18. Metal – The Organs
Chapter contents
Introduction137
The Lung – receiver of qi from the heavens137
The spirit of the Lung – the po139
The Large Intestine – the drainer of the dregs140
The time of day for the Organs140
How the Lung and Large Intestine relate141
Introduction
The Metal Element embraces two Organs. The yang Organ is the Large Intestine and the yin organ is the Lung. In ancient texts, the Chinese, probably because the writers were more function oriented, usually spoke of the Lung as a single organ. From the Nei Jing onwards, however, they often say that the Lung is divided into two parts (Larre and Rochat de la Valleé, 1989, p. 56). People in the West speak of the lungs, in the plural. The trachea divides into the left and right bronchi, which divide into bronchioles that in turn are designated as the left and right lungs. For this reason we tend to say that we have two lungs. In this book we will sometimes refer to the Lung and sometimes to the Lungs (Table 18.1).
| Organ/Official | Colloquial name | Description from Su Wen Ch 8 |
|---|---|---|
| Lung | Receiver of qi from the Heavens | The Lung holds the office of minister and chancellor. The regulation of the life-giving network stems from it |
| Large Intestine | The Drainer of the Dregs | The Large Intestine is responsible for transit. The residue from transformation stems from it |
The Lung – receiver of qi from the heavens
The character for the Lung
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The character for the Lung is fei (see Weiger, 1965, lessons 79G and 65A).
This character has two parts. On the left is the flesh radical. This indicates that the Lung is not just a function, but also a part of the body. The right part of the character represents plants branching up from the soil. These are not plants that grow upwards but are ones that creep along the earth multiplying indefinitely (Larre and Rochat de la Vallée, 2001, p 1).
The multiplying branches of the plant are probably a physical analogy with the trachea that branches into the bronchi that in turn branch into smaller bronchioles. The trachea is a tube that, by branching, ends up in many extremely thin-walled sacs or alveoli. In books on Western medicine this structure, rather than being plants proliferating along the ground, is sometimes described as an upside down tree (Thibodeau and Patton, 1992, p. 372).
Su WenChapter 8
Minister and chancellor
In Su WenChapter 8, the function of the Lung is described as follows:
The Lung holds the office of minister and chancellor. The regulation of the life-giving network stems from it.
(Larre and Rochat de la Vallée, 1992b, p. 45)
The location of an organ is relevant to its function. The Lung is in the upper part of the body close to the Heart. Functionally, the Lung begins in the nose and ends in alveoli. Being in the upper part of the body, the Lung connects more with Heaven than Earth.
The notions of a minister and chancellor suggest a hierarchy. If the Heart is the sovereign, then the Lung is the minister to the sovereign. The minister (Lung) converses with the sovereign (Heart), takes instructions and carries these out. There is an image here of the closeness between the beating of the Heart and the rhythm of the respiration. Although the sovereign is higher in the hierarchy, the two are interdependent. What is a sovereign with no officials to carry out any work? What is an official like a minister and chancellor who has no instructions to perform? The interdependence is obvious when we consider that the Heart controls Blood and the Lung controls qi, two of the key ‘substances’ that constitute a person.
The receiver of qi from the heavens
In other contexts, the Lung is said to be ‘The Receiver of qi from the Heavens’ (Larre and Rochat de la Vallée, 1992b, p. 54). Within this brief phrase there are at least two important ideas. The first is that the Lung is important in the act of breathing and is given credit for bringing in air for the creation of qi. The control of breathing is shared, however, with the Kidney, which is said to ‘grasp the qi’ and hold it down when we breathe in.
The physical level of the Lung
If the Lung is weak, and thus the physical taking in of breath is weak, people will end up with weak qi. Shallow breathing leads to weaker qi. If the Lungs are weak, people can breathe more consciously and this will partially compensate. Without stronger Lung qi, however, people’s energy will remain low. Strong Lung qi enables people to naturally breathe deeply and make use of the additional air they take in.
The Lung and inspiration
The second idea relates to what people take in on a spiritual level. The Lung receives from the Heavens and what it takes in is broadly covered by the word ‘inspiration’. People frequently consider the world in terms of how it may satisfy them in a material way. They look at goods in a store and feel a desire to own them. In contrast, however, people may look at a scene in nature, observe a painting, listen to music or be given a compliment by someone they trust and feel lifted in their spirit. In this case there is nothing to own and nothing to possess or use up. The essence within them has been touched. They are nourished in their spirit and those elusive nuggets of gold in the Chinese character have been brought within their sight. They thought they saw the mountain, heard the music or received some heartfelt appreciation, but really they felt their own nuggets of gold.
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