Chat#1~Chat#10

Chat #1

Four Main Categories for the Origin of Cancer

Emotions and Internal Injury, A Leading Cause

Unlike Western medicine which focuses on the microscopic view to seek out the cause of cancer on the cellular and molecular level, Chinese medicine takes a broad perspective using biology and philosophy to advance the search for treatment and cure. In many localities throughout the world, academic lectures expressing this point of view have generated widespread interest.

From the point of view of Chinese medicine, triggering the occurrence of cancer is related to four main factors; emotions, food and beverages, environmental and lifestyle habits. Below we will begin our discussion with the emotional factor.

Within the lifetime of a human being, there will be the influence of seven emotions. They are divided into: happiness, anger, anxiety, anxious thought, grief, fear and fright. Chinese medicine refers to them as the seven emotions. These emotional changes are normal, however if any one of them occurs in excess, then it can lead to illness. What kind of illness?

In order to fully understand the principle of seven emotions, how they lead to illness and how they are related to cancer, I will first introduce some essential information on Chinese theories of medicine.

The basis of theories on Western medicine is built on the foundation of a modern and experimental science which looks at the human body and illness through the microscope on the cellular and molecular level. The basis of Chinese theories of medicine is built on the foundation of ancient Chinese philosophy and on natural science. Illness in the human body most certainly comes from looking at the entire entity of the human body. Because of this, if we say that Chinese medicine theories are centered on yin-yang and the Five Elements as the core, clearly that is a true fact, nevertheless, many people will feel it is obscure and out of range. For the average person these are theories which are hard to comprehend. This is especially true for the Western scholar.

Actually, yin-yang and the Five Elements Theories are really not that mysterious, moreover they have a very transparent and easy-to-understand side to them. We know that the sun rises in the morning, daylight spreads over the earth bringing daylight. The moon rises in the evening and night covers the earth bringing darkness. In this way, repeated cycles occur with constant rebirth in the natural world. Humans are one of the nature’s creatures, and change occurs according to the laws of the natural world. The physical stamina of man follows the rise of the morning sun. While there is sunlight there is movement, thereby supplying the needs of daytime work. Evening follows the setting sun and with the rise of the moon, there is quiet, thereby causing the spirit to renew and recharge itself. We take the sun and call this aspect ‘yang’, take the moon and call that aspect ‘yin’. Therefore the yin-yang theory is actually used to elucidate the learning of the laws of movement and change in the natural world and the human body. A concrete example using the yin-yang theory is that eating restorative medicine should be eaten in the morning. The ideal time is when the sun is just rising, is based on this reasoning: ‘In early morning, restorative power enters'. On the contrary, after people have been active throughout a day of activities, during the evening there is a pile up of waste materials, and it is necessary to rest peacefully to ‘breathe out the stale air’. At this time we can see that the introduction of a restorative will influence the expulsion of toxins, even so far as to: ‘Close the door and detain the bandits’. Therefore purging toxins should be done in the evening. Later, I will address this problem in greater detail.

We now move from yin-yang to talk about the Five Elements which are the five kinds of matter: wood, fire, earth, metal and water. They constitute all the matter in the natural world.

Examples from ordinary life include: the study desk which is made of wood, coal fumes which come from fire, the earth beneath our feet which is made up of soil, electricity which is conducted through metal, running water comes from multiple water sources. Taking examples from the human body, wood has elastic tenacity, like the tendons of the body, therefore the tendons are categorized as wood. Fire’s nature is the sudden movement, like blood racing through the vessels, therefore blood circulation is categorized as fire. Earth’s nature deeply nurtures all things, like the body’s muscles, therefore muscles are categorized as earth. Metal's nature is an indomitable defense against attack, like the skin of the body which is its protective mechanism, therefore skin is categorized as metal. Water's nature is concealment like the skeleton residing deep within the body, therefore bones are categorized as water.

The arrangement of the five elements takes all matter and organizes it into these five groups. For example, the nature of wood is to initiate like the function of the liver, so the liver is categorized as wood. The nature of fire is movementlike the function of the heart, so the heart is categorized as fire. The nature of earth is to produce change like the function of the spleen, so spleen is categorized as earth. The nature of metal is to collect like the function of the lungs so the lungs are categorized as metal. The nature of water is to conceal, like the function of the kidneys so they are categorized as water. More detailed arrangements include the five organs: the liver is categorized as wood and the eye is subsumed under the liver. The heart is categorized as fire and the tongue is subsumed under the heart. The spleen is categorized as earth and the lips and mouth are subsumed under the spleen. The lungs are categorized as metal and the nose is subsumed under the lungs. The kidneys are categorized as water and the ears are subsumed under the kidneys, etc.

Therefore, the Five Elements theory is a body of knowledge which classifies all things, moreover establishes relationships between them accordingly. Utilizing yin-yang and Five Elements theories, one can take the laws of nature, and apply them effectively to the human body in order to clarify its health structure and prevent and cure illness. It is quite extraordinary that this theory began to develop over three thousand years ago and at that time there was almost no skilled dissection. Knowledge of the human body was most certainly limited and yet physicians in ancient China showed remarkable talent in applying philosophical theories to medicine creating an ongoing medical science which continues today. This truly is one of mankind’s most uncanny accomplishments in the history of knowledge, and should make all the descendants of the earliest rulers of China, Emperor Yan and the Yellow Emperor, feel full of pride in announcing this startling achievement to the world.

Having taken the initial step in understanding the theory above, let’s now return to the theory of seven emotions. We already know that Chinese medicine divides all things into five categories and the seven emotions seven emotions have been condensed into five: happiness, anger, anxious thoughts, grief and fearful fright. We can take these five emotions [referred to in Chinese medicine jargon as the Five Minds], and categorize them into a series. Wood has an ascending disposition like anger, therefore wood is categorized with the liver so angry emotions belong to the liver. Fire has an active disposition, like happiness therefore, fire is categorized with the heart and so feelings of happiness belong to the heart. The earth has a deep disposition, like anxious thoughts and so the earth is categorized with the spleen, therefore anxious thoughts belong to the spleen. Metal has a cold disposition like sorrow and metal is categorized with the lungs so sorrowful feelings belong to the lungs. Water has a flowing disposition, so  a startling fright someone receives may icause incontinence of the bladder and bowel. Water is categorized with the kidneys and so feelings of startling fright belong to the kidneys.

