a little, and regulate the Qi. Once the machine is adjusted like this, the patient will be fine. If you look at his medical records, it's just an ups and downs. My feeling is that he just used medicine to shake things up on people's bodies and restart this small circle. As a result, Ma Lao's life is "unable to survive." There are so many patients. In particular, many serious blood diseases were cured by him.

Since Huang Yuanyu realized the operating rules of human qi, the clinical efficacy has become better and better.

So many people have come to visit him. This is amazing. That’s it for us. We can take the opportunity to observe more how Teacher Huang applies this circle.

Everyone, regardless of whether you are a medical student or not, once you understand the principle of the rise and fall of qi, you will be able to explain some situations by yourself. Otherwise, someone must be wondering why my legs are so cold. But there are always red bumps on my face? The difference between up and down is like ice and fire. Why?

Let’s take another example. This person’s surname is Zhao, and his name is Zhao Yanwei. His disease is called “遁 (pronounced hōu) Chuan”, which is similar to what we call asthma today. Some people may have seen this disease. When sick, they open their mouths and lift their shoulders, feel short of breath, and make a very harsh sound in their throats. The famous singer Teresa Teng suffered from this disease and died before she could take medicine. Our Comrade Zhao's illness is quite characteristic, which is that it is particularly easy to get sick in autumn and winter. When he gets sick, he will first start sneezing, then his nose will flow, and then he will feel that his throat is blocked, and then he will... Started to pant.

This is so uncomfortable. I guess you have never felt the feeling of having a blocked throat. Breathing is the most normal thing for ordinary people, but for them it is simply out of reach.

What should we do? Everyone is worried. We have to put this matter aside for now. There are many ways. Western medicine has many spray preparations that can relieve throat spasms. There are also many hormones. Drugs can provide emergency relief, but they can easily lead to dependence. You can’t live on hormones for the rest of your life, right?

There were no Western medicines at that time, and Comrade Zhao felt that life was going to be desperate. At this time, some people said that Huang Yuanyu of Changyi was very knowledgeable. Because of his physical disability, he vowed to study medicine. Now that is He has quite a lot of experience, why don't we invite him here.

So, Huang Yuanyu came to Comrade Zhao's home. At this time, Huang Yuanyu had completely gotten rid of the sadness caused by his disability. He had regained his confidence in the process of treating others.

Let’s take a look at Huang Yuanyu’s diagnosis process!

Huang Yuanyu asked the patient: "Besides asthma, what other symptoms do you have?"

Comrade Zhao said: "I always feel abdominal distension (this is very important, I Let me explain to you), and sometimes I still vomit (which explains the problem even more), but it gets better if I breathe.

"

Huang Yuanyu nodded. In fact, he understood everything in his heart at this moment, but he still asked: "How did you get this disease? "

Comrade Zhao and his family looked at each other and said: "It was one autumn when I was in my twenties. When I was having dinner in the evening, a damn black cat fell from the eaves of the house. It fell on my back and frightened me. I became ill from then on. I didn't dare to eat dinner after hitting it. If you are hit by a cold wind at night, or encounter a cloudy and rainy day, or eat too much during the day, you will get sick. The attack lasts for two or three days, sometimes it takes eight or nine days, or it takes more than 20 days to recover. Now you are already sick. Twelve years! ”

When Huang Yuanyu heard this, he thought, God, twelve years, this patient has been really miserable. Thinking of this, he suddenly felt compassion.

So, Huang Yuan Yu took the trouble and started telling the story of the circle to the patient and his family.

This story of the circle is so important. If we understand it, we can actually analyze many diseases ourselves.

The story told by Teacher Huang is as follows: Asthma is a disease of lung qi ascending, that is, the lung qi does not fall. Normally, there is a circle in our body, and this lung is in a circle. At the top of the circle, why doesn’t the lungs go down? It’s because the stomach qi doesn’t go down. As we said, the spleen and stomach are the axis at the center of the circle, and the stomach qi goes down from the right. If the stomach qi doesn’t go down, then the lung qi doesn’t go down. There is no way to go down, and it is blocked there, so it goes up and becomes sick.

But why does the stomach not go down?

