THE FUNCTION OF THE THREE BURNERS The nature of the Triple Burner function can be described as: enhances and controls harmony between people, parts of oneself (Fire, Earth, etc.), levels and functions of the brain (left and right, medulla, midbrain, and cortex). This harmony enhances the flexibility for the mind to see all sides of life, all sides of an issue, another or new viewpoint, all in the service of wise function and a change of mind (metanoia) ineluctable to creativity (something strongly associated with Heart Yin). The Triple Burner enables one to entertain and integrate different impulses, ideas, and relationships into appropriate harmonious function with the flexibility for change and the acknowledgment of boundaries and individuality. In the
Zhong Zang Jing, Hua Tuo wrote: "The Triple Burner is the source qi of man's three-part origin. It is named the Clear and Central of the fu organs. It gathers, binds together, directs the five zang and six fu, and glorifies and safeguards the channels and vessels. It is the qi of inner and outer, right and left, up and down. The Triple Burner connects and harmonizes, and therefore communicates between everything that is inner, outer, right, left, up, and down. It pervades and irrigates the entire body, harmonizes inner and outer, glorifies the left, nourishes the right, directs upwards, and drains downwards. There is nothing greater!"
5 BURNERS Please keep in mind in the following discussion of the Triple Burner that we are speaking of human beings and not of inanimate objects as so many medical dissertations do, whether from the East or the West. The implications of the significant physiological presence and role of the Triple Burner in each burner are defined by the functions of that burner from a Chinese medical perspective. Most of these are obvious, such as circulation and respiration in the upper burner, digestive, biochemical and metabolic (liver, pancreas) functions in the middle burner, and sexual, urinary, and bowel functions in the lower burner. Below is a discussion of some of the less obvious functions of each burner. These discussions are made always in the context of the basic functions of the Triple Burner as already discussed: homeostasis, harmony, stability, balance, movement (origin and direction), communication within (such as the gastrocolic reflex) and between burners (including the channels, mesenteric plexus, and brain), energy transformations (such as those within the Liver), its function as a gatekeeper (manifesting in the skin, mouth, nose, eyes, ears), and its control function as a thermostat.
Upper Burner (Amour - Love) The upper burner roles are dominated by affairs of the Heart (amour-love) which are referred to as the
cream of all physio-psychological functions. These affairs are fed by the spirit. Antoine de St. Exupery, in
The Little Prince, summed it up: "One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes." The Triple Burner assists the ability of the Heart to reach out to, or withdraw from, the world. The integrity of the upper burner tells us how well we can reach out to the world. It also instructs us in the practice of taking the world in with the awareness of our creative being and with the strength to communicate. It protects our being and helps us to maintain mental and emotional stability despite the "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" with which we are all constantly bombarded. The Triple Burner is also deeply involved in the Kidney's relationship to the brain (the Marrow) as explained in my articles on Heart-Kidney Harmony and Disharmony
6. The Triple Burner is one of the four aspects of the Fire phase and intimately involved with Heart function. I repeat that the Heart is the emperor, and the Triple Burner runs the empire. We have described above that the Triple Burner controls what comes into our inner world and into our lives, and it also controls what is excluded. As part of the Fire phase, it assists the Heart to reach out to, or withdraw from, the world. The integrity of these upper burner roles tells us how well we can take the world in with awareness of our creative being. Two patients come to mind concerning the ability to allow the Heart to be open or closed. The first asked me to feel the Heart position, which was easily accessible on her pulse. A few minutes passed, and she asked me to access it again: I felt nothing. She informed me that she could open her Heart or close it at will. Another woman was known for falling in and out of love frequently and was most open about it. When she was in love, her left distal position (Heart) was clearly palpable, and when she was not in love one could not access the left distal position. I have had experiences with patients who could actually alter their entire pulse. This phenomenon, called 'propagated sensation', was being studied by Guan An Man Hospital in Beijing, China in 1981, where I worked while studying acupuncture in China; I was able to participate due to being sponsored by the World Health Organization. This study included all of China and demonstrated a very well-accepted, if not understood, occurrence (I believe that is still the case today). Patients came from everywhere, accompanied by relatives. I have written about it in my article
The Pulse and the Individual, published in The American Acupuncturist, Spring 2008, Volume 43.
Communication The Triple Burner enhances the Heart's ability and strength to communicate. Communicating involves the ability of the Heart to reach out to the world and to share the individual's awareness of themselves, others, and life, within the realm of reality with what I (and others) call the
third eye and the
third ear. These extrasensory perceptual abilities inform us about what is not being heard through our ears, and what is not being seen through our eyes. Communication involves our ability to listen with our ears and brain as well as with our Heart. Likewise, communication - of course - involves our ability to speak from the brain as well as from the Heart. Volumes have been devoted to that subject. Here we need say with regard to the Triple Burner only that one of its roles is collating the logical deductive left and intuitive inductive right brain as well as the diencephalon, midbrain, and cortex. With the Heart, for both listening and speaking, we access our creative self (Heart yin) and formulate it so that others can understand (Heart yang). We protect our being (Pericardium yin), project Heart yang (Pericardium yang), and maintain mental and emotional stability despite those slings and arrows of outrageous fortune (Triple Burner). How well we can handle shock or recover from grief is discussed in
Dragon Rises, Red Bird Flies in the chapter on the Fire phase, as well as in my articles on shock
7. In accessing our creative self, we are performing an act of insight, of knowing and discovering ourselves. From this hidden recess of our being, we communicate with and inspire others, and we heal through touch with the laying on of hands. We allow ourselves to be touched. I consider this a function of the Triple Burner (accessed through TB-6). However much this is a private world, we need to be seen, touched, and loved for who we truly are by another, and we need to see, know, love, and touch another. It is in this context that we understand the wisdom of "the more you give the more you have (receive)," where people give their life for another, or for others. Strangely, I have experienced this only in war, when strangers truly can and do become brothers. The upper burner, the home of the Fire and the Heart, of pain and sorrow, is nevertheless the
cream: the "sweet joy of life." As we have discussed above, the Triple Burner maintains homeostasis and is the stabilizing, harmonizing, and connecting-communicating dynamism for all these upper burner, life-enhancing, Heart events. MIDDLE BURNER (AGAPE - CARITAS) Bonding is one of the Triple Burner's most significant functions as the manager, organizer, and regulator of the middle burner. The subject of bonding is extensively described in Chapter 11 of
Dragon Rises, Red Bird Flies. In the dawn of recorded history, we find worship of statuettes of the Earth Mother (Venus figurines). At the time I wrote
Dragon Rises, Red Bird Flies, I had not yet appreciated the role of the Triple Burner in general and concentrated my discussion on Earth energetics. The Triple Burner as a part of the Fire phase is a mother of the Earth, and the Earth (Spleen, Stomach) and Small and Large Intestines depend upon the Triple Burner for its regulatory functions: the Triple Burner controls what goes out and what comes in. Bonding is one of the prime functions of the Spleen, and it depends upon the Triple Burner for the timing, the appropriateness, and the balance of that bond in the context of other relationships. Instances when the Triple Burner failed to prevent parental neglect are all too common as witnessed by the number of orphanages and by the ubiquity of the increasing need for psychotherapeutic services, especially for depression, suicides in young people, and suicide and drug habituation at all ages. The failure of the Triple Burner to maintain a balance in bonding between mothering and marriage is one that I have witnessed often in my psychoanalytic...