From this we can see that a colossal discovery was made by Chinese medicine which has had an enormous impact on mankind. We know that modern psychology considers that the cortex of the brain regulates emotions, however little attention is paid to the fact that every emotion produces influence in a corresponding internal organ. Chinese medicine, on the other hand, not only believes that the seven emotions can cause internal injury to the five organs, but even more astounding is the belief that the theory of emotions can be used to prevent illness. For example, anger is categorized with the liver, and excessive anger can injure the liver. Controlling angry emotions can avoid injury to the liver and can be regulated by foods entering the liver. Chinese medicine can also act as a preventive from injuring the liver.

Dear Reader, if you’d like to know the concrete influence of emotions on the human body and its relationship to cancer, then please read the analysis in the next chapter.

Chat #2

Anger, Anxiety, Thought and Grief Can Cause Cancer

In the previous chapter, we discussed the fact that throughout a person’s lifetime, they will be influenced by what Chinese medicine calls the seven emotions categorized as happiness, anger, anxiety, thought, grief, fear and fright. The seven emotions are regrouped with the five elements as happiness, anger, anxious thoughts, grief and fearful fright. These emotions then correspond to the five organs: heart, liver, spleen, lungs and kidneys.

Under ordinary circumstances, moderate changes in emotions should not create a negative impact, and can even provide a definitive protective function. However, excessive changes in emotions can be injurious to the body. An accumulation of these changes on a daily basis can potentially trigger a malignant change. We will consider each emotion separately.

       Happiness nourishes the heart or happiness injures the heart.

Happiness comes from joyfulness and people naturally maintain a joyful disposition. Good feelings are maintained in the heart because happiness enters there. From a clinical perspective, in people who are ordinarily happy, the function of the heart blood vessels often remain in good condition, even among those who are advanced in age. The function of their heart blood vessels is clearly much better than those who don’t have a cheerful disposition, and these cheerful types often live to a ripe old age. On the contrary, in people who are regularly unhappy, the function of the blood vessels in their heart is often not optimum, moreover they frequently live a short life. Therefore the Chinese idiom says: “Laugh a bit, ten years younger. Pout a bit and hair turns whiter.”

       However, in the case of wild exuberance, the heart can suddenly suffer damage, referred to in Chinese medicine as ‘over exuberance hurts the heart.’ For example, During the Qing Dynasty, there was a man named Fanjin. From the time he was young, every year he would compete in the civil examinations, but every time he failed to pass. Around the age of fifty, he finally passed. When the local authorities sent someone to beat the gong and hit the drums to bring him the happy news, he unexpectedly became over exuberant and then crazed and blank he mumbled to himself: ‘I made it, I made it!’ His family members were terribly worried and asked famous doctors throughout the area to cure him but all to no avail. Someone came up with the idea that they should find the person Fanjin was most afraid of, to startle him back to his senses. That person was the meat seller, with the nickname Butcher Hu. Butcher Hu found Fanjin and blurted out: ‘Fanjin, you hit the target!’ Then, he approached Fanjin and slapped him across the face. At first Fanjin’s entire body trembled as he endured the slaps, he stumbled backward losing balance, and then suddenly his consciousness cleared.

Dear Readers, can you see the principle of Chinese medicine in the Fanjin example? In Chapter One, we touched on the fact that in the Five Elements theory of Chinese medicine, the liver belongs to wood, the heart belongs to fire, the spleen belongs to the earth, the lungs belong to metal and the kidneys belongs to water. When discussing the Five Elements we often follow the sequence: wood, fire, earth, metal and water. The five organs of the human body follow the sequence of liver, heart, spleen, lungs and kidneys. These are not arranged arbitrarily, moreover they have their own principle. What principle is this? If you think about it, wood is combustible and can produce fire, fire can cook through the agricultural products of the earth. The inside of the earth can nourish metals which can be made into tools. These tools can be used to draw water from a well for people to drink. The moisture of water is also a necessary condition for the growth and development of wood. This kind of relationship in Chinese medicine is called engendering, that is to say, they rely on each other as necessary conditions for growth and development. In the story of Fanjin’s response when passing the civil service examination, the heart controlled the emotion of happiness, the liver controlled the emotion of anger. When the heart’s function is met with obstruction, it strengthens the liver’s emotion of anger and dilutes happiness which has injured the heart. This reaches the goal of ‘Encircling the state of Wei to save the state of Zhao’. In other words, taking this one kind of emotion to cure another kind of emotion, which in Chinese medicine is called ‘Use emotion to cure emotion.’ This is another unique aspect of Chinese medicinal science.

       Fear Can Injure the Kidneys

Alarm and fear can injure the function of the kidneys in the human body. Everyone has probably seen the movie plot of an emperor disguising himself as an ordinary person ‘making a tour while traveling incognito’, and encountering a place where bribes are being taken and the laws are being twisted to one’s own advantage. The emperor flies into a rage, but since the low level officials don’t know that the newcomer is the great emperor, they look on angrily with cold indifference. As soon as the emperor reveals his identity, the low level official is suddenly scared to the point of “fart rolls and urine flows”, that is to say that feces and urine flow out involuntarily. We can also find similar cases, for instance before the sentencing of a criminal they often lose both bowel and urine control. What is the medical principle behind this?

Chinese medicine states that the kidneys control bowel and urine, and also in tune with the ‘two privates,’ front and back. Here ‘control’ means taking charge and the kidneys take charge of the excretion of feces and urine. ‘In tune’ means that whether the kidneys function well or not is in response to the function of the ‘two privates’. The so-called ‘front private’ is the urinary canal and the reproductive organs. The ‘back private’ is the anus and the large intestine. When someone jolted with alarm or fear, the kidney function is suddenly assaulted and there is no way to control feces and urine, leading to the resulting incontinence of both.

When I was in middle school, there was a student in another class who, as class leader, would call the whole class to stand up when the teacher came into the classroom. The students in the back played a trick and moved away the chair of a student in the front. When the class leader called for everyone to sit down, the student in front moved to sit and his buttocks landed down on the ground. Of course, this kind of joke is not uncommon among students, but unexpectedly because of it, that student broke his vertebrae and became paralyzed with loss of continence of bowel and urine. From the perspective of Chinese medicine, this kind of situation can be understood in the following way: because of the sudden jolt, the kidneys were injured, and since the bone suffered injury, the kidneys also suffered injury. Since the kidneys control the two privates, this lead to bowel and urine incontinence. The kidneys regulate bone, and the human skeletal system is under its control. Therefore, the result of bone injury will cause damage to the kidney function. From the perspective of Chinese medicine, the most basic principles of cure for examples like this must be the regulation of kidney function.

