Superior Medicine

Stereotypes are caricatures. Every pure type represents a distortion in which one elemental force dominates to the exclusion of the other four.  Perfect health implies a life in which the tendencies of all five elements participate in equal measure, promoting, checking, and balancing each other. Few of us enjoy such perfect health. Meridians are like roadways in life. We tend to take the same roads repeatedly while leaving the others untravelled. The energetics of the ones we travel on repeatedly become excessive while the ones we ignore become deficient. In time, this imbalance become our personality, defining the the way we interact with other people, with the world,  and with ourselves.

Wood

• The Wood-type person can be identified by the ‘three longs’: long face, long body trunk, long fingers.
• The Wood-type person is shaped like a tree, with a long face; wide on top and narrow at the bottom, bony with scant flesh, and has wide, slouching shoulders.
• The Wood-type person has a greenish complexion and a solemn looking demeanor. The Wood-type person is prone to anger manifested by bulging, green veins.
• The Wood-type person’s speech is blunt and short, with words sounding “thin,” as though coming from the teeth.
• The Wood-type person walks with a noisy, marching gait, lifting the feet and letting them drop.

Fire

• The Fire-type person can be identified by the three “pointies”: a pointy nose, a pointy chin, and a pointy top of the head.
• The Fire-type person’s body is shaped like a torch: pointy on top, narrow on the bottom, and flared in the middle. The face is round and full, and the hair is thin. The body is plump, of medium build with sloping shoulders.
• The complexion is reddish; the ears and the neck turn crimson when the temper is roused.
• The voice is sharp and high-pitched, with a broken quality. The sounds seemingly come from the tongue.
• The Fire-type person is light-footed and walks at a hurried pace, dashing forward with the upper body swaying from side to side.

Earth

• The Earth-type person can be identified by the three ‘shorts’: the body is short, the neck is short, and the fingers are short.
• The Earth-type person has a square face with big ears and a bulbous nose shaped like a head of garlic. The muscles are strong and both the waist and back are thick. Movements are clumsy and the demeanor is honest and sincere. Not well-educated but a simple person with no guile.
• The complexion is yellow, which turns into a withered yellow when the person is unhappy.
• The Earth-type person speaks with a loud, low-pitched nasal tone. The gait is heavy-footed with every step solidly landing on the ground.

Metal

• The Metal-type person can be identified by the three ‘thins’: thin lips, thin eyelids, and the flesh on the back of the hands is thin.
• The Metal-type person is attractive-looking. The face is rectangular in shape, with a pointy chin, and well-defined, well-distributed features. The body is slim, and the movements are graceful and lively.
• The Metal-type person has a good way with words and is a persuasive communicator.
• The complexion is white, and turns pale when the tempers are aroused.
• The voice is bright and clear as a bell with the sounds coming from the throat. The gait is swift, light, and lively.

Water

• The Water-element person can be identified by the three ‘thicks’: thick eyelids, a thick jaw, and the flesh on the back of the hands is thick.
• The face is large, fleshy, round, wider at the base than the top, and often a double chin. Big eyes, thick eyebrows and thick hair, both the face and body are full and chubby.
• The complexion has a black tint, which darkens when the temper is roused.
• The Water-element person speaks with a relaxed, low tone with the sounds coming from the throat.
• The Water-element person walks slowly, with the feet dragging on the ground.

The oracle bone script for 行 (xíng) pictures a left and a right footstep

The translation from the Chinese 五行 (wŭ xíng) into Five Elements does not convey its essential meaning of movement. The character 行 is composed of two parts, 彳on the left and 亍 on the right. They are actually the same radical drawn differently. The radical means a step made by a human foot. 行 is composed of a left and a right footstep. It means walking, or movement. Understanding Chinese ideas is easier if one remembers that they are about process and change.

Five Element Correspondences with Nature

Five Element Correspondences with the Human Body

The Five Elements interact with each other by exerting promoting and inhibiting forces on one another. Promoting means to create, to nourish, to enable growth, to make stronger. Inhibiting means to control, to inhibit growth, to make weaker, to diminish.

