We hope you have enjoyed Mitesh’s fine work about Chinese herb flavors and their combinations. What I loved about this project was the willingness to examine cherished Chinese medicine concepts – testing them using the most sophisticated laboratory known on Earth – the human body.
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If you missed any of the series, just read through the links below.
Part 1 (Beginning of the Pungent + Sweet = Yang Qi experiment)
Part 2 (Continuation of the Pungent + Sweet = Yang Qi experiment)
Part 3 (Conclusion of the Pungent + Sweet = Yang Qi experiment)
Part 4 (Beginning of the Sweet + Sour = Fluids experiment). You’re on part 5, the conclusion of the Sweet + Sour = Fluids experiment, right now!
Flavors Experience
This section contains the experiences felt during the ingestion of each herb and pairings.
Calibration Herbs
The calibration process was to know the intimate experience of the herbs from a personal perspective and have a knowing that converged in a way that the authors of the Tang Ye Jing had. Therefore, much of this is poetic serving a pivot role for the further experiences. This is a rehashing from the first experiement.
Dang Shen
The simple act of sipping this herb allowed for relaxation to pour through my entire body. Hints of warm milk were hidden in this and spun me back to childhood.
All I wanted was to cuddle up and under a comforter, turn on a movie and rest.
Ancient tension fell away.
Worries melted into peace.
And a smile held me in her embrace.
My breath grew deeper and unhurried and my brow opened and tingled in delight.
(Sheng) Di Huang
Wafting past my nose
my heart flows with joy
Exhale
Joy settles
Gently blowing on the hot medicine
Sip
Sip
Sip
This dark mistress grabs a hold on my mind
the initial joy of heart is hidden because
the over powering grounding of mind
Sip
Sipsip
The bottom of my tongue holds true
as if waiting for the fog on the horizon
to clear
I grip the ground and straight
my neck
peering into the depths
Breathe
Breathe
sip
Gulp
My sides now ground
and the imminence of what may be subsides
I am Here
Somber
Salty
But bound
My upper heart beats
in unison with the first
I feel a turtle shell hold me together above my head
Peacefully and powerfully she commands me not to drink anymore…
What do I do with the rest.
Offer it to a friend.
Xuanfu Hua
Bitter!
My eyes jump from my head!
Never let that touch your lips again!
Hold on… a phone call… let me answer that
I’m back.
Feeling cleaver.
Not so sure if that’s a good thing.
But reverent now.
This goes to my heart
Tears that otherwise fog my mind
Lift in wondrous praise like steam
Something shines through
Quasar like
Going to surrender as stairway to heaven plays
Drink her all. in deepened brightened ming-yi.
Sometimes all of our thoughts are misleading.
super cold
That one was particularly hard on my stomach and had to neutralize it with a little Sheng Di Huang and a little more of Dang Shen.
Wu Wei Zi
I’ve tasted you before… have I not?
What a joy to pucker my lips
But taxing this time.
My spine straightens into a J
Relax but strong
My sides again.
But especially my shoulders come to life
Thank you for being warmer than XuanFu
You shook me all night long!!!!!
Did you know that the electromagnetic field of the earth is one of several qualities that allows it to be habitable for life? We’d be with out a subtle protection and possibly a way of thinking without it.
You are beautiful!
When the levee breaks
Gui Zhi
Pungent.
Mud that has been hardened flaking off the back of my neck
Flavorful breathing
Gentle muscle relaxant
Effervescent smile
Delicate
Does it even work?
I think so.
A little fiery
Playful?
Giggling
Gypsy!
I’m working hard to keep my spirit in my body
Combinations
These combinations are explored in a more prose and scientific sense. It lacks the poetic nature of above because I’m looking for a convergence of experiences.
Sheng di Huang and Wu Wei Zi
Water and Metal
Salty and Sour
At first it settled my energy. But then it started to awaken my senses after about 10 minutes of sipping.As time comes on, its effects become more powerful. It seems to settle me and awaken me a little at a time. Eventually it started to kick out some stagnation in my body which was delightful. As a flavor combination, I found it rather consolidating and grounding.
Xuan Fu Hua and Sheng Di Huang
Fire and Water
Salty and Bitter
The first thing that jumps out at me is the intensity of smell and flavor of Xuan Fu. The powerful nature of the Xuanfu Hua forced me to consolidate myself into a meditative state. It drew me into my heart’s warmth and asked that I shut my senses. Once inside, the qi moved along the most primal pathways in my body with ease and authority. Its not they were excited to do so, rather that when all else was withdrawn, this was what held its ground out of necessity.This take lot of stomach energy to digest. And so proceeded cautiously waiting for my energy in my stomach to return. In fact I hesitate to take another sip at this time.
Gui Zhi and Sheng Di Huang
Wood and Water
Pungent and Bitter
The three fire centers in my body, ming men, heart and third eye warmed immediately.The expansive nature of pungency is contained by the sinking nature of water and water is then bought to its bounds through the pungency. I feel like this is living water.