We can see from these examples that the emotions of happiness and fear impact the human body. Since these two kinds of emotions often occur suddenly, they seldom have a cumulative effect, ordinarily there is not a big connection between them and cancer. However, the emotions of anger, anxious thought and grief, when they are part of daily life, frequently accumulate easily, and they can repeatedly injure the body resulting in cancer.

Dear Reader, if you’d like to know how the three kinds of emotions of anger, anxious thought and grief injure the body and produce cancer as well as how these emotions can be regulated from within by learning principles of cancer prevention, then please read on to the next installment.

Chat #3

 Anger, Anxiety and Sorrow

Exerting Tension and Pressure Within

In the previous chapter, we introduced how harm is done to the human body arising from happiness and fear among the seven emotions. This chapter’s discussion will emphasize the influence of anger, anxious thought and sorrow on the human body and their involvement as factors for triggering cancer. In talking about them, anger takes first place for its serious degree of injury to the body, followed by anxious thought and lastly sorrow.

Anger: The liver governs anger and anger is therefore under the control of the liver. The emotion of anger has two types of manifestations; one is to fester anger within and the other is to vent it out. In festering anger within, although there is no sound and it is not articulated verbally, a person can bear anger secretly, and sometimes it is difficult to perceive. Expressive anger, throwing a temper, is like an oil drum that is touched by fire and then explodes. Under ordinary circumstances, it is difficult to avoid getting angry and expressing it, and on occasion to a lesser degree these occurrences are really not harmful to the body. If anger is regularly explosive, then it will create a certain degree of injury. As far as cancer is concerned, from my observation, I think that those who bottle up their anger compared to those who express it, are more likely to develop cancer. Perhaps some people may ask why this is the case.

Before explaining the principle of how harboring internal anger leads to cancer, we must look at the special characteristics and functions of the liver. In Chinese medicine, one of the liver’s most important functions is ‘master of cleansing and excretion.’ What does that mean? This means that the liver controls the channeling of both vital force and excretion, in other words, the liver controls the fluidity of the body’s qi. Therefore, the flow of the body’s qi passing freely or not determines how well the liver is functioning. This brings up a very important term that everyone is concerned about; ‘qi’, ‘vital force’. What exactly is it?

Experiment with a friend facing you and stand several steps apart. Between you it is as if there isn’t anything there. However, there is air. Air is one manifestation of qi. We cannot see air, we cannot touch it but we can feel it and we must rely on it in order to survive. This is the so-called mysterious dwelling of ‘qi’.

There are many different kinds of manifestations of qi. In the natural world, it is air. In the human body, there is a source of qi transmitted down from our parents called ‘original qi’ or ‘innate qi’. The air that is inhaled in through the lungs from the natural world and enters the human body is called ‘clear qi’. The qi which is produced from the digestion and absorption of solid and liquid food passes through the stomach and intestines into the so called ‘qi from water and food ’. Regardless of whether or not it is innate qi, clear qi, or qi from water and food , they all circulate around the body, getting rid of what is stale and taking in what is fresh, or through the daily renewal of the metabolism. Protecting the qi of the whole body through regular circulation relies on the liver’s control of its normal purification function. If the liver function is obstructed, it will influence the flow of qi throughout the body.

If the flow of the liver’s qi is impeded, Chinese medicine refers to this condition as ‘Liver qi is Pent Up’. For normal physiological function to take place, the goal of the flow of qi is to transmit blood throughout the entire body. If the qi is pent up, then it forms a mass and the blood flow will reach an impasse leading to an obstructed flow of blood. Unlike qi which is formless, blood is the manifestation of matter, , therefore the obstruction of blood flow will form a blood clot. Day after day, month after month, it can form a tumor, and if it develops into a malignant tumor then it has become cancer.

People have repeatedly asked; ‘You have talked about the emotion of anger and how festering anger for a long period of time can lead to cancer. I would like to know something about explosive anger and what injury it can cause to the human body?’ I am happy to respond to all questions on health and I am hoping that in reading my work or in listening to my lectures, these questions will all be answered. At the time the first edition of A Hundred Chats on Chinese Medicine Fighting Cancer was being published in the Chinese, even more questions came up and the answers will be incorporated in this text.

Before addressing the question on explosive anger and its effect on the human body, it is necessary to develop a deep understanding of some of the other liver functions. Aside from its function as a cleanser, liver is also able to control the storage of blood, that is to say the liver is like a reservoir, taking the blood of the body, transporting it to storage, and when the need arises, supply it to meet the body’s needs. From the perspective of the yin-yang Theory we know that the function is yang and the matter is yin. Therefore, the fire of the liver is yang, the blood of the liver is yin. When the yang fire is abundant, then the yin blood is correspondingly low. At the same time, the fire is like rising water vapor, steaming up the blood, leading to an even greater deficiency of yin blood. The yang fire propels forward motion. The fire power soars up to the brain, slightly increasing the trigger of high blood pressure, causing a significant initiation of an unexpected central wind in the brain blood vessels. The burning fire injures the body’s large and small blood vessels which can then lead to bleeding as in the spitting up blood, coughing up blood and bleeding from the uterus, etc.

In recent times, everyone uses the buzz words; ‘tension’ and ‘pressure,' but what do they actually mean? I believe that tension and pressure can be placed under the category of worry, one of the seven emotions in Chinese medicine.

Dear Reader, if you’d like to know the relationship between anxious thought, tension and pressure and how they are connected to cancer, please read on to the next chapter.

Chat #4

Excessive Amounts of Worry and Apprehension

Qi Knots into Hematoma and Over a Long Period Produces Cancer

In the last chapter we analyzed that among the seven types of human emotions, anger influences the body and is a factor in promoting cancer. We also mentioned that the tension and pressure often spoken of in today’s society is related to worrisome thoughts as identified by Chinese medicine’s theory of emotions. There is a connection between these emotions and the formation of cancer.

Worrisome thoughts damage the spleen.

Let’s start by defining the term worrisome thoughts. Worrisome thoughts include both worry and apprehension, two kinds of emotions. Worry is anxiety and apprehension is thinking to the point of anxietyThe characteristics of worry and apprehension are very close, therefore the Five Element Theory combines them into one emotion that characterizes the spleen. Throughout human life, it is difficult to avoid the occurrence of the emotions of worry and apprehension. Facing many challenges including an economic downturn, the threat of war, a high degree of pressure and competition at work, unemployment, the break-up of a relationship, physical separation from close family, or an endless pile of bills, it is extremely difficult to avoid the onset of worry and apprehension. However these kinds of emotions are normal, and for the most part should not trigger illness.

