8. What is the relation between the inter-promotion and inter-restriction of the five elements and the channels?

According to the Ling Shu, chapter 10 Jing Mai (on Channels), “the hand Taiyin Lung channel starts from the middle Jiao and winds downward to connect with the Large Intestine….” Here, the middle Jiao includes the spleen and stomach. The text implies the meaning of “earth generates the metal”. It says the Spleen channel as “….another branch reached up from the stomach to pass through the diaphragm and enter the heart.” This described the communication between the Spleen and the Heart, in which means the fire generates the earth. In the description of the Hand Shaoyin channel, it says “the branch running straightly forward ascends from the heart system to the lung.” This may explain the “fire restrains the metal.” As far as the Kidney channel, it says “the Kidney channels runs straightly from the Kidney and ascends through the liver and diaphragm and enter the lung….; its branch separates in the lung, joins with the heart, and disperses in the chest to link with the Pericardium channel.” This statement describes the relations of the Liver and Kidney, Lung and Kidney, and Heart and Kidney, etc. The Liver channel says “its branch separates from the liver, crosses the diaphragm and spread in the Lung.” This connects to the “metal restrains the wood.”