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Eight Extraordinary Vessels
Dai Mai divides the body into top and bottom. The Wei
and Qiao vessels coordinate the various life events and
cycles and are responsible for the aging process.
Physiology, Characteristics and Functions
Fertility and Conception
The Eight extraordinary
vessels, as channels in charge of managing and dis-
tributing
Jing
≈
Essence, all play a fundamental role in
fertility as well as in conception. The specific role of
each will be analysed further in the chapter.
At the time of conception, the human being receives
three constitutional energies
·
·
Yuan
≈
Source Qi: life principle, joining all life forms
to the source the
Tai Yi
·
·
Jing
≈
Essence of the parents, which can be assimi-
lated to the modern genetic code, defining the form
·
·
Zong
≈
Ancestral Qi: the cosmic Qi at the moment
of conception defining the
Ming
≈
Destiny and fate
According to Master Yuen, during conception, the
parents provide their
Jing
(morphology), combining
with the cosmic Qi. During intercourse the Kidney is
grasping the
Dai Qi
≈
Cosmic Qi, also referred to as
Zong Qi
≈
Ancestral Qi, to make it Earth-bound. The
Lung as reflective of cosmic Qi, descends into the Kid-
neys and that allows the
Po
– the Earth bound spirit,
which is the most material aspect of one’s soul, to come
in to the Kidneys. In this manner the
Dai
≈
Cosmic
Qi gets infused into the genetic code supplied by the
parents
Jing
.
Embryology
The unfolding of the inherited ener-
gies from the first cell, which carries the parental
Jing
and the cosmic
Zong-Qi
, is under the responsibility of
ChongMai
. After the fertilisation of the egg and during
the first cellular division, there is first a polarisation of
the cell fromwithin, with the two centriols moving to
the opposite sides of the cell. After the separation and
duplication of the chromosomes a cleavage takes place,
which I believe it to be coordinated by the
Dai Mai
.
There are now two identical sister cells. Once there
are eight cells, the future embryo has spatial polarity:
front and back, above and below: the
Ren
≈
Conception
and
Du
≈
Governing
Mai
are developing.
By the sixth day the egg implants in the uterine cavity
becoming an embryo. By the third week there is the
appearance of a clear axis and the development of the
three layers: Ectoblast, the origin of the skin and the
nervous system, Endoblast, from which will evolve
the digestive system, and the Mesoblast producing
the skeleton, muscles, the Heart and the circulatory
system as well as the Kidneys.
The elongation of the embryo follows the cranial ex-
tension of the original Fire:
Mingmen
or Kidney-Fire,
which will later manifest as Kidney-Yang, produc-
ing the Digestive-Fire, which will become the Spleen
and Stomach-Yang and finally the Heart-Fire, which
will later extend further to the head and the brain to
coordinate and maintain the mental functions and
consciousness,
Shen Ming
. In this manner the three
Fire zones are identified, representing the future Triple
Warmer or Triple Burner areas.
The first organs to be formed are the Curious
Fu
≈
Bowels, the spinal cord, the brain and the bones.
The Heart is the first
Zang
organ to develop, followed
by the Kidneys. By the fourth week the first two sen-
sory organs, eyes and ears appear.Their development is
complete by the fourth lunar month. By the fifth lunar
month, the five senses are functional, there is recogni-
tion of sounds and voices; the Kidneys consolidate,
bones and tendons solidify and the first movements are
perceived. At this stage the temperament is established
and it is believed that the foetus communicates with
the mother through her dreams.
Chong Mai
maintains the coordination and the un-
folding of the embryological processes up to the time
of birth.
The
Wei
and
QiaoMai
become really active only when
the Kidneys have reached their first stage of maturity,
that is, around the age of seven or eight years. Until
then the infant relies mainly on the mother’s transmit-
ted “rhythms” (spacio-temporal characteristics), as
well as for immunity.
Relation to Jing
≈
Essence
The Eight extra ves-
sels derive their Qi from the Kidneys, and more
precisely from the Kidney’s
Jing
≈
Essence, which
supports post-natal Qi, hence it is said that all the
Eight Extraordinary Vessels are rooted in the Kidneys.
Fig. 1
Conception and the three constitutional energies
Yuan Qi
Cosmic
Zong Qi
Father’s
Jing
Mother’s
Jing
Conception
