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Chapter 6 of 33
神农本草经
This chapter classifies Mu Gui (Cinnamomum cassia), Jun Gui (Cinnamomum bejolghota), Pine Resin, Sophora Fruit, Goji Berry, Arborvitae Seed, Poria, Elm Bark, Sour Jujube, Phellodendron Bark, Dried Lacquer, Acanthopanax Bark, Chastetree Fruit, Magnolia Flower, Mulberry Mistletoe, Eucommia Bark, Glossy Privet Fruit, Magnolia Lilyflower, Prinsepia Nut, and Tangerine-Pomelo — twenty types of wood category medicines — as "Superior Grade." The annotations "Famous Physicians say" and "Commentary" following the classic text are mostly supplementary notes by later commentators regarding alternative names, places of origin, harvesting times, and textual research. Below is a sequential paraphrase of the classic text's therapeutic indications in the original order.
1. Mu Gui (Cinnamomum cassia)
Acrid flavor, warming nature. Ancient records state it treats upward counterflow of qi causing cough, qi bound in the throat causing throat obstruction, and impeded breathing and respiration. It can free and benefit the joints, tonify the center and boost qi. It was also believed that prolonged use could lead to mental clarity, a light and agile body, and delayed aging. Later commentators also called it Rou Gui (cinnamon bark), Gui Zhi (cinnamomum twig), and Gui Xin (cinnamon core), stating it grows in southern mountain valleys.
2. Jun Gui (Cinnamomum bejolghota)
Acrid flavor, warming nature. Ancient texts hold it can regulate various disease conditions, nourish the spirit, and improve the complexion. It also serves as the "herald envoy for all medicines," meaning it acts as a pioneer that guides medicinal properties through the body. It was further believed that prolonged use gives the face a radiant, lustrous appearance, moist and fresh like a child's. Later commentators added that it grows on cliffs in the Jiaozhi and Guilin regions, with a perfectly round, bamboo-like form, harvested in early autumn.
3. Pine Resin
Bitter flavor, warming nature. It treats abscesses, malignant sores, head ulcers, white scalp ringworm, scabies with itching, and wind-pathogen diseases. It can regulate the five viscera and clear heat pathogens. Ancient texts state prolonged use lightens the body and extends years. It is also known as Song Gao (pine paste) or Song Fang (pine fat).
4. Sophora Fruit
Bitter flavor, cold nature. It treats heat pathogens of the five viscera, stops drooling and saliva, supplements deficiency and exhaustion fatigue, as well as the five types of hemorrhoids, fire burns, breast lumps in women, and acute uterine pain. It grows in level marshlands.
5. Goji Berry
Bitter flavor, cold nature. It treats qi pathogens of the five viscera, internal heat with wasting-thirst, and generalized painful obstruction. Ancient texts state prolonged use strengthens the sinews and bones, lightens the body, and withstands aging. It is also known as Qi Gen, Di Gu, Di Fu, among other names. Later commentators mention its root, leaves, stems, and fruits are harvested at different times.
6. Arborvitae Seed
Sweet flavor, neutral nature. It treats palpitations with fright, calms and harmonizes the five viscera, supplements and boosts qi and strength, and dispels damp painful obstruction. Ancient texts state prolonged use makes the skin moist and lustrous, sharpens hearing and vision, staves off hunger and aging, lightens the body, and extends years. Later generations predominantly use its kernel, known as Bai Zi Ren.
7. Poria
Sweet flavor, neutral nature. It treats qi counterflow in the chest and hypochondrium, anxiety and anger, palpitations with fright, focal distention and pain below the heart, alternating chills and fever with oppressive fullness, cough with qi counterflow, dry mouth and tongue, and promotes urination. Ancient texts state prolonged use quiets the ethereal soul, nourishes the spirit, staves off hunger, and extends years. The variety that embraces the root is called "Fu Shen."
8. Elm Bark
Sweet flavor, neutral nature. It treats difficulty in both urination and defecation, frees the water pathway, and dispels pathogens. Ancient texts state prolonged use lightens the body and staves off hunger, with its fruit (elm samaras) being even more effective.
9. Sour Jujube
Sour flavor, neutral nature. It treats cold and heat in the heart and abdomen, binding of pathogens, soreness and pain in the four limbs, and damp painful obstruction. Ancient texts state prolonged use calms and harmonizes the five viscera, lightens the body, and extends years. Later generations predominantly use the kernel, i.e., Suan Zao Ren.
10. Phellodendron Bark
Bitter flavor, cold nature. It treats bound heat of the five viscera and intestines and stomach, jaundice, hemorrhoids, and stops diarrhea; also treats women's red and white vaginal discharge and yin-area ulcerative sores. It is also known as Tan Huan. The later commonly used Huang Bai is related to this category.
11. Dried Lacquer
Acrid flavor, warming nature. It treats deficiency-consumption fatigue, tonifies center qi, reconnects sinews and bones, fills marrow and brain, calms and harmonizes the five viscera, and treats sinew vessel slackness or tension imbalance and wind-cold-damp painful obstruction. Raw lacquer can expel intestinal parasites. Ancient texts state prolonged use lightens the body and withstands aging. However, raw lacquer is highly irritating and must undergo professional processing.
12. Acanthopanax Bark
Acrid flavor, warming nature. It treats cardiac and abdominal hernial masses, abdominal pain, supplements qi, treats difficulty in limb movement, children's inability to walk, jaundice with sores, and yin-area ulcerative sores. It is also known as Chai Qi.
13. Chastetree Fruit
Bitter flavor, slightly cold nature. It treats cold-heat painful obstruction and spasm-cramping in the sinews and bones. It sharpens vision, stabilizes teeth, frees the nine orifices, and expels intestinal parasites. Ancient texts state prolonged use lightens the body and withstands aging. This is the later commonly used Man Jing Zi.
