Difficulty 41

The liver alone is divided into two lobes—what does this correspond to?

Answer: The liver corresponds to the eastern wood phase in the five phases, and wood corresponds to spring. At this time, the ten thousand things are just beginning to grow, still young and immature. Consciousness has not yet attached itself to anything; it is still close to the greater yin (spleen) and not far from the greater yang (heart), as if harboring two minds. Therefore it is divided into two lobes, and this also corresponds to the leaves of trees.