Modo de lectura

Shennong Bencao Jing: Herbs (Lower Grade)

A Vernacular Study of "Shennong Bencao Jing": Herbs (Lower Grade)

Overall Paraphrase

In the Lower Grade section of herbs in the Shennong Bencao Jing, the original text notes a total of forty-nine species; some older editions record forty-eight, but because Yuanhua (Daphne genkwa) was moved from the Wood section to the Herb section, the total remains forty-nine. The writing style of the entire chapter generally follows this pattern: first the drug name is listed, then its four qi and five flavors are indicated by phrases like "flavor is such, warm/cold/neutral," followed by "it governs..." to explain the range of indications recognized by the ancients, and finally habitats such as "grows in mountain valleys/river valleys/marshes" are recorded. Later annotative texts such as Wu Pu says and Famous Physicians say supplement alternative names, places of origin, harvesting times, varietal distinctions, and toxicity.

These forty-nine drugs mostly belong to the "Lower Grade" within the three grades of the Shennong Bencao Jing. The general characteristics of the Lower Grade, as summarized by later generations, are that they are "mostly toxic and cannot be taken for long periods," and they are primarily used to attack and expel pathogenic excess. They are not tonic products but rather remedial drugs with relatively strong deviations in nature.

In terms of content, the ancients primarily used these drugs to address several categories of problems:

🌿 Warming the interior, dispersing cold, and unblocking bi-syndrome: Fuzi (Aconite root), Wutou (Aconite tuber), Tianxiong (Aconite crown) etc.;
🔥 Attacking accumulation and expelling water: Dahuang (Rhubarb), Gansui (Kansui root), Daji (Euphorbia root), Zeqi (Sun spurge), Yuanhua (Daphne genkwa), Shanglu (Pokeberry root), Raohua (Wikstroemia flower), Langdu (Euphorbia fischeriana) etc.;
💨 Resolving phlegm, stopping cough, downbearing counterflow, and dispersing bindings: Banxia (Pinellia), Xuanfuhua (Inula flower), Jiegeng (Platycodon), Shegan (Belamcanda), Tingli (Lepidium seed), Huzhang (Tiger paw) etc.;
🌡️ Clearing heat, dispersing bindings, killing worms, and relieving itching: Lianqiao (Forsythia), Bailian (Ampelopsis), Baiji (Bletilla), Guanzhong (Cyrtomium), Qingxiangzi (Celosia seed), Xiakucao (Prunella) etc.;
🌊 Inducing vomiting, interrupting malaria, and resolving toxins and warding off evil: Lilu (Veratrum) (appended), Hengshan (Dichroa root), Shuqi (Dichroa shoot), Guijiu (Dysosma), Nüqing (Cynanchum) etc.

Expressions in the original text such as "gu-du toxin," "ghost-attachment," "kills ghost essences," and "wards off inauspiciousness" belong to cultural expressions specific to ancient times and cannot be directly equated with any modern disease. Statements like "prolonged use lightens the body, enables one to run as fast as a galloping horse, communicates with spirits, and makes one martial and brave" carry obvious alchemical and hyperbolic coloring and should be viewed rationally.

📋 Quick Classification of the Forty-Nine Drugs

🌿 Warming the Interior, Dispersing Cold, and Unblocking Bi-Syndrome Category

Fuzi (Aconite root): Flavor pungent, warm. The ancients believed it governs wind-cold cough with counterflow, warms the center, treats metal wounds, breaks fixed accumulations and congelations, and blood mass congelations; treats cramping and foot pain with inability to walk; it is called the "chief of all medicines," but is highly toxic.
Wutou (Aconite tuber): Flavor pungent, warm. Governs wind-stroke with aversion to wind, sweating, cold-damp bi-syndrome, cough with counterflow qi, and breaks accumulations. Its juice is called "Shewang" (arrow poison) and can poison birds and beasts, indicating extreme toxicity.
Tianxiong (Aconite crown): Flavor pungent, warm. Governs great wind, cold-damp bi-syndrome, joint pain, cramping and contracture; breaks accumulations and pathogenic qi, treats metal wounds. The ancients said it can strengthen sinews and bones, lighten the body, and support vigorous walking.