Xuan Fu Hua and Gui Zhi
Fire and Wood
Salty and Pungent
This is great! Its the first time Xuan Fu Hua hasn’t just shut me down. That coldness is spread through the rest of the body and has a warming and protective effect. Its still meditative but gently so. There’s an internal external balance here.
Gui Zhi and Wu Wei Zi
Wood and Metal
Pungent and Sour
There’s is something unbelievably beautiful about this combination! I found an area or stagnation in my right side started to pulsate and move. This was rather impressive how it was able to awaken and circulate energy around my body.
Wu Wei Zi and Xuanfu Hua
Metal and Fire
Sour and Salty
This basically wants to run through my body rather quickly. Its like a brick in my digestion. Which seems to lay on top of the lower half of my digestion. I was careful not to ingest too much of this as it seemed to most potent combination yet. This is the closest to what was said in the Suwen regarding Sour and Bitter “gush forth Yin.”
Conclusions
There is definitely need for further investigation. I still have quite a bit of confusion with the Fire Calibration Herb of Xuanfu Hua and the Water Calibration Herb of Sheng Di Huang. However, when paired together, the classical Fire and Water reference didn’t fail to impress.
I was also astonished with the effects of Wood and Metal working together. This was powerfully circulating on a more surface level compared to the primal circulation of Fire and Water.
I would like to continue working with the Bitter and Salty Herbs according to Tang Ye Jing assignments and -see if I truly understand what they were trying to say with these.
————–
Appendix 1 – Further Combinations
Three Taste Combinations
Pungent + Sour + Sweet
Pungent + Sour + Bitter
Pungent + Sour + Salty
Sour + Sweet + Bitter
Sour + Sweet + Salty
Sweet + Bitter + Salty
Four Taste Combinations
Pungent + Sour + Sweet + Bitter
Pungent + Sour + Sweet + Salty
Sour + Sweet + Bitter + Salty
Five Taste Combinations
Pungent + Sour + Sweet + Bitter + Salty
Appendix 2 – Herbs Selected
Any notes on the selected herbs will be given here including Shen Nong Ben Cao entries and TCM assignments. SNBCJ information is taken from the Blue Poppy Press translation of the text.
Ren Shen (Dang Shen) – Sweet Calibration Herb (Sweet of Sweet)
The Ren Shen mentioned in the Tang Ye Jing maybe, as Dr. Fruehauf suspects, actually Dang Shen. Here is his explanation as to why this may be true:
One of the two stellar constellations that are associated with the 4th month of the year is called “Shen”–the Three Stars (Orion), the original character for Renshen (Human Trinity: ginseng). In ancient China, every region of the sky was considered to be linked to a region of China, in this case the state of Wei. Wei includes the district of Shangdang, where China’s best Dangshen grows. Dangshen, therefore, represents the earthly Shen grown in Shangdang, the region on which the Heavenly Shen projects its qi. From a purely clinical perspective, any northern type of ginseng would have overpowered formulas such as Xiao Chaihu Tang or Banxia Xiexin Tang, where Chaihu/Banxia is supposed to be the lead herb.
For this reason, I selected Dang Shen to be the Sweet of Sweet Herb. Although this herb was not used this time, I wanted to share this information again.
There is no Shen Nong Ben Cao entry for Dang Shen however, the entry for Ren Shen, a Superior class Herb, is given below:
Ren Shen is sweet and a little cold. It mainly supplements the five viscera. It quiets the essence spirit, settles the ethereal and corporeal souls, checks fright palpitations, eliminates evil qi brightens the eyes, opens the heart, and sharpens the wits. Protracted taking may make the bod light and prolong life. Its other name is Ren Xian (Human Incarnation). Yet another name is Gui Gai (Ghost Shield). It grows in mountains and valleys.
The TCM listing of Dang Shen is as follows:
- Category: Herbs that Tonify Qi
- Channels: LU, SP
- Properties: Sweet, Neutral
- Latin: Radix Codonopsitis Pilosulae
- Chinese: 党参
Wu Wei Zi – Sour Calibration Herb (Sour of Sour)
According to the Shen Nong Ben Cao, Wu Wei Zi is a Middle Class Herb. It goes on to state:
Wu Wei is sour and warm. It mainly boosts the qi, treating cough and counterflow qi ascent, taxation damage, and languor and emaciation. It supplements insufficiency, fortifies yin and boosts male’s essence. It grows in mountains and valleys.
