Chinese medicine, the Earth and the Center
When talking about the five elements, particularly as applied to the organ systems of Chinese medicine, it’s easy to find an angle from which to proclaim the supremacy of any of the elements. Fire gets four organs, for instance, one of those being the Emperor - surely it’s the most important. Water, on the other hand, lies at the depths - no element is more revered than water in the cultural literature of the Chinese (the Dao is often said to be like water, the supreme man is said to be like water in taking the lowest place, etc….). Surely water is “top dog,” then. But what of Wood? Wood begins the cycle of the elements from most perspectives - it is the animating principle of the whole system - Wood must be the most important.
So on and so forth. The answer to the question, “Which is most important,” is the absurdly easy and frustrating, “None.” However, Earth could have a better reason than the rest to lay claim to this elusive prize. Earth is the center - the center is the axis upon which everything else spins. Without the center, you just have a group of unassociated pieces, functioning on their own in vain. The center brings it all together, ensures that it functions.
There are two ways to think about Earth seasonally. One perspective holds that Earth is associated with a kind of “late summer,” just before the fall rains begin. Another, which I prefer, holds that the Earth occupies an interstitial space between each season - the 14 days or so around each solstice and equinox - the transitions from one season to another. I’ve heard a variety of perspectives about the actual length of time and the precise arrangement of those periods, but this seems to be a consensus. Regardless, this “in between” nature of the Earth element makes it vital, it governs our transition from one energetic state to another.
Sunday, I went on a beautiful hike in the Columbia River Gorge. I decided to try to open my senses and not impose anything in particular on my experience. The overwhelming message, again and again, spoke of the Earth element. The sweet smell of decay - cloying, almost - with the merest hint of rich wine or butter or something I can’t define. No matter what part of the trail - metallic/mineral rock faces all around sharing their sharp, clean scent - deep, watery pools of clarity lending a weedy, fresh aroma - high and dry grassy plain full of pungency and heat… behind was the deep Earthen bassnote, emanating everywhere. Now, we are not officially in the period around the autumnal equinox, though we are technically within that “late summer” period perhaps - but the working of the Earth energy was present everywhere I looked.
The overwhelming idea that came out of all of this exploration is simple. Earth is at the center, and you must always look to its health. This is why dietary therapy is the root of most successful treatment plans. It’s also why so many of my patients seem to need a simple Earth tonification formula (such as Xiao Jian Zhong Tang) after any other series of formulas. In fact, from now on, I will be carefully examining that possibility with every patient. I feel that this is, in some ways, superior to the rampant practice of throwing some heavily tonifying formula at a patient after a big illness. The idea behind it is the same, but it is actually looking at the source of weakness and not the branches.
(Photos taken by Eric and his family, August 2008)
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Tags: earth, five phases, Organ systems, scent, senses, spleen, stomachRelated posts
Chinese medicine and the senses : Part I : Scent
As I have been contemplating this new project that Abdallah and I have begun, I’ve found myself stymied at times. The aim of the project is clear, but the methodology is less so. Simply, everything that we’ve said in our introductory posts makes a ton of sense on a variety of levels, but when it gets down to “doing,” things become a little unclear. I know what I want to put out (multi-media posts that draw all of us deeper into our relationship with the world and its interpenetration with Chinese medical concepts) but how do I get the inputs to create the outputs?
Why is this harder than it sounds?
In the United States, and I suppose in most Western countries, our sensory experiences are more or less controlled. For the most part they are stifled, except for sight and hearing which are simply overwhelmed. Actually, thinking about it, we overwhelm all of our senses - limiting what they experience to a set number of approved, mostly synthetic items and then amping those up to the nth degree. I’ve grown up in the States my entire life, thus I’m subject to this dismal state of affairs. Fortunately, through Qigong and other experiences, I’ve gradually learned to lighten up, literally and figuratively.
Regardless, I find that fully utilizing my sensory capabilities requires effort - most of all it requires intention. The sense of smell is particularly interesting. So, to start a short series on the senses and how to return them to their natural state and attune them to a higher degree than ever - I’ll offer my thoughts on the sense of smell.
Chinese medicine and the sense of smell
In Chapter 11 of the Neijing Suwen, it says:
“故五氣入鼻藏於心肺．心肺有病．而鼻為之不利也”
This has been translated in a couple of different ways. The basic translation says:
“When the five Qi/odors enter the nose, they are stored in the Heart and Lung. Heart and Lung disease is detrimental for the nose.”
Maoshing Ni goes on to posit that the five scents are really “the five qi of environmental energy that we breathe in.” Regardless of the fact that I don’t see this particular statement in the text (thus underscoring my basic problem with Ni’s translation) it is interesting to contemplate. What is odor? Certainly it is Qi - but beyond that? In thinking about this, consider the Neijing’s statement that the odors are 藏/cang/stored by the Heart and Lung. The Lung makes a lot of sense given that the nose is the orifice of the Lung in both a Western and Chinese context. But what does it mean to say that the Lung receives and stores these odors? One could posit that they become part of the Qi that then rains down on the body as heavenly restorative water/Qi. I’m not sure if that position could be supported by the texts.
