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Chapter 10 of 20
本草纲目
Vernacular Interpretation of "Compendium of Materia Medica · Grains Section" Bu Gua · Classical Chinese Medicine Study
The "Grains Section" of the Compendium of Materia Medica primarily documents grains, legumes, and foodstuffs and medicinals produced through grain processing and fermentation. Li Shizhen recorded a vast array of ancient folk experience and knowledge from preceding pharmacopoeias under categories such as nomenclature, properties and flavors, and indications. The core content is organized below into three categories.
Hú Má (Sesame) 🌿: Sweet in flavor, neutral in nature. Ancient practitioners used it for pain and weakness in the lower back and feet, soreness and slight swelling of the hands and feet, early-stage externally contracted wind-cold, heat strangury (burning, painful urination), furuncles and malignant sores, hemorrhoidal swelling and pain, insufficient breast milk postpartum, burns and scalds, and failure of eyebrows to grow. Methods of use included oral administration, wine soaking, external application, and washing with decocted solution.
Dà Má (Hemp / Cannabis Seed):
Má Bó (hemp flowers) were used for memory decline, early-stage scrofula, numbness after knife wounds, and wind-induced numbness.
Má Rén (hemp seed), the fruit of the hemp plant, served as a common moistening laxative in ancient times; for example, Má Rén Wán (Hemp Seed Pill) was used for constipation and frequent urination. It was also used for amenorrhea, wasting-thirst disorder, bloody dysentery, stagnant blood due to falls, hair loss and failure of hair regrowth, and infantile scalp sores.
The leaves, stems, and roots of hemp each have documented internal and external uses. The original text explicitly indicates that hemp leaves and hemp stalks are toxic, and strict distinction is even more important in modern practice.
Xiǎo Mài (Wheat):
Wheat grain is sweet in flavor and slightly cold in nature. Fú Mài (blighted, immature wheat grains) was used for spontaneous sweating and night sweats.
Wheat bran could be applied externally or taken internally for postpartum deficiency sweating, scarring, hematuria, heat sores, and burns and scalds.
Wheat flour was used for internal injury with bleeding, severe hemorrhage, diarrhea and dysentery, sore throat, breast abscesses, bleeding knife wounds, blisters on the feet, and burns from fire, primarily applied externally or taken orally.
Wheat seedlings benefit the small intestine and counteract alcohol toxicity; wheat stalk ash was used to remove warts and moles and to erode malignant flesh.
Dà Mài (Barley): Salty in flavor, warm to slightly cold in nature. Used for bloating and restlessness after overeating, and urinary retention; when stir-fried black and ground into powder, it was applied externally for burns and scalds.
Què Mài (Oats): Sweet in flavor, neutral in nature. The grain can satisfy hunger and moisten the intestines; the seedling was used for retained placenta.
Qiáo Mài (Buckwheat): Sweet in flavor, neutral to cold in nature. Used for cough with counterflow qi, edema with wheezing, reddish and whitish vaginal discharge, dysentery, carbuncles and deep-rooted sores on the back, burns and scalds, scrofula, small intestinal hernias, and abdominal pain with diarrhea.
Dào (Glutinous Rice): Bitter in flavor, warm in nature. Used for cholera with restlessness and thirst, wasting-thirst disorder, dysentery, persistent nosebleeds, persistent spontaneous sweating, vaginal discharge, threatened abortion, and lower back pain with deficiency cold. The water used to wash glutinous rice clears heat and quenches thirst, and counteracts toxins; rice stalk ash was used for wasting-thirst disorder, throat obstruction, hemorrhoids, and burns and scalds.
Jīng Mǐ (Japonica Rice): Sweet and bitter in flavor, neutral in nature. Used for cholera with vomiting and diarrhea, spontaneous sweating, heart and stomach qi pain, threatened abortion with abdominal pain, and furuncles. Xī Èr Gān (the second washing water of rice) clears heat, relieves irritability and thirst, and promotes urination.
Xiān Mǐ (Long-Grain Rice): Sweet in flavor, warm in nature. Its primary functions are warming the middle and replenishing qi, nourishing the stomach and harmonizing the spleen, and dispelling dampness and stopping diarrhea.
Jì (Proso Millet / Panicum): Sweet in flavor, cold in nature. Used to supplement the middle and replenish qi; applied externally to treat abscesses on the back; the root was used for heart qi pain and difficult labor.
