Nei Ching Su Wen has some discrepancies??

[Guest guest]

I recently made a study of Ilza Veith's translation of the Nei Ching

Su Wen and found some interesting points that are not so clear

in TCM sites around the web.

 

Even though the elemental Victor/Vanquished Mother/Son rule

goes

 

Wood -> Earth -> Water -> Fire -> Metal -> Wood

 

and

 

Wood -> Fire -> Earth -> Metal -> Water -> Wood

 

Their flavors are: (Match with creation cycle)

 

Sour - Bitter - Sweet - Pungent - Salty

 

But the flavor supplement/drain goes differently!

 

Sp - Sweet/Bitter

Ht - Sour/Sweet

Kd - Pungent/Salty

Lu - Sour/Pungent

Li - Sweet/Sour

 

Then later on, there is a section where Ch'i Po talks about each

food and its " proper " flavor, which is not even quite the same as

the supplement.

 

The " proper " food for the Spleen is " salty " for example.

 

Not to mention, all the grains are used in an order that I've not

seen elsewhere. Are there any other really good ancient texts?

[Guest guest]

lr4444lr wrote:

>

> I recently made a study of Ilza Veith's translation of the Nei Ching

> Su Wen and found some interesting points that are not so clear

> in TCM sites around the web.

 

Boy, if I had a nickle for every descrepency I have found in the Nei

Jing, I'd be able to buy a much bigger monitor!

 

Still, I think that the majority of our problems with these ancient

texts is that they lack good explainations. I'm hoping that Henry Lu's

new translation of the Nei Jing has overcome this issue...

 

In a particularly frustrating moment a few months ago, I asked the

doctor whom I respect the most how he got from where I am in my training

as a young practitioner to where he is as a vernable doctor who seems to

know everything. He said read the Nei Jing, memorize it, practice with

it.

 

So, it isn't that the ancient texts are no good, it is more that we

haven't been exposed to good translations or commentaries on the ancient

texts, nor have we been able to understand how to read it...

 

With some of my training with this doctor who stresses the classics I'd

like to offer at least an attempt to understand what you've asked about.

I may not be completely right, but its a start.

 

> But the flavor supplement/drain goes differently!

 

We may be getting off the five element chart here. If we look at the

*functions* of these flavors rather than their strict five element

correspondance, we can begin to appreciate some of what the Nei Jing is

teaching.

 

> Sp - Sweet/Bitter

 

Sweet's functions include nourishing, supplementing and tonification.

Sweet strengthens the Spleen in order to allow the digestion to actually

create more Qi and Blood.

 

Bitter's functions include drying dampness. Spleen tends to get damp,

that's its pathological weakness. Although the cause can be excessive or

deficient, the dampness is considered an excess of something once it has

been created. Bitter dries that.

 

> Ht - Sour/Sweet

 

The Heart suffers most easily from excessive joy. With this, the Qi

becomes too loose, slow and weak. Excessive Joy causes a sort of Heart

Qi deficiency. The Heart Qi is a bit like a belt. It needs to be a

little tight to do its job. When the Heart Qi is loosened because of

too much joy, it becomes unable to support the functions of housing the

Shen, and governing the blood. I've seen this particularly in those who

have an imbalanced approach to spirituality. Think of the glossy-eyed

Moonies that used to frequent American airports selling paper mache

roses for a donation to their church. That's loosened Heart Qi. In

this situation, the best taste to astringe the loosened Heart Qi is

Sour. Sour astringes, tightens, makes your mouth pucker up.

 

Sweet flavor to reduce the Heart? The only thing that I can think of is

the Sweet flavor's other function of harmonizing and relaxing. You get

uptight, your shen gets all violent and so forth. Have a chocolate bar,

it'll calm you right down. I think that Sweet is metaphorically related

to a " sweet person " . They are very nourishing, calm, and make you feel

loved. Sweet flavored foods or herbs have a similar effect on organs

that are pissed off or otherwise excessive, especially the Liver and Heart

 

> Kd - Pungent/Salty

 

Kidney suffers most easily from dryness, because the Kidneys are of the

Water element, and they store essence. So the best taste is pungent for

adding moisture. Pungent is the taste associated with the Metal

element, the mother of Water. When you take Pungent herbs, the lung

energy will open, including the skin pores, sweating, salivation, and

sweating on the face with pungent foods. Pungent causes moisture to be

transfered. When Qi comes from the Lungs, Water for the Kidneys is sure

to follow.

 

Salty taste reduces the Kidney Qi. Salty taste can soften the Kindey

Yin which is contrary to the nature of the Kidney Qi to make it hard and

substantial.

 

> Lu - Sour/Pungent

 

The Lung's natural energy is to pull inward. It pulls in Qi from the

air and with the help of the Kidneys' grasping 'o the Qi, it can be

stored in the body. It is associated with " harvest " and " autumn " , the

time when we store food for the winter. Sour's energy pulls in,

astringes, and has a general directionality that is the same as the

Lung's function of sucking stuff in.

 

The Pungent flavor is exactly the opposite. It's directionality is

outward, it induces diaphoresis (makes you sweat) and ventilates (opens,

inflates, etc.) the Lungs. It can reduce the harvesting property of the

Lungs, though its good for pushing pathogenic factors out. It does have

its place. In particular in the treatment of excess type pathologies of

the lungs where something's in there that shouldn't be.

 

> Liver - Sweet/Sour

 

Problems that arise from the Liver include impatience, irritablility,

urgency, and hypertension. The best herbs for this condition are sweet

in taste. Sweetness calms and slows Liver Qi. Sweet doesn't actually

reduce, but calms. Why is it placed as an herb to supplement? I can

offer a guess only. Many Liver pathologies can be due to either excess

or deficiency. In the case of deficiency, the sweet flavor would

address that as it is the flavor that stimluates the digestion to

produce more Qi and Blood.

 

The sour flavor works against the natural directionality of the Liver

which is spraying outward. It would be nice if the Liver's flavors

conformed to the Lungs flavors as they are somewhat opposing energies.

The Liver likes to spray outward, the Lung's like to pull inward. but

unfortunately, nobody told Chi Po or Huang Di what *I* wanted to see in

TCM... : )

 

Hope this helps answer a few questions. I agree with you that the Nei

Jing in some ways creates more questions than it answers.

 

--

Al Stone L.Ac.

<AlStone

http://www.BeyondWellBeing.com

 

Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.