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Chapter 5 of 33
神农本草经
Overall Paraphrase
The Shennong Ben Cao Jing (The Divine Farmer's Classic of Materia Medica) classifies herbs into three grades: upper, middle, and lower. Upper grade drugs were believed by the ancients to be non-toxic and suitable for long-term consumption. Their primary function is to nourish life—that is, to nourish the body, prolong life, lighten the body, and delay aging—equivalent to what is now called "medicine and food share the same origin" or daily health maintenance products.
This chapter records seventy-three species in the upper grade of the Herbs section, with Acorus calamus (Shichangpu) listed first. Acorus calamus is acrid in taste and warm in nature. The ancients believed it can unblock arthralgia caused by wind-cold-dampness in the joints, direct counterflow downward to stop cough, open the heart orifices, tonify the five viscera, and free the nine orifices, making the ears acute, the eyes clear, and the voice resonant. Prolonged use makes the body light and agile, strengthens memory, prevents confusion, and even prolongs life. It is also known as "Changyang" and grows beside ponds and marshes.
Chrysanthemum (Juhua) is bitter in taste and balanced in nature. It primarily treats dizziness caused by wind pathogens, head swelling and pain, eyes distending with pain as if about to pop out, and incessant tearing. It also improves numbness and necrosis of the skin and wind-damp arthralgia. Long-term use harmonizes qi and blood, lightens the body, and delays aging. It is also called "Jiehua" and grows by rivers, marshes, and fields.
Ginseng (Renshen) is sweet in taste and slightly cold. It greatly supplements the qi of the five viscera, calms the spirit and the ethereal and corporeal souls (in Chinese medicine, the "hun" belongs to the Liver and the "po" belongs to the Lungs—these are two aspects of mental-spiritual activity), stops palpitations and fright, expels pathogenic qi, brightens the eyes, opens the heart orifices, and increases wisdom. Prolonged use lightens the body and prolongs life. It grows in mountain valleys.
Asparagus cochinchinensis (Tianmendong) is bitter in taste and balanced in nature. It treats sudden hemiplegia and unilateral arthralgia caused by sudden wind-dampness pathogens, strengthens the bone marrow, kills the "three worms" (the ancients' collective term for internal parasites), and eliminates "fulu" (the ancients' term for stubborn, latent pathogenic influences). Prolonged use lightens the body, boosts qi, and prolongs life.
Licorice (Gancao) is sweet in taste and balanced in nature. It harmonizes cold and heat pathogens in the five viscera and six bowels, strengthens the sinews and bones, fleshes out the muscles, and multiplies physical strength. It treats sword and knife wounds and resolves all toxins. Prolonged use lightens the body and prolongs life.
Dried Rehmannia (Gan Dihuang) is sweet in taste and cold in nature. It treats injuries from falls and strikes, damage to sinews and fractures of bones, injury to internal organs, dispels blood bi (a state of obstruction caused by unsmooth blood flow), fills the bone marrow, and promotes muscle growth. Decoctions taken orally treat conditions of cold and heat accumulation and remove arthralgia. Fresh material is more effective. Prolonged use lightens the body and prevents aging.
Atractylodes (Shu; Baizhu/Cangzhu) is bitter in taste and warm in nature. It treats arthralgia caused by wind-cold-dampness, muscle numbness and necrosis, spasms, and jaundice. It stops sweating, reduces fever, and aids digestion. It can be made into cakes for consumption. Prolonged use lightens the body, prolongs life, and endures hunger.
Dodder seed (Tusizi) is acrid in taste and balanced in nature. It reconnects fractured sinews and bones, supplements deficiency and weakness, strengthens physical strength and qi, and makes one plump and robust. Its juice can remove dark facial spots. Prolonged use brightens the eyes, lightens the body, and prolongs life.