🔥 Attacking Accumulation and Expelling Water Category

Dahuang (Rhubarb): Flavor bitter, cold. Governs breaking blood stasis and blood closure, breaking abdominal masses and accumulations, retained fluids and undigested food; flushes and cleanses the stomach and intestines, pushes out the old and brings forth the new; unblocks the waterways, and regulates the center to transform food.
Gansui (Kansui root): Flavor bitter, cold. Governs great abdominal masses with gas, abdominal fullness, facial and eye swelling, retained fluids and undigested food; breaks fixed accumulations and congelations; promotes the water and grain pathways.
Daji (Euphorbia root): Flavor bitter, cold. Governs gu-du toxin, the twelve types of water swelling, fullness and urgent pain, accumulations, wind-stroke, skin pain, and vomiting with counterflow.
Zeqi (Sun spurge): Flavor bitter, slightly cold. Governs skin heat, great abdominal water qi, swelling of the four limbs, face, and eyes; the original text mentions "deficiency of the husband's yin qi," suggesting the ancients recognized that while it promotes diuresis, it may simultaneously damage the upright qi.
Yuanhua (Daphne genkwa): Flavor pungent, warm. Governs cough with counterflow qi, throat rumbling and wheezing, throat swelling with shortness of breath, gu-du toxin, ghost-malaria, abdominal masses, and abscesses; kills worms and fish.
Shanglu (Pokeberry root): Flavor pungent, neutral. Governs water swelling, abdominal masses and bi-syndrome; applied externally with heat to eliminate abscesses; kills ghost essences and things.
Raohua (Wikstroemia flower): Flavor bitter, neutral, and also cold. Governs cold-damage febrile malaria, discharges the twelve waters, breaks accumulations and fixed congelations, flushes and cleanses retained food in the stomach and intestines, and promotes the water pathway.
Langdu (Euphorbia fischeriana): Flavor pungent, neutral. Governs cough with counterflow qi, breaks accumulations of food and drink, water qi foul sores, mouse fistulas, and deep-rooted ulcers; the ancients said it can kill flying birds and running beasts, indicating clear toxicity.

💨 Resolving Phlegm, Stopping Cough, Downbearing Counterflow, and Dispersing Bindings Category

Banxia (Pinellia): Flavor pungent, neutral. Governs cold-damage with fever and chills, hardness below the heart, downbears qi, sore throat and swelling, dizziness and chest fullness, cough with intestinal rumbling, and stops sweating.
Xuanfuhua (Inula flower): Flavor salty, warm. Governs binding qi, fullness under the ribs, palpitations, removes water, dispels cold and heat among the five viscera, supplements the center and downbears qi.
Jiegeng (Platycodon): Flavor pungent, slightly warm. Governs chest and rib pain as if stabbed by a knife, abdominal fullness, intestinal rumbling, fright, palpitations, and fearful qi.
Shegan (Belamcanda): Flavor bitter, neutral. Governs cough with counterflow qi, throat bi-syndrome and swallowing pain, difficulty breathing, disperses acute qi, abdominal counterflow pathogens, and great heat from food and drink.
Tingli (Lepidium seed): Flavor pungent, cold. Governs abdominal masses and accumulations, binding qi, chills and fever from food and drink, and breaks hardness.
Huzhang (Tiger paw): Flavor bitter, warm. Governs heart pain, cold-heat binding qi, accumulations and hidden conglomerations, injured sinews with wilting and sluggishness; promotes the water pathway.

