The Laws of Generation and Restraint,Interaction,Predominace-Recovery,Over-Restraint,and Counter-Restraint Among the Five Elements
1. Inter-Generation and Inter-Restraint among the Five Elements
Generation and restraint are the basic viewpoints from which the theory of the five elements generalize and explain the connection and developmental change inherent in all things. Inter-generation explains the meanings of mutual production, promotion, and assistance. The law of inter-generation among the five elements is £º Wood generates fire,fire generates earth, earth generates metal, metal generates water, and water generates wood.
Inter-restraint contains the meanings of mutual restriction, conquering, and suppression. The law of inter-restraint among the five elements is : Wood restrains earth,earth restrains water, water restrains fire, fire restrains mental and metal restrains wood.
Within the relationship of inter-generation, each of the elements have two positions,"generating", and "being generated". The "generating" element is thought of as the"mother", and the "being generated" element as the child. Together these form what is known as the "mother-child relationship".
In the relationship of inter-restraint, each of the elements occupy two positions of "restraining" and "being restrained". "Being restrained" is "the one I surpass", while restraining is "the one I cannot surpass. " Therefore, the inter-restraint relationship is also called "mutual surpassing relationship", or "the one being surpasses" and "the one not being surpassed. "
The picture below represents inter-generation and inter-restraint among the five elements.
To establish the relationship of inter-generation and inter-restraint among the
five elements, one must observe in length the movement and change of objective things.The observation is further heightened through a comprehensive induction of its principles,including theory and law. In Chapter 25of Plain Questions, it is said. "The wood will be cut down because of suffering from metal; the fire will be extinguished because of suffering from the water; the earth will be loosened because of suffering from the wood; the metal will be broken because of suffering from the fire, and the water will be exhausted because of suffering from the earth. All things are the same, which are out of count. "Such is the inter-generation law.
"All things are the same, that are out of count" shows that the ancient ones had dealt with these laws already, as merely the transformation of the five kinds of materials.Also, they developed it as laws with which a generalization of the movement and changes of things can be interpreted. This meant that there existed five aspects of pertaining to the wood, fire, earth, mental and water, among various things and within their interiors. The inter-generation, and inter-restraint of the above is a fixed, stable and regular structural connection.
It should be pointed out that the generation and restraint theory of the five elements is the rational knowledge which has been abstracted from the recognition of the nature of things. It not merely refers to the bodies of the five kinds of materials, but becomes a theoretical method employed within TCM to analyze the mutual relationship of the things in nature. It is stated thus by Huang Yuanyu in his book The Original Meanings of the Four Sages. "The so-called inter-generation and inter-restraint all refer to qi, but not to the materials. If they are materials, then they cannot be generated and restrained. "Here, the "qi" means the nature of function, while the "material" means the body of substance. So, the inter-generation or inter-restraint is the generation or restraint in nature or in function, but not in composition. Additionally, it is proposed that the intergeneration and inter-restraint relationship is an intrinsic law of things' interrelationship in
the natural world. This is said in The Original Meaning Of The Four Sages: "The interrestraint is to restrict over-exorbitance. "
TCM believes that the inter-generation and inter-restraint relationships among the five aspects of the systematic structure in the interior of things forms their circular movement under normal conditions. This provides a relative dynamic equilibrium. The moving change of inter-generation and inter-restraint among the five parts of things always exists, producing unevenness and constant movement and development. However, intergeneration and inter-restraint do produce a relative equilibrium when the five elements are considered in their totality. Each of the five elements also presents dynamic equilibrium in the whole, as each occupies the positions of "generating," "being generated," "restraining" and "being restrained. " Thus, the equilibrium reached by the five elements is not static, but rather is based upon their respective movements.
It should be pointed out that inter-generation and inter-restraint are essential conditions for normal growth and transformation of things. Doctor Zhang Jiebing says in his book Illustrated Supplementary to the Classified Canon: "The mechanism of transformation should never deviate from generation and restraint. Without generation, there would be no birth and development; without restraint, excessive growth would result in harm. " There must be restraint within the generation, and generation within the restraint. Only then is unceasing movement and mutual promotion possible.
2. The Interaction and Predominance-Recovery among the Five Elements
The systematic structure of the five elements is able to keep its dynamic equilibrium and circular movement due to two kinds of mechanisms: under normal conditions, "interaction" regulates the elements, and under abnormal conditions, "predominance-recovery" governs them. These mechanisms are discussed in the sections that follow.
