(82) Saju and Oriental Medicine (4)

By Janet Shin

In studying Oriental philosophy, you will learn that ancient people understood the universe, the earth, nature and human beings under a certain philosophical thesis that had a lot in common.

The Five Oriental Studies

•命 (Four pillars) : study of time

•相 (Face/palm reading)

•占 (Divination) : I Ching

•醫 (Oriental medicine) : study of human body

•仙 (Zen) : meditation

•風水 (Feng shui) : study of space

In understanding all natural phenomena, the sequence of time and human relationship, ancient people have classified them on the basis of yin and yang and the five elements. The 10 heavenly energies and 12 earthly energies were examples. There was a universality of the binary numeral system along with the five elements philosophy. One year was divided into 12 months, or 24 subdivisions of the seasons, 12 ancient hours in a day, day and night, sun and moon as natural phenomenon of yin and yang, and five directions (north, south, west, east and center).

The same applied to human body, the balance of yin and yang is considered with respect to qi (breath, life force or spiritual energy) and blood. Qi denotes yang and blood yin. The five yin organs (liver, heart, spleen, lungs, and kidneys) and yang organs (gall bladder, small intestine, stomach, large intestine, urinary bladder) are reviewed to keep the body healthy. Even the causes of disease are classified into six, i.e wind, cold, hot, water, drought and heat as external causes; and anger, happiness, worry, sadness, fear and shock as inner causes.

When it comes to the acupuncture meridian system, they classified the front of the body as yin and back of the body as yang. They believed qi (yang) and blood (yin) circulate through the 12 major meridians in the body, the yin meridians run through the front body and yang meridians run through the back body, then they assigned each organs to 12 meridians respectively.

From ancient books, we could find that they associated saju with health aspects by reviewing the five elements and their harmonious relationships.

If the five elements are harmonious, people would live a happy life. If yin and yang (blood and qi) are messy, people are not healthy.

Now let's review some examples of saju and the health aspects in view of the five elements.

When the wood does not have proper water energy there can be blood disease. The earth without fire energy can cause lack of vitality. The metal with water energy but without fire can cause asthma. When jeong fire is too dry, it can cause sputum, while dry byeong fire may cause atopic diseases. The tumor can be caused by the congealed fire and metal elements in the branches. The weak kidney is caused by the weak metal and water elements and the stomach diseases are caused by the conflict between water and earth elements.

The terrestrial branches are also reviewed in connection with body, respectively.

Ja is a disease related to genital organs or pain in the lower abdomen, Chuk is stomach, In is shoulders, arms and legs, Myo is eyes and hands, Jin is back and chest, Sa is face and teeth, O is heart, Mi is spleen, Sin is respiratory system, Yu is liver and lungs, Sul is back and lungs, Hae is head and liver.

When the wood day master has many metal letters in saju, there is high tendency of weak liver and gall bladder. The person could have headaches and the eyes are bleary. Hemiplegia, stroke and neuralgia may occur when the wood is hurt by the metal.

The fire day master with many water letters or water combination in saju may cause heart and small intestine diseases. Acute or chronic shock and pain in the chest are related symptoms.

The earth day master with many wood letters or sitting on the wood combination may cause spleen or stomach damage. Dry skin and indigestion are frequent symptoms.

The metal day master with many fire letters or sitting on fire combination could mean lungs or large intestine damage. Asthma, cough and hemorrhoids are the possible symptoms.

The water day master with many earth letters or sitting on earth combination could indicate kidney or urinary bladder diseases. Backaches, diarrhea, prostate, and menstrual pain are related symptoms.

When the five elements are not in harmonious position, it is also related with the emotion of the day master.

When the wood is too strong or too weak, it can cause anger, when the fire is not balanced, it can cause a lot of emotional ups and downs, the earth can cause anxiety, the metal can cause sadness, frustration and pessimism, and the water can cause fear and panic

See the diagrams to show the circulation of five elements in Oriental medicine.

The writer is the president of the Heavenly Garden, a saju research center in Korea. She is the author of "Learning Four Pillars." She offers saju courses to all who are interested. For more information, visit her Web site (https://blog.naver.com/janet_shin) or email janetshin@hotmail.com.