Diagrammatic Exploration of Origins: A General Map of Heaven-Earth-Human Qi Transformation

The overall diagram of Heaven–Earth–Human qi-transformation compiled by the elder Chen Dingsan may be read from the center outward as follows. The detailed elements within each ring are omitted here; see the Spacetime section for those.

Central core (Layer 0) | Pivot of Taiji and Central Qi
The Yin–Yang fish of Taiji (clear rising, turbid descending) and the central Wu–Ji Earth, representing the transformative pivot of Spleen and Stomach.

Ring 1 | Four Images and Five Phases
The Four Images include black and white dots, signifying Yang within Yin and Yin within Yang. The Five Phases occupy the four directions with Earth at the center/transition.

Ring 2 | Earlier-Heaven Eight Trigrams
Primarily represents paired oppositions of Heaven and Earth.

Ring 3 | Later-Heaven Eight Trigrams
Primarily represents circulation, transformation, and generation.

Ring 4 | Twenty-Four directional sectors
Combines the Twelve Earthly Branches, eight Heavenly Stems, and four corner trigrams into the twenty-four mountain directions.

Ring 5 | Four directions and seasonal climate
The regularities of birth, growth, transformation, gathering, and storage through the four seasons.

Ring 6 | Twenty-Four Solar Terms

Ring 7 | Six Qi governing time

Ring 8 (outermost) | Six Channels and zang-fu governing order
Jueyin—Liver/Gallbladder; Shaoyin—Heart/Small Intestine; Shaoyang—Sanjiao/Pericardium; Taiyin—Spleen/Stomach; Yangming—Lung/Large Intestine; Taiyang—Kidney/Bladder.

Several points need attention when using this diagram.

Although the twenty-four mountain directions are used frequently in fengshui, if one looks toward the polar region at an appropriate tilt, the Earth’s twenty-four longitudinal sectors can be viewed as analogous boundaries. In this framework they belong to the same broader family as the Three Yin–Three Yang and the Twelve Earthly Branches. In a time–space conversion, one traditional double-hour corresponds conceptually to two time-zone-like longitudinal sectors.

Birth, growth, transformation, gathering, and storage are functional phases. They are not restricted to the annual scale of five seasons, including Late Summer. The same functional cycle can be modeled at smaller time scales. For example, the Mirror Classic of Bian Que describes a Lung-cycle passage as:

The qi of Heaven communicates with the Lung and returns; storage and return meet in qi-interchange; the true qi of the zang is elevated in the Lung; the Lung receives the hundred qi; one inhales the clear and exhales the turbid.

Here, the “qi of Heaven” undergoing birth–growth–transformation–gathering–storage may provisionally be understood, at least in part, through the inhaled atmosphere—including oxygen—as participating in such a functional cycle. By the same reasoning, other important bodily resources such as Blood, Essence, and Fluids may also be considered through analogous cycles within the traditional model.

The Twenty-Four Solar Terms and the time-order of the Six Qi both relate primarily to the ecliptic framework of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. Yet the Six-Qi pattern can be extended to other scales. A twelve-year cycle is used for Heavenly Administration (si tian); a twelve-month cycle can be used in calendrical systems as a monthly pillar (not simply the lunar month, which requires caution); and a twelve-double-hour cycle gives the daily time branches.

In the outer Six-Channel/zang-fu governing ring, a zang leads its paired fu. An interior–exterior channel pair can be imagined as an energetic “highway” allowing exchange between the two paired organs. For example, the Foot Taiyin and Foot Yangming channels mediate the Spleen–Stomach pair; this helps explain why the Ling Shu chapter on channels describes each channel as “connecting with” its paired organ.

The order of the Six-Channel zang-fu governing sequence is also the order of the host qi in Five Movements and Six Qi. The same order has further been compared, in this research framework, with a Möbius-like circulation across left and right cun–guan–chi pulse positions.