The Five Elements promote one another in this order: wood > fire > earth > metal > water > wood

The Five Elements inhibit one another in this order: wood > earth > water > fire > metal >wood

The promoting and inhibiting forces are working constantly and simultaneously in nature and in the human body. Natural and human events are the results of Five Elements interaction. Everything is evolving and changing. Some changes are quick and immediate, others are so slow as to give the illusion of permanence.

Yin/yang is a way of knowledge  If everything in the world is the same shade of white then one can not see anything. One is able to see because things are of different colors and different shades. The yin and the yang are opposing qualities that can be used to describe anything by placing it in a context. So, first and foremost, yin/yang makes it possible to know and talk about things. The yin and the yang are like two people in a long, intimate relationship. There are many different aspects to this relationship:

The yin and the yang are opposing qualities  Yang means sun and yin means shade. The ancient sages intuited the laws that govern all phenomena based on observation of the dance of sun and shade.

A word about the flavor/temperature pair. Temperature and flavor are qualities in food and herbs. Temperature varies from very hot to very cold; neutral is in the middle. Temperature here refers to the inherent nature of the food or herb, rather than the heating or cooling of it, although the later can exaggerate or moderate the natural temperature. There are five flavors: sour, bitter, sweet, spicy, and salty. Neutral may be added to make six. Temperature is a more energetic quality compared to flavor which is denser and more substantial, hence temperature is yang, and flavor is yin. Temperature and flavor always work together to affect the body.

The yin and the yang are rooted in each other  Even while they oppose each other, they depend on each other, enabling each other to flourish, each relying on the other to do its work.

As one waxes, the other wanes  The opposition between the yin and the yang is not static; it is a dynamic process of complementary growth and diminishment. As the yang grows larger, the yin grows smaller, and vice versa. In this way they perpetuate each other.

One can transform into the other  Any phenomenon is an expression of its inherent yin/yang dynamics. When required conditions come into being, it will reverse its course: the yin will transform into the yang, and the yang into the yin.

The body organs have these yin/yang relationships:

• That which is above is yang, that which is below is yin.
• The exterior of the body is yang, the interior yin.
• The four limbs are yang, the trunk of the body is yin.
• The back is yang, the abdomen is yin.
• The lateral sides of the body are yang, the medial sides of the body are yin.
• The Heart, Kidneys, Lungs, Livers, and the Spleen including the Pancreas, are the five yin organs: they store precious body substances. The Stomach, Large Intestines, Small Intestines, Urinary Bladder, Gallbladder, and the Triple Burner, are the six yang organs: they perform the functions of processing, and discharge.

Pangu Created the World

New students may take advantage of the 50% discount for a private class and experience how customized and targeted instruction can help them along their paths.
This issue features three stories. Ancient history meets space age science in the perennial Quest for Immortality. Pangu Created the World is a Chinese creation myth. Its meaning and relevance to Chinese medicine are explored in Heaven Above, Earth Below.

Read newsletter

Mass media often present Chinese astrology in simplified but inaccurate forms. For instance, the birth years of the Dragon may be approximated according to the Western, or Gregorian, calendar as:

From Wikipedia

• 1928
• 1940
• 1952
• 1964
• 1976
• 1988
• 2000
• 2012
• 2024

Some go further, and list the beginning and end dates of the Chinese lunar year:

• Jan. 23, 1928 – Feb. 9, 1929
• Feb. 8, 1940 – Jan. 26, 1941
• Jan. 27, 1952 – Feb. 13, 1953
• Feb. 13, 1964 – Feb. 1, 1965
• Jan. 31, 1976 – Feb. 17, 1977
• Feb. 17, 1988 – Feb. 5, 1989
• Feb. 5, 2000 – Jan. 23,  2001
• Jan. 23, 2012 – Feb. 9, 2013
• Feb. 10, 2024 – Jan. 28, 2025

Astrologically speaking, both are inaccurate. A baby born in 2012 before February 4 is a Rabbit (the annual symbol preceding the Dragon). A baby born in 2013 before February 4 is still a Dragon (and not a Snake, the annual symbol following the Dragon). Astrology is as profound as it is complex. Here, we are focused on the birth year’s animal symbol. In fact, there are also monthly, daily, and hourly animal symbols that are equally important. This discussion will deal solely with the correct identification of the birth year for an animal symbol, using the Dragon as a timely example.

