Tang Ye Jing: Flavor Theory
This blog entry is Part Two of Exploring the Tang Ye Jing. If you haven't already, check out Part One here. And when you're finished, you can move on to Part Three.
In the first part of this article series, I introduced the Tang Ye Jing, its mysterious history, and its relevance to the contemporary practice of Chinese Medicine. In this next article, we're going to dive right into the Tang Ye Jing's theory of flavor, how that differs from the standard TCM theory of flavor, and how we can understand both by looking at the Nei Jing.
As I mentioned previously, Tang Ye Jing's materia medica consists of twenty five herbs, grouped in sets of five according to Flavor and Phase identification.
Thus there are five Acrid herbs belong to Wood, five Salty herbs, which belong to to Fire, five Sweet herbs which belong to Earth, five Sour herbs which belong to Metal and five Bitter herbs, which belong to Water. Nested within each of the five phases, this five fold pattern repeats itself, so that within the Wood phase, each herb is further sub-divided into the Wood of Wood, Fire of Wood, Earth of Wood, Metal of Wood, and Water of Wood:
Although this classification system might seem unfamiliar, it should immediately remind us of the five transport points of the channel and collateral (jingluo 經絡) system. Each channel is organized according to one of the Five Phases, and each of the Five Phases represented on each channel through the five transport points. So the Hand Taiyin Lung Channel is classified as (Yin) Metal, and within the Lung Channel, LU11 少商 shaohang is the Wood of Metal, LU10 魚際 yuji is the Fire of Metal, LU9 太淵 taiyuan is the Earth of Metal, etc.
Acupuncturists will already know how to construct point prescriptions to tonify or drain the respective channel, using the logic of the Five Phases as described in the Nan Jing 難經 (specifically, Chapter 69 of the Nan Jing). Some styles of acupuncture, such as Saam Four Needle Acupuncture, utilize these point prescriptions as their primary method of treating the channels. In a similar fashion, the Tang Ye Jing contains herbal formulas designed to tonify or drain each of the Five Zang organs, making use of the dynamics of the twenty five herbs listed here in a similar way.*
You have probably also noticed that the association of flavors with particular phases according to the Tang Ye Jing differs from how flavors are associated with phases in TCM foundations classes and textbooks. Most of us learn that Wood is associated with Sour, Fire with Bitter, Sweet with Earth, Metal with Acrid, and Water with Salty. The Tang Ye Jing, however, reverses all of this (with the exception of Earth, which remains Sweet). Both the standard association of flavor and phase, and the Tang Ye Jing's associations, are described in the Nei Jing.
A good place to begin our exploration of this topic is Chapter 22 of the Su Wen, entitled “Discussion of the Qi of the Five Zang Following the Seasons”《藏氣法時論》. Chapter 22 lists the Five Phase Flavor associations we find in the Tang Ye Jing side by side with the more standard arrangement found in the other chapters of the Nei Jing. It states that the Flavors we commonly associate with the Five Zang drain their respective organs, while the Flavors assigned to the Five Zang by the Tang Ye Jing tonify**:
The Liver desires to disperse, urgently consume acrid in order to disperse it, use acrid to tonify it, sour to drain it.
心欲耎，急食鹹以耎之，用鹹補之，甘寫之。
The Heart desires to be soft, urgently consume salty in order to soften it, use salty to tonify it, sweet to drain it.
脾欲緩，急食甘以緩之，用苦寫之，甘補之。
The Spleen desires to be relaxed, urgently consume sweet in order to relax it, use bitter to drain it, sweet to tonify it.
肺欲收，急食酸以收之，用酸補之，辛寫之。
In the first part of this article series, I introduced the Tang Ye Jing, its mysterious history, and its relevance to the contemporary practice of Chinese Medicine. In this next article, we're going to dive right into the Tang Ye Jing's theory of flavor, how that differs from the standard TCM theory of flavor, and how we can understand both by looking at the Nei Jing.
As I mentioned previously, Tang Ye Jing's materia medica consists of twenty five herbs, grouped in sets of five according to Flavor and Phase identification.