Shǔ (Broomcorn Millet): Shǔ Mǐ (broomcorn millet grain) is sweet in flavor and warm in nature; used externally to relieve pain and eliminate scars. Dān Shǔ Mǐ (red broomcorn millet) stops cough and reduces fever; the stalk and root promote urination, stop wheezing, and reduce edema.
Shǔ Shǔ (Sorghum): Sweet, astringent in flavor, warm in nature. Warms the middle, astringes the intestines and stomach, and stops cholera; the root promotes urination and stops wheezing and fullness.
Yù Shǔ Shǔ (Corn / Maize): Sweet in flavor, neutral in nature. Regulates the middle and opens the stomach; the root and leaves were used for sandy strangury.
Liáng (Millet Varieties):
Huáng Liáng Mǐ (yellow millet) stops cholera and dysentery, promotes urination, and removes irritability and heat.
Bái Liáng Mǐ (white millet) is used for stomach deficiency with vomiting, unremitting cholera, and externally applied for warts on the hands and feet.
Qīng Liáng Mǐ (black-green millet) is used for spleen deficiency with diarrhea and dysentery, cold qi heart pain, and blood strangury in the elderly.
Sù (Millet / Foxtail Millet): Salty in flavor, slightly cold in nature. Used for stomach heat with wasting-thirst disorder, nausea and vomiting of food, persistent nosebleeds, and burns and scalds; the millet washing water (Sù Gān Zhī) was used externally for hot, red, swollen eyes and chancre sores.
Cān Zǐ (Yard-long Millet) and Bài (Barnyard Millet): Cān Zǐ supplements the middle and replenishes qi, and fortifies the stomach and intestines; bài rice boosts qi and strengthens the stomach; its seedlings and roots were applied externally for bleeding knife wounds.
Yì Yǐ Rén (Coix Seed / Job's Tears): Sweet in flavor, slightly cold in nature. It is a representative medicinal for draining dampness and strengthening the spleen, used for wind-dampness bodily pain, edema with wheezing and rapid breathing, sandy and heat strangury with stones, wasting-thirst disorder, lung atrophy with cough and purulent blood, carbuncles that fail to rupture, toothache due to worms, hernias, jaundice, roundworms, and amenorrhea.
Yīng Zǐ Sù (Opium Poppy – Poppy Seed and Shell):
Poppy seeds are sweet in flavor and neutral in nature; the poppy shell is sour, astringent in flavor and slightly cold in nature. Ancient practitioners used them for nausea and vomiting of food, reddish and whitish dysentery, unremitting chronic dysentery, watery diarrhea, chronic cough, and chronic cough with spontaneous sweating.
Among these, Ā Fú Róng (Opium) is a processed product of the poppy. Ancient practitioners once used it for chronic dysentery and reddish and whitish dysentery, but this substance is highly addictive and extremely toxic, requiring the utmost vigilance. It must never be used on one's own authority.
Dà Dòu (Black Soybean): Sweet in flavor, neutral in nature. Used for wind-stroke with deviation of the mouth, heat toxin attacking the eyes, edema of the body and face, hard masses in the abdomen, persistent watery diarrhea, blood in stool in men, stagnant blood from fractures and injuries, toothache, and retained placenta. Soybean skin was applied externally for pox-induced corneal opacity and infantile ash sores.
Huáng Dà Dòu (Yellow Soybean): Sweet in flavor, warm in nature. Relaxes the middle and directs qi downward, promotes large intestine movement, and reduces water swelling and toxin swellings. Ground powder mixed with warm water was applied to pustules and sores after pox.
Chì Xiǎo Dòu (Red Adzuki Bean): Sweet and sour in flavor, neutral in nature. It excels at promoting urination, reducing swelling, eliminating toxins, and expelling pus. Used for edema, dysentery, intestinal hemorrhoids with bleeding, toothache, blocked lactation, early-stage carbuncles, erysipelas, and frequent urination.
Lǜ Dòu (Mung Bean): Sweet in flavor, cold in nature. Clears heat, removes toxins, dispels summer heat, and promotes urination. Used for infantile erysipelas with swelling, reddish dysentery, wasting-thirst disorder, poisonous sores after pox, and edema. Lǜ Dòu Fěn (mung bean starch/flour) was used for cholera with vomiting and diarrhea, counteracting arsenic poisoning, miliaria, and early-stage toxic swellings.