The TCM listing of Wu Wei Zi is as follows:
- Category: Herbs that Astringe, Stabilize, Bind
- Channels:HT, KI, LU
- Properties: Sour, Warm
- Latin: Fructus Schisandrae Chinensis
- Chinese: 五味子
Gui Zhi – Pungent Calibration Herb (Pungent of Pungent)
According to the Shen Nong Ben Cao, Gui Zhi is a Superior Class Wood. It goes on to state:
Jun Gui is acrid and warm. It mainly treats hundreds of diseases, nurtures the essence spirit, and renders the facial complexion harmonious. It may serve as an usher or envoy for various medicinals Protracted taking may make the body light, prevent senility, and render the face bright and efflorescent, thus forever looking charming like a child’s face. It grows in the mountains and valleys of Jiao Zhi.
The TCM listing of Gui Zhi is as follows:
- Warm, Spicy Herb that Releases the Exterior
- Channels: HT, LU, BL
- Properties: Spicy, Sweet, Warm
- Latin: Ramulus Cinnamomi Cassiae
- Chinese: 桂枝
Xuanfu Hua – Fire Calibration Herb (Salty of Salty)
According to the Shen Nong Ben Cao, Xuanfu Hua is a Middle class Herb. It goes on to state:
Xuan Fu Hua is salty and warm. It mainly treats bound qi, rib-side fullness, and fight palpitations, removes water, eliminates cold and heat in the five viscera, supplements the enter, and down bears the qi. Its other name is Jin Fei Cao (Boiling Gold Weed). Another name is Sheng Zhan (Profound Clearness). It grows in rivers and valleys.
The TCM listing of Xuanfu Hua is as follows:
- Warm Herb that Transforms Phlegm-Cold
- Channels: LIV, LU, ST, SP
- Properties: Bitter, Spicy, Slightly Warm
- Latin: Inulae Flos
- Chinese: 旋覆花
(Sheng) Di Huang – Water Calibration Herb (Bitter of Bitter)
According to the Shen Nong Ben Cao, Di Huang is a Superior class Herb. It goes on to state:
Gan Di Huang is sweet and cold. It mainly treats broken [bones], severed sinews from falls, and damaged center. It expels blood impediment, replenishes the bone marrow, and promotes the growth of muscles and flesh. When used in decoctions, it eliminates cold and heat, accumulations and gatherings, and impediment. Using the uncooked is better. Protracted taking ma make the body light and prevent senility. Its other name is Di Sui (Earth Marrow). It grows in rivers and swamps.
The TCM listing of Sheng Di Huang is as follows:
- Category: Herbs that Cool the Blood
- Channels: HT, KI, LIV
- Properties: Sweet, Bitter, Cold
- Latin: Radix Rehmanniae Glutinosae
- Chinese: 地黄
An exploration into Chinese herb flavor combinations – the final chapter
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Filed under Alternative Medicine, Holistic Healing, Natural Health Care by on Jul 5th, 2010. Comment. 
You will remember not too long ago when Mitesh, a student at NCNM, released some very interesting information about an experiment he was doing concerning the flavors of Chinese herbs, their combinations, and their impact on human physiology. Well, he completed a continuation of the project for this latest term project and has consented to let me share his findings with all of you.
I want to apologize for the formatting – I’m actually on vacation and have limited time to put this together. Sometimes, copying and pasting from other programs (like Microsoft Word) can be pretty tricky. Hopefully, it will still be readable.
I’ll also have another student project to share sometime soon. It’s one student’s multi-disciplinary exploration of the energetics of Chaihu – I think you’ll find it to be very interesting. Enjoy!
—
Purpose of Experiment
This experiment is a continuation of last term’s experiment in which I combined Chinese herb flavors to see if a particular effect arose. For example, did Sweet and Pungent create an inner sensation which I would call Yang Qi? Using the Tang Ye Jing herb flavor assignments, I would combine Ren Shen, the sweet archetypal herb, with Gui Zhi, the pungent archetypal herb, assess the inner experience and see if it converged on something I would consider Yang Qi. This proved to be true.
|
Dominant > |
Sour |
Pungent |
Sweet |
Salty/Heart |
Bitter (Kidneys) |
|
Sour |
Wu Wei Zi |
Xi Xin |
Maidong |
Houpo |
Zhuye |
|
Pungent |
Zhishi |
Gui Zhi |
Gan Cao |
Dahuang |
Huangqin |
|
Sweet |
Shaoyao |
Sheng Jiang |
Ren Shen |
Zexie |
Baizhu |
|
Salty |
Dandouchi |
Chuan Jiao |
Dazao |
Xuanfu Hua |
Huanglian |
|
Bitter |
Shuyu |
Fuzi |
Fuling |
Xiaoshi |
Di Huang |
Table 1: Tang Ye Jing Primary and Secondary Flavors
I continued this Chinese herb paring for Sweet and Sour, whose outcome, according to my teachers, should be the creation of fluids. This too proved true.
I further investigated the other two pairing with Sweet, that being Bitter and Salty. I then attempted to create descriptive markers to note the inner experience after which I then attempted to attribute my best Chinese Medicine term to the experiences.
The flavor combination testing was preceded with a calibration effort in which I poetically described the effect of the archetypal herb flavors. This allowed me to then have an authentic experience of what was meant to be Sour or Pungent.
