To attain immortality following the principles of Dào, cultivate living while maintaining physical and mental health. Part 2.


The three analogous aspects of internal pathogenic factors (emotions) can cause great damages:

1- Causing direct injuries to the five major anatomical structures.

Too violent emotions, stimuli which provokes these emotions to be persistent or different stimuli provoking a wide range of emotional responses, these processes cause damages to the anatomical structures.

In the sacred book 《黄帝内经·素问》Huángdì nèi jīng • sù wèn, chapter 5: 阴阳应象大论 yīn yáng yīng xiàng dà lùn: :  great discourse on the yīn-yáng correspondences and manifestations..

“怒   伤     肝”,  “喜    伤   心”, “思    伤   脾”, “悲   伤      肺”,“恐     伤      肾”。

Nù shāng gān    xǐ shāng xīn   sī shāng pí    bēi shāng fèi  kǒng shāng shèn

Anger injures the liver; Joy injures the heart; Altered (obsessive) thinking damages the spleen; Sadness injures the lung; Fear injures kidney.

2- Causing abnormal movements of ascension and descent of the vital energy in the main and complementary anatomical structures 脏腑zàngfǔ: as it was previously seen, each one of these emotional manifestations depend on an energetic movement related to the physiology and more particularly with an anatomical structure that governs the behavior of the emotive flow.

This is defined in the sacred book 《黄帝内经·素问》Huángdì nèi jīng • sù wèn, chapter 39 举痛论 jǔ tòng lùn: theory on pain increment.

“怒 则 气  上，    喜  则  气   缓，悲  则  气  消， 恐   则 气下，惊   则 气   乱， 思 则 气 结”

Nù zé qì shàng    xǐ zé  qì  huán bēi zé  qì xiāo  kǒng zé qì xià  jīng zé  qì  luàn  sī zé qì jié

Anger causes the energy to rise (liver’s energy thrives when order is achieved, but it becomes discouraged when it is inhibited). Excessive emotional stimulation can cause an upward outflow of the liver’s energy, causing distention and filled flanks, headaches, dizziness, red and exorbitant eyes. The liver preserves the blood, if the energy of the liver rises abruptly it can bring along the blood causing loss of consciousness.

It is commonly limited to this process and it returns to the normality in a short period of time but in some cases the ascent of the blood with increased energy causes the rupture of the blood vessels in the brain: cerebrovascular accident with important aftermaths), joy causes a decrease of the energy (as previously stated, uncontrolled emotions diminish the flow of energy, so an excess of joy leads to a spirit dissipation as well as a weakening of the heart which can manifests in palpitations, insomnia and mental illness.

Thus, an excess of happiness can lead to a lethargy of the vital essence), sadness causes a dispersion of energy (an excessive sadness with grief can lead to depression in the upper heater which is transformed into heat, this disperses and wears out the energy of the lungs), fear causes energy to be expelled downwards (fear can damage the kidney’s energy causing urinary incontinence, involuntary seminal discharge or emission, uncontrollable diarrhea), hence terror disturbs the energy (this emotion as any other really strong disorders changes the energy dynamics, terror causes a disorder in the energy and blood circulation, which causes anxiety in the heart-mind inducing mental pathological processes), thoughts knot the energy (excessive or obsessed thoughts can depress the flow of energy from the spleen: digestive system, inducing effects on the natural movement of the spleen’s blood which allow the transformation of nutrients. This causes a sensation of obstruction and thoracic fullness, inflammation of the esophagus, poor appetite, abdominal distention and thin stools).

3- – They cause an aggravation of the patient’s condition or a rapid deterioration: according to clinical observation, in the evolution of many diseases, if the patient persists with strong emotional processes, his situation will rapidly worsen until deterioration. If a patient with a history of hypertension replies with anger when any interpellation occurs, the liver’s yáng then leaps up, blood pressure may increase rapidly, this causes dizziness and even sudden fainting, hemiplegia, facial paralysis. A patient with heart disease, tends to have a high emotional volatility which causes a worsening of his condition and a rapid deterioration.

Although this is a millenarian knowledge that could help us prevent many diseases, we have not been able to control our emotions and we continue to wander around the world, forgetting the true purpose of each of our lives. With the evolution of society and the development of modernity we could have imagined that the human being would grew in consciousness, comprehending how to direct his life process and establishing the bases to control these pathological factors. But he has modernized his working tools, built systems and structures to isolate him from the outside world. He no longer recognizes nature, he does not live with it, he has withdrawn from his cycles and lost his connection with heaven.

