Traditional Medicine in Asia

The theory of Five Elements
Together with the theory of yin yang, the
theory of Five Elements constitutes the basis
of Chinese medicine. Originally, the Five
Elements referred to the five kinds of
materials, which are wood, fire, earth,
metal and water with their characteristic
properties—an ancient philosophical
concept to explain the composition and
phenomena of the physical universe. The
primitive concept of Five Elements was
further developed into a more complex
theory and was used to summarize the
properties of things in nature into five
categories. Each matter in the universe has
a dominant character which bears
resemblance to the properties of one of five
elements. The theory of Five Elements is thus
used to group the things through their
different properties and to interpret the
relationships among these different things
through a generating sequence and a
counteracting sequence among the Five
Elements. The generating sequence is in
the following sequence: wood, fire, earth,
metal and water, in which each Element is
conceived to promote or produce the
subsequent one, namely, wood produces
fire, fire produces earth, etc. The
counteracting sequence is in the following
sequence: water, fire, metal, wood and
earth, in which each Element is considered
checking the subsequent one, namely,
water checks fire, fire checks metal, etc. It
should be stressed that this is a symbolic
recognition, an analogy. According to the
Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Medicine,
“metal, wood, water, fire and earth
encompass all natural phenomena. This
symbolism also applies to man”. In other
words, all parts of the human body have
affinities in nature with particular elements.
The Five Elements view is important
from the perspective of demonstrating the
way in which Chinese medicine has built
An overview of traditional Chinese medicine
on the view of balance, holism, and
harmony in the human body. This theory
initially likened the organs in the human
body to the Five Elements. The
organ:element analogies are lung:metal;
liver:wood; kidney:water; heart:fire; and
spleen:earth (Tables 1a & 1b). This analogy
broadens out to encompass all
components of the body, since each and
every part of the anatomy is controlled by
a particular vital organ. For example, in
TCM, liver stores blood, ensures the
smooth flow of qi, controls the sinews; lung
governs qi and respiration, regulates water
passages and controls skin; spleen
transports and transforms water and food
essence, keeping the blood flowing within
the vessels, controls muscles and the four
limbs, etc.
The Five Elements theory is extensively
applied in almost every aspect of Chinese
medicine. It is used in physiology to explain
the functions of different organs, tissues
and their connections. In pathology, it is
applied to demonstrate the mutual
pathological influence and transmission
among the viscera organs. It is used in
diagnosis to synthetize the data obtained
through the four methods of diagnosis
(given in detail in the following chapter) and
deduce the evolution of disease. In
treatment, the theory of Five Elements is
applied mainly under two headings: to
prevent the transmission of disease and to
guide the therapeutic method.
When considering a certain disharmony
organ, one should keep in mind the
various relationships between this organ
and the others (the generating sequence
and counteracting sequence). This
disharmony may be affected by another
organ, and meanwhile it may be affecting
another organ.
To prevent the transmission of disease:
This was demonstrated by the “Classic on
19