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Module 2   Lesson 3   Fei

The Lungs

Why, in TCM, do the skin, sweat and even urine belong to the Lungs?

After this lesson you can name the six functions of the Lungs, draw dispersing and descending, explain where the Wei Qi comes from and how the Lungs regulate the water passages, and read patterns 16 and 17 as functions that fail.

Lungs 肺 six functions, ch. 8 p. 130 1 govern Qi and respiration 2 disperse and descend 3 regulate the water passages 4 control skin and body hair 5 open into the nose 6 house the Corporeal Soul (Po) breathe, spray and sink, irrigate, cover, smell, feel element, season Metal, autumn climate Dryness colour, taste white, pungent emotion sadness, worry spirit Po 魄 fluid nasal mucus tissue skin, body hair orifice nose Fu partner Large Intestine sound crying odour rank (fishy) substance Qi
Functions after Maciocia ch. 8 (from p. 130). The ring from ch. 5 pp. 98 to 103; odour and sound are textbook knowledge, check them on pp. 102 and 103. Schematic.

Know by heart

  • Six functions. Govern Qi and respiration; control dispersing and descending; regulate the water passages; control the skin and body hair; open into the nose; house the Corporeal Soul (Po). mnemonic: the Lungs breathe, spray and sink, irrigate, cover, smell and feel.
  • Qi and breath. From air and Gu Qi the Zong Qi forms in the chest: for breath, voice and the Heart's pump. Weak Lungs: breathless, soft voice, tired.
  • Two directions. Dispersing (xuan fa): Wei Qi and fluids as a mist to the skin and pores. Descending (su jiang): Qi to the Kidneys, which receive it; fluids to the Bladder; support for the Large Intestine. mnemonic: a sprinkler and a lift going down.
  • Wei Qi. Flows outside the vessels (Ling Shu 18), warms the skin, opens and closes the pores, keeps pathogenic factors out. Textbook knowledge: rooted in the Kidneys, nourished by the Spleen and Stomach, spread by the Lungs.
  • Water passages. The Lungs are the upper source of water. Su Wen 21: the Spleen sends the fluids to the Lungs, which regulate the water passages and let them descend to the Bladder.
  • Correspondences. Metal, autumn, Dryness, white, pungent, crying; emotion sadness and worry; fluid nasal mucus; Fu Large Intestine. The Lungs dislike Cold (Su Wen 23); Su Wen 8: the minister, from whom order comes.
  • Patterns and red flag. 16: dispersing and protecting too weak; 17: a pathogenic factor blocks the dispersing (module 1, lesson 7). Breathless at rest, coughing up blood, a cough lasting more than three weeks: see a doctor first.

The rest of this lesson is reference.

Lungs: Why, in TCM, do the skin, sweat and even urine belong to the Lungs?
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Three practice questions from this lesson

Which one is not a function of the Lungs?
  1. Open into the nose
  2. Receive Qi
  3. Regulate the water passages

Answer: Receive Qi. The Kidneys receive the Qi that the Lungs make descend (module 1, lesson 5, the Lungs and Kidneys axis).

What are the two movements of the Lungs?
  1. Storing and smooth flow
  2. Rising and holding
  3. Dispersing and descending

Answer: Dispersing and descending. Xuan fa and su jiang. Rising and holding are the Spleen, storing and smooth flow the Liver.

According to Ling Shu 18, where does the Wei Qi flow?
  1. In the bones
  2. Outside the vessels
  3. Inside the vessels

Answer: Outside the vessels. The Ying Qi flows inside the vessels, the Wei Qi outside them, at the skin and in the cou li.

The rest of this lesson

In the course you get the step-by-step explanation, 16 case-based practice questions, 17 spaced-repetition flashcards, the pitfalls and the bridge to physiology with evidence grades. This lesson belongs to module 2: Organs.

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