15. Earth – The Organs
Chapter contents
Introduction115
The Spleen – the controller of transforming and transporting115
The spirit of the Spleen – the yi117
The Stomach – the controller of rotting and ripening118
The time of day for the Organs119
How the Stomach and Spleen relate119
Introduction
The two Organs or Officials resonating with Earth are the Spleen, the yin Organ, and the Stomach, the yang Organ. Although their functions are different, there are also similarities.
The Spleen – the controller of transforming and transporting (Table 15.1)
The Chinese understanding of the functions of the Spleen differs a great deal from the Western view. The Spleen functions according to Chinese medicine are greater and more fundamental to the healthy functioning of the body, mind and spirit. They tend to include some of the functions of the pancreas, which will be obvious as we proceed. Thus we continue to capitalise the first letter of ‘spleen’ to remind readers of the difference.
| Organ/Official | Colloquial name | Description from Su WenCh 8 |
|---|---|---|
| Spleen | The Controller of Transforming and Transporting | The Stomach and Spleen are responsible for the storehouses and granaries. The five tastes stem from them |
| Stomach | The Controller of Rotting and Ripening |
The character for the Spleen
 |
The Chinese character for the Spleen is pi (Weiger, 1965, lessons 152C and 46E).
The character has the flesh radical on the left, indicating that is it an Organ, and a character on the right that means ‘ordinary’ or ‘vulgar’. The character was originally a picture of a water vessel. This could be contrasted with a sacrificial vessel used only on special occasions. The ordinariness or vulgarity comes from the vessel’s everyday use, which is like the work of the Spleen. The Spleen functions to control the digestive system and as such is as ordinary or common as a cook who is on duty 24 hours a day. Its work is basic. It does not have the glamour of the Liver, which is a general, or the Lung, which is a chancellor. We can compare this job to that of a mother who is always available to care for and support her family. A mother’s job is an important one, often unacknowledged until she is ill or away.
Su WenChapter 8
Su WenChapter 8 says:
The Stomach and Spleen are responsible for the storehouses and granaries. The five tastes stem from them.
(Larre and Rochat de la Vallée, 1992b, p. 97)
This passage indicates how closely the Stomach and Spleen work together. All the other Officials in Su WenChapter 8 are listed separately.
The Spleen as transformer and transporter
The Spleen is primarily involved with transformation and transportation.
Its functions [the Spleen’s] are to master transportation and transformation, yun hua, to transmit and diffuse the jing wei (food essences) which supply nutrition, to raise the clear and lower the unclear. It is the source of transformations that produce the Blood.
(Larre and Rochat de la Vallée, 2004, p. 152)
Thus the Spleen is described as the Official of transformation and transportation (see Felt and Zmiewski, 1993, p. 19; Maciocia, 2005, pp. 144–145). Transformation is mainly thought of as the conversion of food and fluids into qi. Hence the notion that the Earth Element is the main source of basic qi. Although the process goes through various stages, the Spleen is the Official overseeing this function. The mechanical breakdown of food in the mouth with the addition of saliva, the more extensive breakdown of food and fluids in the stomach, the movement of digesting material through the small intestine and into the large intestine and finally the movement of material to be excreted through the large intestine and out of the anus are all broadly under the control of the Spleen.
Although Five Element Constitutional Acupuncture does not use the understanding of the Substances (the ‘Vital Substances’, which are qi Blood, body fluids, jing and shen) and speaks only of qi, the Spleen is responsible for the transformation of food and fluids into Blood as well as qi (Maciocia, 2005, pp. 60–64).
The notion of transportation reflects the movement that accompanies the transformation process. It refers specifically to the movement of food essences, the various stages in the breakdown of food, and the capacity of the body to move fluids and prevent various imbalances of the fluids of the body, for example, oedema, fluid on the lungs, and joints that are ‘damp’ and prone to stiffness.
A breakdown in the transport system can also reflect mentally and spiritually. Thoughts also have to be processed and distributed throughout the body, mind and spirit. When the Spleen is weak, the moving and transforming power of the mind and spirit can deteriorate. Thinking may be poor and not convert into action. Concentration and memory are affected. People may also have obsessive thoughts or they may start worrying or become preoccupied. They can become obsessive or feel muzzy in the head.
An Earth CF patient said that sometimes she couldn’t think clearly or think through something. When describing how this felt she said, ‘My head feels like an impenetrable thicket. It’s too much effort to think things through. My thoughts go round and round and I don’t get anywhere. It’s best to wait until I feel clearer.’
J. R. Worsley compares the Spleen to a transport manager controlling a fleet of lorries. When people are healthy the Spleen’s job is easy. It receives the ‘rotted and ripened’ substances from the Stomach and then transforms and transports them. The lorries carry qi and other substances such as Blood and body fluids to every part of the body and mind–spirit (Worsley, 1998, p. 13.7). This allows all parts of the system to be nourished.