How is it then that they trigger illness leading to cancer? It is due to excessive worry and excessive apprehension which then become a factor leading to illness. These excessive emotions belong to the spleen and over time will damage it. When the spleen is damaged, what changes occur in the body?

From the perspective of Chinese medicine, the understanding the function of the many organs of the body is markedly different from Western medicine. Take the spleen for example, Western medicine considers the spleen to be chiefly an apparatus for creating blood, belonging to the reticuloendothelial system. Chinese medicine also considers the spleen to be the apparatus which creates blood, the so-called ‘spleen produces blood’ theory , but this only accounts for twenty percent of its function. Chinese medicine considers eighty percent of the spleen’s chief function to be digestion and absorption, containing all of the functions of the gastrointestinal system.

There is an amusing anecdote about someone with no knowledge of Chinese medicine talking to a scholar of Chinese medicine. He asked: "You Chinese doctors think the spleen is very important as the ‘postnatal root’. Now, if a person is in a car accident and the spleen is hit and smashed, or the spleen swells large and is surgically removed, you have lost your ‘postnatal root’, and then how can that person survive? From this, claimed the speaker, I can see that the theories of Chinese medicine are fundamentally and seriously flawed."

Does everyone know what the punch line is?

Chinese medicine certainly does recognize the kidneys as the innate root of the body. From birth and through development, the body relies on essential qi from its parents. This is similar to what is now called inherited genes. The spleen is the body’s postnatal root, which is to say it is the essential components from solid and liquid food pass through the spleen in order to be digested and absorbed. Not until each and every organ in the body has been nourished are the activities of life able to be sustained. Therefore, removal of the spleen only influences twenty percent of its blood producing function. The eighty percent of its function of digestion and absorption is still being done by the stomach and intestines so the body can still process solids and liquids in order to obtain its necessary nutritional components.

Let’s pose this question: if the stomach and intestines were completely removed, then accordingly eighty percent spleen’s function has ended. Can a person still continue to live? As you can see, some people are quick to make a critical comment without commanding a true understanding.

Now, back to the spleenAccording to the theories explained above, we know that once the spleen has been influenced by the emotion of worry then two kinds of pathological changes can occur: Both in its blood producing function, and in its digestion and absorption function.

On the clinical side, if the spleen’s blood producing function is obstructed, then the heart will have insufficient blood. That insufficiency can lead to symptoms of insomnia and multiple dreams.

If the spleen’s digestive and absorption functions are obstructed, then the body’s chemical and biological processing of solids and liquids cannot be completed, nor can it efficiently excrete. This leads to a build-up of fluids and undigested food inside the body. Chinese medicine refers to this as 'in humidity and turbidity there is hindrance’. This can produce stomach and intestinal swelling and fullness to the point of pain, nausea to the point of vomiting, and formless stool or diarrhea.

If these fluids and food waste cannot be excreted for a long period of time, this can trigger a blockage in the flow of the body’s qi. If the qi does not flow, then this can trigger a hematoma and over time this can form a tumor.

Let’s return to the issue of tension and pressure. When tension and pressure occur in our lives, this can set off changes in our emotions, whether it be worry or apprehension. These emotions can then trigger changes in the function of the spleen.

Dear Reader, if you’d like to know the details concerning tension and pressure, and how they give rise to obstruction of the spleen’s function as well as their relationship to cancer, then please read on to the next installment.

Chat #5

Tension and Pressure, One of the Ills of Civilization

Sadness Injures the Lungs, a Latent Cause of Cancer

In our last chat, we discussed how worry can injure the spleen and trigger the onset of pathological changes as well as other connections to cancer. In this chapter, we will discuss the influence of tension and pressure on the body, moreover how the emotion of sorrow triggers health problems and other connections to cancer.

In today’s society, we often hear people complain: ‘ Too much worry, too much pressure.” Without realizing it, tension and pressure have already become one of the ills of modern civilization.

It turns out that in the early part of the twentieth century, a distinguished Hungarian scholar, Dr. Francis Volagesi had once predicted: “We need to change the condition of our lives, otherwise the next century will be a period of nervous tension.”

As expected, the situation has turned out like this. Today’s society has already been called “The Aspirin Age”, the age of tension and anxiety.

       Washington University Hospital’s psychologist Dr. Tang Masi, Dr. He Musi along with Dr. Li Cha and Dr. La He, gave 394 people of varying ages and social backgrounds, male and female, a test to rate the stress levels of 43 events that occur in daily life, rating the highest pressure at 100.

The results showed the loss of a spouse at 100 as the highest stress level, the second was divorce with a rating of 73, the third was separation of husband and wife at 65, incarceration at 63, the death of a close relative also at 63, one’s own suffering of serious injury or illness at 53, being fired from a job at 47, being in a condition of bewilderment at 39, going through re-adjustment at work at 39, and financial changes at 38, etc.

It is not hard to see that events in life generate reasons for tension and pressure. Analyzing one step further, we can see that after pressure is produced, people’s emotions are unavoidably influenced. At first, it is a feeling of sadness and worry but afterwards these emotions are unstoppable leading to a blockage of the spleen’s function.

The manifestation of a spleen with blocked function was already introduced in the previous chapter. It results in the insufficient production of blood as well as poor digestion and absorption, triggering the build-up of water and food waste. Going one step further, it triggers the obstruction of the flow of qi in the body, the clogging of blood which accumulates over time and can result in the formation of a tumor.

From this discussion we have seen how anger and sadness in addition to tension and pressure can influence the body and can promote the production of cancer.

      Now we’ll analyze grieving emotions and how they also negatively influence the human body and present the opportunity for cancer.

Sorrow and the lungs: Sorrow is categorized as the emotion of the lungs. A slight degree of sorrow, for a short duration, won’t create serious damage once it passes. Excessive and deep sorrow, especially of a cumulative nature will produce damage to the human body.

Since the lungs are in charge of the emotion of sorrow, therefore when sorrow is excessive, the lungs are the first to be damaged. In that case, when the lungs are injured, what is the physical manifestation? We will first consider the function of the lungs. Chinese medicine considers the chief function of the lungs to be the ‘master of qi.’

The qi we are talking about here has two concepts. The first is that the lungs control inhalation and exhalation of qi, that is to say, absorption of the air from nature and expelling the body’s wasted qi. This is the so-called metabolic process of ‘exhale carbon dioxide, inhale fresh oxygen.’ On this point there is a similarity to Western medicine.