🌊 Inducing Vomiting, Interrupting Malaria, Resolving Toxins, and Warding Off Evil Category

Lilu (Veratrum): The original text of this section does not contain the main entry; only legends and later materials are appended. The ancients used it to induce vomiting of phlegm and saliva; later compilations emphasize its great toxicity, contraindication in those with deficiency, and that studying it does not constitute medication guidance.
Hengshan (Dichroa root): Flavor bitter, cold. Governs cold-damage fever and chills, warm malaria, ghost toxins, and chest phlegm bindings with vomiting and counterflow.
Shuqi (Dichroa shoot): Flavor pungent, neutral. Governs malaria and cough with counterflow, chills and fever, abdominal fixed hardness and bindings, accumulations and pathogenic qi, gu-du toxin and ghost-attachment. Later annotative texts point out it is the shoot of Changshan (Dichroa).
Gouwen (Gelsemium): Flavor pungent, warm. Governs metal wounds, aversion to wind, cough with counterflow qi, water swelling, and kills ghost-attachments and gu-du. Later generations often call it "broken-intestine grass," and annotators have emphasized its great toxicity, even stating it "should not be used as medicine."
Guijiu (Dysosma): Flavor pungent, warm. Governs killing gu-du toxins and ghost-attachments, spirit things; wards off evil qi and inauspiciousness; expels pathogens; resolves the hundred toxins.
Nüqing (Cynanchum): Flavor pungent, neutral. Governs gu-du toxin, expels evil qi, kills ghosts, treats warm malaria, and wards off inauspiciousness.
Yuanwei (Iris tectorum): Flavor bitter, neutral. Governs gu-du toxins, evil qi, and ghost-attachments, various toxins; breaks abdominal masses and accumulations, removes water, and discharges the three worms.

🌡️ Clearing Heat, Dispersing Bindings, Killing Worms, and Relieving Itching Category

Lianqiao (Forsythia): Flavor bitter, neutral. Governs chills and fever, mouse fistulas, scrofula, abscesses and swellings, foul sores, goiters and tumors, binding heat, and gu-du toxin.
Bailian (Ampelopsis): Flavor bitter, neutral. Governs abscesses, welling abscesses, and ulcerous sores; disperses binding qi; stops pain and removes heat; red eyes; infantile fright epilepsy; warm malaria; and swelling and pain in the female genital area.
Baiji (Bletilla): Flavor bitter, neutral. Governs abscesses, foul sores, decaying ulcers, damage to yin with dead flesh, pathogenic qi in the stomach, wind pathogens, and wilting with sluggishness and inability to contract.
Guanzhong (Cyrtomium): Flavor bitter, slightly cold. Governs heat qi and various toxins in the abdomen; kills the three worms.
Qingxiangzi (Celosia seed): Flavor bitter, slightly cold. Governs pathogenic qi, heat in the skin, wind-mediated itching, and body itching; kills the three worms; its seed is called Cao Jue Ming and treats cyanosis of the lips and mouth.
Yangti (Dock root): Flavor bitter, cold. Governs baldness, scabies, and itching; removes heat; and treats erosion of the female genitals.
Bianxu (Knotgrass): Flavor pungent, neutral. Governs spreading sores, scabies, itching, ulcers, and hemorrhoids; kills the three worms.
Yazi (Wolf tooth): Flavor bitter, cold. Governs evil heat qi, scabies, itching, foul ulcers, sores and hemorrhoids; dispels white worms.
Niubian (Aconitum ochranthum): Flavor bitter, slightly cold. Governs sores on the body and skin with heat qi; can be used as a bath decoction; kills cattle lice and small insects; also treats cattle diseases.
Xiakucao (Prunella): Flavor bitter, pungent, cold. Governs heat scrofula, mouse fistulas, head sores; breaks accumulations and dissipates goiters and binding qi; foot swelling and damp bi-syndrome; lightens the body.
Lanru (Euphorbia pekinensis): Flavor pungent, cold. Governs eroding foul flesh, putrid sores and dead flesh; kills scabies worms; expels pus and stagnant blood; removes great wind and heat qi; treats forgetfulness and joylessness.
Huanjun (Collybia albuminosa): Flavor salty, neutral. Governs heart pain, warms the center; removes chronic afflictions, leukorrhea, roundworms, snakebite toxins, abdominal masses, and various worms.
Wuwei (Lygodium): Flavor sweet, cold. Governs alternating chills and fever of the skin; facilitates qi of the small intestine and bladder.
Zaoxiu (Paris polyphylla): Flavor bitter, slightly cold. Governs fright epilepsy, shaking the head and playing with the tongue, heat qi in the abdomen, epilepsy, abscesses and sores, genital erosion; discharges the three worms; resolves snake toxins.

