The five kinds of liquids include sweat, snivel, tear, saliva and drool. TCM believes that these liquids are transformed by the five zang-organs.

The relationships between the five zang-organs and the five kinds of liquids are described this way:sweat is the liquid of the heart, snivel is the liquid of the lung, tear is the liquid of the liver, saliva is the liquid of the spleen and spittle is the liquid of the kidney.

(1) Sweat comes from body fluid and is excreted out of the body through sweat pores under the steaming of yang-qi. The heart pertains to fire in the five elements. Heart-fire transforms into yang-qi to steam body fluid which comes out of the skin and becomes sweat. Thus sweat is regarded as the fluid of the heart. Insufficiency of heart-yang results in oligohidrosis while superabundance of heart-fire brings on polyhidrosis.

(2) Snivel refers to the nasal mucus that can moisten the nostrils. Since the nose is the orifice of the lung, so snivel is the liquid of the lung. If lung-qi fails to disperse, the nose will become stuffy and running; if lung-heat impairs body fluid, the nose will be dry with scanty snivel.

     

(3) Tear comes from the eyes and can moisten the eyes. Since the eyes are the orifices of the liver, the tear is certainly the liquid of the liver. If there is wind-heat in the liver, the eyes will become tearing; if liver-yin is in- sufficient, the eyes will become dry because of scanty tear.

     

(4) Saliva refers to the thin part of the fluid in the mouth. It can promote the intake of food. Since the mouth is the orifice of the spleen, saliva is the liquid of the spleen. If the spleen is weak, there will be profuse of saliva running out of the mouth; if spleen-yin is insufficient, the mouth will be dry because of scanty saliva in the mouth.

    

(5) Spittle refers to the thick part of the fluid in the mouth. It can moisten the mouth and the tongue. TCM believes that saliva is produced at the mouth corners and spittle is produced under the tongue. Since the sublingual vein is connected with the kidney meridian, spittle is the liquid of the kidney. In terms of life cultivation, TCM holds that spittle is transformed from kidney-essence. That is why masters of life cultivation advocate to swallow spittle in order to enrich kidney-essence and cultivate health. If kidney-essence is deficient, spittle will become scanty and the mouth will become dry.