Wān Dòu (Peas), Cán Dòu (Fava Beans), Jiāng Dòu (Cowpeas), Biǎn Dòu (Hyacinth Beans), Dāo Dòu (Jack Beans):
Peas stop diarrhea and dysentery, promote urination, and reduce abscesses and swellings.
Fava beans quicken the stomach and harmonize the viscera.
Cowpeas regulate the middle and replenish qi, and tonify the kidneys and strengthen the stomach.
Hyacinth beans strengthen the spleen and transform dampness, used for cholera with vomiting and diarrhea, and reddish и whitish vaginal discharge; hyacinth bean flowers were used for profuse uterine bleeding and diarrhea and dysentery.
Jack beans warm the middle and direct qi downward, benefit the intestines and stomach, stop hiccups, and tonify the kidneys and supplement the original qi.
Dà Dòu Chǐ (Fermented Soybean / Light Douchi): Bitter in flavor and cold in nature, or salty and cold. Ancient practitioners used it for externally contracted cold conditions requiring sweating, stuffiness and fullness in the chest, bloody dysentery, malaria, night sweats, phlegm wheezing, knee contracture and bone pain, throat obstruction, mouth and tongue sores, fetal restlessness, erysipelas, back abscesses, and injuries from falls and blows.
Dòu Fu (Tofu): Sweet and salty in flavor, cold in nature, mildly toxic. It harmonizes the stomach and spleen, eliminates distension and fullness, descends turbid qi from the large intestine, and clears heat and disperses blood stasis.
Zhēng Bǐng (Steamed Bun/Кусок): Sweet in flavor, neutral in nature. Used for infantile strangury, chronic longstanding rectal bleeding, reddish и whitish dysentery, flooding (profuse uterine bleeding), night sweats and spontaneous sweating, fractures, and burns and scalds.
Qū (Fermented Grain Starter), Shén Qū (Medicated Leaven), Hóng Qū (Red Yeast Rice):
Qū Relieves Food stagnation and transforms accumulations; used for stagnation of grains and food, reddish и whitish dysentery, and bleeding due to alcohol toxin.
Shén Qū is sweet, acrid in flavor, and warm in nature; it strengthens the spleen and dispels food stagnation, used for weakness of the spleen and stomach, deficiency-cold nausea and vomiting, sudden diarrhea, postpartum fainting, and heart pain due to food accumulation.
Hóng Qū Dispels food stagnation, invigorates blood, strengthens the spleen, and dries the stomach, used for reddish и whitish dysentery, qi-blood pain in women, and incomplete lochia postpartum.
Niè Mǐ (Sprothed millet, millet sprouts, rice sprouts, malt):
Sù Yá (millet sprouts) transform food stagnation, stimulate the appetite, and relieve irritability.
Gǔ Yá (rice sprouts) quicken the spleen and open the stomach, dispel food and transform accumulations.
Mài Yá (malt) dispels food and harmonizes the middle, used to relieve diaphragm stuffiness and promote appetite, grain-consumption disorder, and indigestion; also used for postpartum constipation and to stop lactation.
Yí Táng (Maltose / Barley Malt Syrup): Sweet in flavor, greatly warm in nature. Used for restlessness and thirst in the elderly, fish-navel furuncles, toxic sores, and burns from fire.
Jiàng (Fermented Soybean Paste / Sauce): Salty in flavor, cold in nature. Applied externally for burns and scalds; taken internally for arsenic poisoning, vaginal bleeding during pregnancy, and hematuria during pregnancy.
Cù (Vinegar): Sour and bitter in flavor, warm in nature. Used for cholera with vomiting and diarrhea, leg cramps (gastrocnemius spasms), axillary bromhidrosis, carbuncles that fail to rupture, toothache, centipede bites, burns and scalds, and hard breast abscesses.
Jiǔ (Wine / Alcoholic Beverages):
Mǐ Jiǔ (rice wine) is bitter, sweet, acrid in flavor, greatly hot in nature, and toxic. Ancient practitioners believed it could potentiate the action of medicinals, unblock blood vessels, moisten the skin, and disperse dampness.
