21. Water – The Organs
Chapter contents
Introduction162
The Kidneys – the Controller of Water162
The spirit of the Kidneys – the zhi164
The Bladder – the Controller of the Storage of Water165
The time of day for the Organs166
How the Kidney and Bladder relate167
Introduction
The Bladder and Kidney are paired Organs associated with the Water Element. Like the Organs in other Elements their functions overlap and yet are different. The similarity between their functions is illustrated in their ‘nicknames’ – ‘Controller of Water’ for the Kidneys and ‘Controller of the Storage of Water’ for the Bladder. (J. R. Worsley (1998, pp. 15.1–15.12) calls the Kidneys, ‘The Official who Controls the Waterways’, whereas Felt and Zmiewski (1993, p. 19) call the Kidneys the ‘Controller of Water’.) (Table 21.1)
| Organ/Official | Colloquial name | Description from Su WenCh 8 |
|---|---|---|
| Kidney | Controller of Water | The Kidneys are responsible for the creation of power. Skill and ability stem from them |
| Bladder | Controller of Water Storage | The Bladder is responsible for regions and cities. It stores the body fluids. The transformations of qi then give out their power |
The Kidneys – the Controller of Water
The character for the Kidneys
 |
The character for the Kidneys is shen (Weiger, 1965, lesson 82E). The lower part of the character indicates that this is an organ of the body. The upper part indicates both a minister who is prostrate before his master and someone taking a firm hand.
The significance is that the Kidneys are the servant of life and that they both have control and the strength to keep life on a firm footing. The firmness can also denote the firmness and hardness of the innermost structures of the body, such as the bones, teeth and marrow, which are controlled by the Kidneys. In addition, the Kidneys are the lowest yin organs in the body and lie at the back of the body. These lowly organs lie waiting to be of service to all of the other Organs and provide the qi for people to go about their daily activities.
Su WenChapter 8
The Kidneys are responsible for the creation of power. Skill and ability stem from them.
(Larre and Rochat de la Vallée, 1992b, p. 119)
This quotation stresses the power the Kidneys create. When people are young and well, they have strength. Their muscles are strong, their hair is shiny and they can work and play hard. As life progresses, the strength of the Kidneys declines and overall vigour and stamina diminish.
We now consider what is the connection between the ‘creation of power’ and the Kidneys.
The Kidneys store the jing
An essential part of the association of strength and the Kidneys is through the Kidneys’ function of storing the jing. 1
1J. R. Worsley did not use the language of Substances or specifically ‘jing’. On the other hand, in his book on the Officials (Worsley, 1998, p. 15.7) he refers to the Kidney being the storehouse of ancestral energy which is passed to each person by their parents (see also Maciocia, 2005, pp. 51–52).
The character for jing
 |
The left-hand side of the character is four grains or seeds bursting forth with life. The right-hand side is the colour qing, which is the colour of sprouting plants. The character presents an image of transformation and life bursting forth. It signifies that the essence that is stored in the Kidneys is the foundation of our qi and is the seed of life itself (Weiger, 1965, lesson 122A). Sperm is also the seed of life itself and for this reason sperm and jing have the same Chinese character.
The role of jing
Jing has various characteristics that say much about the nature of the Kidneys.
• Jing is people’s constitutional bequest from their parents and ancestors: it is one of the ‘three treasures’ (see Chapter 1, this volume). In so far as it is possible to refer to someone’s inherited constitution in Chinese medicine this is the jing. Because the Kidney stores it, the welfare of a person’s constitution partly comes about through the welfare of their Kidneys.
• Acupuncture is extremely effective at enabling a person’s body, mind and spirit to operate to its greatest potential. Some people, however, are born stronger than others. There are limits to how much improvement can be made to significant jing deficiency. Sometimes a person needs to adapt to their situation rather than alter it through treatment. As the old saying goes, ‘What can’t be cured must be endured.’ A person’s aim should be to preserve and nurture jing. Lifestyle advice needs to take jing into consideration with respect to diet, exercise, work and rest (tai ji, qi gong and breathing exercises are said to nourish jing; see Hicks, 2009, Chapter 4, p. 88).