The second is that the lungs control the qi of the entire body, that is to say, the lungs inhale fresh air and provide oxygen to every organ in the body and nourish all body functions so that activities can be maintained at an optimum level, brimming with energy and strength.

When the lungs are injured by the emotion of sadness, changes will be manifested through both the inhalation and exhalation of qi, and the qi of the entire body.

For example, if a person is so sad they are crying non-stop, they will oftentimes breathe faster. We often say of a child’s crying; ‘the upper qi doesn’t connect to the lower qi.’ This is because sadness has injured the lungs and when the qi of the lungs are in this condition they need more air to compensate for the loss. An increase in breathing speed occurs and the process of absorbing qi is affected.

Oftentimes, when someone grieves too deeply and for too long a period of time, their whole body becomes as soft as a strand of noodle. People around them cannot pull them out of it. This is due to the fact that the qi of the whole body, due to injury of the lungs, has been weakened.

Looking from the clinical side, the chief symptom of sorrow in the lungs is shortness of breath, coughing with or without mucous, whole body fatigue, skin that is sensitive to cold and susceptibility to colds. Chinese medicine refers to this as ‘Weakened lung qi.’ Over a period of time, this weakened lung qi can result in a lack of strength to push the metabolism and results in the buildup of waste inside the body. This kind of waste buildup is referred to in Chinese medicine as ‘stubborn mucous forms internal knots.’ When this occurs for a long period of time, it obstructs passage, leading to stagnant qi and with the onset of mucous blocking qi, this blockage of blood over time can result in the formation of a tumor.

Discussion of how emotions have an extraordinary influence on the human body and the reasons that they can lead to cancer are summarized in an editorial written by the renowned journalist, Mr. Ge in Xingdao Ribao: “Recently, Dr. Ma Zhongxue sponsored the World Conference on Oncology and Chinese medicine, demonstrating the pragmatic ways Chinese medicine can be used effectively to help find a cure for cancer. Moreover, he also strongly emphasized the impact that the spiritual attitudes can have in leading to a cure for cancer. Sometimes spiritual attitudes can initiate a definitive function.”

Dear Reader, please read on to the analysis in the next chapter for more information.

Chat #6

Illness Enters from the Mouth

Blame Falls on Unrestrained Eating and Drinking

Partiality and Indulgence Foments the Beginning of Illness

 In this chapter, we will take a deeper look at eating and drinking and their connection to cancer as seen from the perspective of Chinese medicine.

Before discussing the food and drink factor, I’d first like to respond to an enthusiastic reader’s feedback. This reader was a Western medical doctor from San Francisco. He said he was very happy to read a work like ‘A Hundred Chats on Chinese Medicine’s Fight Against Cancer’ which not only makes it easy for the layman to understand explanations plainly and clearly, but also provides an ease of understanding for those who have expertise in Western medicine and no understanding Chinese medicine. He went on to say that as far as content goes, the book would benefit by going one step further in addressing the needs of diverse readers.

I am very grateful to this cordial reader’s opinion, and I will make every effort to address the needs of all readers. I will also facilitate mutual communication between readers if they so desire.

       Getting back to the main topic, it is said the food and drink are an influence in the formation of cancer, based primarily on four aspects: indulgent drinking and eating, partial fondness for certain drinks or foods, food and drink impurities, and food and drink habits. Among these, food and drink habits will be addressed later, and our focus now will be on unrestrained eating and drinking, partiality to certain foods and drinks and lastly, impurities in food and drink.

       What exactly does unrestrained drinking and eating mean? Unrestrained means an out of control and undisciplined lifestyle of eating and drinking. Speaking concretely, unrestrained eating and drinking includes the excesses of starvation and overeating and other aspects etc.

Firstly, let’s discuss excessive starvation. Living in a state of continual hunger is referred to as excessive starvation. As far as the young generation is concerned, this is may seem distant and unfamiliar. However, in many parts of the world, there are many countries and regions where there is still poverty and the shadows of war. People in these places certainly know about the heartbreak of ‘excessive starvation.’ In addition, don’t forget our parents, grandfathers and grandmothers, and all the generations before us, perhaps they at one time were affected by hunger. Therefore, the older generation of today who are going through the pain of cancer may be better at understanding the suffering and pain of those who have endured hunger.

The result of excessive starvation naturally leads to flawed nutrition. When the cells of the human body are experiencing a condition of long term flawed nutrition, malignant changes can occur. Speaking from the perspective of Chinese medicine, excessive starvation leads to obstruction of the functions of the spleen and stomach. When this occurs, water and food in the body have no way to make the metaplastic changes necessary for essential nutrition. Water and food waste that collects and blocks over a long period of time and can lead to the obstruction of both qi and blood. Going one step further, they can amass into clumps, to the extent of evidencing malignant change.

With regard to overeating, this is the regular occurrence of eating to an excess. The result of starvation is flawed nutrition, the result of overeating is surplus nutrition. Today’s quality of life is increasingly improving, with diverse food products and widespread availability. The quality of food products is rising making it possible to fulfill the eating desires of the general population excited by new products. Yet hand in hand with this new availability comes the problem of surplus nutrition. In order to help everyone understand better the influence of surplus nutrition on the formation of cancer, I will first demonstrate with a well-known problem, the problem of obesity.

Obesity is the result of accumulation of fat in the body. Chinese medicine considers that ‘Fat people have too much mucous and dampness, thin people have too much false  fire.’ Why is it that fat people have an excess of mucous and dampness? This is due to people ingesting too much nutritional matter. In the normal course of events, food and beverages pass through the spleen and stomach as they are processed for digestion and absorption. However, excess nutritional matter leads to an overload which is too great for the spleen and stomach, obstructing their functions. When the spleen and stomach obstruction occurs, the nutritional matter has no way to be digested and absorbed and it then piles up inside the body. What is the color of fat? Of course, it seems to be white. When we spit up mucous, what color is it? For the most part it also appears white. Whether it is fat or mucous, they both seem to be dripping wet, therefore Chinese medicine refers to this odd buildup of fat tissue as ‘mucous dampness.’ Therefore, unlike others, the method used in Chinese medicine for the reduction of fat is fascinating.. Since there is a blockage of the spleen and stomach functions, Chinese medicine uses a method of regulating and repairing the spleen and stomach. Since there is a buildup of mucous dampness, Chinese medicine uses a method to convert the mucous and get rid of the dampness. Combining them together, the basic principle for curing obesity is ‘strenghtening the Spleen to dispensing the dampness’  If a one-sided ‘purge’ method is emphasized, the resulting diarrhea will damage the spleen and stomach even more. Not only will it be difficult to achieve the goal of reducing fat,  it might alsocreate an opposite effect, with a greatly reduced appetite resulting in emaciation.

