The Liver

The first part of the book presents the liver and gall bladder in Neijing Suwen chapter 8 and continues by looking at the five phase resonances of wood and liver as set out in Suwen chapters 2, 4, 5, and 9.

The second part discusses the physiology and functions of the liver, its relationships with qi and blood, with emotions, with digestion and assimilation, the muscular forces (jin) and with jue yin. All of these explorations are well rooted in textual references and explanations of Chinese characters.

The third examines the causes of disease and related symptomatology. There is a short section on the gall bladder, and finally a discussion of the syndromes of the liver and gallbladder.

An appendix brings together key texts from the Neijing and one of the major commentaries, and gives a brief summary of principal causes of disease, symptoms and syndromes. An index contains all the Chinese terms found in the book along with the main concepts.

The liver is a manifestation of strength and the great, visible impulse of life. …This facility is found in all the functions of the liver: in storing the blood, in the defence of the body, and its actions on the muscles.