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TCM Way

🛡️ The Six Stages: A Reading Path

Zhang Zhongjing's Shanghan Lun (Treatise on Cold Damage, 200 AD) maps illness as a journey through six defensive layers — from the body's surface to its deepest core. This 10-article series follows that path, one stage at a time. Start at the top and work your way down.

1
Taiyang 太阳 · Greater Yang
The body's outermost shield — where every invasion begins.
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2
Shaoyang 少阳 · Lesser Yang
Caught between surface and interior — the pivot point.
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3
Yangming 阳明 · Yang Brightness
Full-blown internal heat — the fire that won't go out.
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4
Taiyin 太阴 · Greater Yin
When cold reaches the interior — digestion fails.
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5
Shaoyin 少阴 · Lesser Yin
The deepest cold — when the body's vital fire flickers.
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6
Jueyin 厥阴 · Terminal Yin
The final layer — where hot and cold collide.

The Six Stages aren't just medical theory. They're a map of how life itself moves through us — from surface to depth, from health to illness, and back again. Zhang Zhongjing didn't write a textbook. He wrote a survival guide for the human body, and it's still the best one we have.

— Ollie