If people are unwell it can be compared to a breakdown in some of the lorries. The transport system doesn’t work properly and the food and fluids don’t reach their destination. Everything comes to a standstill. Physically this may result in the fluids not moving. Damp and Phlegm are formed and clog up the system, especially in the lower half of the body where people often accumulate fat. They may also feel tired and lethargic and not want to move around as a result of the breakdown in the transport system.
The direction of the Spleen
The main direction of the Spleen qi is upwards and it raises the clear yang qi to the head. If the Spleen is not creating good quality qi, then a person will probably feel tired. The direction of a tired person is clearly downward, wanting to sit down, lie down, slump and flop. This can be accompanied by a feeling of physical heaviness and emotionally by low-grade depression. Diarrhoea is an example of failure of the Spleen to move in an upward direction. When the Spleen is weak and fluids are not fully transformed, then the head can become unclear, reflecting the failure of the Spleen to raise clear qi to the head.
As well as taking the qi upwards, the Spleen also has a ‘holding’ function. For example, it helps to hold the Blood in the blood vessels. If the Spleen is weak, people may develop symptoms of bleeding, for example, uterine bleeding, nose bleeds, bruising or petechiae (red spots of blood in the skin). Characteristically, bleeding due to Spleen weakness is usually dribbling rather than gushing, and pale and watery rather than bright red and thick. The Spleen qi also holds the Organs in their correct positions. Prolapses can occur, for example, if the Spleen fails to hold the Organs in place.
The spirit of the Spleen – the yi
Yi is the spirit of the Spleen and can be translated as thought or intention.
The character for the yi
 |
Li at the top of the character means ‘to establish’. This is placed over the character yue meaning to speak – pictured as a mouth with a tongue in the middle. These, in turn, are on top of the character for the Heart (Weiger, 1965, lesson 73E). Overall, this character means ‘the process of establishing meaning in the world with words that come from the Heart’. In the West we may assume that thinking should be separated from the Heart because the Heart introduces emotion and therefore irrationality into the thinking. In Chinese medicine, however, the involvement of the Heart means that the thinking is grounded and the person is being true to themselves. The Spleen is responsible for ‘applied thinking, studying, memorising, focusing, concentrating and generating ideas’ (Maciocia, 2008, pp. 272–273).
The ability to think clearly and study
In practice, the nature of the yi means that the Spleen is responsible (along with the Heart) for our ability to think and study with clarity. The excessive use of the mind, for example, when cramming for exams or spending many hours a day thinking and writing can weaken the Spleen.
One of the major problems when the Spleen is imbalanced is the tendency for the person to become preoccupied, or at worst obsessed. Si or ‘knotting’ of the qi occurs and diminishes a person’s ability to think one thought and then move on to another. This inability to think clearly can diminish a person’s creativity, spontaneity and happiness.
Intention
Yi also describes ‘intention’. This is a person’s ability to focus the mind on a desired object. It is what has been described as the ‘consciousness of potentials’ (Kaptchuk, 2000, p. 10). If the Spleen and therefore the yi is weak, the ability to concentrate on work, or even another person’s conversation, can be affected. In relation to the spirit, however, it diminishes people’s ability to remain steadfast to their purpose. Agitation, insecurity or lethargy of the spirit can make it difficult for many people to stick to the paths they have chosen for themselves. This in turn easily leads to depression, anxiety and despair. Voltaire remarked: ‘Madness is to think of too many things too fast, or of one thing exclusively.’ He appears to be describing a pathology of the yi.
The ability of the yi to form ideas is used in the practice of qi gong. In some qi gong exercises a person’s intention is to move qi through their body. For example, qi may be projected from the shoulder blades out through the arms projecting beyond the fingers or dropping down through the legs and feet to below the ground. The ability to project qi often starts with a person having an image of qi, light or water flowing through the chosen path. The yi enables the qi to move. One quote about the yi says, ‘when the yi is strong the qi is strong; when the yi is weak the qi is weak’ (Yang, 1997, pp. 30–31). The applications in terms of motivating oneself and directing qi are obvious and all involve the yi. (For more on qi gong exercises, see Hicks, 2009, p. 109 and Hicks A. and Hicks J., 1999, p. 139.)
A patient, an Earth CF, came for treatment because of depression, drug addiction and some digestive problems. Initial treatments included the Internal Dragons (see Chapter 31, this volume) and basic treatment on the Spleen and Stomach. After three months the patient was well and returning to his work as a musician and songwriter. He had achieved what he asked for, but said that he wanted to continue treatment. When asked how he would then evaluate treatment, he said that he would like to regain his ability to think. He explained that as a songwriter and poet, he took his life experience, expressed it in words and then expressed these through his songs. He said he was regaining this ability, but more than anything else he wanted to be able to think. Six months later he gave his practitioner his latest CD.
The Stomach – the controller of rotting and ripening
The character for the Stomach
 |
The character for the Stomach is wei (Weiger, 1965, lesson 122C). This character is a simple picture of a stomach with food inside it. The Chinese describe the Stomach as the great granary or storehouse for our food. As the source of our nourishment, the Stomach is one of the most important of all of the yang organs.