Achyranthes (Niuxi) is bitter and sour in taste. It treats flaccidity and arthralgia due to cold-dampness, spasms of the four limbs, and knee pain that prevents bending and stretching. It dispels damage from loss of blood, reduces fever, treats ulceration from fire burns, and has the effect of inducing abortion (the ancients' recognition of its contraindication during pregnancy). Prolonged use lightens the body and resists aging.
Motherwort fruit (Chongweizi) is acrid in taste and slightly warm. It brightens the eyes, benefits essence, and promotes urination to reduce edema. Its stems can be boiled in water for bathing to treat skin rashes and itching. It is also known as "Yimu" (benefiting the mother) and "Yiming" (benefiting the eyes).
Polygonatum odoratum (Nüwei; Yuzhu) is sweet in taste and balanced in nature. It treats sudden fever after wind strike, inability of the limbs to move, sinew injury and muscle binding, and various states of deficiency and insufficiency. Prolonged use removes dark facial spots, moistens and brightens the complexion, lightens the body, and prevents aging.
Peucedanum (Fangkui) is acrid in taste and cold in nature. It treats hernial accumulations, diarrhea, heat binding in the bladder, difficult urination, cough and wheezing, warm malaria, epilepsy, and mania. Prolonged use strengthens the bone marrow, boosts qi, and lightens the body.
Bupleurum (Chaihu) is bitter in taste and balanced in nature. It treats distension and fullness in the chest and abdomen, dispels accumulated qi stagnation in the intestines and stomach, resolves food stagnation, cold-heat pathogens, and promotes metabolism ("promoting the new while eliminating the old"). Prolonged use lightens the body, brightens the eyes, and benefits essence.
Ophiopogon (Maimendong) is sweet in taste and balanced in nature. It treats distension and fullness in the heart and abdomen, qi binding, damage to the center, damage to the stomach from overeating, exhaustion of the stomach collateral vessels, emaciation, and shortness of breath. Prolonged use lightens the body, delays aging, and endures hunger.
Angelica pubescens (Duhuo) is bitter in taste and balanced in nature. It treats pain from invasion of wind-cold, stops pain from sword and knife wounds, treats "running piglet" qi (a condition where the patient feels a sensation of qi rushing upward from the lower abdomen to the chest and throat), epileptic convulsions, and female hernial accumulations. Prolonged use lightens the body and resists aging.
Plantago seed (Cheqianzi) is sweet in taste and cold in nature, and non-toxic. It treats difficult urination due to qi obstruction, stops pain, promotes urination to relieve stranguria, and dispels damp arthralgia. Prolonged use lightens the body and resists aging.
Aucklandia (Muxiang) is acrid in taste. It treats pathogenic qi, wards off poisonous epidemics and warm-epidemic pathogenic ghosts, strengthens willpower, and treats incessant dribbling urination. Prolonged use ensures peaceful sleep without nightmares.
Dioscorea (Shuoyu; Shanyao) is sweet in taste and warm in nature. It treats internal organ damage, deficiency and fatigue with emaciation, dispels cold and heat pathogens, supplements the center, boosts qi, and increases muscle mass. Prolonged use makes the ears acute and the eyes clear, lightens the body, endures hunger, and prolongs life.
Coix seed (Yiyiren) is sweet in taste and slightly cold. It treats sinew tension, joint contracture preventing flexion, wind-damp arthralgia, and directs qi downward. Prolonged use lightens the body and boosts qi. Its root can expel the "three worms."
Alisma (Zexie) is sweet in taste and cold in nature. It treats wind-cold-damp arthralgia, promotes lactation and urination, nourishes the five viscera, boosts qi and strength, and makes one plump and robust. Prolonged use makes the ears acute and the eyes clear, prevents hunger, prolongs life, and gives the face a lustrous appearance (the ancients had the saying "can walk on water," which is an exaggerated description of the effect of lightening the body).
Polygala (Yuanzhi) is bitter in taste and warm in nature. It treats cough, damage to the center, supplements deficiency, dispels pathogenic qi, frees the nine orifices, increases wisdom, sharpens hearing and eyesight, enhances memory, strengthens willpower, and multiplies physical strength. Prolonged use lightens the body and prevents aging. Its leaves are called "Xiaocao."
