| "Joy of the stomach means to be tonified" is seen firstly in A Guide to Clinical Practice with Medical Record,Consumptive Disease written by YE Tian-shi in the Qing Dynasty.The original text is "The stomach prefers to receive the food means to be tonified".It means that,the food that the human body is willing to accept is just the nutrition that the spleen and stomach need,play the role of adjusting and reinforcing.The original meaning and application of this theory is choosing the corresponding foods,rather than the simple "treating deficiency with tonification".It belongs to the scope of generalized Chinese medicine tonifying method.But Ye puts forward this proposition under special language environment,the concept and the principle on this proposition are not elaborated.According to some literatures,we can know that,the theory of "Joy of the stomach means to be tonified" has a long history,dating from The Yellow Emperor’s Internal Canon of Medicine.Thereafter,the theory is improved continuously.Although the medical scientists in the history have talked about it,they have never explained relevant connotation.In the broad sense,this theory is still worth to further studying.The modern scholars mainly focus on explaining its meaning and exploring its application,but it is still necessary to explore the connotation of this theory.This paper takes "Joy of the stomach means to be tonified" as the entry point,starts from the philology,and explores the original meaning of each word.Starting from the concept,grasping the deep meaning of this theory,exploring the connotation of generalized tonifying method,and analyzing its difference and relationship with the narrow sense of tonifying method.Starting from the philology,jointly research the connotation of tonifying method through sorting out the sources and contrasting the changes.And by means of applying logical methods,analyzing the mutual relation among stomach,joy and tonify,sum up the methods and features,analyzing the relationship between the body and Shen,and derive the theory of "Joy of the stomach means to be tonified".In fact,joy of the stomach is the image,while the fulfillment of Shen is the root.Through the evidence of treatment,nourishing of life,disease prevention and other aspects,comprehensively and systematically elaborate the connotation as well as theoretical and practical significance.1.Blood and Qi are Shen of the body,so tonifying stomach is tonifying Shen"Joy of the stomach means to be tonified" points out the tonification for the body and Shen.The first is to tonify the spleen and stomach,because the stomach is the reservoir for food and drink and the source of generating Qi and blood.Essence,Qi and Shen are the trinity;Qi is pivot;essence generates Shen;Shen converts to essence;once one of them is lost,all of them will be injured.Tonify the spleen and stomach and flourish the stomach and Qi;if Shen is enough,Qi is full;if Qi is full,Shen will be generated.The emphasis of tonifying method is recover gastric function.Comply with"Joy" to tonify the stomach,transform food and drink,in order to recover essence and Qi,and then the transporting,transforming and distributing functions get normal,thus the remaining organs will get benefits.Stomach,Joy and Tonify are polysemic characteristics.Stomach refers to gastrointestinal and digestive function;Joy refers to favor and applicability;Tonify refers to treat and nourish.Joy of the stomach can take favorite food as tonification on body and Shen.In Chinese Medicine,the spleen and stomach are a whole,that means"Joy of the stomach" also include the likes of the spleen.Stomach likes dryness while spleen likes wetness,they should be treated separately.Different patients have different likes,due to specific conditions,different mood.Choosehappinessandjoyto the stomach,is the method whichtreatment according to syndrome differentiation and searching for the primary cause of disease in treatment.2.Tonification can tonify the body and Shen togetherPhysiological state of bodies reflects whether Shen mechanism is quiet and peaceful or not;likes and dislikes of Shen also reflect internal demands of the bodies.Shen plays a dominant role in the bodies,while bodies can also support Shen.Follow the expression of bodies,and tonify the needs of bodies,vital essence gets full,and then Shen gets to be tonified.Shen is gentle,smooth and steady and is full of vital essence,which may make bodies directed to normal state,balanced and healthy.This is the law of physiology,and so is the law of pathology.Bodies’ diseases resulting in abnormal emotion and abnormal emotion resulting in bodies’ diseases,that is to say,the bodies and Shen suffering from illness at the same time,will gradually become the consensus of medical circle.The body and Shen are the whole,and they can’t be separated."Treating deficiency with tonification" give first place to bodies,when "joy of the stomach" take Shen as the principal thing.We should clarify the meaning of bodies’ likes,follow the likes of Shen,in order to make Shen settled and bodies healthy,as well as make both the body and Shen regulated.Tonifying Shen and bodies complement each other.Therefore,we must abide by healthcare method of bodies’ like and Shen’s like,and shouldn’t care for this and lose that.3."Joy of the stomach means to be tonified" point out that "Joy" is the rules of treatment in tonifyingThere are two kinds of tonifying methods.One is the usual so-called tonifying method,and the other is what takes the likes and dislikes of Shen as the principal.Currently less is concerned about the latter,and "Joy of the stomach means to be tonified" is one application of it as well as a good summary for tonifying method.Shen has likes and dislikes,and so is the appetite.Modern research believes that,the stomach and intestine are the second brain of the human body;what the stomach likes is just what Shen favors,so regulating the stomach is tonifying Shen.The stomach likes the pure and neutral food,which can make the mood and the body healthy as well as make Yin and Yang of the body balanced.The favorite foods are usually gentle and wide.Contrarily,sick people don’t want to eat,and Shen also doesn’t like foods.The mind and bodies can be regulated due to the pleasing of the stomach,and the bodies and Shen can get healthy due to tonifying the stomach.The five flavors can satisfy the five internal organs,and the five internal organs have partiality for the properties of the five flavors.We can follow this theory to recover the functions of Shen and bodies.The application of tonifying method attribute to the likes.ZHANG Cong-zheng has the thought of attacking the evil as tonifying the deficiency;reach the purpose of eliminating evil and balancing bodies.The internal damage and deficiency referred to by LI Dong-yuan mean the abnormal of body function.Recovering function is tonifying,and eliminating evil is the likes.The narrow sense of nourishing Qi and blood as well as reinforcing Yin and Yang are the same as "Joy of the stomach means to be tonified",and are a kind of application.Likes and dislikes are the main points in broad sense tonifying method.So,strengthening body resistance and eliminating evil can be as tonification,which should be paid more attention in the clinical experience.4.Relativity and absoluteness of likes and dislikesAs to human being,the differences between likes and dislikes are like the differences between relativity and absoluteness.Love ease and hate work as well as seek life and hate death are due to human nature.Likes and dislikes also show the state of illness is widely different,varying from person to person.Therefore,each person takes what he needs and follows what he likes.Likes and dislikes can be transformed mutually.Likes can play the role of tonification,but excess can also cause disease;dislikes are harms,but sometimes can benefit the body and Shen.The grasp of likes and dislikes depend on the doctors and patients,which being people-oriented accord with medical knowledge.During the process of health maintenance,prevention and cure,joy is important in deed,but we should also pay attention to its degree.This is so-called "sickness from overuse".Excessive happiness and excessive sadness is the root of illness,so tonification seems beneficial but need moderation.Don’t spill over and cause danger.At the same time,pay attention to distinguishing between desires and likes.Don’t confound desire and likes of Shen,carefully examine necessary demands of bodies,and take what the body and Shen are suitable for as likes,but desires are dislikes in fact.Therefore,tonify following the likes,make Shen and the body as the whole,so Shen and the bodies will get healthy,and diseases can be prevented. |
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