Over the past few weeks, we have been discussing health and illness in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).
According to TCM, a person is healthy when there is specific yin-yang and qi balance of the Functional Entities.
The functional entities are:
The functional entities are responsible for performing the five cardinal functions that maintain health within the body. The cardinal functions are:
If there is a qi imbalance within the any of the functional entities, illness may occur.
Given the importance of qi in Oriental Medicine, it necessary to understand the TCM concept Zang-fu.
What is Zang-fu?
The Zang-fu is a collection organs that produce and regulate qi within the body. Unlike in western medicine, these organs should not be thought of as anatomical structures, but rather as interconnected functions that explain how qi is produced within the body. The functions performed by each organ are referred to as the organ’s qi (i.e. Heart qi). In total, there are 11 organs, five Zang and six fu.
Zang organs: Zang (脏) refers to the five organs that are yin. Collectively, their primary purpose is to produce and store qi, xue (blood), Jinye (body fluids), Jing (essence), and shen (Spirit). They are the:
fu organs: fu (腑) refers to six organs that are yang. Collectively, their primary function is to transmit and digest nutrients without storing them and to excrete waste. They are:
Zang-fu as a Wu Xing Cycle:
As mentioned earlier, each of the Zang-fu organs has a yin-yang pair and follows a Wu Xing cycle. Wu Xing, which translates into the Five Phases or Five Elements, is the notion that the change of the cosmos occurs in a cyclical pattern of five stages.
This means that each Zang-fu pair corresponds to one of the Five Elements and that they interact in a cyclical function with each other. The chart below helps demonstrate this relationship.
As mentioned previously, the Five Fundamental Substances are what make and sustain life. Given that the Zang-fu organs help produce and maintain the substances, their importance in Traditional Chinese Medicine cannot be understated.
What has yet to be discussed is how the fundamental substances travel from the organs to the rest of the body. In the next installment of this series, we will discuss the concept of the Jing-luo (meridian channels) and how they impact health.
If you’ve enjoyed following this blog series on philosophy and Traditional Chinese Medicine, then you should consider a career in acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. Our Master’s in Oriental Medicine program dives deep into these various concepts and gives you the hands-on opportunity to practice acupuncture as a part of our clinic internship program.
The college is located in Miami, FL. If you have any questions, please feel free to email our admissions director, Joe Calareso at admissions@amcollege.edu or call the school at 305-595-9500.
Download the guide below to learn more about a career in acupuncture.