Gentiana (Longdan) is bitter and astringent in taste. It treats alternating cold and heat between the bones and joints, convulsions from fright, and epilepsy. It dispels pathogenic qi, reconnects sinew and bone injuries, stabilizes the five viscera, and kills gu toxins. Prolonged use benefits wisdom, enhances memory, lightens the body, and resists aging.
Asarum (Xixin) is acrid in taste and warm in nature. It treats cough, headache, cerebral discomfort, contracture of all joints, wind-damp arthralgia, and muscle numbness. Prolonged use brightens the eyes, frees the nine orifices, lightens the body, and prolongs life.
Dendrobium (Shihu) is sweet in taste and balanced in nature. It treats internal organ damage, relieves arthralgia, directs qi downward, supplements the five viscera in deficiency and fatigue, reduces emaciation, and strengthens yin. Prolonged use strengthens gastrointestinal function, lightens the body, and prolongs life.
Morinda (Bajitian) is acrid in taste and slightly warm. It treats severe wind pathogenic conditions, impotence with inability to erect, strengthens the sinews and bones, stabilizes the five viscera, supplements the center, strengthens willpower, and boosts qi and physical strength.
Solanum lyratum (Baiying) is sweet in taste and cold in nature. It treats alternating cold and heat, wastingthirst (a condition resembling diabetes with excessive drinking and urination), supplements the center, and boosts qi. Prolonged use lightens the body and prolongs life.
Artemisia stelleriana (Baihao) is sweet in taste and balanced in nature. It treats pathogenic qi of the five viscera, wind-cold-damp arthralgia, supplements the center, benefits qi, promotes hair growth and makes it black, treats palpitations, poor appetite, and constant hunger. Prolonged use lightens the body, sharpens hearing and eyesight, and prevents aging.
Gastrodia sprout (Chijian) is acrid in taste and warm in nature. It treats ghostly pathogens and goblins, gu toxins, and malign qi. Prolonged use boosts qi and strength, strengthens yin, makes one plump and robust, lightens the body, and increases longevity.
Artemisia annua fruit (Anlüzi) is bitter in taste and slightly cold. It treats blood stasis in the five viscera, accumulation of water qi in the abdomen, abdominal distension with fever, wind-cold-damp arthralgia, and pain throughout the body. Prolonged use lightens the body and prolongs life without aging.
Thlaspi seed (Ximingzi) is acrid in taste and slightly warm. It treats eye pain with tearing, blurred vision, relieves arthralgia, supplements the five viscera, benefits essence qi, and brightens the eyes. Prolonged use lightens the body and prevents aging.
Achillea fruit (Shishi) is bitter in taste and balanced in nature. It boosts qi, fleshes out the body, brightens the eyes, and makes one intelligent with foresight. Prolonged use prevents hunger, prevents aging, and lightens the body.
The Six Zhi (Ganoderma) (Red Zhi, Black Zhi, Green Zhi, White Zhi, Yellow Zhi, Purple Zhi): Six types of Lingzhi, each corresponding by color to one of the five viscera—Red Zhi benefits Heart qi,Black Zhi benefits Kidney qi,Green Zhi supplements Liver qi,White Zhi benefits Lung qi,Yellow Zhi benefits Spleen qi,and Purple Zhi benefits essence qi, strengthens the sinews and bones, and improves the complexion. The ancients believed that prolonged use of any of the six Zhi could lighten the body, prevent aging, and prolong life, and even achieve "immortality."
Selaginella (Juanbai) is acrid in taste and warm in nature. It treats pathogenic qi of the five viscera, female cold-heat pain of the genitals, accumulations and conglomerations, amenorrhea, and infertility. Prolonged use lightens the body and makes the complexion harmonious and moist.
