(Last Updated on November 19, 2024 by Amiee)
Essence, qi, blood, and body fluid are the basic substances that constitute the human body and maintain the life activities of the human body.
Essence is divided into congenital essence and acquired essence. Innate essence mainly comes from parents, which is the energy of genes. The acquired essence refers to the essence of Mizutani, the essence obtained from the diet after birth. Both essences are hidden in the kidneys.
Innate essence and acquired essence are interdependent and interact with each other. The innate essence depends on the cultivation and nourishment of the acquired essence, and the digestion and formation of the acquired essence need the help of the vitality of the innate essence.
Qi in Chinese medicine theory refers to the subtle substances with strong vitality that constitute the life activities of the human body. It is an important material basis for life activities. Human life depends only on qi. Once the movement of qi stops, it means the end of life. Qi fundamentally determines the health of the human body, and almost all diseases are related to Qi.
There are four main types of qi, YuanQi(Original Qi), ZongQi(Gathering Qi), YingQi(Nutitive Qi), and WeiQi(Defensive Qi).
The YuanQi comes from the essence in the kidney. ZongQi is formed by combining the qi inhaled by the lungs from nature and the qi generated by the spleen and stomach from food and drink as the main components. Also known as chest qi, big qi, and big qi in the chest. The formation of sect qi is directly related to the strength and weakness of the qi of the whole body. Yingqi is the qi that travels with the blood in the veins and has the function of nourishing and producing blood. Also known as wrong qi. Yingqi is closely related to blood, so people often say that YingBlood. YingQi‘s attribute is yin when it is relative to WeiQi. WeiQi is qi that runs outside the veins and has the function of defending the body.
In addition to the above four types of qi, the human body also has internal qi, and the qi in the meridians actually comes from vitality. When the vitality is distributed in the internal organs or meridians, it becomes the qi in the internal organs or meridians.
The abnormality of qi mainly includes two aspects. One is the insufficient source of qi or excessive consumption, and the other is the abnormal movement of qi, which causes qi stagnation, qi retrograde, qi sinking, qi closing, and qi being lost.
Blood runs in the veins, circulates throughout the body, and constitutes one of the basic substances of the human body and sustains human life activities. There must be three conditions for the normal operation of blood. One is sufficient blood and proper temperature, the other is the smooth and intact veins, and the third is the normal function of internal organs, especially the function of the heart.
There are two main aspects of blood disorders. One is insufficient blood, which is called blood deficiency, and the other is abnormal blood flow, which leads to blood clogging, blood flow too fast, and bleeding.
Body fluid is the general term for all normal water fluids in the body. All normal fluids except blood belong to body fluids. The metabolic process of body fluid is inseparable from the rising, falling, exiting, inward movement and the formation of qi, as well as the organic coordination of spleen, lung, kidney, bladder, sanjiao（三焦), and other internal organs. Disorders of body fluid include insufficient body fluid, accumulation of sputum, water dampness, and so on.
The essence, qi, blood, and body fluid of the human body are the basic substances that maintain the life activities of the human body, and they depend on each other, promote each other, and transform each other.
