The Correspondence between Five Zang Organs and Five Phases and the Order of Five Zang Organs as Seen in Unearthed Literature
10.13288/j.11-2166/r.2024.19.001
- VernacularTitle:出土文献所见五脏与五行配属及五脏次序问题
- Author:
Man GU
1
;
Qi ZHOU
1
;
Minmin YAN
1
Author Information
1. Institute for History of Medicine and Medical Literature， China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences， Beijing， 100700
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords:
five phases;
five zang organs;
unearthed literature;
order of five zang organs
- From:
Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine
2024;65(19):1957-1962
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
The correspondence between the five zang organs and the five phases exhibited variations in the previous and the current literature， which is related to the understanding and interpretation of the historical construction of the basic theories of traditional Chinese medicine， and is an important issue that has been debated for a long time in the history of academia but has not been resolved. Through combing and analyzing the relevant literature handed down during the pre-Qin and Han dynasties， which includes Master LYU's Spring and Autumn Annals （《吕氏春秋》）， The Book of Rites： Monthly Ordinances （《月令》）， Huainanzi （《淮南子》）， Records of the Grand Historian： Biography of BIAN Que and CANG Gong （《史记·扁鹊仓公列传》）， The Inner Canon of Yellow Emperor （《黄帝内经》）， as well as excavated literature like the Warring States bamboo slips Tang Zai Chi Men （《汤在啻门》） collected by Tsinghua University， Taichan Shu （《胎产书》） unearthed from the Mawangdui Han Dynasty Tombs， Tianhui Medical Manuscripts （《天回医简》） unearthed from the Han Dynasty Tombs of Lao Guan Mountain， Chengdu， this paper finds that the current five phases are newly proposed by previous medical practitioners on the basis of the objective understanding of the physiology and pathology of the five zang organs， which is a unique contribution of traditional Chinese medicine to the traditional Chinese culture. The lacquered acupuncture figurine unearthed from the Han Dynasty Tombs of Lao Guan Mountain， Tianhui Town， Chengdu， Sichuan Province， is engraved on its back with the inscriptions of "heart， lungs， liver， stomach， and kidneys"， which refer to the back-Shu points of the five zang organs， and the order follows the sequence of “fire - metal - wood - earth - water”， which is the order of the five phases being restricted. It is believed that this is a reflection of the idea of “heart is the head of the five organs” in the early medical scriptures， which can be used as a basis for judging the chronological order of the relevant chapters of the modern version of The Inner Canon of Yellow Emperor. This order is also seen in the Tianhui Medical Manuscripts unearthed from the same tombs as the acupuncture figurine and is preserved in many chapters of the modern version of The Inner Canon of Yellow Emperor.
