Heaven and earth merge and all things are born, yin and yang change one after another, one after the other grows, and depends on each other. In ancient Chinese civilization, there is the most profound description of the basic logic behind the laws of nature and the promotion of their change and development. Everything in the world has a "double face", and this is especially true of such a unique spiritual thing as Materia Medica.
Poison, or good medicine, is a double-sided version of the herb
In the field of Chinese medicine, there is a very famous sect called the Fuyang school, and the doctors of this school are best at using the "appendage", which is a Chinese medicine that tastes back to the Yang and saves the rebellion.
Appendages, flowers, stems and leaves are poisonous, and in ancient times, they used their poisonous juice to make poisonous arrows to assist in killing the enemy on the battlefield. It is said that the poisoned arrow that Guan Yu hit Fan Cheng in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is the poison of the appendage.
In the episode "Double Sided" in the first season of the documentary "Materia Medica China", Liu Xiangbao, the "third generation of the Jianchang Gang", a traditional Chinese medicine concoction school, and his disciple Zhang Jinlian insisted on turning poison into good medicine day and night at the scene of the preparation of the two heavens of ice and fire. The film describes the rebirth of the appendage as follows: "If it were not for the essence of heaven and earth, if it were not for human beings's attachment, there would be no rebirth to survive from death." ”
This is the two-sided side of Materia Medica, and it is also the persistence and persistence of human beings in the face of nature.
Appendages: Returning to the Yang to save the rebellion, to the death of life
The appendage was first published in the Shennong Materia Medica, which is the lateral root (sub-root) of the buttercup family plant Aconitum, which is mainly produced in Sichuan, Shaanxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan and other places in the mainland.
The 2015 edition of the Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China includes: Appendix, a sub-root processed product of the aconitum Aconitum carmichaelii Debx. It is hot and spicy and sweet. poisonous. Return to the heart, kidneys, spleen meridians. Function back to the yang to save the rebellion, replenish the fire to help the yang, disperse the cold and relieve pain.
It is used for dead yang deficiency, limb cold pulse, insufficient heart and yang, chest palsy heartache, cold vomiting, cold pain in the abdomen, kidney and yang deficiency, impotence palace cold, cold edema, yang deficiency external feeling, cold wet paralysis pain.
The chemical composition of the appendage is somewhat complex, the main component is aconitine, medicinal spicy, sweet, hot, very toxic, improper use of drugs can easily cause poisoning. Ming Zhang Jingyue referred to the appendages, along with ginseng, ripe land, and rhubarb, as "four dimensions in medicine" and "good general in medicine".
However, if it is not applied properly, it will "poison" and hurt people, so some people "regard the appendage as a snake and scorpion". When using the appendage, it is necessary to be very careful and use it cautiously under the guidance of a doctor to ensure the safety of medication.
Accompanied by medicine, unswerving
Plausible, non-existent; absolute, relative; special, common... The ancients said: Everything is right, and it is the opposition and unity of life that is said. As far as Materia Medica is concerned, raw and cooked are often treated differently, and poison can be turned into good medicine, and good medicine can also become a delicacy.
In the time that accompanies the Materia Medica, people are also observing it, enjoying it, transforming it, and constantly gaining a higher wisdom of survival.
It was a silent practice in a noisy world: with medicine as a companion, unwavering determination; this was how the ancestors came, and it is still the same today.
Comprehensive collation of this article: "Materia Medica China" Season 1, Season 3; "Shennong Materia Medica Interpretation: From Shape and Taste to Clinical (1)", published by People's Medical Publishing House; Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine, No. 23, 2018)