Foundations I

(Week 1)
A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE ON PHYSIOLOGY
● Much different, though not completely removed from conventional
anatomy and physiology
● Interpretation of the world through Traditional Chinese Theories
○ Yin and Yang; Five Elements; Eight Trigrams; 10 Heavenly
Stems and 12 Earthly Branches
● Incorporation of abstract ideas in physiology
○ Qi, Shen, Jing, Blood, etc.
● Organs and substances are categorized differently

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 HOLISM
● What is holism to you?

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 HOLISM
● A fundamental concept in TCM
● Practitioner needs to consider the human body and the natural
surroundings
● Includes the physical, biological, chemical, social, economic,
mental, etc. and their properties and their properties should be
viewed as wholes, not as collection of parts
● This often includes the view that systems function as wholes and
that their functioning cannot be fully understood solely in terms of
their component parts

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 1) THE HUMAN BODY AS A WHOLE
● Internal organs (Zang-Fu) are the center of the body (roots)
● Outer parts such as limbs, five sensory organs, nine orifices, skin,
muscles, tendons, and bones are linked to the Zang-Fu through the
channels
● Local pathological change may affect the whole body
● Pathological changes of the whole body may reflect locally
● External disorders may penetrate into the interior
● Pathological changes in the roots (organs) can manifest on the
exterior of the body
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 2) THE UNIFICATION OF THE HUMAN BODY
AND ITS SURROUNDINGS
● Bodies are affected by weather and other environmental
influences
● Pathology occurs:
○ Abnormal changes in the natural environmental
○ Body fails to adapt to environmental changes
● Health is harmonious interaction of these entities (organs,
senses, skin, muscles, vessels, tendons, bones, etc.) with each
other and the outside world

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 CONCEPT OF DISEASE
● Deviation from or interruption of the normal structure or
function of any body part, organ, or system
● Manifests a characteristic set of signs and symptoms whose
etiology, pathology, anatomical location, and prognosis may
be known
● Disease is perceived as a disharmony (or imbalance) in the
functions or interactions of Yin, Yang, Qi, Blood, Zang-Fu,
meridians and/or of the interaction between the human body
and the environment
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 BING (病) AND ZHENG (证)
● In TCM, a disease has two aspects: “bing“ ( 病) and ”zheng“ (证)
● Bing → translated as "disease", "disease category", "illness"
● Zheng → translated as "pattern"
● For example, the disease of a common cold might present with a
pattern of wind-cold in one patient, and with the pattern of
wind-heat in another
● In conventional medicine, the same pathogen can cause the same
disease, but manifest differently in different people; TCM may view
this as separate diseases of patterns
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YIN YANG
WHERE DID THE YIN YANG SYMBOL COME FROM

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 YIN YANG THEORY
● Tai Ji Symbol a.k.a. Yin-Yang symbol
● Whole big circle implicates Tai Ji
● Black tone suggests Yin, while white Yang
● Curve divided the circle into two denotes Yin or Yang is constantly
motive instead of static
● White spot in the black portion refers to Yang within Yin
● Black spot in the white Yin within Yang
● Yin Yang symbol encompasses harmony and balance within the universe

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 YIN YANG THEORY
● 《易傳》: 「易有太極，是生兩儀。兩儀生四象，四象生八卦。」
Yin and yang are thought to arise together from an initial
quiescence or emptiness (WuJi, 無極), and to continue moving in
tandem until quiescence is reached again.

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YIN YANG THEORY

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 ZHOU DUNYI 周敦頤 (1017–1073 July 24)
● The Taiji Tushuo (太極圖說, Explanations of the Diagram of the
Supreme Ultimate or Diagram Explaining the Supreme Ultimate). He
fused Confucian ethics and concepts from the Book of Changes (I
Ching 易經) with Taoist naturalism.
● He developed a metaphysics based on the idea that "the many are
ultimately one and the one is ultimate.“
● This was the first 11th-century Chinese text to argue for the
inseparability of metaphysics or cosmology and ethics, as well as the
first major Chinese text to explore the concept of the taijitu or
"yin-yang symbol".
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"In the beginning, there was TaiJi (the great ultimate of being), which was
fundamentally identical with WuJi (the ultimate of nonbeing).