Indigo fruit (Lanshi) is bitter in taste and cold in nature. It resolves various toxins, kills gu toxins and ghostly afflictions, and treats the toxins of bee and scorpion stings. Prolonged use prevents the hair from turning white and lightens the body.
Ligusticum (Chuanxiong) is acrid in taste and warm in nature. It treats headache from wind entering the brain, cold arthralgia, sinew tension and spasms, sword and knife wounds, and female amenorrhea and infertility.
Ligusticum seedling (Miwu) is acrid in taste and warm in nature. It treats cough, palpitations from fright, wards off pathogenic qi, eliminates gu toxins, and expels the "three worms." Prolonged use can "communicate with the spirit" (an exaggerated ancient expression for mental clarity).
Coptis (Huanglian) is bitter in taste and cold in nature. It treats eye pain from heat qi, damage to the eye corners, tearing, brightens the eyes, treats dysentery, abdominal pain, diarrhea, and female genital swelling and pain. Prolonged use improves memory.
Trachelospermum (Luoshi) is bitter in taste and warm in nature. It treats wind-heat, muscle necrosis, unhealing sores and swellings, dry mouth and scorched tongue, throat and tongue swelling, and inability to swallow water or gruel. Prolonged use lightens the body, brightens the eyes, moisturizes the complexion, and prevents aging and prolongs life.
Tribulus fruit (Jilizi) is bitter in taste and warm in nature. It treats blood stasis, breaks accumulations and conglomerations, treats throat bi, and promotes lactation. Prolonged use increases muscle mass, brightens the eyes, and lightens the body.
Astragalus (Huangqi) is sweet in taste and slightly warm. It treats chronically unhealing carbuncles and sores, expels pus and stops pain, treats major wind madness, dysentery, five kinds of hemorrhoids, mouse fistulas (scrofula), supplements deficiency, and treats the hundred illnesses of children.
Cistanche (Roucongrong) is sweet in taste and slightly warm. It treats the five labors and seven injuries (various states of deficiency and exhaustion), supplements the center, removes cold-heat pain in the penis, nourishes the five viscera, strengthens yin, benefits essence qi, aids fertility, and treats female conglomerations. Prolonged use lightens the body.
Saposhnikovia (Fangfeng) is sweet in taste and warm in nature. It treats dizziness and blurred vision caused by severe wind, headache, aversion to wind, blindness, wind wandering throughout the body, bone and joint pain, and vexation and fullness. Prolonged use lightens the body.
Cattail pollen (Puhuang) is sweet in taste and balanced in nature. It treats cold and heat in the heart, abdomen, and bladder, promotes urination, stops bleeding, and resolves blood stasis. Prolonged use lightens the body and boosts qi and strength.
Cattail root (Xiangpu) is sweet in taste and balanced in nature. It treats pathogenic qi in the five viscera and beneath the heart, ulceration and foul odor in the mouth, strengthens the teeth, brightens the eyes, and sharpens the ears. Prolonged use lightens the body and resists aging.
Dipsacus (Xuduan) is bitter in taste and slightly warm. It treats cold damage, supplements deficiency and depletion, treats sword and knife wounds, carbuncles and swellings, injuries from falls with fractures, reconnects sinews and bones, and treats female breast carbuncles and incessant uterine bleeding. Prolonged use boosts qi and physical strength.
Rhaponticum (Loulu) is bitter and salty in taste and cold in nature. It treats skin fever, malignant sores, carbuncles, hemorrhoids, damp arthralgia, and promotes lactation. Prolonged use lightens the body, boosts qi, sharpens hearing and eyesight, and prevents aging and prolongs life.
Rosa fruit (Yingshi) is sour in taste and warm in nature. It treats carbuncles and malignant sores, muscular nodules, sinew injuries, ulcerated sores, heat qi, genital erosion, and benefits the joints.
Carpesium (Tianmingjing) is sweet in taste and cold in nature. It treats blood stasis, severe blood conglomerations, blood in the stool, stops bleeding, and promotes urination. Prolonged use lightens the body and resists aging.