Furthermore, I then take the a combination of primary and secondary flavors and see if the single herb would also have the same effect as the combined archtypal herbs. Therefore, would the herb with a primary flavor of Sweet and secondary flavor of Pungent, Gan Cao, create Yang Qi? And would the herb with a primary flavor of Pungent and Secondary flavor of Sweet, Sheng Jiang, create Yang Qi as well? This proved not to be true for this case and there was no convergence is experience between any combination o f archetypal herb flavors and single herb with matching primary and secondary flavors. As such, I decided to drop this portion of the experiment and only proceed with testing of archetypal herb flavor combinations.
Background Information
The Tang Ye Jing assigns organs to flavors differently than the NeiJing. The Tang Ye Jing assigns flavors based upon shared gesture. The NeiJing assigns flavors based upon contrary gestures. For example, the Lung has a natural gesture of contraction, that akin to Metal and Fall. Therefore then NeiJing would assign Pungent to the Lung because its gesture is dispersive. Therefore, it would counteract the over-contractive pathology of the Lung. However, the Tang Ye Jing would assign the flavor of Sour to the Lung because they share the same gesture.
Another way of describing this difference is what is referred to as T? Yòng??, translated as body and use. T? shows bones next to a ritual vessel. Yòng shows either a target with an arrow through it or bronze ritual tripod vessel. The Tang Ye Jing assignments focus on T? whereas the NeiJing assignments focus on Yòng.
|
Flavor |
Suwen Chapter 5 Organs |
Tang ye Jing Organ |
Representative TYJ Herb |
|
Sour |
Goes to Liver and Restrains |
Lungs |
Wu Wei Zi |
|
Pungent |
Goes to Lungs and Disperses |
Liver |
Gui Zhi |
|
Sweet |
Goes to Spleen and Tonifies |
Spleen |
Ren Shen |
|
Bitter |
Goes to Heart and Descends |
Kidneys |
Xuanfu Hua |
|
Salty |
Goes to Kidneys |
Heart |
Di Huang |
Table 2: Flavors and Organs according to Tang Ye Jing and NeiJing SuWen
Unknown to me at the time of the conception of the experiment, a line in Chapter Five of the SuWen states:
??????
Su?n k? y?ng xiè wèi y?n
Sour and bitter gush and leak forth yin
Originally I hadn’t tasted this flavor combination, but this time it was on the docket. Knowing that results like this were possible, I proceeded with a little more caution than when all the combinations had Sweet as a flavor.
|
Two Tastes Combinations |
Outcome |
|
Pungent + Sour |
Investigated |
|
Pungent + Sweet |
Investigated – Part 1 |
|
Pungent + Bitter |
Investigated |
|
Pungent + Salty |
Investigated |
|
Sour + Sweet |
Investigated – Part 1 |
|
Sour + Bitter |
Investigated – Gush and Leak Forth Yin |
|
Sour + Salty |
Investigated |
|
Sweet + Bitter |
Investigated – Part 1 |
|
Sweet + Salty |
Investigated – Part 1 |
|
Bitter + Salty |
Investigated |
Table 3: Two Flavor Combinations
In the future I would like to investigate triple, quadruple and all five flavors. A list in the appendix shows the possible combinations.
Methods and Design
The real question is if there was a convergence of experiences amongst herbs on a subjective level. As mentioned previously, a primary baseline of subjective experience harmonized to the Tang Ye Jing flavors was done with the primary flavors from Table 2 above.
There was 6 oz of each herb decocted in 16 oz of water and gently boiled to a 8 oz reduction. They were ingested slowly savoring the experience. Each tasting lasted about 20 to 30 minutes for the full effect and about 10 minutes between tasting to clear the experience…
–
During the next portion of this article – Mitesh will reveal the results of this, his latest experiment. Look for it coming this week!
An Exploration into Chinese herb flavor combinations – continued!
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Filed under Alternative Medicine, Holistic Healing, Natural Health Care by on Jun 28th, 2010. Comment.
In theory, I would be releasing my latest column about Western philosophy and Chinese medicine right about now. However, because of vacations and a recent illness, that is going to have to wait. In it’s place, until I feel ready to release something, I will release a series of posts on Chinese philosophy – specifically the Hexagrams of the Yijing.
As most of you know, in school at NCNM we are grounded in Chinese symbolism and cosmology before anything else. We use the organ clock as a way to organize our thinking about these symbols – which helps us develop an incredibly rich picture of the human body and the world in which we all live.
A friend has been asking me to do a post about the hexagrams for a while, and I’ve been putting her off (sorry, Yael). I don’t know if I will satisfy what she wanted, but recent events have pushed this project forward to the very front. What recent events?