Because of the abundance of energy within TaiJi, it began to move and thus
produced the Yang (the positive cosmic force). When the activity of the
Yang reached its limit, it reverted to tranquility.

Through tranquility the Yin (the negative cosmic force) was generated.
When tranquility reached its limit, it returned to movement (Yang).

Thus Yin and Yang generated each other. Then, through the union of the
Yin and the Yang the transformation of both, the five phases (or elements) of

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metal, wood, water, fire and earth were brought into
being.

These five phases are conceived of as material

principles rather than as concrete things. They can
therefore be considered the common basis of all
things.

The interaction of the yin and yang through

different combinations of the five phases generates
all things in a process of endless transformation.

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無極而太極，太極動而生陽，動極而靜，靜而生陰，靜極復動，一動一靜，互
為其根，分陰分陽，兩儀立焉。陽變陰合，而生水火木金土，五氣順布，四時
行焉。

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 YIN YANG THEORY
● Si Ma Tang (司馬談: 司馬遷之父) classified and characterized the
schools of philosophy which existed in his time into six categories
○ Yin Yang jia 陰陽家 (school of calendric experts)
○ Ru jia 儒家（school of Confucianists）
○ Mo Jia 墨家（school of pacifists）
○ Ming Jia 明家（school of logicians）
○ Fa Jia 法家（school of legalists）
○ Dao Jia 道家（school of Daoists）
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 ORIGINAL MEANING OF YIN AND YANG
● Yang = things that are exposed to the Sun
● Yin = things that are opposite the direction of the sun
● Even the characters, 陰 and 陽, represent shady vs sunny side of
hill
● Abstracted to represent two polar complement and complementary
opposites in a single entity
● They are convenient labels used to describe how things function in
relation to each other and to the universe

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 ORIGINAL MEANING OF YIN AND YANG
● They generalize the attributes of two opposite aspects of
interrelated things or phenomena in nature

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 ALL CAN BE DIVIDED INTO YIN AND YANG
● Everything can be divided into polar complements of Yin and
Yang
● Both are conceived as one entity and are both together
ever-present
● Are all around us and each cannot exist without the other
● Examples of Yang:
○ Sun; Heaven; Life; Day; Fire; Heat; Dryness; Light, etc
○ Tends to expand, flow up and outwards
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 ALL CAN BE DIVIDED INTO YIN AND YANG
● Examples of Yin:
○ Moon; Earth; Death; Night; Water; Cold; Damp; Dark
○ Tends to contract, flow down and inwards
● In the body we can deductively attribute that:
○ Yang = moving, ascending, fast, progressive, hyperactive,
functional disease
○ Yin = stillness, descending, degeneration, hypoactive,
structural disease

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 ALL CAN BE DIVIDED INTO YIN AND YANG
● Nevertheless, a few examples
showing their extension from
the physical to moral and from
concrete to abstract may be
instructive
● Caveat: Yin and Yang do not
strictly represent evil and good

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 PROPERTIES OF YIN AND YANG
● Mutually creating one another
● Mutually controlling one another
● Being relative to each other
● Being interdependent
● Not existing without one another
● Eventually becoming one another
● Subdividing infinitely

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 YIN YANG ARE OPPOSING
● Yin yang describe opposing qualities in phenomena
○ Winter is yin to summer's yang over the course of a year,
and the femininity is yin to masculinity's yang in human
relationships
● It is impossible to talk about yin or yang without some
reference to the opposite

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 YIN YANG ARE ROOTED TOGETHER
● Since yin and yang are created together in a single
movement, they are bound together as parts of a mutual
whole
○ A race with only men or only women would disappear in
a single generation, but men and women together create
new generations that allow the race they mutually create
(and mutually come from) to survive
● The interaction of two gives birth to things

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 YIN YANG THEORY
1) All things in nature comprise the philosophical construct of
two polar complements, namely Yin and Yang
● Yin and Yang were conceived of as one entity and that both
together were ever present
● They exist in everything around us and are the basis of life
as nothing can exist by itself

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 YIN YANG THEORY
● The fact that in these contrasts Yang represented the
positive and Yin the negative side, must not be interpreted to
mean that Yin was a “bad” and Yang a“good”principle