Several years ago, there was a newspaper story about a former dazzling beauty who had been an Australian female star, and because she has so severely reduced her fat level, she became thin as a bone, like kindling wood. Subsequently, an American female star who dramatically reduced fat percentage faced a similar outcome. If they had been my patients, I would first nurse back to health the functions of spleen and stomach, revive their womanly physique, and at the same time still repress the recurrence of a pile-up of mucous dampness in order to avoid the return of an overweight occurrence.

Dear Reader, if you’d like to know the mechanism that triggers obesity and reflect on some of the principles of drinking and eating factors that lead to cancer, then please read on to the analysis in the next chapter.

Chat #7

Going Hungry and Eating Too Much Injures Spleen and Stomach

Essential Principles of Color and Flavor

in Food and Beverage

In the previous chapter, we used obesity and its influence on the mechanisms of the body as an example of the dangers of overeating and how it can injure the body and become an influential factor in the formation of cancer.

Before beginning our discussion, I’d like to respond to a question from an enthusiastic reader, Mr. Yang from the city of Oakland.

Question: In Chapter 6, you said that the basic reason for obesity is ‘the spleen is asthenic and mucous is damp,’ and that the basic principle for the reduction of fat is ‘healthy spleen converts the mucous.’ I, however, have a robust appetite and I don’t have inappropriate symptoms of any kind. Of course, as far as weight goes, I am too heavy. May I ask if it is appropriate for me to use ‘healthy spleen, convert the mucous’ method to control my weight?

Response: The functions of the spleen and stomach have some differences. The stomach controls receiving, and produces feelings of hunger and the need to take in food. The spleen controls the disintegration process, that is taking the food items received by the stomach and carrying out the process of digestion and absorption. Because of this, in your situation there is a healthy stomach function, but the spleen’s digestion and absorption functions are obstructed. Therefore ‘healthy spleen, convert the mucous,’ is an appropriate method for controlling overweight.

Now returning to the main topic, there is a Chinese proverb which says: ‘If you want small children to be healthy, three parts hunger and cold.’ ‘Three parts hunger’ is a way of saying don’t allow small children to eat until they are too full and in that way the stomach functions won’t reach the burden of excess, and the spleen function can reach full sufficiency.

Chinese people have another saying: ‘At the evening meal eat only to eighty percent full.’ This points to adults, especially middle aged people, who shouldn’t eat until they are too full. Clinical observation reveals that relapses of coronary heart disease patients often occur after eating a full meal, especially late at night.

Let’s look once more deeper at  hunger and overeating. Excessive hunger and overeating is not a routine occurrence for many people, however missing a meal, eating a meal until full or, eating three meals at random times is probably common experiences for many people these days. If we combine our knowledge of the spleen and stomach functions from the discussion above, it is not difficult to see that in terms of the spleen and stomach, sudden hunger or sudden fullness without any consistent regularity will certainly incur damage.

Recently, the theory of ‘biological clock’ has emerged. In general, this means that activities of man and nature occur with regularity, the same as a clock, revolving with sequence and continuous order. When this kind of revolving and sequenced regularity is broken, the clock will be out of order, nature will lose its stability, and the human body will be prone to disease.

My introduction to yin-yang and the Five Elements Theories in chapter one speaks of the intimate relationship between human beings and nature, how the activities of the human body and the activities of nature are regulated and maintained as a unit. It is not surprising to discover that the concept of the biological clock and the theory of yin-yang and Five Elements Theory in Chinese medicine are quite consistent and philosophically in accord. In the Bay Area which leads the world trends in computers and high technology, we examine many computer engineers who, for the sake of their work and scientific research, discard sleep, forget to eat, miss a meal or eat a big meal. This is a situation seen very often and it sends the biological clock of the body into chaos making it easy for illnesses to occur in the spleen and stomach and the entire digestive system including the stomach, spleen and liver etc.

The connection between the food and beverage factor and cancer will be elaborated one by one and then analyzed.

Now, we turn to the influence of partiality in eating and drinking.Partiality and fondness for certain foods or beverages is what everyone calls ‘monophagia’, that is, going to an excess in liking and only eating one certain type of food, consequently overlooking other kinds of food products that are good for the body. This phenomenon is often seen in life. In order to explore this problem in more depth, let’s first take a look at the structure of food from the Chinese medicine perspective.

In chapter one, we talked about the Five Elements Theory and came to know that Chinese medicine divides all matter into five groupings. As for the characteristics of food items, Chinese medicine highlights color and flavor.

What then are the colors and flavors? Chinese medicine divides food items by color into the so-called Five Colors of green, red, yellow, white and black. They are also divided into the five flavors of sour, bitter, sweet, pungent, and salty.

After these divisions are made, the distinctions of the five colors are linked to the categorization of five organs. Green enters the liver; red enters the heart; yellow enters the spleen; white enters the lungs and black enters the kidneys. The distinction of the five flavors are also linked categorically to the five organs. Sour enters the liver; bitter enters the heart; sweet enters the spleen; pungent enters the lungs and salty enters the kidneys.

       Dear Reader, if you’d like to know how the five colors and five flavors impact health and how they are related to partiality in food and beverage, then please read on to the analysis in the next chapter.

Chat #8

Green Protects the Liver

Black Protects the Kidneys

The Five Color Revolution is on the Rise

In the last chapter, we discussed the characteristics of food, and the fact that we can divide them into the five colors and five flavors. This division links the different colors and flavors to internal organs, another extraordinary example of Chinese medicine theories.

       Green colored foods, when eaten in abundance, can add to the nourishment of the liver. Green belongs to the color of nature, and for the most part all vegetables contain green color, therefore in today’s world that promotes the green revolution, there is logic behind it. From the perspective of Chinese medicine, green enters the liver, an organ that is an essential apparatus of the body. People oftentimes eat all kinds of foods recklessly, and before the body can absorb nutrition, the liver must purify it of toxins. Protecting the organ of the liver is equal to protecting the body because it reduces damage  done from external toxins. It is because of this that the green revolution has taken on such a positive meaning.

