The Viscera (ZangFu) include on the one hand the Organs (Zang) which are “full” (Heart, Envelope of the Heart, Lung, Spleen / Pancreas, Liver and Kidneys), and on the other hand the “hollow” Entrails (Fu). »(Stomach, Small Intestine, Large Intestine, Gallbladder, Bladder and Triple Warmer). They are presented one by one in the Physiology sheet. In the following sheet, we will deal with their main functions in the body.

The Organs are often called the Viscera “treasures”. They constantly see to preserve and renew the Substances of the organism so as not only to maintain an environment conducive to physical life, but also to preserve the basis necessary for the expression of psychic life.

The role of the Organs is defined through several grids:

• that of Yin Yang defines couples with opposite and complementary functions;
• that of the Five Elements highlights five spheres in relation to one another according to the Cycles of generation and control;
• The Meridian Theory also groups the Organs into pairs according to their location (above and below the diaphragm), according to their functions and according to a certain complementarity in their ability to promote our adaptation to the environment.

The Kidney-Heart couple or the complementarity of Water and Fire

The physical and psychological activity of our organism is based on a material foundation. The quality of this foundation depends above all on the innate and acquired Essences which constitute one of the Three Treasures of life. The Essences allow the establishment and the growth of all the structures of the body. In turn, these structures (viscera, tissues, sense organs, etc.) are nourished and moistened with Blood and Body Fluids. Essences, Blood and Organic Liquids therefore maintain the material basis of the individual, which the Yin Yang Theory associates with the Yin of the organism.

In Chinese physiology, it is the couple formed by the Heart (Xin) and the Kidneys (Shèn) which manages the circulation and the conservation of Blood, Organic Liquids and Essences.

Xin, which designates both the psychic heart and the cardiovascular system, embodies the dynamic pole of the couple, since the Heart distributes, through the pulsating circuit of the vessels, the Blood necessary to maintain life. This contribution of Blood allows, among other things, to support the activity of the Consciousness or the Spirit. The Chinese tradition associates with the image of Fire (dynamic element or Yang) the circulatory aspect and the psychic aspect sometimes called respectively Fire Minister and Fire Emperor.

Shèn, very clumsily translated by the term Kidneys, constitutes the conservative pole of the couple, since its function is to ensure the storage and the conservation of the acquired Essences which circulate in the Blood. To achieve this, the Kidneys also make use of the Marrow, the bones and the Brain. The Kidneys, because of their conservative aspect, are symbolically associated with Water which has great stability and “passive” dynamism, or Yin.

The Kidneys are also attributed the function of providing, thanks to the control of the Essences, the material framework necessary for the growth of the organism (bones, hair, teeth, etc.) and for the entry into action of the sexual functions at the time of the puberty.

Finally, the Kidneys are the Organ that feeds vitality at its source by maintaining and nourishing MingMen. It is from MingMen – an entity located between the two Kidneys, seat of the original Qi, and that the Taoists call the “Door of Destiny” – that everything begins and begins again inexorably.

The Kidneys-Heart couple acts according to high-low and Fire-Water polarizations, in a complementarity dear to Yin Yang:

• The Kidneys, very close to the spine, are at the bottom, below the diaphragm in the abdomen. They manage the Water, the Yin of the organism.
• The Heart is at the top, above the diaphragm, in the center of the thorax. With MingMen, he manages the Fire, the Yang of the organism.

Life arises from the constant exchange between Fire and Water, between Heart and Kidneys. Even if their natural tendency is the opposite, “the fire must go down and the water must go up”. This classic formula emphasizes the essential mutual assistance of the Kidney-Heart couple.

The Spleen / Pancreas-Lung pair or the renewal of the acquired skills

The body’s assimilation of Qi from Air and Food

falls under the Spleen / Pancreas (Pi) and Lung (Fei) couple.

• Even if the transformation of Food depends first of all on the work of the Bowels (Stomach, Intestines, etc.), the Spleen / Pancreas is at the heart of the digestive system and ensures its efficiency. Throughout the digestion process, useful components for the organism, coming from Food, are recovered and taken care of by the Spleen / Pancreas which makes them rise towards the Lung allowing the synthesis of complex Energy (ZongQi). This ZongQi can then take the form of Blood by concentrating and being pulsed rhythmically in the vessels. It can be said that the Spleen / Pancreas provides nutrients to the Blood.
• The Lung is responsible for respiration, that is to say, to absorb the Qi from the Air. In addition, it combines Air Qi with Food Qi to synthesize the essential ZongQi. This makes him the master of Qi. Finally, given the vulnerability of the Lung, the only organ directly “open to the outside”, TCM attributes to it an important role in the distribution of defensive energy to the surface of the body (skin and openings such as the nose and throat). .

Here again, Chinese physiology favors the Yin Yang polarity:

• The Spleen / Pancreas is located below the diaphragm, in the abdomen, in the Mid Warmer (see Triple Warmer below). Assuming a central place, it has a nourishing function, that is to say to renew the Yin of the organism by the transformation of food.
• The Lung is located above the diaphragm, in the Upper Heater. It is responsible for the assimilation of Air Qi, an essentially dynamic Qi, on which the Yang of the organism depends.

While the Kidney-Heart couple make up an inward-oriented circulation and reserve circuit – which preserves the innate – the Spleen / Pancreas and the Lung are associated in a circuit strongly linked to the external environment – which allows the renewal of the acquis.

The liver-envelope couple of the heart, or the regulation and circulation of the blood

It is the Heart Envelope (XinBao) which, along with the blood vessels, is responsible for the general circulation of the Blood to the periphery of the body, where it undergoes various transformations. A part of the acquired Essences that it contains make it possible to nourish the bone marrow (Sui), which itself generates a “pure” form of Blood which re-enters the circuit.