14. Magnolia Flower
Acrid flavor, warming nature. It treats wind-cold affliction of the five viscera and body, headache, and facial dark patches. Ancient texts state prolonged use can direct qi downward, lighten the body, sharpen vision, and extend years. This is what later generations call Xin Yi Hua or Mu Bi Hua.
15. Mulberry Mistletoe
Bitter flavor, neutral nature. It treats lower back pain, opisthotonos (stiffness with arching of the back) in children, and abscesses. It calms the fetus, nourishes the skin and flesh, and strengthens the hair and teeth. Ancient texts also believe it promotes the growth of beard and eyebrows. Its fruit can sharpen vision, lighten the body, and communicate with the spirit. It is also known as Ji Xie, Yu Mu, or Wan Tong.
16. Eucommia Bark
Acrid flavor, neutral nature. It treats pain in the lower back and spine, tonifies the center and boosts qi, supplements essence qi, strengthens sinews and bones, enhances mental vigor and willpower, and improves damp-itching in the genitals and dribbling urination. Ancient texts state prolonged use lightens the body and withstands aging. It is also called Si Xian.
17. Glossy Privet Fruit
Bitter flavor, neutral nature. It treats tonification of the center, calming and harmonizing the five viscera, and nourishing the spirit. Ancient texts generically state it can eliminate various diseases. Prolonged use makes one strong, lightens the body, and prevents aging. Later generations predominantly use it as Nü Zhen Zi.
18. Magnolia Lilyflower
Bitter flavor, cold nature. It treats intense heat of the skin, facial heat, red pustules, rhinophyma, wind-pathogen mania-epilepsy conditions, and damp-itching in the genitals. It can sharpen vision and hearing. It is also known as Lin Lan.
19. Prinsepia Nut
Sweet flavor, warming nature. It treats pathogenic qi in the heart and abdomen, sharpens vision, and improves red, painful eyes with tearing. Ancient texts state prolonged use lightens the body, boosts qi, and staves off hunger. Later generations predominantly call it Rui Ren.
20. Tangerine-Pomelo
Acrid flavor, warming nature. It treats bound heat and qi counterflow in the chest, and promotes the digestion and transformation of water and grains. Ancient texts state prolonged use eliminates body odor, directs qi downward, and communicates with the spirit. It is also called Ju Pi (tangerine peel). Later generations believe tangerine peel excels at regulating qi, while pomelo resembles tangerine but has distinguishing differences.
The "Nourishing Life" View of Superior Grade
Shennong's Classic of the Materia Medica classifies many wood category medicines into the Superior Grade, with repeated phrases such as "prolonged use lightens the body and prevents aging," "extends years," and "staves off hunger." This reflects the early materia medica's philosophy of dietary supplementation and life cultivation. The ancients believed superior grade medicines tend to nourish life and act gently, but this does not equate to modern efficacy evaluation or anti-aging evidence.
Wood Nature: Free Movement, Cultivating Both Unblocking and Nourishment
Wood category medicines predominantly possess acrid, bitter, or sweet flavors. The ancients used the saying "wood bends and straightens" to explain their ability to free joints, direct qi downward and promote urination, smooth qi movement, and tranquilly nourish the five viscera. This reflects the connection between the "wood" phase, liver-qi dredging, and the ascending-descending movement of qi.
Correspondence between Nature, Flavor, and Action
Acrid-warming items are mostly used to disperse cold and unblock stagnation, such as Mu Gui and Magnolia Flower; bitter-cold items are mostly used to clear bound heat and dry dampness, such as Sophora Fruit, Phellodendron Bark, and Magnolia Lilyflower; sweet-neutral items are mostly used to supplement and calm the spirit, such as Arborvitae Seed, Poria, and Eucommia Bark. This summarization by nature and flavor is an important methodological feature of the classic's theoretical framework.
Emphasis on Harvest Times and Plant Parts
The appended annotations for each entry mostly indicate "harvest the bark," "harvest the fruit," "harvest the root," "dry in the shade," etc., reflecting the ancient medicinal material cognition of "harvesting seasonally, each part excelling in its specific use."
Some drugs remain commonly used Chinese medicines today
Such as Poria, Eucommia, Goji Berry, Arborvitae Seed, Sour Jujube Kernel, Chastetree Fruit, Magnolia Flower, and Glossy Privet Fruit. Modern research focuses on their bioactive components or traditional usage experience concerning spirit-calming, supplementation, diuresis, and vision enhancement. However, ancient indications cannot be directly equated with modern therapeutic indications.
Phrases like "communicating with the spirit," "not aging," and "lustrous facial appearance" should be viewed rationally
These expressions carry the rhetorical coloring of ancient immortality and alchemical food culture. They should not be taken literally as modern conclusions about anti-aging, beauty, or the ability to live without food.
Safety boundaries cannot be overlooked
Dried Lacquer, Raw Lacquer, Magnolia Lilyflower, and others are irritating or toxic and must undergo professional processing. Pregnant women, children, and other special populations must not self-administer. The "non-toxic" designations in ancient texts were limited by historical circumstances and do not represent modern safety data.
Differences in disease concepts between ancient and modern times
Terms like "throat obstruction," "wasting-thirst," "damp painful obstruction," "breast masses," and "mania-epilepsy" belong to signs, symptoms, or patterns described in that era. They cannot be directly mapped to modern disease names or applied by self-diagnosis.
Related Concepts
Further Reading
This content is based on classic Chinese medicine texts and is provided solely for traditional cultural study and research. It does not constitute any medical diagnosis, medication, or treatment advice. If unwell, please seek medical attention promptly. — Bu Gua