There are also many medicated wines, such as Wújiāpí Wine (Acanthopanax bark wine), Yìyǐrén Wine (Coix seed wine), Dìhuáng Wine (Rehmannia wine), Gǒuqǐ Wine (Wolfberry wine), Rénshēn Wine (Ginseng wine), and Fúlíng Wine (Poria wine), mostly used to supplement deficiency, dispel wind-dampness, strengthen sinews and bones, and unblock blood vessels.
Shāo Jiǔ (Distilled Spirits / Baijiu) is acrid, sweet in flavor, greatly hot in nature, and highly toxic. Ancient practitioners used it for cold accumulation with cold qi, damp phlegm, opening stagnations and accumulations, killing worms, and preventing miasmic disease, but the risks są extremely high, and overconsumption or arbitrary self-use must Be strictly avoided.
Zāo (Fermented Grain Lees / Distillers' Grains):
Jiǔ Zāo (wine lees) used externally for chapped hands and feet, crane's-knee wind (swollen knees), and bruising and swelling from falls and blows.
Dà Mài Cù Zāo (barley vinegar lees), stir-fried hot and applied as a hot compress externally, was used for qi stagnation with wind constraint and joint pain of the hands and feet.
Gān Táng Zāo (dried malt sugar lees) used for nausea and vomiting of food due to deficiency and weakness of the spleen and stomach.
The core philosophy of the Grains Section is that medicine and food share a common origin, and the five grains nourish.
Ancient physicians believed that grains are predominantly sweet in flavor and neutral, slightly warm, or slightly cold in nature, primarily entering the spleen and stomach meridians. The spleen and stomach are called the "root of acquired constitution" and the "source of qi and blood transformation"; the generation of qi, blood, and body fluids depends on the spleen and stomach's transformation and transport of grains and water. Therefore, the foundational functions of many grains and legumes are to supplement the middle and replenish qi, strengthen the spleen and harmonize the stomach, percolate dampness, and stop diarrhea.
Among the legumes, red adzuki beans and mung beans are偏向 cold in nature, emphasizing promoting urination, clearing heat, and removing toxins; black soybeans Lean towards nourishing properties, simultaneously invigorating blood и promoting urination; white hyacinth beans tend towards strengthening the spleen and transforming dampness.
Fermented products such as fermented soybeans, leavens, medicated leaven, malt, vinegar, and wine reflect the TCM principles of "decomposing ripe grains" and "dispersing and resolving", that is, leveraging the nature of fermentation to aid digestion, disperse exterior pathogens, activate qi, and invigorate blood.
Additionally, the extensive use of external application, washing, ash burning, and vinegar mixing in the Grains Section demonstrates that ancient folk medicine valued simplicity, convenience, efficacy, and economy, skillfully using everyday foods to treat trauma, sores, ulcers, and skin issues.
From a modern nutritional perspective, grains and legumes indeed form the basis of dietary structure. They are rich in carbohydrates, vegetable protein, dietary fiber, B vitamins, and various minerals.
For example, Hú Má (sesame) contains unsaturated fatty acids and vitamin E, Bénéficiant to the skin and intestines to some extent; Yì Yǐ Rén (coix seed) contains components such as coix seed oil and polysaccharides, and modern research suggests anti-inflammatory and immune-modulating effects, though it cannot replace medical treatment.
Mung beans and red adzuki beans have certain diuretic, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant effects; malt and medicated leaven contain amylase and yeast organisms that aid digestion, thereby providing a degree of corroboration for the ancients' understanding of "dispelling food and transforming accumulations".
However, historical limitations must be objectively acknowledged. Many methods recorded in ancient texts — such as "burning to ash," "soaking in vinegar," and "external application" — lack rigorous modern pharmacological and clinical validation.
Particularly, entries involving hemp, opium, and distilled spirits concern toxic or addictive components; their historical uses cannot be directly adopted.
Records such as external application of arsenic and using grain stalks to counteract arsenic poisoning fall into the category of extremely high-risk content and Must Be entirely rejected as models for imitation.
Accounts in ancient texts concerning "prevention of conception" and "induction of abortion" can only serve as historical literature research, never as real-world guidance.
This content is based on classic traditional Chinese medicine literature and is provided solely for the study and research of traditional culture. It does not constitute any medical diagnosis, medication advice, or treatment recommendation; if you are unwell, please seek medical attention promptly.