THE FIVE－ELEMENT THEORY—NATURAL PHILOSOPHY IN ANCIENT CHINA
五行學說-中國古代自然哲學觀
The five elements refer to wood, fire, earth, metal, and water and their motions. The five element theory resulted from the observations and studies of the natural world by the ancient Chinese people in the course of their lives and productive labor. Since ancient time, wood, fire, earth, metal and water have been considered as basic substances to constitute the universe and they are also indispensable for life. Zuo's Interpretation of the Spring and Autumn Annals (Zuo Zhuan) says:" The five kinds of materials in nature are all used by people. None of them cannot be dispensed with". Another classical work Shang shu states: "water and fire are used for cooking, metal and wood are used for cultivating and earth gives birth to all things, which are used by people." These five kinds of substances are of the relationships of generation and restriction and are in constant motion and change. In TCM the five-element theory, as a theoretical tool, is used to explain and expound  different kinds of medical problems by analogizing and deducing their properties and interrelations. It also used to guide clinical diagnosis and treatment. The theory, like the theory of yin－yang, has become an important component of the theoretical system of TCM.  醫(yī).學.全.在線quanxiangyun.cn	五行指的是木、火、土、金、水和它們的運動。五行理論來自于古代中國人民在生活和生產勞動中對自然界的觀察和學習。自古代以來，木、火、土、金、水就被認為是宇宙組成的基本物質，也是生命不可缺少的物質�！蹲髠鳌吩唬禾焐�五材，民并用之，廢一不可。另一部經典著作《尚書》曰：水火用于炊煮，金木用于耕耘，土壤用于孕育萬物，一切皆為民所用。這五種物質存在相生相克的關系，并處于持續(xù)的運動變化之中。中醫(yī)的五行理論，作為一種理論工具，通過分析和推理用于詳細說明五種不同醫(yī)學問題的性質和它們之間的關系。它也用于指導臨床的診斷與治療。該理論如陰陽理論一般已稱為中醫(yī)理論系統(tǒng)的重要組成部分。
Classification of Things in Light of the Five-Element Theory.	根據五行理論進行歸類
In ancient China, the five-element theory was unceasingly developed and gradually became perfected. In time it came to recognize that everything in nature might be respectively attributed to one of the five elements. For instance, wood has the nature of growing freely and unfolding. So, anything that is similar to the characteristics is attributed to the category of wood. Fire has the nature of flaring up. Thereby the things similar to the nature of fire are classified into the attribute of fire. Earth has the nature of giving birth to all things. Thus, those that possess the nature of earth are attributed to earth. Metal has the nature of purifying and descending. Hence, those with the nature of metal can be attributed to metal category. Water has the nature of moistening and flowing downwards. For this reason, the things that have moistening, downward movement and coldness correspond to water. The following table shows the classification of partial things according to the five-element theory.(See Tab. 1)	在古代中國，五行理論不斷發(fā)展?jié)u致完善。后來，人們認識到自然界中的所有事物都能歸屬于五行中的一種。例如，木有生發(fā)伸展的性質，所以，任何有相似特性的物質都歸屬于木�；鹦匝咨希�因此，任何有相似特性的物質都歸屬于火。土有孕育萬物的性質，因此，具有該性質的物質都屬于土。金有凈化和沉降的性質，因此，有金的性質的物質都歸于金。水曰潤下，因此，具有濕潤、向下、寒冷性質的物質都屬于水。以下的表格根據五行理論將部分物質進行了歸類。（見表1）