The Liver (Gan), for its part, regulates the flow of Blood as needed. When it stores the Blood, mainly when we are at rest, its visceral activity allows the production of Bile, a densified form of Essence (called Middle Essence) which will act on the digestive process. When the physical activity becomes more intense and the muscles are solicited, the Liver releases the Blood which, taken in charge by the Heart Envelope, returns to nourish the organism.

The Liver and the Envelope of the Heart form a powerful dynamic couple for recirculation and distribution of Blood.

Organs and Meridians

The circulation of Substances within each of the three pairs is ensured by a large Meridian:

• the Meridian ShaoYin (the young Yin) connects the spheres of the Heart and the Kidneys;
• the TaiYin Meridian (Supreme Yin) connects the spheres of the Lung and Spleen / Pancreas;
• the Meridian JueYin (the end of Yin) connects the spheres of the Liver and the Envelope of the Heart.

Unlike the Organs which are distributed above and below the diaphragm, the Bowels are all located in the abdomen and their functions are associated with the digestive system or what is more poetically called the settling of the impure.

The Fu, these “hollow” viscera, are places of transit, conducive to activating the processes of transformation. The entrails do not normally have the function of preserving substances like organs. This characteristic will make Chinese doctors hesitate for a long time, who will experience some difficulty in classifying the Gallbladder which temporarily stores Bile in order to concentrate it.

All the Entrails are involved in digestion at one phase or another, to receive Food, prepare it, transform it, recover the Qi and the Organic Liquids, facilitate their transit and, finally, eliminate the residues of transformation.

From the stomach to the intestines

• The Stomach is considered to be the leader in the chain of command which allows the management of Food. It is responsible for the downward movement that accompanies their settling.
• The Gall Bladder, by injecting the Bile, acts as the Fire Minister (see above), stimulates the work of the Intestines and facilitates the intestinal transit.
• The small intestine (XiaoChang) plays a decisive role in sorting out the pure. It sends the pure to the Spleen / Pancreas, and the solid and liquid residues to the Large Intestine and the Bladder.
• The Triple Heater (see below) envelops all the Organs and Bowels by facilitating the circulation of Qi and organic liquids.

The Entrails and the Meridians

Again, the Entrails are associated in pairs, this time in three major Yang axes:

• The Stomach and the Large Intestine, closely related to the digestive tract, constitute the visceral part of what is called the luminous Yang (YangMing).
• The Small Intestine and Bladder, which play a key role in fluid management, are associated with the Supreme Yang Axis (TaiYang).
• Finally, the Gallbladder and the Triple Heater, which stimulate the activity of the Bowels, one by the Bile, the other by the distribution of the original Energy (Yuan Qi), are associated with the axis of the young Yang. (ShaoYang).

Let us mention that the Theory of the five Elements twins each of the Bowels with an Organ: the Stomach with the Spleen / Pancreas, the Small Intestine with the Heart, the Large Intestine with the Lung, the Gallbladder with the Liver and the Bladder with the Kidneys. The Meridian Theory uses these same couples, also associating the Heart Envelope and the Triple Heater.

The case of the Triple Heater (SanJiao)

The Triple Heater (or Three Hearths) is described, from the oldest classical texts, as the specific entity which promotes the circulation of the vital energy or original energy (Yuan Qi). This Energy supports the action of the different viscera which allow the decantation of the pure and the impure:

• Air and Food enter the body, received respectively by the Lung at the Upper Warmer and by the Spleen / Pancreas and Stomach at the Middle Warmer;
• following the settling which takes place there, the pure rises, to go and nourish the whole organism;
• while the (impure) residues descend to the Lower Heater (Intestines, Bladder) to be evacuated.

“The Upper Heater receives, the Middle Heater transforms and the Lower Heater eliminates” conclude the classics. Since food processing and nutrient circulation occurs mostly in liquid form, the Triple Heater is also known as the Liquid Way.

The anatomical shape of the Triple Warmer has generated, and still does, some controversy. Ancient Chinese physicians hypothesized that the Triple Warmer could be made of visceral membranes and envelopes. But Japanese, then European researchers, struggling with the development of modern medical knowledge, suggested other varied and contradictory hypotheses: it would correspond to the autonomic nervous system (parasympathetic), to the regulatory functions of the hormonal system or to the exchange network. lymphatic system.

Neither of these hypotheses has reached a consensus today among the international community of TCM clinicians, and there may still be divergent schools of thought for a long time to come. This is because of the concept’s limited usefulness in clinical practice where the therapist directly stimulates the functions of the viscera without having to go through the superstructure of the Triple Warmer. However, in the diagnosis as in the therapeutic indications, one could speak of “obstruction of a Heater” or of “releasing the Triple Heater or the Lower Heater”, for example. This representation is particularly useful when we observe symptoms which concern a region where several viscera are involved, in particular obstruction phenomena such as fluid retention, edemas, urination disorders or accumulations of food in the intestines.

The “curious” entrails

Chinese medicine has created an additional category of so-called “curious” or “peculiar behavior” entrails, which do not meet the ordinary characteristics of the entrails. We sometimes find there the Gall Bladder, which we spoke about previously, but especially the bones, the Marrow and the Brain which help the Kidneys in their functions to manage the Essences, to support the growth and the development, and to support the activity. of Spirits through Sensory Openings.

It also includes the uterus and the male sexual organs which, as far as reproduction is concerned, are obviously the essential partners of the kidneys. Finally, the blood vessels, as containers, are also considered curious entrails.