Banking Earth to Control Water

CORE DEFINITION

A treatment principle from traditional Chinese medicine. The spleen is assigned to the earth phase and governs the transformation and transport of water and dampness. When the spleen is deficient, water stops moving and collects, presenting as edema. Rather than draining the pooled water directly, the method builds up the spleen so that fluid movement is restored and water returns to its proper channels. It is an instance of treating the root rather than the surface, and applies where the deficiency is genuine rather than where water is simply in excess.