1) The Interactive Regulation among the Five Elements
The so-called interactive regulation refers to the fact that the systematic structure of the five elements is regulated by the interaction of inter-generation and inter-restraint under normal conditions. This also is called "the interaction of the five elements. "
First, it can be seen clearly from the whole function of the five elements that any relationship between two elements is mutual, similar to a feedback mechanism. Feedback is a specific formulation of interaction. Taking fire as an example, in normal conditions,fire gets restraint from water. Though fire does not act on water directly, it can generate earth, and earth has the function of restraining water, so that the restraint of fire from water will not be so great as to cause the partial decline of fire. At the same time, fire gets assistance from wood, as well. So, by means of generating earth, fire strengthens the restraint on water from earth, which weakens the generation of wood from earth, so that the promotion of fire from wood will not go too far. The other four elements can be deduced in the same way.
Because each of the five elements occupies the four relationships (i. e. , generating,being generated, restraining, and being restrained), it is possible to ensure the normality of interactive relationships. Thus, wood can restrain earth, enabling fire to be generated and restored. Fire can restrain metal, enabling earth to be generated and transformed.Earth can restrain water, enabling metal to be generated and transformed. And metal can restrain wood, making it possible for water to be generated and transformed. In other words, the mother-qi can restrain the one being surpassed, and the child-qi is able to get nourishment from the mother-qi to play the action of generation and transformation.
As can be seen in the above illustration, wood can restrain earth, earth can
generated metal, and metal can restrain wood, so that wood will not be hyperactive or weak. Thus, wood can nourish fire to cause fire to be generated and transformed nomally
Fire can restrain metal, metal can generate water, and water can restrain fire, so that fire will not be hyperactive or weak. Thus, fire can nourish earth to cause earth to be generated and transformed normally.
Earth can restrain water, water can generate wood, and wood can restrain earth, so that wood will not by hyperactive or weak. Thus, earth can nourish metal to cause metal to be generated and transformed normally.
Metal can restrain wood, wood can generate fire, and fire can restrain metal, so that metal will not be hyperactive or weak. Thus, metal can nourish water to cause water to be generated and transformed normally.
Water can restrain fire, fire can generate earth, and earth can restrain water, so that water will not be hyperactive or weak. Thus, water can nourish wood to cause wood to be generated and transformed normally.
It thus is clear that the inter-opposite and inter-promotion interaction of generation and restraint regulates and keeps the relative coordination and balance of things' structure. The processes of inter-generation and inter-restraint are synonymous with processes involved in things' wane and wax. During these processes, imbalance of the wane-wax eondition itself is the regulation of inter-generation and inter-restraint, as the circular movement causes balance to be obtained from a state of imbalance on a constant basis,thus promoting change and developmetnt.
2) The Predominance-Recovery Regulation Among the Five Elements
Predominance-recovery regulation occurs when there is a comparatively large imbalance, the systematic structure of the five elements is regulated by large circulation and an inter-restraint relationship. Temporary partial exuberance or decline is used to recover balance. It is said in Chapter 74 of Plain Questions, "Predominance leads to recovery.Recovery means it wins, if not, it will be damaged. " "Predominance" refers to the predominant agent, i. e. , the over-restraint or the "being surpassed" caused by the excessive force of a certain element. As soon as the predominant agent appears, it inevitably leads to an opposite force to suppress it the so-called "recovery agent. " Thus, it is also said in
Chapter 74, "Where there is the predominant agent, there is the recovery agent. "
Moreover, the heavier the predominant agent, the heavier the recovery agent; the lighter the predominant agent, the lighter the recovery ageni. This regulation mechanism thus involves a quantitative equality between the reactional recovery agent and the actional predominant agent. For this reason, the systematic structure of the five elements is able to recover its entire relative balance via the predominance-recovery mechanism. For example, if fire is excessive, as the predominant agent, it will over-restrain the metal to cause the partial decline of metal. The declined metal cannot restrain wood, thus wood is partially predominant and strengthens its force to restrain earth. Because earth is restrained, it weakens its force to restrain water, causing water to become exuberant and strengthening its ability to suppress fire, the original predominant agent, causing fire to
recover its normality. If fire is insufficient, it will get the over-restraint from water. But the declined fire fails to restrain metal, causing metal's partial exuberance. This strengthens metal's ability to restrain wood, thus wood is declined and fails to adequately restrain earth. The new-exuberant earth is now able to restrain water. Then, the declined water weakens in its force to restrain fire, allowing fire to recover gradually, and restoring the normal state of balance.
