Biocharacteristics are used to describe the medicinal nature of diet, herb and lifestyle choices, as well as the nature of the client and/or disease.

Here is a list of most common biocharacteristics recognized across various medical traditions that use Biocharacteristics theory (Ayurveda, Unani Tibb, Greek Medicine, Chinese Medicine, Western Herbalism).

• Western Herbalist use the term 'Energetics' when describing Biocharacteristics.
• Ayurveda practitioners use the term '20 Gunas'
• Greek medicine uses the term 'Four Qualities'
• Chinese medicine uses the term '8 Principles'.

Typically, the biocharacteristic is used to describe a syndrome using the format "biocharacteristic in location (evidence). The syndromes are then related to each other by cause and effect in a pathogenesis flowchart.

Always select the most specific biocharacteristic for the group of symptoms.

Primary Biocharacteristic States

Each biocharacteristic below can be in one of 3 states - deficiency, excess, or corruption. Generally, these could refer to a change in either substance or function (activity).

• Deficient / Excess

  Ayurveda:

  • Excess of substance is vruddhi
  • Excess of activity is ati-pravrutti.
  • Deficiency of substance is kshaya.
  • Deficiency of activity is low Agni

  Chinese Medicine: Deficiency of substance can be equated to blood deficiency. Deficiency of activity to Qi deficiency.
  - Example: Underweight is a deficiency of substance. Hyperactive an excess of activity.
• Corrupted (Vitiated)

  Ayurveda: Vyaput
  - Example: ADHD is a corruption of nervous system activity

Example uses include "Qi Deficiency (fatigue), Deficient Blood (anemia), or Low Agni (poor digestion)".

6 Cardinal Biocharacteristics

• Dry / Wet (Moisture)

  In biocharacteristics systems, moisture is not merely water but a synonym for nourishment, such as the nourishment found in health blood plasma.

  Ayurveda: Dry / Oily
  Chinese Medicine: May be called 'damp' or 'misting'.

• Hot / Cold (Temperature)
• Tense or Stimulated / Lax (Tension)

  Ayurveda: Classified under Mobile

Secondary Biocharacteristics

These are called secondary because, treatment-wise, they are subclasses of the cardinal biocharacteristics above.

• Light / Heavy (Weight)
• Sharp / Dull (Penetration)

  Ayurveda: Sharp is synonymous with Fast. Dull is synonymous with Slow
• Thin / Thick or Congealed (Viscosity)

  Ayurveda: Dense / Liquid
  - i.e. Gallbladder sludge, mucus
• Deformed / Intact (Continuity)

  Ayurveda: Classified as Rough / Smooth.

  • Rough also includes sira-granthi (distension), degeneration, and/or broken (discontinuity disorders) such as a broken bone.
  • Smooth is sometimes translated as slimy (mucus) but a better term for Slimy is Coated.
  - i.e. Rough, degenerated, distended, or broken (Fibrosis, Broken Bone, Kidney failure, etc)
• Dissolved / Precipitated (Solvency)

  Ayurveda: Hard / Soft
  - i.e. Kidney stone
• Mobile / Rebellious / Stagnant (Mobility)

  Ayurveda: Stagnant could be stable (sthira) or slow (manda). Stable is stagnancy due to laxity (hypotonic muscle, apana), or low energy. Slow is stagnancy due to obstruction. Stimulation as well as upwards / rebellious movement (udana vayu) are considered Mobile.

  Chinese Medicine: Mobile is categorized as Heat, or Constraint in TCM. Rebellious movement is called Rebellious Qi in TCM.

  - Stagnant could also imply obstruction
• Subtle / Gross (Manifestation)

  Ayurveda: Synonymous with Size (Small / Large)
• Clear / Coated, Cloudy, Slimy or Sticky (Opacity / Coating)
• Cooked / Raw (Processed)

  Ayurveda: Classified under Toxicity (Ama) in Ayurveda.
• Pure / Toxic (Toxicity)

  Ayurveda: Ama
• Regular / Irregular (Regularity)

  Ayurveda: Irregularity is classified as Mobile in Ayurveda.
• Chronic / Acute (Duration)
• Infection / Parasite

Note the measurement of Strength (Strong / Weak) and levels of Function (High / Low) are synonymous with Deficiency / Excess. The 4 types of sroto-dushti in Ayurveda would classify as secondary biocharacteristics.

Mutagens, Doshas, Temperaments

Pathogenic processes that change your body are sometimes used in a biocharacteristic manner:

• Doshas (in Ayurveda) - Vata, Pitta, Kapha, Blood (Sri Lankan Ayurveda)
• Humors (in Greek Medicine) - Phlegmatic, Sanguine, Choleric, Melancholy
• Organs (in Chinese Medicine) - Liver, Gallbladder, Spleen, Stomach, Heart, Small Intestine, Lung, Colon, Kidney, Bladder, etc.

See more on Mutagens, Doshas, Temperaments.

Tastes & Elements

Classical medicine also used tastes and the elements in a biocharacteristic manner.

• Tastes - Sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter, astringent
  • Subtastes - Acrid, aromatic, bland
• Elements - Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Ether, Metal, Wood

You can further clarify the nature / circumstances by adding time, strength, direction (upward moving, downward moving, etc) to the biocharactertistic. For example, instead of dryness in the skin, one could add dryness moving upwards in the skin, etc.

Location

The biocharacteristic does not exist abstractly but describes an altered nature of a particular substance, organ or function (collectively called location). Examples of locations include:

• Systemically
• In tissues / substances - Diet, lifestyle, body, blood, lymph, phlegm, muscle, fat, bone, skin, nerve, waste product, hair, etc
  • Ayurveda Dhatus, Upadhatus, Srotamsi, Ojas, Tejas, Prana, or Mala
  • TCM also includes: Yin, Yang, Qi, Essence (Jing)
• In an organ or organ function - Liver, Kidney, Heart, Stomach, Intestines, etc
  • TCM also includes: Triple Burner, Interior, Exterior etc.
  • Ayurveda also includes: Agni, Pathways (marga)
• In a system or system function (Respiratory, Circulatory, Digestive, etc).
  • Ayurveda: Subdoshas, Srotamsi - Energy, Digestion, Water, Above Dhatus, Bowels, Urine, Sweat, Menses, Lactation, Mind

Sometimes, location will identify both a substance and a function as in "Dry in the Plasma of the Respiratory Tract". Pathogenesis in Biocharacteristics Medicine How the Biocharacteristic Theory of Medicine Works