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By Cofe Fiakpui
The Yin hai jing wei or “Essential subtleties on the silver sea” is a classical Chinese text on ophthalmology that has traditionally been ascribed to Sun si Miao (581-682). However, recent evidence shows that this text was probably compiled in the 14th or 15th century and thus could not have been written by Dr. Sun but rather comes from the Ni family lineage. The eye being the window into the Shen is also the main window through which one’s Shen perceives the outer world and comes to describe and categorize his or her environment. Although the eye is most closely connected in TCM theory with the liver, heart and kidney, all of the organs are connected with the eye and thus various pathologies of the internal organs are manifested in the eyes. This has been confirmed by the Western naturopathic science of iridology, which images the entire body on top of the iris as an accurate system of diagnosis. The “Essential subtleties on the silver sea” presents flowing, poetic descriptions of several eye pathologies, many of which are still commonly seen in clinical practice such as conjunctivitis, cataracts, stroke, glaucoma, trachoma, keratitis, xerophthalmia, trichiasis, corneal abrasions, mydriasis, strabismus and iridocyclitis. There are various philosophical principles underlying this text, which provide a profound understanding of the eyes as a reflection of nature. It states:
Human beings have two eyes, just as heaven and earth have the two luminaries (the sun and moon). They view all things and observe even the minutest. They reach everywhere. Just as sun and moon are at times obscure by the arrival of wind, clouds, thunder and rain, the eyes may lose their vision when they are harmed by four (climatic) influences or by the seven emotions. Generally speaking the eyes are an essential reflection of the five viscera and constitute an important junction for the entire body.
Each anatomical section of the eye is associated with a particular element and zang organ that corresponds to a particular sphere. The wood phase represented by the zang organ of the liver is called the wind sphere and corresponds to the iris. The heart and fire element is called the blood sphere and corresponds to the inner and outer canthi. The spleen and earth phase is called the flesh sphere and corresponds to the upper and lower eyelids. The lung being metal is called the qi sphere and corresponds to the conjunctiva. The kidney being water is called the water sphere and corresponds to the pupil. In a Chinese person with green eyes all of these correspondences would follow the typical five element color associations when there is no pathology present. The pupil is black and corresponds to water. The conjunctiva is white and corresponds to metal. The eyelids would be yellow and correspond to earth. The canthi are red and correspond to fire. The iris would be green and correspond to wood.
The etiology of ophthalmological diseases presented in the “Essential subtleties on the sliver sea is” no different than that of any disease in TCM. They are basically divided into exogenous and endogenous pathogenic influences. The text states, “If wind or heat accumulate in the body, or if the qi of any one of the seven emotions is repressed and constrained and fails to dissipate, these influences move upward and attack the eye. There they become manifest at that part of the eye that is associated with one of the five viscera from where these influences originate. As a result, there may be swellings and pain, photophobia, roughness and plenty of tears, or an obstruction may grow that makes vision dim or causes a complete loss of one’s eyesight.” This classic then goes on to describe 72 eye diseases in great detail listing the symptoms and the etiology of the diseases along with their treatments. These treatments consist of over 200 herbal formulas designed specifically for ophthalmology in various forms for both topical and internal usage as well as several minor surgical procedures acquired by the ancient Chinese physicians from Ayurvedic surgeons from the Indian Buddhist tradition. Since surgery is quite far out of our scope of practice today and because acupuncture was not included in this text, (although acupuncture points are mentioned for using moxa) I will focus this paper on the herbal treatment for the common ophthalmological disorders that occur today in the clinical setting.
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[...] Beautify the eyes by Acupuncture | Natural Living Voice [...]
[...] Beautify the eyes by Acupuncture | Natural Living Voice [...]
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[...] Beautify the eyes by Acupuncture | Natural Living Voice [...]
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