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 YIN YANG THEORY
2) Each of two opposite objects within yin or yang can be further
divided into yin and yang
● Divisions can be conducted infinitely
● Brings about the so-called “Yang within Yin” and “Yin within Yang”
○ Morning is understood as yang within yang
○ Afternoon is yin within yang
○ Evening before midnight is yin within yin
○ After midnight is yang within yin
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YIN YANG THEORY

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 YIN YANG THEORY
● Can be divided ad infinitum
● Suwen: "Yin and Yang could amount to ten in number, be extended
to one hundred, to one thousand, to ten thousand and ever to the
infinite."
《素問陰陽離合論》:”陰陽者，數之可十，推之可百，數之可教千，推之
可萬，萬之大不可勝數，然其要一也。

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 YIN YANG THEORY
3) Yin and yang in constant motion
● Yin and Yang in motion give birth to everything
● Yin and Yang motion give impetus to the development of all things
● As the movement continues, each of the forces of energy gradually
changes to the other, yin to yang and yang to yin
● The dual power that arose from the primary state was held to be
instigation of all change, as change was viewed as an expression of
duality

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 YIN YANG THEORY
● According to the yin yang philosophy, the universe and everything
in it is both constant and cyclical
● SuWen: “Yin and Yang are the law of Heaven and Earth, the outline
of everything, the parents of change, the origin of birth and
destruction”

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 YIN YANG THEORY
4) Yin and yang control each other
● The theory of yin yang holds that every object in the universe
consists of two opposite aspects which are continual mutual
restriction and interaction
● Example: the four seasons

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 YIN YANG THEORY
5) Yin and yang mutually create each other along with yin and
yang interdependence
● The existence of Yin gives birth to Yang
● The existence of Yang gives birth to Yin
● When Yin arrives, so does Yang
● They cannot arrive or leave separately

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 YIN YANG THEORY
● Yin and yang are at once in opposition and in interdependence
○ Each of the two aspects is the condition for the other's existence
and neither can exist in isolation
● Example: Night and Day
● SuWen: "Yin is installed in the interior as the material foundation for
Yang, while Yang remains on the exterior as the manifestation of the
Yin function." This is a traditional explanation of the interdependence
of Yin and Yang.
《素問·陰陽應象大論》：“陰在內，陽之守也；陽在外，陰之使也。

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 YIN YANG THEORY
6) Yin and yang transform into each other
● In certain circumstances and at certain
stages of development, each of the two
aspects of yin and yang, within an object,
will transform from yin into yang and
from yang into yin
● The mutual transformation of yin and
yang is a process of qualitative change

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 YIN YANG THEORY
7) The mutual transformation of yin and yang
● A process of qualitative change
● The seasonal cycle is the outcome of the mutually restrictive
and mutually consuming-increasing activities of yin and yang

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 YIN YANG THEORY
8) Yin and yang in constant transformation
● Yin and yang are not quiescent
● If not in constant flux, then things cease to exist, thus
everything is in motion
● Example: the four seasons
○ The process of transition of the four seasons is one of
constant motion and change

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 YIN YANG THEORY
9) Homeostasis of yin and yang
● The natural harmony of yin and yang refers to that the two
aspects of yin and yang are able to and tend to automatically
maintain and re-establish the state of harmony and
equilibrium
● The natural harmony of yin and yang is the intrinsic feature of
yin yang movement
● Yin and yang are a dynamic equilibrium
● They arise together and are 41
always equal
 YIN YANG THEORY
The ideal state of yin and
yang are balanced and
plentiful

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 YIN YANG THEORY
● If imbalance arises between yin and yang 阴阳失调
○ Relative predominance of yin or yang 阴阳偏盛
/Preponderances of yin and yang 阴阳偏胜
■ Relative predominance of yang 阳偏胜
■ Relative predominance of yin 阴偏盛

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YIN YANG THEORY

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 YIN YANG THEORY
● Relative decline of yin or
yang 阴阳偏衰
○ Relative decline of yang
阳偏衰
○ Relative decline of yin
阴偏衰

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YIN YANG THEORY

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 YIN YANG THEORY
● Simultaneous impairment of yin and yang 阴阳互损
○ Deficient yin affecting yang/impairment of yin involving
yang 阴损及阳
○ Deficient yang affecting yin/impairment of yang
involving yin 阳损及阴