Rotting and ripening
The action of the Stomach is to rot and ripen. The mouth breaks up food and drink, adds saliva and warms the total mixture before swallowing. The Stomach carries on this process of breaking food down so that the food essences, or the part of the food to be retained, can be separated out and used to create qi. There are various descriptions used to account for this process. Sometimes the activity of the Stomach is compared to a maceration chamber.
J. R. Worsley compared the Stomach’s rotting and ripening function to a concrete mixer (Worsley, 1998, p. 13.1). In order to make good concrete, people need the right ingredients and a good mixer. If they have the correct amount of cement, sand and water and mix it well, it will make strong concrete that is capable of building a sturdy building which will last for hundreds of years. If, however, it is the wrong consistency or poorly mixed, the concrete will be of poor quality.
Another analogy is cooking. In order to bake bread people need the correct ingredients and to mix yeast and sugar with the correct quantities of flour and water. They also have to knead the loaf well. If this isn’t done correctly then the bread will not rise. Finally, the bread must be cooked at the correct temperature otherwise it may be inedible. It could be too sticky or lumpy or too hard. This combination of the right ingredients plus correct kneading and cooking is similar to what the Stomach requires.
The correct food is important but we also need a strong and healthy Stomach Official in order to digest physical, mental and spiritual nourishment. It is notable that in everyday language we frequently use phrases from the digestive system – for example, ‘I find that hard to stomach!’ or ‘I can’t digest it’, when referring both to food and ideas. A person can suffer nausea wholly from the mind or emotions. Students do better when served the right-sized portions of information and being given breaks in which to mull over and absorb it. Study of the Chinese understanding of Earth suggests these are more than clever metaphors.
A student who was an Earth CF said that before exams she’d just ‘worry, worry, worry’ and she’d feel it in her solar plexus. ‘Everything is unsettled and jittery in there and I eat to try and calm myself down. But I can’t eat because I am too jittery in there. I think that if I ate I would throw up.’
This relation between the mind and Stomach goes both ways. If we go back to a pathological expression of Earth emotion, worry, then severe worry can easily disrupt the transformation process. (For an account of how the Chinese saw good eating habits, see Hicks, 2009, p. 9.)
The Stomach as the origin of fluids
It is the Stomach that filters and processes fluids when they first enter the body. The Stomach also requires a wet environment in which to flourish, which is why the phrase ‘the Stomach likes wetness and dislikes dryness’ is sometimes used. When an imbalance of fluids occurs in the body the Stomach may be involved.
The direction of the Stomach
The Stomach’s direction is downward. It receives food from above and passes on the food it has rotted and ripened to the Small Intestine. Any failure to send food downwards results in a movement in the opposite direction and a movement upwards. Alternatively there might be stagnation especially in the Middle or Upper Burner. Symptoms may be belching, hiccups, nausea or vomiting. These symptoms are all manifestations of the ‘wrong direction’ and are sometimes called ‘rebellious’ qi.
The time of day for the Organs
Each Organ in the body has a 2-hour period of the day associated with it. During this time the Organ has extra qi flowing through it. The 2-hour period for the Stomach is 7–9 a.m. and for the Spleen 9–11 a.m. It is interesting to note that the period of 7–9 in the morning is when most people eat their breakfast. This is the time when our digestion should be at its best. If the Stomach is reasonably healthy, eating a good hearty breakfast will set a person up for the rest of the day. Many people, however, have no appetite at this time.
From 9 to 11 a.m., which is the period associated with the Spleen, we digest the food we ate earlier in the day. From here it will be transported to all the other Organs in the body in order to nourish us.
Many people whose Earth Officials are weak struggle to maintain vitality between 7 and 11 p.m., the low time of day for these Officials. Eating at this time, as opposed to earlier, is an abuse of the Stomach. It is like a worker who has gone off his shift being called back to do more work.
How the Stomach and Spleen relate
The functions of the Stomach and Spleen are closely related and may even overlap. Both Organs have important functions in the digestive process and they enable people to digest food as well as their thoughts. The Spleen’s role is to transform and transport food and thoughts and the Stomach’s to rot and ripen them.
The Stomach and Spleen also have some opposing functions. For example the Stomach is a yang Organ. Its qi has a downward direction, it likes wetness and prefers cooler temperatures. The Spleen on the other hand is a yin Organ. Its qi has an upward direction, it likes dryness and prefers warmth.
Summary
1. Su WenChapter 8 describes the Stomach and Spleen as ‘responsible for the storehouses and granaries. The five tastes stem from them.’
2. The Spleen is sometimes known as the ‘controller of transforming and transporting’. The Stomach is sometimes referred to as the ‘controller of rotting and ripening’.
3. The yi is the spirit of the Spleen and can be translated as thought or intention.
4. The yi gives us the ability to think clearly and concentrate. It also gives us the ability to focus our attention and intention.
5. The time associated with the Stomach is 7–9 a.m. and that with the Spleen is 9–11 a.m.
