The Five Elements

From five materials to five elements

 The five elements refer to wood, fire, earth, metal and
water.
 The five elements theory resulted from the observations
and studies of the natural world by the ancient Chinese
people in the course of their lives and productive labor.
 Since ancient time, wood, fire, earth, metal and water
have been considered as basic substances to constitute
the universe and they are also indispensable for life.
 It came to recognize that everything in nature might be
respectively attributed to one of the five elements.
 In TCM, the five elements theory as a theoretical
tool, is used to explain different kinds of medical
problems by analogizing and deducing their
properties and interrelations.
 It also used to guide clinical diagnosis and
treatment.
Nature of Five Elements
 Wood has the nature of growing freely and
unfolding.
 Anything that grows and flourishes freely
has the character of wood.
 Fire has the nature of flaming upwards.

 Fire symbolizes anything that is hot and

has such an upward flaring pattern.
 Earth has the nature of giving birth to all things.
 Then it represents the promotion of growth and
the nourishing process, the “earth is the mother
of all things”.
 Metal has the nature of purifying and
descending.
 Anything that purify and descend corresponds to
mental.
 Water has the nature of moistening and flowing
downwards.
 Anything that moistens, cools and flows
downward corresponds to water.
Application of five elements
 Doctor classified all things into five elements
according to their nature, function and form.
 In TCM, five Zang organs are classified into five
elements according to their nature.
 Liver-wood
 Heart-fire
 Spleen-earth
 Lung-mental
 Kidney-water
Five Elements Classification
WOOD FIRE EARTH METAL WATER

Season Spring Summer Late Summer Autumn Winter

Climatic Qi Wind Heat Damp Dryness Cold

Colour Green Red Yellow White Black

Taste Sour Bitter Sweet Spicy Salty

Orientation East South Center West North

Development Germination Growth Transformation Reaping Storing

Zang Organ Liver Heart Spleen Lung Kidney

Fu Organ Gallbladder Sm. Intestine Stomach Lg. Intestine Bladder

Sense Organ Eyes Tongue Mouth Nose Ears

Body Tissue Sinews Blood Vessel Muscles Skin Bone

Emotion Anger Joy/Shock Worry Sadness Fear

Sound Shout Laugh Sing Cry Moan

Example
 A 32 year old man had a fight with his
wife during breakfast.
2. He became very angry and forgot about
finishing his meal.
3. He presented at the clinic with strong
cramping pain around the lower right
front ribs,
4. greenish facial complexion,
5. and a frontal headache which seemed to
affect his eyes.
Analysis
1. Anger is the emotion of Wood
2. Pain around the lower right front ribs -
Possible gallbladder pain-Wood
3. Green is the color of wood
4. Eyes are the sense organs of Wood
 Diagnosis: The gentleman’s Wood
element is out of balance.
Normal relationship and disruption

Among the five elements, there exist

 The normal relationships of generation
and restriction
 The disruption of over-restriction
(overmaster) and counter-restriction(rebel)
 Generation relationships among
five elements
In ancient time
 people made fire by drilling wood, so “wood produce
fire”
 people burn some substance such as tree to ashes
for fertilizing the soil, hence “fire produce earth”
 people obtained metal from rock and earth (ore),
thus “earth produce metal”
 Water come from ore (mineral water), hence “metal
produce water”
 Without water, plants could not grow, so “water
produce wood”
Generation
 Generation implies that one kind of thing
can promote, aid or bring forth another
 wood generates fire,
 fire generates earth,
 earth generates metal,
 metal generates water,
 Water generates wood.
The Mutually Generation Cycle
 The clockwise
fire sequence on the
circle represents
the Generation
wood earth
cycle.
 Each element is
mother to the next
water metal element.
"mother-child" relationship
 Each of the five elements contains the dual
nature -"being generated" and "generating".
 This relationship of the five elements is called
the "mother-child" relationship.
 The element that generates is called the
"mother",
 while the element that is generated is called the
"child".
Take wood for example
 because wood generates fire,
 it is the mother of fire;
 but wood is generated by water,
 so it is child of water.
Restriction
 Restriction means bringing under control or
restraint.
 The order of restriction goes as follows:
3. wood restricts earth,
4. earth restricts water,
5. water restricts fire,
6. fire restricts metal,
7. Metal restricts wood.
How restriction happen
 Plants grow and absorb fertilizer from the
earth, so wood subdues earth
 Earth blocks water, so earth subdues
water
 Water puts out fire, so water subdues fire
 Fire can melt metal, so fire subdues metal
 Tools made of metal are used for cutting
down trees, so metal subdues wood
The Mutually Restriction Cycle

