Taxation

1. Physical exertion.

2. Fatigue resulting from physical exertion. According to Plain Questions (素问 sù wèn), taxation causes wearing of qì.

3. Severe lasting wear and tear on the body by overexertion or lack of exercise, and in a wider context by intemperate living (including dietary irregularities and sexual intemperance), the seven affects (emotional imbalance), or enduring disease. The damage resulting from any of these factors is referred to as taxation fatigue or taxation damage (these terms also have other specific meanings; see taxation fatigue). The damage resulting from overexertion or lack of exercise is classically described in terms of the damage by the five taxations (prolonged vision damages the blood; prolonged lying damages qì; prolonged sitting damages the flesh; prolonged standing damages the bones; and prolonged walking damages the sinews). Damage by excessive sexual activity is called sexual taxation. The harmful effects of intemperate living and the seven affects are referred to as internal damage, and when they cause severe lasting wear and tear on the body, the resulting patterns are called vacuity taxation or vacuity detriment conditions.

4. Consumption (corresponding to pulmonary tuberculosis in Western medicine), a contagious disease that causes gradual wasting away of the body.

Etymology

Chin 劳 láo, toil, fatigue. Note in the context of the fourth definition that the homophone 痨, consumption, is the same character with the addition of the illness signifier 疒.