Liver opens at the eyes

The liver and the eyes are intimately related. The phrase the liver opens at the eyes appears in an enumeration of five phase correspondences in Essential Prescriptions of the Golden Cabinet (金匮要略 jīn guì yào lüè). The Magic Pivot (灵枢 líng shū, mài dù piān) states, Liver qì flows to the eyes; when the liver is in harmony, the eyes can identify the five colors, and Plain Questions (素问 sù wèn, wǔ zàng shēng chéng piān) states, The liver receives blood, so there is sight, These lines emphasize that the eyes are dependent on the nourishing action of liver blood. Insufficiency of liver blood may provoke such conditions as night blindness, dry eyes, and blurred vision; liver fire flaming upward can cause reddening of the eyes and painful swelling of the eyes; ascendant liver yáng can manifest as dizzy vision; and internal liver wind may cause a sideways or upward squint.

NB: Although the eyes are the specific orifice of the liver, the essential qì of all the organs is reflected in them. The Magic Pivot (灵枢 líng shū) states, The essential qì of the five viscera and the six bowels flows up into the eyes and becomes essence. Thus to some degree the eyes are associated with all the organs, and apart from their special relationship with the liver, the heart and the kidney are perhaps the next most closely related. Effulgent heart fire, for instance, is associated with reddening of the eyes, and insufficiency of kidney yīn is associated with diminished visual acuity. See eye.