Thus there are five Acrid herbs belong to Wood, five Salty herbs, which belong to to Fire, five Sweet herbs which belong to Earth, five Sour herbs which belong to Metal and five Bitter herbs, which belong to Water. Nested within each of the five phases, this five fold pattern repeats itself, so that within the Wood phase, each herb is further sub-divided into the Wood of Wood, Fire of Wood, Earth of Wood, Metal of Wood, and Water of Wood:
Although this classification system might seem unfamiliar, it should immediately remind us of the five transport points of the channel and collateral (jingluo 經絡) system. Each channel is organized according to one of the Five Phases, and each of the Five Phases represented on each channel through the five transport points. So the Hand Taiyin Lung Channel is classified as (Yin) Metal, and within the Lung Channel, LU11 少商 shaohang is the Wood of Metal, LU10 魚際 yuji is the Fire of Metal, LU9 太淵 taiyuan is the Earth of Metal, etc.
Acupuncturists will already know how to construct point prescriptions to tonify or drain the respective channel, using the logic of the Five Phases as described in the Nan Jing 難經 (specifically, Chapter 69 of the Nan Jing). Some styles of acupuncture, such as Saam Four Needle Acupuncture, utilize these point prescriptions as their primary method of treating the channels. In a similar fashion, the Tang Ye Jing contains herbal formulas designed to tonify or drain each of the Five Zang organs, making use of the dynamics of the twenty five herbs listed here in a similar way.*
You have probably also noticed that the association of flavors with particular phases according to the Tang Ye Jing differs from how flavors are associated with phases in TCM foundations classes and textbooks. Most of us learn that Wood is associated with Sour, Fire with Bitter, Sweet with Earth, Metal with Acrid, and Water with Salty. The Tang Ye Jing, however, reverses all of this (with the exception of Earth, which remains Sweet). Both the standard association of flavor and phase, and the Tang Ye Jing's associations, are described in the Nei Jing.
A good place to begin our exploration of this topic is Chapter 22 of the Su Wen, entitled “Discussion of the Qi of the Five Zang Following the Seasons”《藏氣法時論》. Chapter 22 lists the Five Phase Flavor associations we find in the Tang Ye Jing side by side with the more standard arrangement found in the other chapters of the Nei Jing. It states that the Flavors we commonly associate with the Five Zang drain their respective organs, while the Flavors assigned to the Five Zang by the Tang Ye Jing tonify**:
肝欲散，急食辛以散之，用辛補之，酸寫之。
The Liver desires to disperse, urgently consume acrid in order to disperse it, use acrid to tonify it, sour to drain it.
心欲耎，急食鹹以耎之，用鹹補之，甘寫之。
The Heart desires to be soft, urgently consume salty in order to soften it, use salty to tonify it, sweet to drain it.
脾欲緩，急食甘以緩之，用苦寫之，甘補之。
The Spleen desires to be relaxed, urgently consume sweet in order to relax it, use bitter to drain it, sweet to tonify it.
肺欲收，急食酸以收之，用酸補之，辛寫之。
The Lung desires to be gathered, urgently consume sour in order to gather it, use sour to tonify it, acrid to drain it.
腎欲堅，急食苦以堅之，用苦補之，鹹寫之。
The Kidney desires to be consolidated, urgently consume bitter in order to consolidate it, use bitter to tonify it, salty to drain it.
Chapter 22 goes to summarize the actions of these flavors:
Acrid disperses, Sour gathers, Sweet relaxes, Bitter consolidates, Salty softens
The actions of each Flavor, and their association with each of the Five Phases, form the core theory of the Tang Ye Jing.
In the next part of this series, we'll be looking into how this connects with understanding function of the Zang organs, and what it means to tonify and drain an organ. After that, we'll be ready to start exploring the herbs assigned to each of the Phases.
_________________________________________________________________________
* A detailed discussion of the Tang Ye Jing's formulas is beyond the scope of this particular article series, which is focused on the single herbs, why they are categorized the way they are, and how this can help us to understand and apply the formulas of the Shang Han Lun and Jin Gui Yao Lue
However, for those who are curious, I will note that according to the Fu Xing Jue, the Tang Ye Jing's formulas are constructed according to a set protocol, similar to how one tonifies or drains an organ using Four Needle acupuncture:
To tonify a Zang organ, take two herbs from the flavor that tonifies the selected organ, and then one herb from the flavor that controls that organ in the controlling cycle of the Five Phases.
