Guest guest Posted May 20, 2002 Report Share Posted May 20, 2002 Sorry for the tardy reply, we're swamped . . . I asked Nigel to comment on huan3 pi2: In Jiao's Ten Lectures, huan3 pi2 (relaxing the spleen) appears twice, once with sheng1 jin1 (engendering liquid) and once with (if I remember right) run4 chang2 (lubricating the intestines). The ¶Ë´H©ú²z½× Shang1 Han2 Ming2 Li3 Lun4 says: The Neijing says that when the spleen needs to be relaxed, relax it by quickly heating sweet [things]. Hemp seed and apricot kernel are moistening items. The Bencao says that moist things can eliminate desiccation. When the spleen and stomach are dry, they should be moistened with sweet, moistening items. Without reading too much into this, relaxing the spleen is meant as synonymous with the moistening function. Whether the ``stomach and spleen'' are meant as the digestive system in general, or whether they are understood here to supply the liquid necessary to keep the intestines moist, is not clear. But " relax " means not a distinct function, but rather ``when the spleen and stomach are dry, give your spleen a break.'' The other reason for " relax the spleen " is that hemp seed treats pi2 yue1 ``straitened spleen.'' If you look at straitened spleen in PD, you will see how the imagery of relaxation fits in. This is an example of the need to translate literally, " relax " / " straitened " carries over the huan3 / yue1 relationship in Chinese, at least to a certain extent. bob Paradigm Publications www.paradigm-pubs.com 44 Linden Street Robert L. Felt Brookline MA 02445 617-738-4664 --- [This E-mail scanned for viruses by Declude Virus] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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