It is because the spleen soil is wet with water. It is stagnated and no longer rises, nor does it absorb the food received by the stomach (TCM believes that the stomach is responsible for reception and the spleen is responsible for absorption. According to Taoist medicine, part of the function of the spleen is actually the function of the intestine). The spleen does not absorb. Isn’t everything that the stomach receives from the mouth blocked? As a result, it can’t go down.

Do you see why Comrade Zhao’s abdomen is bloated? That’s because the spleen and stomach are blocked there.

Why is he vomiting? This is because the stomach qi cannot go down and goes up.

Let’s look at the cause of his illness. He was frightened when he was eating. There is something wrong with the movement of the circle. If you are frightened like this, the food will stop in the stomach with a "click", and the rotation of the circle will be hindered. As a result, you will get sick. Huang Yuanyu said that "humidity is usually strong" When the stomach is in turmoil, it is not secret that it is dormant under the fire. When something unusual happens, its mind is disturbed, the gallbladder tree is pulled up and it is frightened, and the kidney water drops and it is fearful. Ji Earth is insulted by cold water, so the temper is depressed; Wu Earth is hostile to Jia Wood, so stomach Qi is reversed." He discussed how the circle is abnormal from the perspective of mental fright, which is fundamental.

Then why do you get sick on rainy days? Because the humidity in rainy days makes the already damp temper even worse. If you get sick after eating a full meal, it is because the stomach qi is already blocked there, and you give it to it again. How to treat it without increasing the burden?

How to treat it? The spleen soil will rise even more happily. If I use some medicine to reduce stomach qi, won't the circle start to rotate?

The recipe is: Poria, licorice, pinellia, and dried. Ginger, asarum, orange peel, cassia twig, amomum villosum.

It’s such a small recipe that looks familiar to us. Poria is used to remove moisture and make the spleen soil rise, and licorice is responsible for it. Zhongzhou nourishes the spleen and stomach. Pinellia ternata dries dampness, and its medicinal properties lower stomach qi. I have talked about these three herbs, which are a typical concept of axle. Dried ginger warms the spleen and kidneys. Because of the high humidity, it is not used. Hot medicine cannot remove dampness; let me tell you about Asarum. This medicine is for dispersing wind and cold. It has strong properties and a certain degree of toxicity. Therefore, there is a saying that "Asarum is not worth the money", but that refers to the In powder form, if it is a decoction, there is actually no problem, but now pharmacies will definitely not give medicine with more than 3 grams of asarum. It is effective for stubborn wind-cold headaches, coughs and asthma, but there is a problem. After using Asarum, people with kidney qi deficiency may need to replenish their kidneys, because the kidney qi has been used.

I once prescribed a prescription to treat a stubborn cough. After using Asarum, the patient recovered quickly. However, there was a coin-sized lack of coating in the middle and rear part of the tongue. This is where the tongue coating is gone. This is the kidney. For symptoms of qi deficiency, I immediately asked the patient to take Jingui Shenqi Pills. As a result, within a few days, the tongue coating started to grow.

The orange peel in the prescription can comb the qi of the lung meridian and can relieve coughs and reduce inflammation; Guizhi Huang Yuanyu says it warms the liver and causes the liver qi to rise (this is Huang Yuanyu’s unique Experience); Amomum villosum is a medicine that regulates qi and can wake up the spleen and stimulate the appetite. If the stomach qi is blocked by food, using some amomum villosum can immediately cheer up the stomach qi.

Amomum villosum also warms the kidneys, removes dampness, and induces qi to return to the kidneys. This is a good medicine with multiple uses.

This is just a recipe. The main idea is to clear up the spleen and stomach. There are no medicines to relieve cough. At most, orange peel can have some effect. I guess some comrades will ask, can such a simple prescription treat asthma without cough medicine?

Let’s see how Comrade Zhao is doing after taking the medicine, shall we?

Comrade Zhao Yanwei recovered from the disease after taking the medicine for more than ten times, and has never had an attack since.

So what is the truth behind Teacher Huang’s theory? Can all diseases be cured by drawing a circle like this?

Huang Yuanyu’s theory of the “Middle Earth Cycle” actually means, to put it bluntly, that the functions of various organs in the human body are interrelated, and if there is a problem with one, it will affect the functions of all the other organs. . If we adjust any of these links, we can promote the human body to move in the normal direction, and Huang Yuanyu believes that the most important link here is the spleen and stomach.