I have consulted the Yijing several times a week since I was young, around 16 years old. It has been my constant companion, and the only way I made sense of some really strange situations. As I went through a very strict religious period, I nearly let go of it entirely – but never could quite do so. Just five or six days ago, I did a reading of an intensely personal nature that really floored me. My meditations led me to seek out further instruction on the Yijing. Some timely advice from friend and NCNM student Jason Lay led me to Hilary at I Ching with Clarity, a tremendous resource for people interested in the Yijing.
Since finding that website, I have been completely reinvigorated in my interest in the Yijing and the symbolism of the hexagrams. So much so that I have dedicated my vacation to deepening my relationship with these symbols – when I’m not hiking, hanging out with family and sleeping in, that is.
The Lung organ system
Most of us know the Lung as being the “upper source of Qi,” the source of attack for many external invasions, and the “sensitive organ” easily perturbed by cold, heat and various toxins (environmental and otherwise).
Lung is Taiyin, the first of the Yin layers of the body – paired with the oft-assaulted Spleen. The two together are responsible for the majority of our “taking in” of nourishment from the world. With the Yangming organs of Stomach and Large Intestine, they make up the rhythm of the body. Breathing in, eating regularly, having regular bowel habits and distributing the energy to the four corners of the body.
What does Hexagram 11’s name mean?
Hexagram 11, Tai ? – sometimes translated as Pervading (Karcher) – is the tidal hexagram (?????) associated with the Lung organ system due to its assignment to the first month of the Chinese year, around the Gregorian calendar’s February. 
The name Tai ? anciently looked like two hands with water flowing in between them and so recalls the benevolent flow of water/nourishment coming down from above – an apt description for the Lung. The name lives in an etymological word field with ? and ? and so is associated with bigness, greatness – recalling the Prime Minister, the elevated position of the Lung. Other English words that can be associated with Tai are peace, harmony, flow and balance.
What else can we learn about Hexagram 11?
Hexagram 11 talks about the great sacrifice on Mount Tai that only the great Kings could make. They received the benefit of heaven which was then dispensed to the people. It is the balancing of the forces of Heaven and Earth, the optimal arrangement of Yin and Yang (Yang below where it should be, physiologically, for human beings and Yin being above).
What does Hexagram 11 tell us about the Lung?
Well, I’ve already mentioned several things. It does reinforce some of what we already know about the Lung. It is above, it dispenses the blessings of Heaven down to the entire body. It is a very important organ system, Great, the Prime Minister. It likes or strives for balance – and thus may be very sensitive to imbalance. It lives at the intersection of Heaven and Earth, taking in the air we breath in from Above and introducing it into the Earthly body.
Like you, I’m interested in the information above – it’s fascinating, it gives us another layer of interpretation about something we thought we knew. But, there’s nothing really earth shattering in that information. That’s fine, but I believe these symbols have layer upon layer of meaning – revealing themselves through introspection, clinical experience, and the simple passage of time.
I decided to sit with Hexagram 11 for a little while and derive what else I could from it. Here’s 
where I veer a little bit, folks, hang on.
The contrasting hexagram for Tai is Pi, hexagram 12 – the tidal hexagram for the BL, clock pair to Lung. Its name is often translated as Obstruction. It is the Tai hexagram reversed – the reversed relationship of Yin and Yang. For human beings, at least, not an optimal relationship. It recalls, of course, Pi disorder where there is a blockage at the epigastrium.
In the text for hexagram 12, we are told, “What is important is departing, along with your ability to realize your plans. The time that is coming is small and mean.” This is in great contrast to hexagram 11, where we learn, “What is unimportant is departing, along with the necessity to be small and adapt to whatever crosses your path.” (These translations are from Stephen Karcher’s, Total I Ching
What can this mean for the Lung?
In my experience, the worst thing you can do when treating someone who has a dysfunction in the Lung organ system, is obsess over the little details. The Lung is one of the most powerful organ systems in the body, second only to the Heart, the Emperor. It knows how to do the right thing, and it will do so, given the appropriate reminder. You do not need to hammer it, pester it, or overwork it. You do not need to introduce a hundred herbs for clearing this and that kind of phlegm. You need only help reestablish the normal downward motion, and the flow returns.
For me, this has great consequence in the cleanup phase of a common cold. Many patients end up with some phlegm in the Lung – sometimes with a cough, sometimes not. I have always had the best effect when I do something very simple – adding downward drawing Xingren to a formula, for instance, or relying on the powerful downward energy of Sheng/unprocessed Banxia pinella (available through Classical Pearls). I have also had great success using the very simple classical modification of Wuweizi + Ganjiang. The former is the metal herb of the metal class in the Tangye Jing – thus giving a powerful reminder to the Lung of what “metal” really means.
Simple observations, perhaps, but I hope you have enjoyed the article. I’ll talk more about the hexagrams in future articles. I’d love to hear from folks who may have a different interpretation of Tai, or who can add their wisdom to the conversation. Feel free to comment here or to join us in the forums for more in depth discussion.
The Yijing and Chinese medicine : Hexagram 11, Tai ?