To drain a Zang organ, take two herbs from the flavor that drains excess in the selected organ, and one additional herb. The flavor of this additional herb is generally selected according to either the controlling, or the insulting cycle of the Five Phases.
Formula construction within the Fu Xing Jue is somewhat more complex than this, and often utilizes more than just three herbs. Still, one will find that most of the Fu Xing Jue's formulas usually follow this general framework. And if one analyzes many of Zhang Zhongjing's formulas in the Shang Han Lun and Jin Gui Yao Lue, one will find groupings of herbs that seem to follow the same logic outlined in the Fu Xing Jue according to the categories of the Tang Ye Jing.
Acupuncturists may find it useful to compare this style of combining herbs to how points are combined according to their Five Phase properties. And herbalists in turn may find that this provides an interesting lens for understanding herb combinations within formulas, and understanding formula architecture.
Those who are interested in taking a deeper dive into the formulas of the Fu Xing Jue can look at the work of those who are curious can look at the work of Michael Dell'Orfano and Heiner Fruehauf, which provides the most comprehensive treatment of this topic in the English language.
** Also note that there are two exceptions here: the Sweet Flavor tonifies the Spleen according to both systems. And notice as well that Sweet is also used to drain the Heart, rather than Bitter, as we might expect. I will be discussing the reasons why in greater detail in future posts, but in general we can account for these exceptions by noting the unique qualities of both the Spleen as the organ network that occupies the Center, and the Heart as the ruler of the other organ networks.
腎欲堅，急食苦以堅之，用苦補之，鹹寫之。
The Kidney desires to be consolidated, urgently consume bitter in order to consolidate it, use bitter to tonify it, salty to drain it.
Chapter 22 goes to summarize the actions of these flavors:
辛散，酸收，甘緩，苦堅，鹹耎。
Acrid disperses, Sour gathers, Sweet relaxes, Bitter consolidates, Salty softens
The actions of each Flavor, and their association with each of the Five Phases, form the core theory of the Tang Ye Jing.
In the next part of this series, we'll be looking into how this connects with understanding function of the Zang organs, and what it means to tonify and drain an organ. After that, we'll be ready to start exploring the herbs assigned to each of the Phases.
_________________________________________________________________________
* A detailed discussion of the Tang Ye Jing's formulas is beyond the scope of this particular article series, which is focused on the single herbs, why they are categorized the way they are, and how this can help us to understand and apply the formulas of the Shang Han Lun and Jin Gui Yao Lue
However, for those who are curious, I will note that according to the Fu Xing Jue, the Tang Ye Jing's formulas are constructed according to a set protocol, similar to how one tonifies or drains an organ using Four Needle acupuncture:
To tonify a Zang organ, take two herbs from the flavor that tonifies the selected organ, and then one herb from the flavor that controls that organ in the controlling cycle of the Five Phases.
To drain a Zang organ, take two herbs from the flavor that drains excess in the selected organ, and one additional herb. The flavor of this additional herb is generally selected according to either the controlling, or the insulting cycle of the Five Phases.
Formula construction within the Fu Xing Jue is somewhat more complex than this, and often utilizes more than just three herbs. Still, one will find that most of the Fu Xing Jue's formulas usually follow this general framework. And if one analyzes many of Zhang Zhongjing's formulas in the Shang Han Lun and Jin Gui Yao Lue, one will find groupings of herbs that seem to follow the same logic outlined in the Fu Xing Jue according to the categories of the Tang Ye Jing.
Acupuncturists may find it useful to compare this style of combining herbs to how points are combined according to their Five Phase properties. And herbalists in turn may find that this provides an interesting lens for understanding herb combinations within formulas, and understanding formula architecture.
Those who are interested in taking a deeper dive into the formulas of the Fu Xing Jue can look at the work of those who are curious can look at the work of Michael Dell'Orfano and Heiner Fruehauf, which provides the most comprehensive treatment of this topic in the English language.
** Also note that there are two exceptions here: the Sweet Flavor tonifies the Spleen according to both systems. And notice as well that Sweet is also used to drain the Heart, rather than Bitter, as we might expect. I will be discussing the reasons why in greater detail in future posts, but in general we can account for these exceptions by noting the unique qualities of both the Spleen as the organ network that occupies the Center, and the Heart as the ruler of the other organ networks.
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