The Lungs or Lung according to Chinese medicine plays a very central role in maintaining your health.

The lung is located in the chest higher than all the other viscera, it was given the name "florid panoply" [华盖 hua2 gai4]. It is also the most fragile of all viscera, so it is also called the delicate organ [娇脏 jiao1 zang2}. The lung's main function is governing qi and controlling respiration.

Functions:
The Lung Governs Qi[肺主气 fei4 zhu3 qi4]: "Governing qi" covers two aspects, respiratory function and the production of true qi[真气 zhen1 qi4]. From a western medicine standpoint, it is quite easy to understand that the lungs are centrally involved in the respiratory function. Clean, natural qi comes into the body through the wind pipe and into the lungs [吸入清气 xi1 ru4 qing1 qi4] where it is exchanged for turbid qi [呼出浊气 hu1 chu1 zhuo2 qi4]. This is made possible by the functions specific to the lungs, ensuring diffusion [宣发 xuan1 fa1] and depurative downbearing [肃降 su1 jiang4]. This process though not the same thing is similar to the exchange to oxygen and carbon dioxide in our blood. The production of the entire body's qi comes from the lung, especially pectoral qi [宗气 zong1 qi4]. Because qi is such central aspect of Chinese medicine, it is easy to see that the lung plays a huge role in ones health. Problems with this function can lead to shortness of breath, cough, asthma, lack of general strength.

The Lung ensures regular flow through the waterways [肺主通调水道 fei4 zhu3 tong1 tiao2 shui3 dao4]: The lung is very closely involved in the movement of fluids throughout the body or diffusion, one result of which is sweating. Depurative downbearing plays an essential role in moving of water to the bladder. Because of this the lungs were said to be the upper source of water [肺为水之上源 fei4 wei2 shui3 zhi1 shang4 yuan2]. Problems with this function can lead to edema and difficulty during urination.

All blood vessels converge in the Lung [肺朝百脉 fei4 chao2 bai2 mai4]: All of the blood in the body returns and assembles in the Lung where clean, natural qi can be then sent to the entire body. Problems with this function can lead to heart-throbbing, chest distress or full in the chest, and cyanosis in the tongue and lips.

To continue learning about the viscera, please click on the following Zang:



Heart Liver Spleen Kidneys