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Filed under Alternative Medicine, Holistic Healing, Natural Health Care by on Jun 17th, 2010. Comment.
Another aspect to the more advanced Chinese herb learning method that I teach is diving into the huge amount of information concerning where herbs grow up. Using the metaphor of the growth and development of a human being, it is undeniable that where we grow up influences the people we end up becoming. The same is true of Chinese herbs!
I was going to write out this article, but I just couldn’t manage to sit in front of the computer, typing. So, I made a podcast instead. Enjoy it! Inside, I talk about why I love the herb method I teach, why location matters when it comes to Chinese herbs, and I do a very small bit of application with one of your friends and mine, Chenpi – aurantium – citrus peel.
If you are having trouble playing the podcast in your browser window – you have two options. First, you can just click the link below to download the podcast and listen to it from your computer. It’s virus free, I promise. Second, you can go to iTunes and subscribe to the podcast there – the newest episode should be listed. Sometimes the iTunes feed doesn’t work so well, but it’s been behaving lately.
Let me know if you have any trouble - and please come back and comment to let me know how you liked it.
Learning Chinese herbs : does where they grow really matter?
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Filed under Alternative Medicine, Holistic Healing, Natural Health Care by on Jun 14th, 2010. Comment.
Quite some time ago, before the changes that are currently sweeping Deepest Health, I promised that I would discuss an “herb learning method” and eventually develop it into a course of some kind. Well, those wheels are turning again. You can already get a basic report about the first stages of the method by signing up for our newsletter.
Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll unpack some more advanced pieces of the method – including some application. We’re getting closer to the point where I can release a fuller version of the method.
First, I want to refresh your memory with some basic background material. I think about herbs in a similar way as I think about people. They have names, faces, general personalities. They have families, friends, favorite activities. They like certain climates and not others. They have jobs and hobbies. If you really want to get to know a person – you are going to have to access a broad slice of their life. The same is true of herbs.
What happens when we understand a person more deeply?
Well, for one, you reap great personal benefits from these kinds of relationships. It’s a personal benefit – close human friendships can be the difference between having a long, happy life and a shorter, more stressful one. I honestly think the same is true of my relationships with herbs. Certainly it’s a different kind of relationship, but it does have that kind of benefit. It is, of course, also beneficial for your patients. When you understand the herbs deeply – you prescribe with more accuracy and shooting for a deeper level of pathology. You’re a better practitioner, in short.
In the Family
Those of you who have a significant other know that you learn quite a bit about that person by hanging out with their family. The same is true of herbs, though certainly for different reasons. I’m not talking ONLY about plant families from a Western botanical perspective, though I’m including that as well. To learn the family life of an herb deeply you need to look into:
- Western botanical herb family
- TCM herb category
- Shennong Bencao Jing herbal class
- Related to #3, a family based on the broad “plant/animal/mineral” distinction and the specific part within it
Let’s look at these in turn, using an example – the seldom mentioned herb Xuan Fu Hua / Inula / ???.
Western botanical information
Inula (either japonica or brittanica) is a member of the Asteraceae family – a family it shares with sunflowers, goldenrod, dandelions among many others. It is a largely herbaceous family, without trees or significant numbers of climbing and vining plants. Now, I should note right now that I’m not a botanist, and while I do have a science background, this kind of information always sort of baffled me. That’s why I’m so happy to be an herbalist – it gives me an excuse to learn this information as deeply as I please.
Now there is a ton of information we can find out about the species itself, and that’s definitely part of the method. But here, we are largely concerned with the group that the plant is associated with – its family. One interesting thing about this group of plants is that what looks like a single flower (the yellow mass in the middle) is actually a packed together bunch of little flowers – a composite flower head.
There is a ton of information we could get into with this family – but one of the most simple and common observations is how these flowers look much like a representation of the sun. Sunflowers, dandelions and many of the members of this family all have a sunny disposition and thrive in sunny locales.
What does this tell us about Xuanfuhua?
Well – the association with the sun can certainly get us thinking. There must be some kind 0f Yang affiliation, perhaps a Fire association. Now, in some cases, the information we get from family is going to seem to contradict what we commonly know about the herb, or simply seem irrelevant. I’m going to suggest that this is almost never the case.
In Xuanfuhua’s case, we don’t need to dig too far to help us find some confirmation for this information. In the Tang Ye Jing, Xuanfuhua is considered to be the “fire herb of the fire class.” In other words, it is the ultimate exemplar of fire within the 25 herbs mentioned in this text. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this text, we’ll discuss it in more detail in the future.
So, in my opinion, we need to think about Xuanfuhua a little differently in light of this information. While it is commonly thought of as an herb that deals with phlegm and counterflow, perhaps we understand this function in a slightly different way knowing of it’s strong sun, Yang and Fire associations. Perhaps we even start to expand our understanding of the herb – can you think of some unique uses, or some more advanced understanding, that might transform the way you use this herb in clinical practice?