🌾 Dispelling Wind-Dampness, Miscellaneous Treatment Category

Yinyu (Skimmia): Flavor bitter, warm. Governs evil qi in the five viscera, cold and heat in the heart and abdomen, emaciation like malaria with attacks at regular intervals, and rheumatic bi-pain in all joints.
Yangzhizhu (Rhododendron molle): Flavor pungent, warm. Governs thief wind in the skin with diffuse pain, warm malaria, evil toxins, and various bi-syndromes.
Luying (Sambucus chinensis): Flavor bitter, cold. Governs various bi-syndromes between the bones, cramping pain and soreness of the four limbs, cold pain in the knees, yin wilting with shortness of breath and insufficiency, and foot swelling.
Baitouweng (Pulsatilla): Flavor bitter, warm. Governs warm malaria, mania with alternation, chills and fever, abdominal masses and accumulations, goiter qi; expels blood and stops pain; treats metal wounds.
Yangtao (Actinidia): Flavor bitter, cold. Governs blazing heat with sudden reddening of the body, wind-water accumulations, foul ulcers; removes infantile heat.
Luhuo (Rhynchosia volubilis): Flavor bitter, neutral. Governs gu-du toxin, low back and abdominal pain in women, joylessness, intestinal abscesses, scrofula, and ulcerative qi.
Shichangsheng (Selaginella): Flavor salty, slightly cold. Governs chills and fever, foul sores, fire heat; wards off ghost qi and inauspiciousness.
Jincao (Arthraxon hispidus): Flavor bitter, neutral. Governs chronic cough with asthma and counterflow qi, chronic cold, palpitations, scabs, scabies, bald sores, and ulcerative qi; kills small skin insects.
Langdangzi (Henbane seed): Flavor bitter, cold. Governs tooth pain with worms emerging, and fleshy bi with cramping and tension; the ancients recorded that eating too much causes one to run wildly and see ghosts. Statements such as "prolonged use lightens the body, enables one to run as fast as a galloping horse, strengthens the will, benefits strength, and communicates with spirits" are hyperbolic expressions and cannot be believed.

🧠 Deep Understanding

Core Principles 💡

The core positioning of Lower Grade drugs is "attacking pathogens"

Among the three grades of the Shennong Bencao Jing, Lower Grade drugs have relatively strong deviations in nature and are mostly toxic. The ancients believed their primary function was to "treat disease," not for daily tonification. This chapter centrally embodies several important concepts of ancient materia medica:

Using deviation to correct deviation, using poison to attack poison: Drugs such as Fuzi, Wutou, Gouwen, Lilu, and Yangzhizhu are violent and drastic in nature. The ancients believed that through these, one could attack and expel stubborn pathogenic factors such as wind-cold-damp bi-syndrome, accumulations, phlegm-retention, and gu-du toxins. Toxicity itself was viewed as a kind of "deviation" that, when used appropriately, could correct the deviation of pathogenic qi.
Emphasis on harvesting time, place, and plant parts: For example, Fuzi, Wutou, and Tianxiong share the same source plant, but differences in growth years and harvesting times result in different medicinal properties; Shuqi is the shoot of Changshan; Zeqi is the seedling of Daji. The ancients' distinctions based on different plant parts and harvesting months already embodied a rudimentary concept of drug quality.
Understanding of pathological products such as "accumulations," "retained fluids," "undigested food," and "blood stasis": Many Lower Grade drugs target these "substantive pathogens," hence the frequent descriptions of "breaking fixed accumulations and congelations," "flushing and cleansing the stomach and intestines," and "pushing out the old and bringing forth the new." This thinking resonates with the treatment principles in the Inner Classic of "soften what is hard" and "disperse what is bound."

Modern Perspectives 🌟

From a modern perspective, both the value and limitations of this chapter are evident.

