Illness (Ji Bing)

Where the qi is blocked

The chapter maps the five elements onto the organs and reads illness as blocked or rebellious qi. When the five elements are in harmony, the text says, a lifetime passes without calamity; when the blood and qi are disordered, a lifetime carries many ailments. A hostile spirit entering the organs gives a serious illness, while a passing spirit merely wandering the channels gives a minor one — depth decides severity, exactly as with clashes.

The specific correlations follow the classical system: wood that receives no water is a blood disorder, earth that receives no fire is an injury to the qi. The chapter closes with the seasonal pairings — metal and water with cold coughs or phlegm-fire, fire and earth with wind-phlegm or dry itching — and with the two organs it singles out, kidneys from withered metal and water, spleen and stomach from water overcoming wood.

Read this chapter as a traditional correlation system, not as medical advice; it has no diagnostic standing today.