But our bodies function properly when all its parts work together, it is interpreted from the 道醫dào yī daoist medicine as a balance of the 五行wǔ xíng, the generation 生shēng and control克 kè systems are mutually regulated, man is in in harmony with nature.

It is one of the fundamental principles found in the sacred book of Dào and virtue 《道德经》: 道法自然 dào fǎ zì rán: the root of the Dào is found in nature.

In the sacred book《黄帝内经》Huángdì nèijīng, in the volume《素问》sù wèn, chapter 5 阴阳应象大论 yīnyáng yīng xiàng dà lùn: great discourse on the yīn-yáng correspondences and manifestations.

天    有   四 时  五   行，以    生      长      收   藏，以    生     寒  暑   燥  湿   风。

Tiān yǒu sì shí wǔ xíng  yǐ shēng zhǎng shōucáng  yǐ shēng hánshǔ zào shī fēng

The sky has four seasons and five movements, it can generate growth, harvest and storage, it can generate cold, heat, dryness, humidity and wind.

人     有  五   藏， 化  五  气，以   生   喜 怒  悲  忧    恐。

Rén yǒu wǔ cáng huà wǔ qì    yǐ shēng xǐ nù bēi yōu kǒng

The human being has five main anatomical structures, transforms the five energies, can generate pleasure, anger, sadness, concern and fear.

The sages of antiquity knew that the human being lives between heaven and earth, so he depends on the laws of opposition, growth and decline, the inherent aspect of yīn-yáng; To them, this theory is the fundamental law of the Cosmos, it is the natural evolution of all things, all phenomena depend on this correlation, that is why this connection is found in the human being, in his physiology, his anatomy and his metabolism. The whole traditional Daoist medical culture and Daoist alchemy depend on this binary vision that places the human being between heaven and earth, in relation to the sun, depending on the moon, day and night, summer and winter …

To understand the deep meaning of our existence and to cultivate, with exaltedness, the carnal sheath that allows us to travel on this earth, it is important, besides this basic knowledge of the Daoist philosophy, to read the principles of 養生 yǎngshēng: life’s cultivation. Master 莊子 Zhuāng zi writes in his book 《莊子》also called 《南華眞經》nán huá zhēn jīng: The true sacred book of the south blooming, in the section《內篇》nèi piān: internal chapters; chapter 3 養生主 yǎngshēng zhǔ: owner of the health cultivation. In this part, master 莊子 Zhuāng zi said:

吾      生   也  有    涯，而  知  也  無  涯。

Wú shēng yě yǒu  yá    ér  zhī  yě wú yá

I say that life is limited and that knowledge has no limits.

以  有  涯  隨  無 涯，殆 已！已而 為  知 者，殆  而 已 矣！

Yǐ yǒu yá suí wú yá  dài yǐ   yǐ ér wéi zhì zhě  dài ér yǐ yǐ

Having limits with unlimited thinking, becomes risky! This is already knowledge, so it is risky and desperate! (knowing that materials possessions and organics matters are not perennial causes great confusion in human beings, they want to have the methods to achieve immortality, to keep their own properties, to stay in the earthly life without changes, because the human being is attached to his body, his belongings, and this has caused many misfortunes in the evolution of humanity).

為     善   無  近  名，為  惡 無 近   刑， 緣    督 以   為  經，

Wéi shàn wú jìn míng wéi è wú jìn xíng yuán dū yǐ wéi jīng

To be virtuous without expecting recognition, to be evil without expecting punishment, in one sense or another the result will be the same (whatever we do, death is the result of any life process, never going to excess, always staying in middle),

可以 保  身，可以 全  生，可以 養 親，可以盡 年。

Kěyǐ bǎo shēn   kěyǐ quán shēng kěyǐ yǎngqīn  kěyǐ jǐn nián

One can preserve his own body, take care of oneself naturally, remain healthy, live a natural life (by understanding the principles of life, human beings can aspire to longevity, cultivate a wellbeing without disease, aging without deterioration, dying and becoming immortal to go on with the process of spiritual life).

To be continued…

Written by Hervé Louchouarn