(70) Saju and Oriental Medicine (1)

By Janet Shin

In the previous column, the five Oriental studies in association with yin-yang and five elements, were mentioned once. It is as follows:

1. Saju

(four pillars), the study of fate.

2. Face and palm reading

, the study of shape of faces and palm lines to read fate

3. Divination

(I ching), Classic of Changes

4. Oriental medicine

, the study of human body

5. Zen

, meditation

Let's continue reviewing Oriental medicine and how it can be translated in terms of saju.

Traditional Oriental medicine is largely based on the philosophical concept that the human body is a small universe with yin and yang. It is a set of complete and sophisticated interconnected systems, and those systems usually work in balance to maintain the healthy function of the human body.

Different from the Western anatomical concept which divides the physical body into parts, the Chinese concept is more concerned with function. So when yin and yang are balanced, it is considered a healthy condition. When the balance of yin and yang is broken, it is considered unhealthy.

Owing to this difference, Oriental medicine has an integrated viewpoint while modern Western medicine is analytical. Oriental medicine focuses on the fundamental but invisible elements, while the Western medicine focuses on the invisible elements. The former starts from the integrated body as a whole while the latter starts from the cell. Consequently, Oriental medicine is more like a natural healing while the Western medicine is an artificial cure.

There is no cardinal principle about which way is right, so further academic verification or value judgment will not be necessary. We are just going to review the conceptual similarity between the saju and the Oriental medicine and find a way to link them.

Starting from the philosophical concept of yin and yang and the five elements, ancient Oriental people developed them to read fate, or the study of the human body, in the course of learning the universal truth.

Yin and yang theory delivers the concept that all natural beings have two aspects, which are opposite but interdependent. They are not absolute but comparable. They prosper, decline and even transform each other.

In this respect, people interpreted the universe ― the heaven, the earth and the human being. There is yang inside the yin, and there is yin inside the yang. According to this interpretation, they tried to understand the route fate has chosen for them and their body's health: how diseases develop and are cured.

If we apply yin and yang to the human body, they can be described as shown in the chart 1.

*The six entrails (yang) are the gall bladder, small intestine, stomach, large intestine and urinary bladder.

*The five viscera are the liver, heart, spleen, lungs and kidneys.

The balance of yin and yang is considered with respect to qi (breath, life force or spiritual energy), blood, jeong (kidney essence), other bodily fluids, emotions and the soul or spirit.

As we have learned, she was born with the energy of sin metal(day master) in the month of hae ― yin water. Both sin and hae stand for the cold and sharp energy, that require the warmth or brightness to balance the yin and yang force. There is byeong fire at the time stem that would have been a great help to the fate of this woman.

Saju of a Woman Born Oct. 10, 1934(Lunar Calendar)

According to the stem combination, byeong and sin combined to make water energy. So this woman lost a very useful balancing force. Then the only yang energy she has in her saju is the wood elements located in the year and month stem and the day branch. She pursues money most in her life and actually achieved considerable wealth from renting out property.

However, losing the balance of yin and yang for sin metal, which stands for lungs in terms of the five organs of the human body, she has been suffering with bronchial asthma for over 40 years.

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.