Our ancestors viewed the human body as a microcosm. In particular, Donguibogam often compared the digestive organs to the most important 'cooking pot' in our body. It considered the spleen and stomach responsible for thoroughly 'boiling and steaming' food in this pot to transform it into nutrients needed by the body.
Here, the spleen does not merely refer to the Western anatomical pancreas or spleen that secretes digestive enzymes. Rather, it is a very broad organ concept that encompasses digesting food, absorbing nutrients, and regulating fluid metabolism throughout the body. You can think of it like a furnace that lights a hot fire to properly cook the grain in the pot and manage any overflowing water.
However, what happens when this furnace weakens? Because the flame becomes weak, food does not cook properly, and water control falters as well. Donguibogam describes this state as 'spleen deficiency with dampness exuberance.' In other words, the spleen's function becomes deficient, causing an accumulation of dampness—damp, sticky waste products—in the body.
In this state, fluid metabolism falters, and the process of 'separation of fluids and cereals,' which sends clear energy upward and heavy waste downward, breaks down. It is like a soup that fails to boil and stays lukewarm, leaving the solid ingredients and broth clumped together rather than separating cleanly. As a result, 'failure to separate fluids and cereals' occurs, leading to watery diarrhea where water and grains are discharged together without separation.
At times, 'undigested food in stool' even occurs, where consumed food passes out in the stool without being digested. When stress or tension (viewed in Donguibogam as 'liver qi stagnation') is added, the spleen shrinks further in function and deteriorates, giving rise to fecal urgency where one runs straight to the restroom right after meals. It is just like how an agitated mind weakens the embers in the furnace. It is a signal from the body that needs warm care.