Among the five-elements, there exist the relationships of generation, restriction, subjugation and counterrestriction, and mutual affection between mother-organ and child-organ. Generation implies that one kind of thing can promote, aid or bring forth another, i. e., wood generates fire, fire generates earth, earth generates metal, metal generates water, and water, in turn, generates wood. Each of the five elements contains the dual nature -"being generated" and "generating". This relationship of the five elements is called the "mother-child" relationship. The element that generates is called the "mother", while the element that is generated is called the "child". Take wood for example, because wood produces fire, it is the mother of fire; but it is produced by water, so it's water's child. 醫(yī) 學 全在線quanxiangyun.cn	五行當中存在生、克、乘、侮和母子相互影響的關系。生意味這一種物質可以促進、援助、產生另外一種物質，例如，木生火、火生土、土生金、金生水、水生木。五行中的任何一行都有生我和我生的雙重性質。五行的這種關系叫做“母子”關系。五行中生我者為“母”，我生者為“子”。以木為例，因為木生火，故木為火之母；但是它由水所生，故又為水之子。
Tab. 1 the Classification of Things According to the Five Elements	表1.事物的五行歸類
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.	相克意味著控制或抑制。相克的原則如下：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兩方面性質。例如，克木者為金，被木克者為土。
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.	五行中的生克關系是不可分離的。它們相互對立，也相互補充。沒有生就沒有事物的成長和發(fā)展；沒有克就沒有在發(fā)展變化中的協調平衡，過渡生長會造成危害。例如，一方面，木生火；另一方面，木克土；同時土又生金及克水。正因為克中有生和生中有克，自然界和生命才擁有旺盛的生命力,這是一方面；另一方面，過度生長會造成危害。因此，生克之間維持相對平衡是事物生長和發(fā)展的保證。
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.	這就是自然界中的生態(tài)平衡，人體的生理平衡來自于生克關系的平衡。這些關系將在以下的數據中闡述。
Fig. 2 Relationship of generation and restriction (or subjugation) of the Five Elements	表2.五行中的生克關系
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變得過�；虿蛔悖�就會出現異常的相生和相克稱作乘和侮。“乘”指的是指五行中的一行會對較弱一行進行過度制約。因此，也稱為“雙重壓制”。例如，木過剩會過度抑制土，造成土的不足，叫做木乘土。這是事物之間相克失常的異常表現。
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).	侮指強制弱，這是一種病態(tài)表現，是一行失去對另一行的正�？酥疲�而反被其克制。很顯然，侮是相克關系的相反表現。例如，在正常情況下，金克木，但在木氣過�；蚪饸獠蛔銜r，就會出現木反克金而不是金克木，這就是“木侮金”。因此，《素問》中說：“氣有余，則制已所勝而侮所不勝；其不及，則已所不勝，侮而乘之，已所勝，輕而侮之”。這是事物之間平衡失調的另一表現。（見表3）
Fig. 3 Relalionship of subjugation and Counterrestriction of the Five Elements	表3.五行的乘侮關系
"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”指的是五行中的異常相生。我生者為子，生我者為母。這里的“及”意味著有害的影響包括“母病及子”和“子病及母”。前者與相生的規(guī)則同，后者則與其規(guī)則相反。例如，正常情況下，水生木。當水病及木時,叫“母病及子”；當木病及水時便叫做“子病犯母”。（見下表）
Fig. 4 Subjugation and Counter-restricting Among The Five Elements	表4.
Special phrases	特殊詞組
1.reinforcing the spleen (earth) to strengthen the lung (metal)	1.培土生金
2.failure of water (kidney) to nourish wood (or failure of the kidney to nourish the liver)	2.水不涵木
3.five movements and six climates	3.五運六氣
4.wood tending to spread out freely	4.木喜條達
5.Depression of the liver (wood) generating fire	5.木郁化火
6.fire of the liver (wood) impairing the lung (metal)	6.木火刑金
7.fire tending to flare/flame upward	7.火性炎上
8.excessive fire impairing the lung (metal)	8.火盛刑金
9.failure of fire to generate earth	9.火不生土
10.coordination between water (kidney) and fire (heart)	10.水火相濟
11.incordination between the kidney (water) and the heart (fire)	11.水火不濟
12."being restricted" and "restricting"	12.“克我”和“我克”《內經》稱“所不勝”與“所勝”