We don’t have space in this short article to go through the example with each of the four family categories above, but I will provide a brief description of each…
TCM herb category
This is a family of another kind – an affinity group bound by basic effect. Now, there’s information to be gained by diving deeply into the TCM category, but here we’re looking at the similarities in herbs within that family. It can also be instructive if we find differences. That tells us something about the herb, but also something about the ultimate utility of this method of categorization.
Shennong Bencao Jing herbal class
Now, obviously, this is only going to work for herbs that are actually contained in this text. However, I think it’s pretty interesting to look at which herbs are put together within the SNBCJ. This goes both for the categorization of upper, middle and lower class herbs as well as the various plant, mineral and animal classifications. As an early record, perhaps more influenced by the Shamanic traditions in use at the time, the SNBCJ categorizes herbs in a different way than, say, TCM categories.
Layperson family classification
Is the herb animal, plant or mineral? Within that categorization, what part of the plant (or whatever) is the herb in question? In the case of Xuanfuhua, we are discussing the flower of an herbaceous plant. What can we say about flowers, in general? These are the kind of questions we ask as we examine this “family.”
Join me next week as we unpack another piece of this relational herb learning method. Thanks for reading.
The relational method of learning Chinese herbs : herb families
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Filed under Alternative Medicine, Holistic Healing, Natural Health Care by on Jun 8th, 2010. Comment.
Just a quick post to let you know about some changes on the site. I’ll be updating you with a few more short posts in the coming days, and probably intermittently for several months. Just showing you around the new digs!
I’ve done something that I was a bit frightened to do - I actually put some of my thoughts down on (electronic) paper and packaged it up for public consumption. That may sound funny – obviously I do that all the time in blog entries. But, there’s something very DIFFERENT about doing it as a PDF – something that someone can easily take away, share, and read in 20 years (!) if they so choose.
I’ve made this report free – with one caveat. I want folks to sign up for our new, free Chinese medicine focused newsletter. To get the report, and sign up for our free newsletter – just fill out your name and email address in the form clearly visible in the sidebar. If you read the blog via RSS or email, just navigate to our main page to check it out (http://deepesthealth.com). We absolutely promise your information will never be shared with a third party, and you can unsubscribe easily at any time.
The newsletter will come out once or twice a month, maybe weekly during particularly productive times. We’re working on making it as high value as possible – containing important site updates, round-ups of old posts and interesting links, as well as at least one high quality article about a topic in Chinese medicine that you won’t find anywhere else. We’re focusing on LEARNING the medicine in our newsletter – so the articles will be helpful for those of you who are in school, or who are eternal students – like me.
I’m going to make the second part of this report sometime in June – the more advanced skill set with plenty of commentary and examples. I’ll let you know when it’s ready for download.
The more advanced version will come with a (very reasonable) price tag. You’re going to see more and more of our own products coming out. We’re still going to be providing plenty of free content, but we’re trying to find a model that can help us to fund further research and innovation that doesn’t rely on pitching tons of other companies’ products or plastering the site with advertising.
By the way – web visitors will notice we’ve taken down a bunch of the advertising from the site. We plan to phase out all of the Google advertising by the end of June. From then on, the only products that will be presented on the site will be our own or those of people that we know and trust. Hopefully, you will all enjoy that change.
There have been a number of cosmetic changes to the site (sorry it’s a bit boring at the moment), and those changes are going to continue. We’re also going to expand the resources section, add a forum, and much more. It’s probably going to take the whole summer and a chunk of the Fall for the major wave of improvements to be completed – but it will be worth it.
Onward! (And hey – sign up for the newsletter and get your free report – tell me what you think!)
Eric
The Essential Herb Learning report – and the Deepest Health newsletter
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Filed under Alternative Medicine, Holistic Healing, Natural Health Care by on May 26th, 2010. Comment.
Here is the remainder of the Song dynasty travelogue about Fuzi, translated by Heiner Fruehauf. I hope you have enjoyed this exclusive translation. You might want to pop over to the Classical Pearls Facebook page to discuss this article, and Fuzi in general. I’ll see you there, or in the comments on this post.
Click here if you would like to read the first part of the travelogue.
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The quality of the harvested root is entirely dependent on the care that has been taken in the process of cultivating the crop. Rich people always get the highest quality product, while poor people can rarely afford the highest grade. Sometimes the crop is harvested during the 7th month, yielding a product referred to as “Early Water” (Zaoshui), the roots of which are too small to fit snugly inside a closed fist—these represent a type of Fuzi that is not quite mature yet.
Overall, the cultivation of Fuzi brings with it the fear of inferior quality, and is hard to bring to maturity. Sometimes the seedling looks good, but then the sprouts don’t prosper; or the sprouts prosper, but the root does not fill out; or it ferments and rots underground before the harvest; or it splits open and becomes deformed; or some creature erodes it. Therefore it is customary for the planters to make a sacrifice to the Heavenly Spirits before the harvest, or make gestures to the plant spirits.