• Jing operates a bit like a credit card. People can borrow on it, but in the end they need to make repayments. Excess expenditure does not go away when they return to normal expenditure; instead it accumulates and interest is charged. People deplete their jing by working too hard, ejaculating too frequently (for men) or having too many childbirths (for women), taking drugs, eating a poor diet and not getting enough rest or appropriate exercise. Luckily it takes time for people to deplete their jing and a healthy lifestyle will prevent this from happening. Jing, however, is hard to replace. When the credit card total has mounted up, the interest charges then become an additional burden. Worse still, if people have depleted their reserves, they become less able to cope when a crisis arises. There will be no reserves to draw on and they perform without ‘cleverness’, thus increasing their likelihood of becoming ill.
• Qi moves quickly, but jing moves slowly and governs the longer-term cycles of growth, reproduction and sexual development (fertility, conception and pregnancy). Women have seven-year cycles and men eight-year cycles. After seven cycles for women (49) or eight for men (64), the jing is expected to be declining.
The balanced functioning of the Kidney is therefore essential for people to have abundant energy and power. Skill, ability and cleverness can also be gained through the Kidney’s effect on the brain and mind.
A patient to whom the practitioner had explained the concept of jing said: ‘I knew I always did more and worked harder than other people. At the time I thought I was very strong but in retrospect I think I was needy for a lot of things. I think others who didn’t work as hard were more comfortable with themselves. In the end I wore myself out. I over-worked, didn’t get enough rest, ate irregularly and had a poor-quality diet. I became ill and I knew I had to change.’
The ming men
The idea of ming men or ‘gate of vitality’ is also an essential part of how the Kidney is understood in Chinese medicine. The gate of vitality provides the heat or fire for the rest of the Organs. This view is somewhat at odds with the notion that the warmth of the body comes from the Fire Element, but both views can be held (see section ‘Warming the body’ in Chapter 12, this volume.)
When treating a patient who is cold, practitioners may decide to use moxa (see Chapter 35, this volume). They will also consider which points should be treated with moxa. The Fire Element is not the only way that a practitioner can access the body’s own ability to warm itself. For example, the acupuncture point Du 4 is an important point to increase the warmth of the body and is located between and somewhat below the physical kidneys. The Kidneys are important for the warmth of the body and for the warmth of the other Organs.
The spirit of the Kidneys – the zhi
The zhi is the spirit of the Kidneys. It has been translated as will, willpower, ambition, drive or motivation.
The character for zhi
 |
The character for zhi shows something that is able to stand firm and upright – the ability for a person to stand their ground and not be deflected from their goals. Zhi gives us the push or drive that enables people to be motivated to achieve things in life (Weiger, 1965, lesson 79B).
The functions of the zhi
The drive to survive
At the most fundamental level the zhi gives people the ‘drive to survive’. This drive, although usually not evident except in extreme situations, is regarded as the most powerful drive in people. The drive to reproduce, and thereby ensure the survival of the species and the family, is certainly an immensely powerful force in all living creatures. The resonance with jing, humans’ life-giving seed, is obvious.
How do we understand zhi and willpower as part of Water? In the first place, willpower requires goals and the determination to push towards them. The Kidneys give people the strength to push consistently towards what they want.
The yin and yang of the Kidneys and the zhi
The Kidneys are thought of as having a yang and yin aspect. The yang is the outward-moving, warming qi and the yin is the inward-moving cooling qi. The will of those with balanced Kidneys is reasonably normal. Those with deficient Kidney yang qi tend to be listless, weak and lacking in movement, physically and mentally. At an extreme, they are cold, shivery and lie curled up in bed. Those with deficient Kidney yin qi tend to be restless, active and overly determined. At an extreme, they are hyperactive, hot and moving relentlessly towards their outcomes. These imbalances can both be seen as distorted patterns of will.