       Just as I am writing this, a secretary from our A-Care Chinese Medicine Center in Mountain View came running over and asked: ‘Dr. Ma, I am reading your writings and want to know if I should eat more bitter melon and in doing so protect my heart.’

My answer is: ‘That is correct. The melon is bitter and that bitter flavor enters the heart. Therefore the bitter flavor has the function of protecting the heart.’

Let’s get back to the main topic. In addition to the green revolution, you might recall the black revolution which was popular several years ago with black mushrooms, black rice, black sesame seeds, and even black wine, etc. all of which became best seller products to protect health. Let us make use of the knowledge we have learned to briefly analyze the positive meaning of the black revolution.

The color black enters the kidneys, therefore, black-colored food items provide a protective function for the kidneys. The position of the kidneys in the human body is extremely important, Chinese medicine refers to them as the ‘innate root.’ This is because harbored within the kidneys is a kind of matter that functions like a life emitting torch, called the ‘inherent essence.’ The term ‘inherent’ refers to the time before birth, therefore ‘inherent essence’ means matter before birth. This kind of matter of course originates from one’s father and mother. Because of this, protecting the kidneys can protect the embers transmitted to us by our parents. These embers illuminate the full course throughout one’s life. Therefore, from the perspective of genetics, protecting the kidneys can possibly be linked to a relationship with some inherited genes. Hopefully, this topic will initiate research interest among scholars.

We have discussed the influence of green and black colored food items on the body. Now let’s discuss red, yellow and white foods to see how they function.

First, let’s discuss red. Red colored food items enter the heart and initiate the function of nutritional protection. Not long ago, I read a news report by a U.S. medical organization whose research revealed that small, edible red peppers can serve the function of helping to prevent heart disease. Clearly the concepts of ancient Chinese medicine practitioners still have an instructive meaning today.

Now we turn to yellow. Yellow colored food items enter the spleen. In Chapter Four, we discussed an understanding of the spleen, twenty percent of its function is related to blood production, and eighty percent belongs to digestive system function. Consequently, yellow colored food items provide two functions, twenty percent promoting the formation of blood, and eighty percent promoting gastro-intestinal tract function. Cancer patients in the course of chemotherapy often feel nauseated, vomit and lose strength. These are relatively common side effects. Nausea and vomiting are both reactions of the gastro-intestinal tract. Obstruction of the gastro-intestinal functions influences the body’s digestion and absorption of nutrition, resulting in the loss of nutrition and whole body exhaustion and weakness. Chinese medicine theories also views the spleen as a controller of the muscles of the four limbs, therefore when the four limbs are weak and lack strength, there is also the internal problem of the weakening of the spleen. Therefore, to patients who are just undergoing chemotherapy, I would advise eating some millet congee. Millet is yellow, enters the spleen and stomach blood vessels, restrains nourishment to the stomach and intestines and promotes its blood producing function which can help alleviate nausea and vomiting as well as nourishing the blood to increase strength. With one action, two results are achieved.

Now let’s discuss white. White colored food enters the lungs. In Chapter Five, we mentioned that an important function of the lungs is ‘master of qi’. This can be understood as the qi of the entire body, or, said another way, the manifestation of all body functions is related to whether or not the lung qi is sufficient. If you think about a food item that is most essential on a daily basis, what would it be? Of course it is white rice and white flour products. Whether Eastern or Western, white rice and white flour products are both listed as staple food items, it is only the cooking techniques which are different. White rice and flour both enter the lungs, and when the lung qi is sufficient, then the qi of the whole body is sufficient.

Since the five-colored foods of green, red, yellow, white and black produce different nourishment functions for different organs, then I respectfully advocate we need not only a green revolution or a black revolution, what we need most is a five-color revolution!

       Dear Reader, if you’d like to know more about the concept of the five-color revolution, and its relationship to the five flavors, then please read on to the analysis in the next chapter.

Chat #9

Colors Enriches Flavor and Each has a Different Function

Equilibrium has Benefit, Partiality has None

In the previous chapter, we discussed the green revolution and black revolution from the Chinese medicine perspective and the significant impact that changes in food and beverages can have on mankind. Moreover, after examining the essence of Chinese medicine theories on food and beverages, we can then go a step further in understanding the five-colored food groups of green, red, yellow, white and black, and how they each have different nutritional values with relation to the five organs of liver, heart, spleen, kidneys, and lungs. For this reason I believe that everyone will certainly agree as to why in Chapter 8 we called out for the ‘five-color revolution.’

Just now I received a call from an enthusiastic reader, Mrs. Zhao of San Francisco. I think her question is very apropos, and is included below.

Question: Having read about your five-color revolution, I feel roused to action. I suddenly associated it with the five elements vegetable soup created by the Japanese which is now very popular. Does it in fact use the Chinese medicine theory of the five colors in food and beverages?

Response: I have also heard of the five element vegetable soup, however I have not carefully researched it so I cannot really make an assessment. If we make an initial evaluation, it seems to be somewhat similar to what you have said. According to Mrs. Zhao’s question, I would like to reiterate that in addition to the five colored theory on food and beverages in Chinese medicine, there is also the superb of the five flavor theory mentioned earlier.

       In the previous chapter, we mentioned that the five flavors are sour, bitter, sweet, pungent and salty and that they are categorized with the liver, heart, spleen, lungs and kidneys.

Sourness enters the liver. Sour-flavored foods have a protective function for the liver. Since plums are sour, they certainly contain a protective function for the liver. Bitterness enters the heart. Bitter flavored foods have a protective function for the heart. Previously mentioned was bitter melon which produces a protective function for the heart.

Sweetness enters the spleen. Sweet flavored foods have a protective function for the spleen. For classic sweet items, right away people think of candy. Interestingly, Chinese folklore has transmitted down an oral tradition that eating sweets will protect the liver. This actually is not in contradiction to Chinese medicine when seen in the context of the mutual restraint theory. Sugar enters the spleen and if the spleen is healthy then it can mitigate an attack on the liver and objectively speaking, it initiates a protective function for the liver.

According to the theory of five elements, the order of the five organs of liver, heart, spleen, lungs and kidneys promote each other and Chinese medicine refers to this as ‘mutual promotion.’ Accordingly, the liver promotes the heart, the heart promotes the spleen, the spleen promotes the lungs, the lungs promote the kidneys and the kidneys promote the liver. In future chapters, I will address these problems in more depth. For now, I would like to introduce the theory of mutual restraint within the five elements theory. The sequence of organs for mutual restraint is: liver, spleen, kidney, heart and lungs. Accordingly, the liver restrains the spleen, the spleen restrains the kidneys, the kidneys restrain the heart, the heart restrains the lungs and the lungs restrains the liver.

