What is the circulation of the eight characters?

I'm often asked by Yiyou: How do the eight characters circulate? I said: when you are lucky, you like to use God for circulation, but when you are unlucky, you avoid God for circulation. I also said: the eight-character circulation is like the flow of river water, with downstream and countercurrent. Downstream is the continuous coexistence of the five elements, which pushes them forward. Countercurrent is that some five elements in the column are restrained too much (which is inexhaustible), resulting in the non-circulation of these five elements. Use the way of inverse grams to restrain the strong and prosperous five elements, save these five elements and make them flow, just like a flowing river is blocked by rocks in a year, and blasting rocks makes the river flow.

Another Yi You asked me: What do the eight characters and five elements represent in the body and how do they circulate? This is a medical problem. The fifth part of the Great Theory of Yin and Yang in Huangdi's Internal Classic: Yin and Yang are the way of heaven and earth, the discipline of all things, the parents of change, the origin of life and death, and the house of gods. Treatment must be based on this. Therefore, the accumulation of yang is the sky and the accumulation of yin is the ground. Yin is static and Yang is impetuous, while Yang gives birth to Yin, and Yang kills Yin and hides. Yang gas, Yin forming. Extreme cold produces heat, and extreme heat produces cold. Cold is turbid, and hot is clear.

wind is born in the east, wind is born in wood, wood is born in acid, acid is born in liver, liver is born in tendon, tendon is born in heart, and liver is in charge of eyes. It is mysterious in heaven, humane in man, and humane in earth. Metaplasia has five flavors, Taoism gives birth to wisdom, and metaphysics gives birth to god. God is the wind in the sky, the wood in the earth, the sinew in the body, the liver in the dirty, the pale in color, the horn in sound, the shout in sound, the grip in change, the eye in the orifices, the sour in taste and the anger in ambition. Anger hurts the liver, and sorrow is better than anger; Wind hurts the tendons, and dryness wins the wind; Acid hurts tendons, but pungent wins sour.

in the south, heat generates fire, fire generates bitterness, and bitterness generates heart, and heart generates blood, blood generates spleen, and heart governs tongue. It is hot in the sky, fire in the ground, pulse in the body, heart in the dirty, red in the color, sign in the sound, laugh in the sound, worry in the change, pain in the mouth, bitterness in the taste and joy in the ambition. Happiness is sad, fear is better than happiness; Heat hurts qi, and cold beats heat; Bitterness hurts the spirit, but salty is better than bitter.

the center is wet, and the soil is wet, and the soil is sweet, which gives birth to the spleen, and the spleen gives birth to meat, and the meat gives birth to the lungs, and the spleen governs the mouth. It is wet in the sky, dirt in the ground, flesh in the body, spleen in the dirty, yellow in the color, palace in the sound, song in the sound, punch in the change, mouth in the mouth, sweet in the taste, and thinking in the heart. Thinking hurts the spleen, and anger overcomes thinking; Wet meat, wind wins wet; Sweet hurts the flesh, and sour is better than sweet.

in the west, dryness produces gold, gold produces pungent, pungent produces lung, lung produces fur, fur produces kidney, and lung governs nose. It is dry in the sky, golden in the ground, fur in the body, lung in the dirty, white in the color, business in the sound, crying in the sound, cough in the change, nose in the orifices, pungent in the taste and worry in the ambition. Sad lungs, joy wins sorrow; Heat hurts fur, and cold is better than heat; It hurts the fur, but the bitter wins the bitter.

in the north, cold produces water, which is salty, and salty produces kidney, which produces bone marrow, marrow produces liver, and kidney governs ears. It is cold in the sky, water in the ground, bone in the body, kidney in the dirty, black in the color, feather in the sound, groan in the sound, chestnut in the change, ear in the orifices, salty in the taste and fear in the ambition. Fear of hurting the kidney, thinking over fear; Cold hurts blood, and dryness overcomes cold; Salty hurts blood, and sweet wins salty.

hence the saying: heaven and earth are the masters of everything; Yin and yang, men and women of blood; Left and right, the road of yin and yang is also; Fire and water are signs of yin and yang; Yin and Yang, all things can begin. Therefore: Yin is included, and Yang is guarded; Yang is outside, so is Yin.

Chapter 52 of Wei Qi in Huangdi Neijing says: Five elements conform to the twelve meridians, chest qi has a running channel, abdomen qi has a running channel, head qi has a running channel, and so on. As for how the eight characters and five elements circulate in the body, they belong to the category of medicine, so I won't elaborate on them here.