5. Action ot Qi Transformation
Qi transformation may be defined as various kinds of changes brought about by the movement of qi. Concretely speaking, it
refers to the respective metabolistn of essence, qi, blood and body fluid and their reciprocal transformation. For instance, food is transformed into qi, blood and body fluid; body fluid are converted into sweat and urine by metabolizing; and the residues of food, after digestion and absorption, are turned into feces to be discharged from the body. All these processes are all the specific manifestations of the action of qi transformation. If qi transformation is out of order, it will affect the digestion, absorption of food, the metabolism and transformation of food essence, blood and body fluid, the excretion of sweat, urine and feces and so on. To put it briefly, qi transformation is actually the process in which the substances in the body are metabolized and intertransformed. Although the above five actions of qi differ from one another, they are indispensable to maintaining human life. Their harmonious cooperation and mutual support ensure that the physiological activities are completed smoothly.
The Movement of Qi is known as "qi ji" qi activity. Qi in the human body travels throughout the body and reach all the
zang-fu organs and meridians to promote and activate the physiological activities of the human body.
Qi has four basic forms; ascending, descending, exiting and entering.These four forms are the basis of human's life activities.
Once these movements stop, it means that the life activities cease and death ensues.
The ascending, descending, exiting and entering of qi are mainly embodied in the physiological activities of the zang-fu organs, meridians and other processes of metabolism. For example, the lung governs respiration, exhaling pertains to exiting, inhaling to entering; and dispersing pertains to ascending, lowering to descending. The spleen sends the clear upward and the stomach
passes the turbid downward. So all kinds of physiological activities in the human body, essentially, are reflected in the four
movements of qi.
According to the sources, functions and distributions, qi is divided into four types: primordial (yuan qi), genuine qi (zhen qi), pectoral qi (zong qi), nutritive qi (ying qi) and defensive qi (wei qi).
1. Primordial qi, also known as genuine qi (zhen qi) is the most important of the four kinds of qi. It is the primary motive
force of life activities. Primordial qi derives from the congenital essence stored in the kidney, and depends on the acquired essence regenerated by the spleen and stomach. The book Miraculous Pivot makes it clear by saying, " Genuine qi (Zhen qi). is inherited from heaven (the parents) and combined with cereal essence to replenish the body.
2. Pectoral qi is formed from a combination of the fresh air inhaled by the lung and the cereal essence conveyed by the spleen
and stomach. Pectoral qi performs two main functions. One is traveling through the respiratory tract to promote respiration and the sufficiency or insufficiency of pectoral qi influences the conditions the voice, speech or breath and so on. The other is running through the heart-meridians to promote the circulation of qi and blood. The vicissitude of Pectoral qi is related to the flow of qi and blood, the body temperature and the activities of the trunk and limbs, the visual and aural perceptibility, as well as the strength and rhythm of the heart beat.
3. Nutritive qi is the qi that circulates together with blood in the vessels. Nutritive qi originates from the pure part of cereal
essence transformed by the spleen and stotmach and bears responsibility for the blood production and the nutrition of the whole body. Nutritive qi is considered as yin, so it is also called nutritive yin (ying-yin).
4. Defensive qi, like nutritive qi, comes from cereal essence, but, unlike nutritive qi, it runs outside the blood vessels. Defensive qi has the following functions: protecting the body surface against exogenous pathọgens, controlling the opening and closing
of the pores, adjusting the excretion of sweat, warming and nourishing the zang-fu organs, muscles and the skin with hairs, etc., maintaining a relatively constant body temperature. It is given the name "defensive qi" precisely because of its antiexogenous pathogenic action. Defensive qi belongs to yang, so it has another name defensive yang (wei-yang)," which presents a striking contrast with ying- yin as mentioned above.
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