Cassia seed (Juemingzi) is salty in taste and balanced in nature. It treats green blindness (eye disease with severely reduced vision), red eyes, cataracts, eye pain with tearing. Prolonged use benefits essence, brightens the eyes, and lightens the body.
Salvia miltiorrhiza (Danshen) is bitter in taste and slightly cold. It treats pathogenic qi in the heart and abdomen, intestinal sounds like rushing water, accumulations of cold and heat, breaks and resolves conglomerations, stops vexation and fullness, and boosts qi.
Madder root (Qiangen) is bitter in taste and cold in nature. It treats cold-dampness, wind arthralgia, jaundice, and supplements the center qi.
Carduus (Feilian) is bitter in taste and balanced in nature. It treats heat in the bones and joints and heaviness and soreness of the calves. Prolonged use makes the body light.
Schisandra (Wuweizi) is sour in taste and warm in nature. It boosts qi, treats cough with qi counterflow, tax-type damage with emaciation, supplements deficiency and depletion, strengthens yin, and benefits the male essence.
Convolvulus (Xuanhua) is sweet in taste and warm in nature. It boosts qi, removes dark facial spots, and makes the skin moist and beautiful. Its root is acrid in taste and treats cold-heat pathogenic qi in the abdomen, and promotes urination. Prolonged use prevents hunger and lightens the body.
Eupatorium (LanCao) is acrid in taste and balanced in nature. It unblocks the water passages, kills gu toxins, and wards off inauspicious qi. Prolonged use boosts qi, lightens the body, prevents aging, and brings spiritual clarity.
Cnidium fruit (Shechuangzi) is bitter in taste and balanced in nature. It treats female genital swelling and pain, male impotence, dampness and itching, relieves bi qi, benefits the joints, and treats epilepsy and malignant sores.
Kochia fruit (Difuzi) is bitter in taste and cold in nature. It treats heat in the bladder, promotes urination, supplements the center, and benefits essence qi. Prolonged use sharpens hearing and eyesight, lightens the body, and resists aging.
Sedum (Jingtian) is bitter in taste and balanced in nature. It treats great heat, burns, body heat and restlessness, and dispels pathogenic qi. Its flowers treat female red and white vaginal discharge. It can lighten the body and brighten the eyes.
Yinchen (Yinchenhao) is bitter in taste and balanced in nature. It treats wind-damp cold-heat pathogenic qi and jaundice from heat binding. Prolonged use lightens the body, boosts qi, and resists aging.
Pollia (Duruo) is acrid in taste and slightly warm. It treats qi counterflow beneath the chest and ribs, warms the center, head swelling and pain from wind entering the brain, and excessive tears and nasal discharge. Prolonged use benefits essence, brightens the eyes, and lightens the body.
Adenophora (Shashen) is bitter in taste and slightly cold. It treats accumulation of blood, fright qi, removes cold and heat, supplements the center, and boosts Lung qi. Prolonged use is beneficial to humans.
Cynanchum (Baituhuo) is bitter in taste and balanced in nature. It treats snake bites, bee and scorpion stings, rabid dog bites, and gu toxins.
Cynanchum paniculatum (Xuchangqing) is acrid in taste and warm in nature. It treats ghostly objects and goblins, gu toxins, epidemic malign qi, and warm malaria. Prolonged use makes one strong and physically light.
Juncus (Shilongchu) is bitter in taste and slightly cold. It treats pathogenic qi in the heart and abdomen, difficult urination, strangury and obstruction, wind-dampness, and malignant toxins. Prolonged use supplements deficiency and emaciation, lightens the body, sharpens hearing and eyesight, and prolongs life.
Actaea (Weixian) is bitter in taste and balanced in nature. It treats wind-damp arthralgia, joint pain, convulsions from fright, palpitations, postpartum wind, mouse fistulas, and carbuncles.