Fear and the zhi
Another way of understanding the relationship between the will and the Kidneys is to consider the resonating emotion, fear. The previous chapter described how fear can manifest when it is imbalanced. One pattern will lead to no action and feeling too much fear to act and the other pattern to hyperaction and anticipating threats and dealing with them beforehand. Both can be seen as patterns of imbalanced will as much as imbalanced emotion.
A balanced zhi
The paragraph above gives examples of how the will can be out of balance. It is also important to describe what a balanced will is like. Ted Kaptchuk (2000, p. 62) describes a balanced will as ‘the will that can’t be willed’. The will works independently from a person’s conscious volition. It gives people a sense of moving towards their destiny without carrying out too much conscious processing. This unobtrusive will, which operates under the surface, is the result of healthy Kidney qi. Significantly, it goes unnoticed because it is expressed appropriately.
The virtue associated with Water is wisdom. If people have moved through life, enacting their destiny and doing so in part because of balanced Kidney qi, then wisdom accumulates (Kaptchuk, 2000, pp. 62–63). There is no better breeding ground for understanding the world and gaining wisdom than gradually, through time, to have achieved a series of interconnecting goals. Ideally when people grow older, although their jing declines, their wisdom increases.
The Bladder – the Controller of the Storage of Water
The character for the Bladder
 |
The character for the Bladder is the pang guang (Weiger, 1965, lessons 117A (jou), 24J (pang) and 29I (kuang)).
The first radical depicts a space with three dimensions – probably representing the Bladder Organ, that is, a space that stores water. The second represents light or lustre or a man carrying a torch. Together these describe the power of the Bladder – it is a storage space with yang power.
Su WenChapter 8
The Bladder is responsible for regions and cities. It stores the body fluids. The transformations of qi then give out their power.
(Larre and Rochat de la Vallée, 1992b, p. 133)
The Bladder has its own qi and one of the key functions of qi is to transform and move. The analysis of the section in Su WenChapter 8 that relates to the Bladder gives us some clues as to its function. The Bladder is responsible for keeping dry areas separate from wet areas. This is similar to separating rivers and lakes from adjoining fields, so that the people can grow crops, yet still travel by boat to a neighbouring village – ensuring that life can proceed.
Su Wen describes the importance of having the appropriate amount of body fluids in the right location as Larre and Rochat de la Vallée describe below.
It is important to underline that the Bladder, which seems so unimportant, has in reality an action of control which is very great. It controls, by eliminating or re-injecting into the body, the quantity and quality of liquids from below.
(Larre and Rochat de la Vallée, 1992b, pp. 133–138)
The Bladder has an important role in maintaining body fluids in their natural quantity and quality. It was stated in the previous chapter that up to 60% of the body is made of water. The Bladder has a crucial role to do with many functions associated with the body fluids. These include creating:
• moist eyes to see
• saliva in the mouth to digest
• nasal fluids when breathing
• a moist throat and vocal chords to speak
• sufficient synovial fluid in all the joints to move smoothly
• a moist large intestine to pass stools with ease
• a moist vagina for pleasurable sex
• flexible, moist skin to protect and maintain beauty
Mind, emotions and spirit as well as body
The correct amount and quality of fluids also affects people on the levels of body, mind and spirit. For example, just as physically the fluid in the joints helps people to throw a ball, the fluids of the mind and spirit help them to flow and manifest smoothly.
When a person is frightened, their whole body can tighten up as they think about what might happen in the future. The perceived ‘threat’ can stop them from moving forward in their lives as they become scared of what lies ahead. Fear prevents them from thinking in a fluid way. An example of this is when a person ‘dries up’ when speaking in public. In this situation some people say that their mind is racing and they cannot formulate a coherent speech. Others report that their mind has gone blank.