Pungency is spicy and enters the lungs. Pungent flavored things have a protective function for the lungs. Let us take the recent trend of the Western world using garlic therapy as an example. Garlic is white and enters the lungs; it’s flavor is pungent which also enters the lungs. We already know that the lungs control qi, the functions of the whole body, the qi of the whole body. In order to maintain normalcy, one must rely on the normal function of the lung’s qi. As the garlic pungency disperses, it can open up the lung’s qi, and this opening can benefit the normal functioning of the entire body. Eating a lot of garlic health products can disperse too much pungency and, contrary to expectation can injure the lung’s qi. In addition, the characteristic of garlic is heat, which for someone with a cold body constitution has a certain benefit; but for someone with a hot body constitution, it is the same as sprinkling oil on a fire, and is therefore inappropriate. I once had a patient suffering with lung cancer, who, before coming to me for treatment, had uncontrollable coughing. She listened to the advice of someone who told her to eat steamed garlic and ginkgo nuts. She took it for three days and actually felt her cough had taken a turn for the better. As a result, she continued to take it for ten consecutive days and on the day she came in for examination, I saw that her tongue was completely red with almost no coating left. I told her to immediately stop taking the garlic because her lungs were already too hot and continuing to take highly pungent heat inducing products would probably cause the coughing up of blood. As expected, that very night she coughed up a large quantity of blood. Using garlic to correct health issues and using it for its protective qualities needs to be carefully reconsidered.

Saltiness enters the kidneys. Salty flavored items have a protective function for the kidneys. You might immediately associate this with salted vegetables, table salt and seaweed, etc. When Chinese medicine treats kidney ailments, oftentimes we take Chinese herbs and stir fry them with salt, the goal being to infuse the salty flavor, to ‘induce herbs to enter the kidneys.’

       In the discussion above, we have discussed the beneficial aspects of the five colors and five flavors of food and their influence on the health of the body. We also need to realize that if the five colors and five flavors are not ingested in a balanced way, with a bias toward one aspect, then, on the contrary, they will create negative influences on the body. For example, sweets enter the spleen and too many sweet foods can easily cause stomach upset, even to the point of the creating stomach ailments. White enters the lungs and white radish can aid the flow of lung qi, however eating too much radish can, on the contrary, injure the qi of the lungs.

Dear Reader, to get a deeper understanding of how partiality in eating can be detrimental to the health of the body, even endangering it to the point of cancer, please read on to the analysis in the next chapter.

Chat #10

The Color Green Protects the Liver, In Excess Injures It

Improper Use of Colors and Flavors can Foment the Cause of Disease

In the last chapter we discussed how the five flavors and colors, when blended appropriately, can nourish the five organs. However, when partiality leads to excess, this creates an abundance or even a surplus in some areas, and a relative deficiency of nutrition in others.

For example, when we eat greens we can protect the liver, but too much can cause the liver function to overload. The Five Elements Theory discusses a relationship between the liver and spleen, and that ordinarily, the liver should hold in check the function of the spleen, guarding against the overworking of the spleen’s function and losing restraint. Now, when the liver’s function is overworked and the qi of the liver holds back the function of the spleen, then contrarily, it will block the normal function of the spleen, holding it back so that it is no longer fully operational. In Chinese medicine, this kind of excessive restraint and control is referred to as ‘mutual advantage’ but actually it can be invasive and injurious.

       Two days ago, a gentleman fearing that he may have contracted liver cancer called me on the phone to arrange for a treatment consultation. He told me that for the past two weeks, he had frequently been feeling dull pain below his right rib, in the area of the liver. His father had a history of liver cancer so when he reached middle age, he was terrified that one day he might come down with it as well. According to Chinese medicinal practice, I did the four diagnoses: observing, inquiring, listening and feeling pulse. I diagnosed him, according to Chinese medicine protocol as having stagnant qi of the liver, however there were no obvious signs of cancer. Neither did his CT examination report detect any signs of pathological changes. I suggested that he first consider eating some protective liver products as preventive medicine. I urged him to pay special attention to food, beverages and his emotions, so as to protect the functions of the spleen and stomach. He was very skeptical about my analysis that pointed to the possibility of pathological changes in the gastro-intestinal functions. Several days ago, he called me again saying; “Professor Ma, you analyzed correctly. I didn’t pay attention to protecting the gastro-intestinal functions as you had said, and now as expected, I have started to feel nauseated, my abdomen is filled with gas and is making gurgling sounds. Please take care of me right away, otherwise if the liver ailments transmit to the spleen, I don’t know where the spleen ailments will lead to.

The deepening concern of this patient has its rationality. The Han Dynasty, of two thousand years, had a famous medical physician named Zhang Zhongjing. He took the four classics written on Chinese medicine and compiled them into two volumes; Treatise on Injurious Cold Diseases [Shang Han Lun] and Synopsis of a Golden Treasury [Jin KuiYao Lue.] Here are a few of his famous words from Synopsis of a Golden Treasury; ‘When seeing liver ailments, know that the liver transmits to the spleen and then first make the spleen sufficient.’ What he means is that if someone contracts a liver ailment, it will certainly transmit to the spleen and stomach, so one should first regulate the functions of the spleen and stomach.

The rest may be deduced by analogy. When seeing a spleen ailment, know that the spleen transmits to the kidneys, then first make the kidneys sufficient; when seeing a kidney ailment, know that the kidneys transmit to the heart, then first make the heart sufficient; when one sees a heart ailment, know the heart transmits to the lungs and first make the lungs sufficient; when seeing a lung ailment, know the lungs transmit to the liver, then first make the liver sufficient. The term [shi] ‘sufficient,’ is used here to mean ‘strengthen.’

       From the point of view of fighting cancer, if there is the occurrence of a malignant change in one area, utilizing the theory above, one can implement preventive therapy so as to obstruct and change the course of the disease. Does this not hold great significance?

In sum, it isn’t hard to deduce that since within the human body there is mutual interdependence among the five organs and a relationship of mutual conditioning. When we utilize the theory of the Five Colors and Five Flavors, we can fully use the individual and special characteristics related to each visceral organ to produce a mutual effect. I will provide concrete examples later on as I introduce related material.

Dear Reader, if you’d like to go one step further in gaining more information, please read the analysis in the next chapter.