Caesalpinia (Yunshi) is acrid in taste and warm in nature. It treats diarrhea, dysentery, kills insects, dispels gu toxins, stops pain, and reduces fever. The ancients believed that excessive consumption could cause mania (indicating it has certain toxicity).
Vaccaria (WangbuliuXing) is bitter in taste and balanced in nature. It treats sword and knife wounds, stops bleeding and pain, expels embedded foreign objects, and dispels wind bi and internal cold. Prolonged use lightens the body, resists aging, and increases longevity.
Cimicifuga (Shengma) is sweet and acrid in taste. It resolves a hundred toxins, kills various goblins and ancient entities, wards off plague, miasmas, evil toxins, and gu toxins. Prolonged use prevents premature death.
Sesame seedling (Qingrang) is sweet in taste and cold in nature. It treats pathogenic qi of the five viscera, wind-cold-damp arthralgia, boosts qi, supplements the brain and marrow, and strengthens the sinews and bones. Prolonged use sharpens hearing and eyesight, prevents hunger, prevents aging, and increases longevity.
Gu Huo is sweet in taste and warm in nature. It treats wind pathogens, damp arthralgia, and cold pain. Prolonged use lightens the body, increases longevity, and resists aging.
Bie Ji is bitter in taste and slightly warm. It treats wind-cold-damp arthralgia, heaviness of the body, soreness and pain of the four limbs, and pain in all the joints.
Qu Cao is bitter in taste. It treats pain beneath the chest and ribs, pathogenic qi, cold and heat in the abdomen, and yin bi. Prolonged use lightens the body, boosts qi, and resists aging.
Huai Mu is bitter in taste and balanced in nature. It treats chronic cough with qi counterflow, deficiency of the intestinal tract, female genital erosion, and red and white vaginal discharge.
This is the concrete application of the "Five Colors Enter the Five Viscera, Five Flavors Return to the Five Viscera" theory from the Inner Canon in the field of materia medica. Although "colors and flavors entering the viscera" lacks a direct counterpart in modern pharmacology, it reflects the ancients' effort to establish a systematic, extensible framework for medication use.
The Logic Behind "Prolonged Use Makes the Body Light and Extends Years"
The ancients repeatedly emphasized "prolonged use makes the body light," and the logical chain embedded therein is:
Top-grade drugs are mild and non-aggressive in nature → they can be taken over a long period → gradually "supplement deficiencies and dispel pathogenic qi" → bringing the five viscera into harmony and filling qi and blood → enhancing the body's self-healing power → manifesting as a "light body," "resistance to aging," "absence of hunger," and "sharp ears and eyes"
This is essentially a health-nurturing medical outlook centered on "restoring the body's inherent functions," rather than an antagonistic medical model that "replaces bodily functions with drugs."
Parts That Can Be Verified
The qi-tonifying effects of ginseng, Astragalus, and licorice: Modern research has found that ginsenosides in ginseng possess anti-fatigue, immunity-enhancing, and central nervous system-regulating effects; Astragalus polysaccharides have immunomodulatory and anti-fatigue effects; glycyrrhizic acid in licorice exhibits anti-inflammatory, hepatoprotective, and antiviral activities. The ancients' claim of "tonifying the five viscera" and "boosting qi and strength" corresponds to a considerable degree with the modern observation of adaptogenic effects.
Coptis's clearing heat and stopping dysentery: Berberine contained in Coptis has inhibitory effects on a variety of intestinal pathogenic bacteria. The ancients' use of Coptis to treat "abdominal pain and diarrhea" coincides remarkably with the modern use of berberine to treat bacillary dysentery.
The diuretic effects of plantain seed and Alisma: The recorded uses in ancient texts of "promoting the waterway" and "dispersing water" are consistent with modern pharmacological confirmation that both indeed possess diuretic effects.
Coix seed's "descending qi" and "eliminating dampness": Modern research indicates that coix seed oil contained in Coix seed has a relaxing effect on smooth muscle, capable of relieving muscle spasms—corresponding to the description of "contracted sinews, restricted movement, inability to flex or extend."