When this pattern is chronic, people become limited in their thoughts and only see a small proportion of what is possible. They find it hard to move their minds from subject to subject and they may protect themselves from a threat by keeping still, inhibiting movement. The result can be an unmoving mind-set from where they resist change. Alternatively their minds can become agitated. They find it hard to still their minds sufficiently to formulate effective strategies as their thinking becomes panicky and scattered. The mind and spirit require appropriate fluids to manifest smoothly.
A vicious cycle can ensue from the situation described above. Being chronically afraid can lead to static fluids and less ability to respond to any threatening situations. The subsequent threats increase the fear and reduce the flow even further. On the other hand, good flow with adequate fluids enables people to deal with a threat. This stops the chronic build up of fear and thus makes people better able to deal with any new fears.
Observation of Water CFs reveals that they often demonstrate both physical and mental jerkiness. This is different from the ‘lack of smooth flow’ described under the Wood Element. The former situation is due to a lack of fluidity that creates physical and mental ‘stiffness’ in the Water CF. The latter situation that affects the Wood CF results from the Blood not nourishing tendons and ligaments as well as the Liver’s tendency to allow the qi to stagnate.
The time of day for the Organs
The 2-hour period for the Kidneys is 3–5 p.m. and for the Bladder is 5–7 p.m. Many people who have an imbalance in their Water Element feel most vital at these times. Others are tired and lacking in energy at these times but find their vitality returns later in the evening. For many people, however, this time coincides with the end of their working day and they feel very differently as they switch activities. This makes reporting tiredness at this time unreliable as a diagnostic indicator.
Many Water CFs and people with weak Water Elements find that they wake in the night to urinate between 3 and 5 a.m. This is the lowest time for the Kidneys and Bladder and when Water qi is at its lowest. If people wake around this time of night it is also often because of anxiety or heat. Fretting is a common reason why people struggle to get back to sleep again. This is often most marked in people whose Kidneys are becoming agitated due to becoming ‘burnt out’ from over-work. When the Kidney yin is deficient the tendency to be too hot at this time of night is marked. It is striking how often people who struggle to sleep during these hours report that they can sleep really well after about 7 a.m. Virtually nobody reports night sweats after this time, even if they sleep late into the morning.
When collecting information and hearing about atypical behaviour, it is always useful to ask at what time it occurs. When people are vague or say it is random, then there may be no significance. If they are exact about the time and credit the symptoms with regularity, it is worth comparing it with horary time. A symptom of this sort can support the case for a CF, but it is definitely not sufficient on its own.
How the Kidney and Bladder relate
The functions of these two Organs overlap. Both deal with fluids, one as the Controller of Water and the other as the Controller of the Storage of Water. The difference in terms of a patient’s symptoms or experience may be subtle.
The Kidneys are more concerned with the quality of the fluids and the Bladder with their distribution, but this also is a subtle distinction, hard to translate into specific symptoms. The major difference is the Kidney’s function of storing the jing and therefore being the source of strength to fuel the long-term cycles of growth, development and reproduction. The capacity to develop sexually, to endure, to reproduce and to grow old gracefully come from the Kidney and not the Bladder.
Summary
1 Su WenChapter 8 says that ‘The Kidneys are responsible for the creation of power. Skill and ability stem from them.’
2 The Kidneys store the jing which is responsible for birth, growth, reproduction and development.
3 The zhi is the spirit of the Kidneys. It has been translated as will, willpower, ambition, drive or motivation.
4 Su WenChapter 8 says that ‘The Bladder is responsible for regions and cities. It stores the body fluids. The transformations of qi then give out their power.’
5 The Kidneys are sometimes known as the Controller of Water. The Bladder is sometimes referred to as the Controller of the Storage of Water.
6 The 2-hour period for the Kidneys is 3–5 p.m. and that for the Bladder is 5–7 p.m.