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 YIN YANG THEORY
● Repelling of yin and yang 阴阳格拒
○ Predomination of yin repelling yang 阴盛格阳
○ Predomination of yang repelling yin 阳盛格阴

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 YIN YANG THEORY
● Deplete of yin and yang
阴阳亡失
○ Deplete of yin 亡阴
○ Deplete of yang 亡阳
● Disruption of yin and
yang 阴阳离决

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NUMBER THEORY
 NUMBER THEORY
● Western:
○ Religion, myths, folklore
○ 7 = lucky
○ 13 = unlucky
● Chinese:
○ Traditional Chinese philosophy
○ Homophones
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 NUMBER THEORY
● One 一 : unity, initiation, beginning
○ Daoism: One begets two
○ Father of the children of numbers
○ Holds yang/masculine energy
○ Has a thrusting energy that surges forth new growth and
potential
■ 一心一意
■ 九九归一
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 NUMBER THEORY
● Two 二: duality, germination, harmony
○ Mother of numbers
○ Even number: feminine, yin energy
○ Good things come in pairs 好事成双
■ Weddings: a pair of red candles,
pillows, shoes, couplets

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 NUMBER THEORY
● Three 三
○ The first offspring from
the union of the numbers
1 and 2
○ Number three is forever
linked with the sanctity of
life, progeny, and
childbirth

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 NUMBER THEORY
○ From three, the family of numbers branches out to create
diversity and complexity
○ Daoism: Great Triad (heaven-mankind-earth) which can be
loosely translated to mean the path from obscurity into
manifestation
■ 道生一，一生二，二生三，三生万物，万物归於道。
○ Also sounds similar to sheng (生 birth, 升 rising)

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 NUMBER THEORY
● Four 四 : sounds similar to death 死
○ Many numbered product lines skin the “4”
or any number chains ending with “4”
○ But it also sounds similar to 事 things, 世
world, life
■ 四四如意 = 事事如意 Everything done
as wished
■ 四季发财 = May you be prosperous all
four seasons
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 NUMBER THEORY
● Five 五
○ Associated with the five elements in
Chinese philosophy
○ The doctrine of five phases
describes two cycles, a generating or
creation cycle, and an overcoming
or destruction cycle of interactions
between the phases

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 NUMBER THEORY
● Generating cycle
○ Wood feeds fire
○ Fire creates/produces earth
○ Earth bears metal
○ Metal carries water
○ Water nourishes wood

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 NUMBER THEORY
● Overcoming cycle
○ Wood parts earth
○ Earth absorbs water
○ Water quenches fire
○ Fire melts metal
○ Metal chops wood

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 NUMBER THEORY
● Significance of five elements theory
○ Feng Shui
○ TCM (五脏六腑)
○ Martial arts: The Five Steps of Taiji
○ Music/astrology/sensory, etc.

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 NUMBER THEORY
● Six 六: harmony, expansion
○ i.e. 六合
■ Six cosmic points of directions 东，南，西，北，上，下
○ Pronounced similar to 流, fluid
■ 六六大顺 Good/smooth sailing for business
○ i.e. one of the luckiest numbers of all, AW666 license plate was
sold for RMB 270,000
○ Western: devil's number
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 NUMBER THEORY
● Seven 七: spiritual, ghostly
○ The seventh month, ghost month
○ Not commonly associated with luck
○ Traditional Chinese Memorial Days: 头七
○ Chinese Valentine’s Day on July 7th according to Chinese
Lunar calendar
■ AKA The Girls’ Festival

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 NUMBER THEORY
■ Originated from the legendary story of “The Cowherd and
the Weaving Maid” 牛郎织女

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 NUMBER THEORY
● Eight 八: sounds similar to 发, prosperity or
wealth
○ 发 is short for 发财, get rich
■ 恭喜发财 = congratulations and get
rich
○ Also a visual resemblance between two
digits, 88 and 囍
○ The most favoured number in Chinese
culture
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 NUMBER THEORY
● Nine 九: the greatest of single digit numbers
○ Was historically associated with the Emperor of China

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 NUMBER THEORY
○ The number 9 is a homophone for the word for “long lasting”
○ It signifies friendship, love and long life
■ 长长久久
■ 友谊地久天长 = May our friendship last forever

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