Schisandra's "tonifying lung qi and stopping cough with counterflow": Modern studies have found that the lignan components in Schisandra possess hepatoprotective, antioxidant, and respiratory function-improving effects.
Parts Requiring Rational Assessment
Claims such as "extending years like an immortal" and "communicating with the divine": These clearly carry Daoist immortalist overtones, representing the ancients' literary and idealistic expressions of "effective after prolonged use." To date, no drug has been scientifically proven capable of conferring "immortality" or "becoming an immortal."
Terms such as "slaying ghosts, spirit-essences, and gu-poison": The ancients attributed infectious diseases and mental abnormalities that they could not explain to "ghosts," "gu," and "malevolent spirits." These actually reflect the ancients' rudimentary understanding of infectious diseases and psychiatric conditions and should not be taken literally.
"Exterminating the three worms" and "removing latent corpse": These are the ancients' ways of expressing infestation by intestinal parasites and chronically latent pathogenic conditions. Modern medicine possesses more precise knowledge of these (roundworms, pinworms, tapeworms, etc.).
Central nervous system effects such as "sharpening the eyes and ears" and "improving memory and preventing confusion": Most lack rigorous double-blind randomized clinical verification. Some may originate from the ancients' empirical observations, but the sample sizes and observation periods fall far short of modern medical standards.
Divergent interpretations and unresolved questions in successive commentaries: The content collected in this chapter contains numerous supplements by later commentators (Wu Pu, Famous Physicians, Tao Hongjing, etc.), among which controversies over the same name referring to different substances exist (e.g., Du Ruo, Nü Wei, Huai Mu), demonstrating that ancient materia medica also underwent a prolonged evolution in verifying the botanical origins of medicinal materials.
Although the top-grade drugs in this chapter were positioned in ancient China as "suitable for prolonged use" as restorative substances, they are not appropriate for modern people to take on a long-term basis by themselves. Nevertheless, from the ancients' criteria and approach in selecting medicinals, some universally applicable wisdom for health preservation may be distilled:
"Eliminating dampness" was the core of the ancients' concept of a light body: Among the top-grade drugs in the herb division, a great number list "dispelling dampness" and "removing impediment" as their primary effects. Corresponding to daily life, maintaining moderate exercise, avoiding prolonged sitting and inactivity, and reducing consumption of raw, cold, greasy, and rich foods help prevent the fatigue and heaviness caused by being "trapped by dampness."
The attitude toward nurturing: "gentle and gradual": The ancients positioned top-grade drugs as "effective only with prolonged use," indicating that improvement of physical condition is an accumulative process. Modern people's pursuit of "quick results" instead makes them prone to counterproductive outcomes through overeagerness.
Placing equal emphasis on "unblocking" and "tonifying": Many top-grade herbs are not purely "supplementing" but combine "promoting flow"—such as plantain seed's diuretic action, bupleurum's function of "expelling the stale and bringing forth the new," and Achyranthes's effect of "driving blood and qi." Human health requires not only "supplementation" but also "free flow"—what is today called "detoxification" and "circulation."
Alignment with the natural order: Certain medicinals have specific harvesting seasons (e.g., capillary wormwood "harvested in the fifth month and at Beginning of Autumn," chrysanthemum "flowers harvested in the ninth month"), reminding us that diet and daily routine should also proceed in harmony with the seasons.
Emotional cultivation: The ancients placed great value on "calming the spirit," "strengthening the will," and "augmenting wisdom and intelligence," considering mental tranquility as equally important as physical health. Maintaining emotional stability in daily life and avoiding excessive rumination is itself the finest "top-grade drug."
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This content is based on ancient Chinese medical classics and is provided solely for the study and research of traditional culture. It does not constitute any medical diagnosis, medication guidance, or treatment advice. If you experience any discomfort, please seek medical attention promptly.