On the Brain

[Guest guest]

I came across a very interesting explaination on the function of the

Brain recently in the American Journal of Traditional Chinese

Medicine, as part of their Educational Series. I thought I would

quote it here. The full article is available at their website,

http://www.ustcma.org.

 

" The brain is located inside of the skull. It is composed of the

marrow, and hence the brain has the name of " the sea of the marrow " .

A phrase in the Nei Jing states, " all kinds of the marrow belong to

brain " . Of all the organs, the brain is one of the most important. As

the Nei Jing says: " It will immediately cause death once the needle

reaches the brain when you needle the point of Nao Hu (GV17) " . The

Nei Jing states that " Nao Hu (GV17) is at the edge of the occipital

bone and on the Du channel, thus the point has a path to reach the

brain. The brain is the sea of the marrow, and contains all essential

materials such as essence and yang qi. The true qi will escape once

the needle reaches the brain and cause death. " (Note that there is

some confusion about the location of Nao Hu (GV17). The point of the

Nao Hu in the ancient records is actually the point of Feng Fu (GV16)

in modern texts.)

 

The brain is a necessary organ for life, but it is also the most

important organ for synthesizing and coordinating all other organ

functions. This mainly manifests as two aspects: 1) coordinating the

mental and spiritual stages, and 2) synthesizing the cognition

processes. In Chinese medicine, the healthy spiritual aspects are

Shen of the heart, Hun of the liver, Yi of the spleen, Po of the lung

and Zhi of the kidney. Unhealthy emotional states manifest as Xi of

the heart, Nu of the liver, Bei of the spleen, Kong of the lung, and

Jing of the kidney. The brain is the core organ for conducting the

mental and spiritual aspects of these different organs. The Nei Jing

states " the brain stores intelligence and spirit " . Qingren Wang, the

most famous scholar of the brain in the Qing dynasty, described which

organs are actually in charge of the psychological process. He

says: " Shen has its body and soul. The body of Shen stores in the

heart, but the soul of Shen relies on the brain " . " We'd better pay

more attention to the Shen in the brain, than Shen in the heart " .

Therefore, the brain is the chief organ synthesizing all kinds of

senses and conducting all of the mental and spiritual states.

 

" Whenever people see a subject, this subject must have an image

inside of their brain " (Ang Wang, 1600AD). Qingren Wang (1700AD) also

noted, " intelligence and memory do not belong to the heart, they

actually depend on the brain. The ears connect to the brain so that

you are able to hear sounds. Eyeballs are linked to the brain for

vision by two thin threads. This is why you are able see things. The

nose also connects to the brain; therefore, you are able to identify

all smells. " He also recognized that the brain connects to the spinal

cord and has the function of controlling sensation and movement.

 

Chinese medicine developed in the feudal society during the past 2000

years. Since the heart is the emperor of the body, other organs have

no way to play roles above it. The major functions of the human body

are distributed among the five organs, such as the lung opening to

the nose, the liver opening to eyes, and the kidney opening to the

ears. Moreover, body movements and vision, etc. also depend on the

blood supply. All treatments follow their organ functions, such as

treating the heart to enhance memory, treating the liver to improve

vision etc. Unlike Western biomedicine, Chinese medicine did not

systematically recognize the brain until the Qing dynasty (1700 AD).

Even if scholars anatomically and systematically understood the

brain, it was not incorporated into therapeutic theory. However, the

brain plays an important role coordinating the functions of organs,

and synthesizing all of the cognitive senses or impressions. "

 

Mbanu