Portions with some research value:

Fuzi, Wutou, and Tianxiong: Modern pharmacological research focuses on their aconitine alkaloid content, suggesting cardiotonic, analgesic, and anti-inflammatory activities, but with a narrow safety margin; improper processing or decoction can easily cause poisoning.
Dahuang (Rhubarb): Contains anthraquinone components; modern pharmacy is interested in its purgative and anti-inflammatory effects; however, long-term use may also cause intestinal problems.
Banxia (Pinellia): The raw material is quite irritating and is used after processing; modern research suggests anti-emetic and phlegm-resolving activities.
Cao Hao (Artemisia annua): The ancients said it "retains heat between the bone joints"; later research on artemisinin has drawn more attention to this category of drugs. However, one must note the differences between the ancient "Cao Hao" and modern botanical origins and varietal identifications—they cannot be simply equated.
Lianqiao, Xiakucao, Guanzhong, etc. : Modern research focuses mostly on anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and antiviral activities, but the strength of evidence varies considerably.

Portions requiring rational skepticism:

Terms such as "gu-du," "ghost-attachment," "kills ghost essences," and "wards off inauspiciousness" belong to a mixture of ancient shamanistic medicine, cultural beliefs, and empirical medicine, and cannot be used directly as a basis for modern diagnosis or therapeutic efficacy.
Phrases like "prolonged use lightens the body, enables one to run as fast as a galloping horse, communicates with spirits, and makes one martial and brave" carry clear alchemical coloring and are not reliable medical conclusions.
Many drugs, such as Gouwen, Wutou, Yangzhizhu, Lilu, and Langdu, have clearly defined toxicity and can be fatal if misused. The ancients' emphasis on "mostly toxic, cannot be taken for long periods" was itself an empirical warning.

Health Preservation Insights ⚡

Lower Grade drugs are not health-preservation products: Most drugs in this chapter have strong deviations in nature and are toxic; one must never take phrases like "lightens the body," "clarifies vision," or "strengthens sinews and bones" as reasons for daily health maintenance.
Maintain vigilance against folk remedies: Especially when it involves toxic plants such as Wutou, Gouwen, Lilu, Yangzhizhu, and Langdu—never dig, gather, decoct, apply externally, or ingest them on your own.
Daily care for upright qi: Chinese medicine teaches that "when upright qi is preserved within, pathogenic factors cannot interfere." Regular routine, moderation in diet, and emotional balance are closer to the true meaning of health preservation than relying on aggressive attacking drugs.
Seek medical attention when unwell: The "governs such-and-such disease" records in this classic represent ancient empirical summaries, not modern treatment recommendations; in the face of actual illness, one should seek diagnosis and treatment from a professional physician.

📚 Related Knowledge

Related Concepts

Three-Grade Classification: Upper Grade nourishes life, Middle Grade nourishes nature, Lower Grade treats disease; Lower Grade is mostly toxic and cannot be taken long-term.
Four Qi and Five Flavors: Each drug is first marked with "flavor pungent, warm" or "flavor bitter, cold," etc., reflecting the basic attributes of the medicinal nature.
Using poison to attack poison: The ancient medical concept of using drastic and toxic substances to attack stubborn pathogenic factors.
Processing: Drugs such as Fuzi, Banxia, and Dahuang all emphasize shaded drying, fire drying, or sun drying after harvesting; later generations developed this into a systematic science of pao-zhi processing.
Accumulations, retained fluids, undigested food, and blood stasis: Ancient pathological concepts of substantive pathogens.

Extended Reading

Suwen · Zhi Zhen Yao Da Lun: Discusses treatment principles such as "toxic and non-toxic [substances] should always be governed by fixed regulations."
Shanghan Zabing Lun: The Shaoyin disease chapter uses Fuzi, and the Chengqi decoctions use Dahuang—these can be referenced to understand the role of Lower Grade drugs in formulas.
Ru Men Shi Qin: Zhang Zihe's practice of emetic and purgative methods and theory of attacking pathogens, related to drugs such as Lilu and Guadi.
Bencao Gangmu: Offers more detailed discussions on the varieties, processing, and usage of Fuzi, Wutou, Banxia, and Dahuang.

Note: This content is based on classical Chinese medical texts and is provided solely for the study and appreciation of traditional culture. It does not constitute any medical diagnosis, medication guidance, or treatment advice. If you feel unwell, please seek medical attention promptly.