Part Six: THE FIVE ZANG-ORGANTS-THE ORGANS OF PRODUCING AND STORING ESSENCE-QI

     The heart, Lungs, spleen, liver and kidneys are together known as the five zang-organs, whose common physiological function is preducing and storing essence-qi. They store but not eliminate essence-qi.

    心、肺、脾、肝、肾合称为五脏，其共同生理作用是化生和贮藏精气，藏而不泄。

    1. Heart 1.心

    The heart is situated in the chest, above the Diaphragm, and is enveloped by pericardium externally. TCM believes(holds, think, find, consider, deem, judge, feel, take, make) that the heart governs all the other zang-fu organs and, therefore, is a "monarch organ". The heart, pertaining to fire in the five elements, consists of heart-yin, the material structures containing the heart-blood, and heart-yang, the functional activities.As for physiological functions, the heart is thought to, first, dominate blood and vessels since it is the motive force for blood circulation. The blood vessels are the physical structures containing the blood. The blood vessels are linked with the heart to form a closed system, and blood circulation is performed by the cooperation of the heart and the blood vessels. Under the impulse of heart-qi, blood is transported to all parts of the body for nutritive prupose. Thereby the condition of heart-qi and the blood volume may be shown in both the pulse condition and the complexion. That's why Basis Questions (Su Wen ) says, "The heart has its outward manifestation in the face or complexion". As a result, whether heart-qi and heart-blood are sufficient or not can affect the strength, rate and rhythm of the heart.

    心位于胸中，膈之上方，外为心包所包绕。中医认为心统治所有的脏腑组织，是“君主之官 ”。心在五行中属火，由心阴和心阳组成。心阴为包括心血的物质结构，心阳为功能活动。就生理功能而言，因为其是血液循环的动力，因此认为心主血和血管。血管是承载血液的物理结构。血管和心相连形成一个密闭系统，血液循环在心和血管的配合下完成。在心气的推动下，血液被运送到人体各部分起营养作用。因此，心气的状况和血液量可以从脉象和面色中体现。这就是《素问》为什么说“心其华在面”。所以，无论是心气还是心血的充足与否都会影响心的搏动力、速度、和节律。

    The heart houses the mind, also known as the heart dominating the mental activities. The mind, in its broad meaning, refers to the outward manifestations of the life activities of the whole body, and, in its narrow sense, to mental activities controlled by the heart, including consciousness, spirit, thinking, etc. The zang-fu theory holds that mental activities and thinking are to take the heart's functions as their basis. Spirit, consciousness, thinking, memory and sleep are all related to the function of the heart in housing the mind. Therefore, Miraculous Pivot (Ling Shu ) says, "The heart is the residence of the mind" and also, "The heart takes on the performance of activities." The heart opens into(have one's specific body opening；...be reflected on ...) the tongue. "Resuscitation", in TCM, means the close relationship between a particular zang-organ and one of the sense organs in the structure, physiology and pathology. So the heart, though being in the body, is connected with the tongue by the heart-meridians. Through such a connection, whether the heart functions normally or not can be clearly learnt from the tongue condition. In other words, the tongue condition may show the physiological and pathological changes of the heart. So TCM holds: "The tongue serves as the mirror( or body opening ) of the heart". In addition, the heart has its outward manifestations in the face. The heart corresponds to joy in the emotions. (open into；have one's specific body opening；...be reflected on...)And its meridians connect with associate with, be related to)the small intestine with which they are internally-externally related.

    心主神志，也叫做心主精神活动。神，广义上指的是整个人体活动的外在表现；狭义上指的是心所控制的精神活动包括意识、精神、思想等。脏腑理论认为精神活动和思考都以心的功能为基础。精神、意识、思考、记忆和睡眠都以心主神志的功能有关。因此，《灵枢》曰：“心为神之宅”且“所以任物者谓之心”。心开窍于舌。“开窍”在中医指的是脏和器官在结构、生理和病理上的紧密联系。所以心虽然在体内，但通过心经与舌联系。通过这种联系，无论心的功能正常与否都可以有舌象表现出来。换言之，舌象可以体现心的生理和病理改变。所以，中医认为：舌为心之镜。此外，心其华在面，在志为喜，且通过经脉与小肠相表里。

    Appendix: Pericardium 附注：心包

    The pericardium, serving as the peripheral tissue surrounding the heart, plays a part in protecting the heart When exogenous pathogenic factors attack the heart, the pericardium is always the first to be attacked. The heart, if invaded by the pathogens, will be impaired and diseases will ensue. For example, high fever, coma and red tongue are described as "heat-pathogen attacking the pericardium," and, in fact, the clinical manifestations of the pericardium invaded by exogenous pathogens are the same as those of the heart. For this reason, the pericardium is usually regarded as an attachment to the heart.

    心包是包绕心脏的外周组织，外邪犯心时首先侵袭心包，起到保护心脏的作用。心如被邪气所伤将会使功能受损，疾病也就随之发生了。例如，高热、昏迷、舌红被描述为“热入心包”的表现，事实上，外邪侵犯心包的临床表现与外邪犯心是一样的。因此，心包通常被认为是心的附属。

    2. Lungs 2.肺

    The lungs, including the two lobes, one on the left and right separately, are situate in the thorax. They are compared to the "canopy" becausea of its uppermost position among all the zang-fu organs. They are also termed "delicate zang organs".

    肺有两个位于胸腔，左右各一，彼此分离。因为其位置在所有脏腑器官之上，所以被喻为“华盖”，也被称为“娇脏”。

    The lungs dominate qi and respiration. They are the place of exchange between the gases inside and outside the body. Basic Question ( Su Wen ) says, "atmosphere communicating to the lungs". The lungs also govern dispersing and descending, and regulates water passage, and communicate with numerous vessels to coordinate functional activities of the whole body, assisting the heart to adjust normal circulation of qi and blood. The lungs corresponds to melancholy in the emotions and are related to the skin and hair externally. They open into the nose and their conditions are reflected on vellum(牛皮纸) hairs. In the meridian-collnteral relation,the lungs and the large intestine are exteriorly-interiorly related because of interconnecting-interpertaining of the Lung Meridianof Hand-Taiyin and the Large Intestine Meridian of Hand-Yangming.

    肺主气司呼吸。它是气体体内外交换的场所。《素问》曰：大气通与肺.同时，肺还主升降、通调水道，朝百脉助心调节血及气的正常循环功能。肺在志为忧,主皮毛。肺开窍于鼻，他们都是肺的外在表现。在经络关系上，因为手太阴肺经与手阳明大肠经相联系、相附属，故肺与大肠相表里。

    3. Spleen 3.脾

    The spleen is located in the middle energizer, below the diaphragm. The spleen's meridians connect with the stomach, with which it is exteriorly-interiorly related. TCM is widely divergent from Western medicine in the understanding of the spleen. TCM holds it true that the spleen is divided into spleen-yin, its material structures; spleen-yang, its functions; and spleen-qi which merely refers to its functions, and that the spleen may be the main organ of the digestive system. The spleen is of great importance because, for one thing, it controls transporting and transforming food and water and, for another, it controls the blood of the whole body. Thereby, keeping the blood circulating normally within the vessels to prevent it from extravasating. The spleen is also viewed as the source for the production and transformation of qi and blood, as is said in TCM, " The spleen is the foundation of postnatal life".