Predominance-Recovery Regulation among the Five Elements
If there is only a predominance but no recovery, i. e. , when each of the five elements is excessive and lacks the corresponding restraint, the coordination relationship in the structure of the five elements will be broken, leading to an abnormal state within the body, and to various diseases and syndromes. Chapter 68 of Plain Questions says, "Excess brings about harm and restraint leads to order. " This means that the excessiveness in any of the elements will bring about harm to the body. Only the corresponding recovery agent bringing restraint will make it possible to keep the normal relationship of coordination.
In sum, one can regard the five element relationship as the logical extension of the mutual relationship of yin and yang. This relationship creates the effect of feedback regulation, allowing the relative balance of systematic structure to be maintained. Such feedback mechanisms are common in things or phenomena of the natural world. The difference between the yin-yang theory and the theory of the five elements is that the yin-yang theory is used to explain the most common and most general relationships in the material world, while the theory of five elements is used to demonstrate the structure relationships and active form of things.
3) The Inter-over-Restraint and Inter-Counter-Restraint Among the Five Elements
The inter-over-restraint and inter-counter-restraint are the abnormal phenomena of the five element relationships, which result from the influence of certain factors. Interover-restraint refers to the launch of an attack when a counterpart element is weak; intercounter-restraint means preying upon other elements.
The inter-over-restrain implies that one of the five elements restrains another excessively, resulting in imbalance of the systematic structure relationship of the five elements.This condition is usually manifested in one of two ways. One is that the element being over-restrained is itself insufficient, and the "over-restraining" element attacks. For example, if earth is insufficient, "the over-restraining" element attacks it. Another manifestation of this phenomenon is when the over-restraining element is extremely excessive and cannot be restrained by the other elements, and thus invades the element which should be restraining it. For instance, if wood is so strong that it cannot be restrained by metal, then it will over-restrain earth, causing damage of the earth-qi
It should be no'ted that there is a difference between "inter-restraint" and "interover-restraint. " Inter-restraint is the restriction relationship in normal conditions, while the inter-over-restraint is the abnormal phenomenon which results from excessive restraint after the normal restriction relationship has been broken. In the body, the former is the physiological state and the latter is the pathological state.
The inter-counter-restraint refers to the opposite of the inter-restraint (and thus also is referred to as "opposite-restraint"). It is another expression indicating that the systematic structure relationship of the five elements has lost its normal coordination. Similarly,it too has two manifestations. One is that an element is extremely strong, and cannot be restrained, thus it injures another element that is restrained. For example, metal should restrain wood, but if wood is extremely strong and cannot be restrained by metal, wood would counter-restrain metal instead. The second case is where a restraining element is weak, and the element that is supposed to be restrained instead counter-restrains due to the restraining element's weakness. For example, metal should restrain wood, but if metal is weak, wood counter-restrains metal due to its weakness. Thus, Chapter 67 in Plain Questions states, "If one element is excessive, it will restrain the one being surpassed by itself and counter-restrain the one not being surpassed; if one element is weak,the one not being surpassed will over-restrain it and the one being surpassed will counterrestrain it. " This shows that if one of the five elements is excessive, it will excessively restrain the element being surpassed, causing over-restraint. On the other hand, it will counter-restrain the element not being surpassed, causing opposite-restraint. But if an element is weak, the element not being surpassed will over-restrain it, and the element being surpassed will counter-restrain it due to its weakness.
Take the common clinical disease of bronchiectasis, located in the lung, as an example. It often occurs when stagnation of liver-qi turns into fire, scorching the lung and leading to hemoptysis, which is termed "wood-fire impairing metal" (or exuberant wood counter-restraining metal). If the stagnated liver-qi influences the function of the spleen and stomach in digestion and absorption, it is because the stagnated wood over-restrains earth. Another example is hypertension attributing to damp-heat. Damp-heat encumbering the spleen often results in the dysfunction of liver-qi and the hyperactivity of liveryang, known as obstructed earth counter-restraining wood. As for the deficient syndrome of metal over-restraining wood, it is seldom seen in clinic.
