Wu Xing (5 elements)

Question 1

What are the 5 elements? Wu Xing?

Answer 1

Fire 
Earth
Metal 
Water 
Wood

Question 2

What are the 5 basic qualities and movements of the 5 elements?

Answer 2

Wood: Can be bent and straightened, expansion.
Fire: Flares upwards. Upwards.
Earth: Permits sowing, growing and reaping. Centre, stability.
Metal: Can be moulded and can harden. Contraction.
Water: Moistens downwards. Downwards.

Question 3

What is the Generating / Sheng sequence?

Answer 3

Earth – Metal – Water – Wood – Fire

Clockwise sequence: Nourishing or mother child cycle.

Each element has the responsibility to nourish the element that comes after it.

Question 4

What does earth nourish?

Answer 4

Earth nourishes metal (it contains minerals from which metal is formed)

Question 5

What does metal nourish?

Answer 5

Metal nourishes water (metal associated with the breath and air which condense to form water droplets)

Question 6

What does water nourish?

Answer 6

Water nourishes wood (plants need water to grow)

Question 7

What does wood nourish?

Answer 7

Wood nourishes fire (it is the wood that burns to create fire).

Question 8

What does Fire nourish?

Answer 8

Fire nourishes earth (the ashes return back to strengthen the earth).

Question 9

What happens if Earth isn’t nourishing Metal?

Answer 9

o Earth not nourishing metal: lung qi deficiency, weak wei qi, phlegm in the lungs

Question 10

What happens if Metal isn’t nourishing Water?

Answer 10

Kidney qi deficiency, kidney not grasping qi from the lungs resulting in cough or asthma.

Question 11

What happens if Water isn’t nourishing Wood?

Answer 11

kidney and liver yin deficiency. Dry eyes, dizziness, infertility.

Question 12

What happens if Wood isn’t nourishing Fire?

Answer 12

Deficient gallbladder and heart presentation, indecision, timidity and palpitations.

Question 13

What happens if Fire isn’t nourishing Earth?

Answer 13

Spleen qi deficiency, spleen yang deficiency – fatigue, loose stools, abdominal distension and prolapse.

Question 14

What is the Controlling / Ke cycle?

Answer 14

o Represents the controlling cycle, where one element represents the grandparent, has the responsibility to control excess in the child.

Question 15

What does metal control?

Answer 15

Metal controls the wood (axe to tree)

Question 16

What does Water control?

Answer 16

Water controls fire (extinguishes)

Question 17

What does Wood control?

Answer 17

Wood controls earth (tree roots break up the earth)

Question 18

What does fire control?

Answer 18

Fire controls metal

Question 19

What does Earth control?

Answer 19

Earth controls water (its flow via a dam)

Question 20

What happens if wood overacts on earth?

Answer 20

o Wood overacting on Earth = Liver qi stasis and spleen qi deficiency. Poor appetite, irritability, alternating constipation / diarrhoea or liver invading the stomach – irritability, pain in the epigastrium, reflex, nausea or vomiting.

Question 21

What happens if Earth overacts on Water?

Answer 21

damp from the spleen impacts on kidney function – oedema, difficult urination, yellow face.

Question 22

What happens if water overacts on fire?

Answer 22

kidney yang deficiency with water overflowing to the heart – oedema of the ankles, feeling cold, backache, puffy face, palpitations.

Question 23

What happens if Fire overacts on metal?

Answer 23

o Fire over-acting on metal – full heat in the lungs – painful cough with yellow sputum, red face, feeling of heat

Question 24

What happens if metal overacts on wood?

Answer 24

lung qi fails to descend and impedes flow of liver wi – fatigue, irritability, cough, tight diaphragm, white face.

Question 25

What is the insulting sequence?

Answer 25

The controlling sequence in reverse.

The qi from the element that should be controlled insults or attacks the element that should be controlling it.

Question 26

What does fire consume?

Answer 26

o Fire consumes the water

Question 27

What does earth insult?

Answer 27

o Earth insults wood

Question 28

What does metal inhibit?

Answer 28

o Metal inhibits fire

Question 29

What does Water do to earth?

Answer 29

o Water turns the earth into mud

Question 30

What does wood overcome?

Answer 30

o Wood overcomes metal

Question 31

What happens if wood insults metal?

Answer 31

Liver qi stasis (often with fire), invading the lungs – strong cough that is worse with stress and is hard to control, distention of the chest and epigastrium, asthma

Question 32

What happens if metal insults fire?

Answer 32

Lung and heart qi deficiency – palpitations, insomnia and breathlessness or lung heat affecting the heart – cough, palpitations, chest oppression.

Question 33

What happens if Fire insults water?

Answer 33

kidney yin deficiency with heart heat (the fire has consumed the water) or heart and kidney not communicating – anxiety, insomnia, night sweats, dry mouth, dizziness and malar flush.

Question 34

What happens if water insults earth?

Answer 34

spleen and kidney yang deficiency – loose stools, oedema, fatigue and weak limbs

Question 35

What happens if Earth insults wood?

Answer 35

Dampness from spleen stagnates and transforms to damp heat which impacts on the movement of qi in the liver and bile in the gallbladder – jaundice, hypochondriac pain and distension, hepaitis