:: October 2005 Volume 4/Number 7

Energy Equals Elements

By Robert Sachs

Image by Zdenek Zumr L.Ac, zdenekzumr@aol.com

The Eastern systems of Chinese medicine and Ayurveda share an understanding that the universe, along with our bodies, is comprised of five elements. The Five Elements, or Transformations, as they are often known those studying the Chinese system, are often referred to as the Five Great Elements, or Maha Panchabhutas, in Ayurveda. Essentially, these elements represent the manifestation of a polarity (in Chinese, Yin and Yang) as expressed in expanding and contracting archetypal energies that are constantly in motion or a state of flux.

While in both systems the metaphoric names are the same for three of the elements, there are two whose names differ due to how each is perceived in the two systems.

CHINESE AYURVEDIC
Wood or Tree Ether or Space
Fire Fire
Earth Earth
Metal Air
Water Water

The different names assigned for the elements in Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda is mainly a matter of semantics. Take the Chinese Wood or Tree and the Ayurvedic Ether or Space, for example. The nature of potentiality – a seed sprouting to roots and shoots - is reflected in the Wood or Tree energy. From something seemingly dormant, there arises that which roots itself and at the same time, reaches into heaven.

Ether or Space brings to mind the following teaching of the Heart Sutra: Form is Emptiness, Emptiness is Form; Form does not differ from Emptiness; Emptiness does not differ from Form. Out of nothing (ether or space), something arises. This also relates to the nature of potentiality, and takes the energetic concept of the seed to a more subtle level. Ayurveda views the origins of the Five Great Elements, Ether, as “the mystery,” akin to the Chinese idea of Tao and the concept of the un-carved block.

What about Metal and Air? Metal is used in the Chinese system to represent the full maturity of the elemental process become material manifestation. It is symbolic of well-tempered metal, that couldn’t possibly become any stronger. In a living being or entity, this strength is the direct result of each and every cell being fully oxygenated. Thus, Metal looks at the strength of the form itself and in the Ayurvedic system, Air refers to the energy that infuses that well-tempered form.

The more material representation of the Chinese system leads to a use of the Five Elements in a way that may at first seem more tangible, while Ayurveda seizes on the more subtle, energetic approach. This comes across in the way in which the elements relate to each other, and to the rest of both Eastern medical systems. The Chinese system contains a number of laws that govern the Five Elements. The primary is the Law of Regeneration: Wood gives rise to Fire which gives rise to Earth, which gives rise to Metal, which gives rise to Water. There is also the Law of Control, or what is sometimes called the “death cycle,” simply because, energetically, the corresponding body elements and the organs and systems collapse according to this order in the process of dying.

In the Ayurvedic system, the Five Elements come together to form three distinct energies or doshas: vata, pitta and kapha. Earth and Water are in a dynamic relationship that creates kapha dosha. Water and Fire (and in the Tibetan system Fire and Air as well) are in a dynamic relationship creating the pitta dosha. Air and Space are in a dynamic relationship that creates the vata dosha.
The elements arrange themselves into matter—our physical body—through the transformative bridge of the subtle body. (The anatomy of the subtle body, the meridians and nadis, are discussed in the companion article to this piece.) The subtle or energetic body is integral to how a practitioner works to support an individual’s health, an important distinction between Eastern and Western forms of medicine. A practitioner’s goal in both systems is to maintain the balance of these energies in the body. The mechanism by which we come into balance differs due to the cycles and meetings of the Five Elements.

Robert Sachs is the author of several books, among them, The Passionate Buddha: Wisdom on Intimacy and Enduring Love. He has pursued studies in Asian healing arts, including Indian and Tibetan Ayurveda for over a decade. diamondwayayurveda.com

 

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