The harvested product is processed by first fermenting it, using containers of wine that are placed in a sealed room. There, the roots are steeped for several months until they start to ferment and increase in size. Afterward, the roots are removed from their brine and exposed to the sun and wind until they are completely dry. When the roots first emerge from the wine, the largest pieces are as big as a man’s fist. After drying, they will shrink to a smaller size, producing a dried root around which an adult’s hand can close. It is rare to yield a root that reaches a weight of 1 liang (40g).
Altogether, there are 7 types of Fuzi products—all of them start from the same mother root, yet their final form is different. (Separation of the following passages into a bulleted list is my addition to make it easier to read. Eric.)
- The transformation of the original seedling is called Wutou (Crow’s Head);
- In general, offsprings that sprout out side-ways from the Wutou are called Fuzi (Attached Offspring)
- If an even pair grows out to the left and right, it is called Lizi (Tripod Root);
- If one grows out that is particularly long, it is called Tianxiong (Heavenly Male)
- If one grows with a sharp point it is called Tianzhui (Heavenly Awl)
- If one grows out of the top of the root it is called Cezi (Sidelings)
- And those that grow all over the place are called Loulanzi (Offsprings from a Leaky Basket).
- All are linked to the main root like a child is connected to its mother, but since the name Fuzi has come to be valued the most among them, all of these are now called Fuzi while the other names have fallen into disuse.
If one plants a seedling that yields 6-7 offsprings, the harvested roots will be small. If one yields 2-3 offsprings, they will be larger. If one plants 1 that grows 1 offspring, it will be especially large—this is the norm. As for the shape of Fuzi, the ones that have few corners and can sit squat on an even surface are considered to be of the highest grade. So-called rat breast shaped roots with many corners are of 2nd best quality, and those that are uneven in shape, exhibit crumples or were injured during the cultivation process are of the lowest grade.
As for color, the plants that have white flowers are considered to be best, those with rust color are 2nd, while those with blue-green flowers are deemed to be of lower quality. Tianxiong, Wutou, and Tianzhui all are considered superior when they are full in size, producing a root size that does not fit into a closed hand anymore. The Loulan and Cezi variety, in contrast, are generally considered not worth counting and are given to the beggars.
Overall there are only few people in Shu (Sichuan) that consume Fuzi regularly. Only the people of Shaanpu (today’s Shaanxi Province), Min (today’s Fujian Province), and Zhe (today’s Zhejiang Province) have made Fuzi consumption a regular habit. The traders in Shaanpu focus on bringing the lower grade to market, the ones in Min and Zhe tend to trade the medium grade, and the highest grade is generally sold to public officials (mandarins). The nobility has money and loves the extra-ordinary, and thus is generally satisfied with only the larger kind of roots. Some local fellow with a basic understanding of medicine once said: “The small roots should indeed be avoided, but every piece that weighs more than ½ liang (20g) is good, it is not necessary to seek out those rare ones that measure a full liang”–that just about sums it up.
The Shen Nong bencao jing once remarked: “Fuzi grows in the mountain valleys of Qianwei (today’s Leshan in Sichuan), as well as left of the Yangzi (the southern banks of the lower reaches of the Yangzi River), South of the Mountains (the regions south of Mt. Hu and Mt. Zhongnan), Mt. Song, and the region of Qi and Lu (today’s Shandong Province).” My research shows that there isn’t any Fuzi that grows in these areas. This is clearly a mistake.
The classic further states: “If you harvest the crop in the spring you will get Wutou; in the winter, you will get Fuzi”—a major mistake, in my opinion. The text goes on: “Fuzi that exhibits eight corners is of the best quality; the corners are called Cezi.” This is an even bigger mistake, and completely different from what I learned in the course of my research. This is truly a case of “to believe only what is written in books is worse than having no books at all”! All the data above stems from my original field work.
Eric’s note: The last paragraph is, of course, quite interesting. I think the intensity of his comments is probably misguided, but he was clearly very excited about what he discovered. It may be that the SNBCJ, like many texts of its time, was referring to more symbolic information as opposed to very specific growing/harvesting instructions. It may also be that between the Han and Song dynasties things simply changed with regards to Fuzi. This is why I’ve become more and more interested in combining understanding of the Han (and earlier) texts and later (but still early) commentaries like this one. It’s a big job, but rewarding.
I know that this kind of article is a little hard to comment about – what to say? I would like simply to hear from you if this translation, so kindly provided by Dr. Fruehauf, was useful to you. What did you learn? What more would you like to know? Add your thoughts in the comments or head over to the Facebook group to discuss. Thanks everybody!
Fuzi : Song dynasty travelogue, Part II (trans. Heiner Fruehauf)
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Filed under Alternative Medicine, Holistic Healing, Natural Health Care by on Apr 28th, 2010. Comment.
