Spleen governs movement and transformation

The spleen is in charge of digestion. Food enters the stomach where it is decomposed. The spleen moves the fluids of the stomach, extracts the essence of grain and water (nutrients in food), and dispatches it to the other organs so that the essence is ultimately carried to all parts of the body. Modern writers explain this function as comprising digestion, assimilation, and distribution of nutrients. Plain Questions (素问 sù wèn) explains it in the following terms: Drink (饮 yǐn, imbibed fluid) enter the stomach, where it is churned and its essential qì is strained off. The essential qì is then carried to the spleen and further distributed by spleen qì. It passes up to the lung, which ensures regular flow through the waterways down to the bladder. In this way, water essence is distributed throughout the five channels and the four parts of the body. Because of its importance in providing nutrients for the production of blood and qì that maintain the life and health of the organism, the spleen is described as the source of engendering transformation (i.e., the basis of qì and blood production), and the root of later heaven (i.e., the chief factor in the acquired constitution). This productive aspect of the spleen explains the five-phase association with earth. Abnormality of the spleen’s government of movement and transformation is called splenic movement and transformation failure.