The 6 External Evils (六淫)
Six pathogenic environmental factors that classical TCM identifies as the primary external causes of disease. Each maps to a Yin Yang Five Element pattern: wind to wood, heat (and fire) to fire, dampness to earth, dryness to metal, cold to water.
From Climate to Disease
Each of the six external evils has a normal climatic counterpart (the six qi 六气). Climate becomes pathogenic only when it is excessive, unseasonal, or invading a body whose defensive qi (wei qi) has been weakened by lifestyle, stress, or constitutional vulnerability. Understanding the six evils is foundational to TCM diagnosis: most acute illness in classical practice is read as a pattern of one or more evils invading the body.
The fire evil is the only one that arises primarily from internal causes (suppressed emotion, alcohol, prolonged stagnation transforming into heat) rather than from external climate. The other five enter through the body surface, especially through the nape of the neck and upper back where the wei qi is least dense.
Will the 6 External Evils of TCM actually work for you?
the 6 External Evils of TCM works for some constitutions and not others. The same TCM intervention that energizes one person can deplete another, depending on which Five Elements run strong, weak, or out of balance in their chart. Your free Energy Chart is the diagnostic blueprint that reveals whether the 6 External Evils of TCM is calibrated to your specific Yin Yang Five Element pattern, or whether a different approach would actually serve you.