We expect the Gregorian calendar year to be just an approximation because it is a solar calendar, different from the Chinese lunar calendar. But why is the Chinese lunar calendar also inaccurate? 

Before there were clocks and watches, people observed the changing positions of the sun, the moon, and the stars to mark the passage of time. The Earth revolves counterclockwise around the sun in an elliptical path, making a complete cycle in 365.25 days, not the neater 365 days. At the same time, the Earth rotates around an axis that is tilted 23.5° from the perpendicular. The Earth’s rotation makes day and night, while the tilt of its rotational axis toward and away from the sun during its annual course creates the four seasons. The basic unit of a solar calendar is day. The beginning of a solar year is marked by one specific position of the sun. It takes one solar year for the sun to return to that exact position.

The moon repeats four phases regularly: new moon, first quarter, full, and last quarter. The basic unit of a lunar calendar is lunar month, which is the time from one new moon to the next. The exact duration varies, but it averages 29.53 days. Compared to the sun cycle, the moon cycle is much easier to count. So even when a solar calendar is used, the moon cycle is still used to keep track of the passage of time. The tricky part is that, as we have seen, the sun and moon cycles are not synchronized:

Solar year: 365.25 days

Lunar year: 12 x 29.5 = 354 days

The lunar year is about 11 days shorter than the solar year. And even the solar year is an odd 365.25 days. The many calendars that existed throughout human history offer different solutions to reconcile these incongruities. The Gregorian calendar adds the leap day, while the Chinese calendar adds a leap month every few years.

Now, let’s return to our question: Why is the Chinese lunar calendar inaccurate for describing the birth year for astrological symbols? The answer is simple: It is the wrong calendar to use for astrology. The so-called Chinese lunar calendar is not a pure lunar calendar. Strictly speaking, it is a lunisolar calendar because it incorporates both sun and moon cycle elements in its calculation. The calendar used in Chinese astrology is actually a solar calendar named Li Chun (立春), meaning ‘beginning of Spring’. The Li Chun calendar starts at the moment when the sun reaches the celestial longitude of 315°. That day usually falls on February 4 or 5 of the Gregorian calendar. The Li Chun calendar divides a year into 24 segments called Jie Qi (節氣), each lasting about 15 days. The 24 Jie Qi represent different energetic patterns that describe climatic conditions and specify timing for important agricultural tasks. Li Chun, ‘beginning of Spring’ is also the name of the first Jie Qi that starts a new year. The Li Chun calendar birth year for the Dragon symbol is as follows:

• 09:16 Feb. 5, 1928 – 15:07 Feb. 4, 1929
• 07:07 Feb. 5, 1940 – 12:48 Feb. 4, 1941
• 04:52 Feb. 5, 1952 – 10:44 Feb. 4, 1953
• 03:04 Feb. 5, 1964 – 08:45 Feb. 4, 1965
• 00:39 Feb. 5, 1976 – 06:32 Feb. 4, 1977
• 22:42 Feb. 4, 1988 – 04:26 Feb. 4, 1989
• 20:40 Feb. 4, 2000 – 02:27 Feb. 4, 2001
• 18:22 Feb. 4, 2012 – 00:12 Feb. 4, 2013

The Chinese lunar calendar, on the other hand, starts at the first new moon of the year, and each complete moon cycle makes a lunar month. The start of the lunar new year is usually the day of the new moon closest (before or after) to Li Chun. It can fall on any day between January 20 and February 21, and marks the beginning of the celebration of the Spring Festival (春節). It falls on January 23 this year.