True Water / Zheng Shui
Updated 2026-08-01
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
True water (zheng shui) is the classical Chinese medicine pattern of generalized edema arising from decline of kidney yang, which can no longer transform and govern water. Fluid collects in the lower burner, producing abdominal fullness without breathlessness. The pattern is fundamentally a deficiency of the kidney with an excess of retained water, so treatment warms the kidney, restores yang, and restarts the transformation process, with water draining as a secondary effect.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
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- Valve failure: read the edema as a failure at the base valve that governs water rather than a local leak - Root versus surface: treat kidney yang decline as the cause and the retained water as the consequence - Restart first: restore transformation instead of only draining what has already pooled
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Water metabolism depends on kidney yang to transform and move fluid. When that function fails, fluid no longer circulates and settles in the lower burner, producing generalized swelling with abdominal fullness, while the absence of breathlessness helps separate this pattern from one driven by the lung. Draining alone removes the current pool but leaves the failing transformation untouched, so the fluid returns. Warming the kidney restarts the process and makes drainage effective.
MINIMUM ACTION
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Source support: Explicit
- baike.baidu.comhttps://baike.baidu.com/item/%E6%AD%A3%E6%B0%B4verified
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