More interesting to me is the relation of odors and the Heart. What can it mean that the Heart stores odors? You’ll excuse me if I offer my own simple theories. As famously studied by Gilles Laurent at Cal Tech, there is a powerful association between scent and human memory. Nothing brings back a scene or person to the mind like a scent last experienced in that scene or with that person. When considering this idea, I most naturally think about the smell of my clothing when I come back from my mother’s house on a visit. I smell her for weeks afterward - and though the smell is created in part from her detergent, there is more to it than that. The scent is wrapped up in emotion, the scent contains not just detergent fragrances, but her spaghetti sauce aroma, her hair, the smell of Idaho, cold winters, the essence of what comes from her pores as a product of all she eats, drinks… well, you get the idea. The memories triggered are as complex.
Consider also the devotional aspects of scent - incense of various kinds have been used in religious ceremony and other spiritual activity since time immemorial. The Catholics still use incense as part of Mass, as do some Episcopalian congregations. Buddhist and Hindu shrines are nearly always adorned with incense censers. We can also think about the effects of Moxibustion using artemesia. While some people hate moxa for its thick smoke and messy nature, I find it to bring an essential element to treatments where it is indicated. While not explicitly of a spiritual nature, I do believe that there is something of an offering that occurs when using moxa in treatment.
This relationship of memory and spirituality to the sense of smell helps me to link it to the Heart. While we often talk about the Kidney as being the storehouse of memory in Chinese Medicine, from what I’ve read and learned, the type of memory held by the Kidney is more primal, older and is less easily accessed by consciousness. The Heart seems a likely place (especially in its relationship to the Western concept of mind) to store the memories of this life. The Heart’s relationship to Shen makes its connection to human spirituality quite clear.
In classical five element acupuncture, the art of smelling is still employed. The five odors, discussed first in the Neijing, are assessed by the practitioner to help understand the primary pathology of the patient, as well as used as a key in discovering the patient’s landscape tendency (constitutional factor). This is one of the most difficult diagnostic techniques for Westerners, as I’ve already hinted at. I find it to be incredibly difficult, personally, particularly given how so many patients cover up their natural odor as a matter of course. For the sake of completeness, I should list the five odors!
- Fire : scorched - one of my professors says that this is the smell of recently dried clothes
- Earth : fragrant - like rotten vegetables or new compost
- Metal : rotten - like a garbage bin or feces
- Water : putrid - like urine or stale wine
- Wood : rancid - like rancid oil, mcdonalds
Scent and herbal medicine
Briefly, what is the role of scent in Chinese herbal medicine? Most would say, “There is no role!” I disagree. One of the reasons I am a huge proponent of patients taking home and cooking their own bulk herbs is because of the experience they gain by doing so. Looking at the herbs, smelling them in their dried state, allowing the smell to permeate their living space, smelling their powerful odors when drinking - all of this, in my opinion, is part of the therapy. While many patients are unwilling to have this experience, it is one I encourage and have benefited from personally. The worst case scenario with regards to this would be taking pills of granuled Chinese herbs. I believe the move in this direction is detrimental, but understand when some patients choose this path.
Scent and the natural world
The sense of smell is much more emphasized in certain animals, including dogs. The sense of smell is a fantastic way to seek out prey that is not yet within range of the vision. While animals that live their lives in the air can afford to skimp on smell and focus on vision, animals that do most of their hunting in forests and tall grass fields need an alternative way to seek out their prey.
The natural world is full of odor. The sweet decay of Pacific Northwestern forest floors. The acrid, putrid, complicated smells of downtown sidewalks. The unbearable sweetness of babies nursing for the first time. Blood, urine, feces, animals marking their territory with complicated brews of hormones and urine - these less pleasant smells are just as much a part as any of the others. The human world is no different in this respect, though we would like it to be so.
Fearless smelling
Being able to integrate myself fully into the world using all of my senses is the primary methodology of this Chinese Medicine awareness project. So, how to proceed with the sense of smell? My first trick will be simply to allow myself to smell everything, without reservation. This means making a conscious effort to breathe deeply through my nose at all times. I will also be going out of my way to smell things that are likely to be interesting or complex. I will also be practicing this during tea drinking. The difference in smell between two otherwise similar puerh teas, for example, can be remarkable and really impacts the experience of the tea. This, of course, brings me around to the importance of smell for TASTE - but perhaps that’s for another article.
Do you have any ideas of how one can integrate the exercise of the sense of smell into daily living? Share your thoughts in the comments!
Tags: heart, herbs, lung, nature, neijing, scent, senses, spirituality, The ProjectRelated posts
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