The Five Chakras in TCM Ophthalmology

In Chinese ophthalmology, the eye is divided into five parts: the lid, the canthus, the white eye, the black eye, and the pupil, which correspond to the five internal organs of the spleen, heart, lung, liver, and kidney, named the flesh chakra, blood chakra, qi chakra, wind chakra, and water chakra, collectively known as the “five chakras. According to an examination, the term “five chakras” first appeared in the “Song of Liu Hao’s Eye Theory of Quasi” in the late Tang Dynasty. Among the extant medical texts in China, the “Tai Ping Sheng Hui Fang – Treatise on the Eye” is the earliest record. As for the name of the various parts of the eye as “wheels”, the explanation in the “Treatise on the Five Chakras” is that it means “its image is like a wheel moving in a circle”. The doctrine of the five chakras originated from the Nei Jing. For example, the “Spiritual Pivot” says: “The essence of the five viscera and six bowels are all injected into the eyes as the essence. The areoles of essence are the eyes, the essence of bone is the pupil, the essence of tendon is the black eye, the essence of blood is the complex, the areoles of gas are the white eyes, the essence of muscle is the restraint, wrapped around the essence of tendon, bone, blood and gas and with the veins and as a system, up belongs to the brain, after out of the item.” Generally pointed out the relationship between the various parts of the eye and the viscera. On the basis of this theory, later medical practitioners developed the theory that the eye is partially divided into the five chakras, which belong to the five viscera, so as to explain the anatomy and physiology of the eye, pathology, and to guide the clinical treatment of diseases, that is, the theory of the five chakras.