Wood  The sequence on the

circle represents the
Restriction cycle.
Water Fire  Water can extinguish
Fire, Fire can melt
Metal, Metal can cut
Wood, Wood can
contain Earth and
Metal Earth Earth can absorb
Water.
For example
 Any one of the five elements has two
aspects, being restricted and restricting.
 the water restrict fire,
 and the water is restricted by earth.

is restricted restrict
 Generation and restriction have the correlations
inseparable in the five elements.
 They oppose each other and yet also
complement each other.
 Without generation, there would be no growth
and development of things;
 Without restriction, there would be no balance
and coordination during development and
change, thus resulting in excessive growth
would bring about harm.
For example
 wood generates fire,
 fire restricts metal;
 metal restricts wood.

 Precisely because generation resides in restriction and

restriction resides in generation,
 the relative balance maintained between
generation and restriction ensures normal
growth and development of things.
Over-restriction and counter-restriction

 However, once any one of the five

elements becomes excessive or
insufficient,
 there would appear abnormal
relationship among five elements:
over-restriction and counter-
restriction
Over-restriction
 Over-restriction is meant that one of the
five elements overacts upon another one
when the latter is weak.
 Therefore, it is also called "double
restriction".
The Over-restriction Cycle
 The sequence on the
Wood circle represents the
Over-restriction cycle.
 The sequence is same
Water Fire
to restriction cycle;
 But it is too over
 Because of the
restricting element is
Metal Earth too strong or the
restricted element is
too weak
For instance
 Normally, wood restricts earth,
 While excessive wood may over-restrict
earth, and resulting in insufficiency of
earth,
 so called wood over-restrict earth.
Counter-restriction
 Counter-restriction means that the strong
bully the weak.
 It is also a morbid condition in which one
element fails to restrict the other in the
regular order, but in reverse order.
 It is clear that the order of counter-
restriction is just the opposite to that of
restriction.
The Counter-restriction Cycle
Wood  The sequence on the
circle represents the
Counter-restriction
Water Fire cycle.
 The sequence is just
opposite to restriction
cycle;
 Because of being
Metal Earth restricted element is
too powerful.
For example
 under normal conditions, metal should
restrict wood,
 but in case of wood-Qi excess, or metal-Qi
deficiency,
 wood will counter-restrict metal instead of
being restricted by metal,
 which is known as "wood counter-restrict
metal."
Essential Question states
 "When Qi of a certain element is sufficient,
it will Over-restrict the restricted element
and counter-restrict the restricting
element.
 When Qi of a certain element is
insufficient,
it will be Over-restricted by the restricting
element and counter-restricted by the
restricted element,"
 Application:
1.Normal—generation and restriction
Wood(liver)

Water Fire
(kidney) (heart)

Metal Earth
(lung) (spleen)
Each of the internal organs pertains to the five elements
Application:
2. Abnormal—over-restriction
Wood(liver)

Water Fire
(kidney) (heart)

Metal Earth
(lung) (spleen)
 Application:
3. Abnormal—counter-restriction

Wood(liver)

Water Fire
(kidney) (heart)

Metal Earth
(lung) (spleen)
Example –wood excess
kidney (water)

counter-restrict over-restrict
Lung liver spleen
(metal) (wood) (earth)
supporting
the weak
(The disorder of mother affects son)

heart (fire)
purging the
son organ
Example –wood deficiency
reinforcing the
mother organ
kidney (water)

(The disorder of son involves mother)

over-restrict counter-restrict
Lung liver spleen
(metal) (wood) (earth)
Inhibiting the
excess

heart (fire)
Treatment principle
According to the theory,
 Treating the excess syndrome of mother
organ by purging the son organ
 The excess of liver fire can be reduced
by purging heart fire
 Treating the deficiency syndrome of son
organ by reinforcing the mother organ
 Building up kidney essence to generate
liver Qi
 Inhibiting the excess, supporting the weak
 Purging heart fire, nourishing kidney Yin
Review
 Five elements
 Nature of Five Elements

 Normal relationship and disruption

 Application