Chinese Cosmology’s symbols and its Medicine reveal a profound connection between the nature of breath and the way to dettachment.

Chinese Cosmology and the organs of the body

In Traditional Chinese Medicine there are five main organs which are associated with the five movements¹, part of their metaphysics. These are, in their creative order: water, associated with the kidneys; wood, with the liver; fire, with the heart; earth, with the stomach; metal, with the lungs.² For each movement, there are images that helps one to understand the qualities of an organ and its association with the others. Such qualities span across a variety of senses. For the lungs — what matters for this discussion, for they relate to breath —, the Metal element is associated with the autumn season, the color white, with the skins and hair, and with the emotions of sadness and grief. Metal is also the “Heaven” trigram (☰) in the I Ching, which is associated with the pure Yang energy, and its Hexagram (䷀) is called “Creative”.

All of these symbols related to Metal have some relation to dettachment, but we’ll focus on the Lungs, its relationship to breath, and its characteristic feelings. It’s important to understand that the Mind and Body in Chinese Cosmology are one holistic whole. Thus, what happens in one’s Mind is reflected in the functioning of one’s body, and vice-versa.

Lungs and breath

The Lungs are related to our breath. In Chinese Medicine, it spans to other areas of the body, since everything is connected. As it is said in the Huangdi Neijing³, “it communicates with the throat, and opens into the nose”, which are the ways one uses to breath.

Breath is the constant movement of air. In truth, everything that is alive and working properly should be in movement, for stagnation is the sign of disease and death. In this, we see the ultimate sign of dettachment in the lungs, for air is that which we never even think about. Our breathing is constant, yet transparent and automatic. There you bear the physical sign of emptiness, which is associated with true dettachment, where you “work” without any conscience of your work; breath the air, essential to your vitality, without realizing it, or wanting to keep it, for, if you try to, you’ll die shortly.

Lungs, sadness and grief

As said, the Lungs, in Chinese Medicine, are related to the feelings of sadness and grief.

Though not as easy to define as grief, sadness has to do with attachment when it is related to loss – which is the case of grief – and the resistance to change. We feel sad when we have a hard time accepting our situation because we hoped it could be otherwise, usually better. It also may come out of disappointment, which has to do with unmet expectations. In these cases, there’s the sense of attachment in all cases, with wished situations, unwillingness to accept the current reality and the will of it to be different, like the images we created in our head, which are not real.

We can see the reflection of sadness and grief in our breath. Someone who’s sad — attached to some image or thought — has a shallow breath, tending to stop; there’s a tendency to stagnation. All systems are connected, and what happens in the mind is reflected in one’s body and behavior. Thus, the difficulty of letting thoughts and things go is reflected in our breath; in a difficulty of cycling the air through the lungs, not letting things come and go naturally.

Breath and meditation

Daoist meditation is the practice of emptying oneself. This process can involve breath, in a continuous dettachment of everything that is not consciousness, then, towards the Void, which is beyond conscience. Though it’s one of the first steps, the practice of transferring your conscience to your breath shows how it’s a step towards the achievement of total dettachment. That’s why some many practices across the cultures involve breath in their spiritual exercises of transcending themselves, which is, in essence, the abdication of one’s Self.⁴

In the breathwork involved with meditation, there’s an alchemical use, where the constant attention to breathing — mainly a physical activity — produces a change in one’s psyche. Through transferring your conscience to breath, and, thus, “becoming the flowing air”, there you are able to let go of things. Some people describe it by saying that through breathing exercise’s one is able to expel thoughts, emotions, and every other calcified object in one’s psyche that holds them back from flowing naturally. Notice, then, the connection, once again, with attachment: that which is stuck in us is put in movement through breath.

Concentration as the transformative cause

It’s worth noting that simply breathing can’t change anyone’s psyche naturally. If so, no one alive could ever have attachment issues. Yet, the contemplation of the nature of breath and its meaning is what can be the transformative cause of one’s psyche. Meditation is concentration, which is a conscious act, and not unconscious, requiring one to “work” with the Mind.

This shows that the nature of air and our breath reveal to us a profound truth about life and its nature. But, being a revelation, it is perceived through our Mind and Conscience. Thus, breathing is a symbol of dettachment, but not the way of achieving it, per se. In this kind of practice, it is always stressed that there’s a work of concentration and attention in the breathing itself, and that it can never work if one lets the mind wondering through random thoughts.

Thus, be mindful of your breathing, and, then, you might acquire its nature and become able to flow naturally through life, without being attached to things that drag you behind.