Part Five: THE FIVE－ELEMENT THEORY—NATURAL PHILOSOPHY IN ANCIENT CHINA

    Tab. 1 the Classification of Things According to the Five Elements

    表1.事物的五行归类

    Restriction means bringing under control or restraint.The order of restriction goes as follows: wood restricts earth, earth does water, water does fire, fire does metal, and metal, in turn, does wood. Any one of the five elements has two aspects-being restricted and restricting. For example, the element restricting wood is metal, and the element that is restricted by wood is earth.

   相克意味着控制或抑制。相克的原则如下：木克土、土克水、水克火、火克金、金克木。五行中的任何之一都有克我和我克两方面性质。例如，克木者为金，被木克者为土。

    Generation and restriction have the correlations inseparable in the five elements.And they oppose each other and yet also complement each other.Without generation,there would be no growth and development of things;without interrestriction there would be no balance and coordination during development and change,and excessive growth would bring about harm.For example,on the one hand,wood generates fire,and,on the other hand,it restrains earth;while earth, in turn,generates metal and restricts water.Precisely because generation resides in restriction and restriction resides in generation,the natural world and life processes are full of vitality,on the one hand and excessive growth will not bring about harm on the other hand.Thus,the relative balance maintained between generation and restriction ensures normal growth and development of things.

   五行中的生克关系是不可分离的。它们相互对立，也相互补充。没有生就没有事物的成长和发展；没有克就没有在发展变化中的协调平衡，过渡生长会造成危害。例如，一方面，木生火；另一方面，木克土；同时土又生金及克水。正因为克中有生和生中有克，自然界和生命才拥有旺盛的生命力,这是一方面；另一方面，过度生长会造成危害。因此，生克之间维持相对平衡是事物生长和发展的保证。

    That is, ecological equilibrium in nature and physiological balance in the human body result from such relationships of generation and restriction. These relationships are illustrated in the following figure.

    这就是自然界中的生态平衡，人体的生理平衡来自于生克关系的平衡。这些关系将在以下的数据中阐述。

    Fig. 2 Relationship of generation and restriction (or subjugation) of the Five Elements

   表2.五行中的生克关系

    However, once any one of the five elements becomes excessive or insufficient, there would appear abnormal intergeneration and counter-restriction known as subjugation and counter-restriction (or reverse restriction). By subjugation is meant that one of the five elements overacts upon another one when the latter is weak. Therefore, it is also called "double restriction". For instance, excessive wood may over-restrict earth, resulting in insufficiency of earth, so called wood subjugates earth. This is the abnormal manifestation of disorder of inter-restriction among things.

   然而，一旦五行中的任何一行变得过剩或不足，就会出现异常的相生和相克称作乘和侮。“乘”指的是指五行中的一行会对较弱一行进行过度制约。因此，也称为“双重压制”。例如，木过剩会过度抑制土，造成土的不足，叫做木乘土。这是事物之间相克失常的异常表现。

    Counter-restriction means that the strong bulliesthe weak. It is also a morbid condition in which one element fails to restrict the other in the regular order, but in reverse order. It is clear that the order of counter-restriction is just the opposite to that of inter-restriction. For example, under normal conditions, metal should restrict wood, but in case of wood-qi excess, or metal-qi deficiency, wood will counter-restrict metal instead of being restricted by metal, which is known as "wood counter-restricts metal." Therefore, Su Wen states :"When qi of a certain element is sufficient, it will encroach the restricted element and counter-restrict the restricting element. When qi of a certain element is insufficient, it will be subjugated by the restricting element and counter restricted by the restricted element," This is another manifestation of the disturbance of the equilibrium between substances (see Fig. 3).

  侮指强制弱，这是一种病态表现，是一行失去对另一行的正常克制，而反被其克制。很显然，侮是相克关系的相反表现。例如，在正常情况下，金克木，但在木气过剩或金气不足时，就会出现木反克金而不是金克木，这就是“木侮金”。因此，《素问》中说：“气有余，则制已所胜而侮所不胜；其不及，则已所不胜，侮而乘之，已所胜，轻而侮之”。这是事物之间平衡失调的另一表现。(见表3)

    Fig. 3 Relalionship of subjugation and Counterrestriction of the Five Elements 表3.五行的乘侮关系

    "Affecting between mother and child" refers to abnormal intergeneration in the five elements. The generated element is considered as the child, and the generating element as the mother. Here "affecting" means having harmful influence, including both "the diseased mother-organ affecting the child-organ" and "the diseased child-organ involving the mother-organ." The former is same as the order of intergeneration, and the latter is just the reverse order of intergeneration. For instance, normally, water generates wood, which is called "mother organ's disorder affecting its child-organ"; but abnormally, water involves wood, which is called "child organ's disorder involving its mother organ" when wood affects water. (See the following figure).

   “母子相及”指的是五行中的异常相生。我生者为子，生我者为母。这里的“及”意味着有害的影响包括“母病及子”和“子病及母”。前者与相生的规则同，后者则与其规则相反。例如，正常情况下，水生木。当水病及木时,叫“母病及子”；当木病及水时便叫做“子病犯母”。(见下表)

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