Similarities and differences between mild flavor medicine and sweet taste medicine
In the five-flavor theory, the five tastes refer to the five basic medicinal tastes of "sour, bitter, sweet, spicy, and salty", in addition to the light taste and astringency. Suqin · "The sweet and sour divergence is yang, and the bitterness is yin: the salty taste is yin, and the light taste is leaked into yang." The six are either closed or scattered, or slow or urgent, or dry or moist, or soft or firm, and do what is beneficial, adjust their qi, and make it flat. "Expounds the relationship between the yin and yang of the six tastes." Most of the understanding of light taste by later generations of physicians comes from the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic, such as the "Shennong Materia Medica Sutra Continuation Sequence" records that "sour, bitter, spicy, salty, sweet, light, six ambiguities into the ground", "Jingyue Quanshu · Smell Chapter" Day: "The taste is the earth, there are six, the day is sour, bitter, sweet, salty and salty is also. But it also raises some questions: In the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic, the Five Tastes of Sour, Bitter, Sweet, Spicy and Salty correspond to the Five Elements of Wood, Fire, Earth, Gold, and Water, and the Light Taste is outside the Five Tastes, how should its five elements be positioned? Now that there are five flavors. The classification of the five elements, why is there a faint taste? Similarly, in the basic theory of Chinese medicine, the relationship between the five internal organs and the five internal organs, the five internal organs and the six internal organs, the six internal organs and the six internal organs rhyme, and the correspondence between them and the five elements also has similar problems.
1. 1 Causes of the appearance of light odor
Under the analysis, in addition to the five tastes of the basic medicinal taste, there are three reasons for the appearance of light taste, which are determined by theoretical and practical conditions. First, the theoretical root is actually the embodiment of the contradiction between the yin and yang theory and the five elements theory in the five senses theory. The Theory of Five Elements and the Theory of Yin and Yang were relatively independent at the beginning of the theory, and gradually merged in the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States Period, but there were still problems between the two theories, that is, the contradiction between the dichotomy and the quintile. When the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic was written, it tried to absorb the popular Five Elements Theory and the Yin and Yang Theory into the Five Tastes Theory, which caused a contradiction between the Five Tastes And the Six Tastes. From the perspective of theoretical comparison, the content of the Five Elements Theory is richer and more specific, and the "Book of Shang" has long recorded the five tastes, so the "Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic" establishes the five tastes theory on the basis of the five elements theory. The yin and yang theory advocates a view and classification method of dividing into two, the classification of the five tastes is bound to cause imbalance between the yin and yang sides, and the yin and yang theory believes that "everything in heaven and earth is not right", in order to make up the number of the need for the emergence of the sixth taste, which provides conditions for the emergence of light taste. Second, from the taste point of view, there is a certain difference between light and five tastes. Although the light taste has the saying of "sweet and thin", but the sweet has the taste of "light and thin", how can the sour and bitter and salty taste not have the taste of "light and thin", and what should it be called? The "Commentary" records that "light, thin taste also" refers to the state in which the taste of food or medicine is not obvious, so light is at least different from sweet taste and other four flavors, if there is no difference, there will be no light statement, and there will be no "sweet light" statement. The positioning of the five tastes in the "Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic" is mainly based on taste, and the light taste is different from the five tastes, so it has the conditions to become the sixth taste. Third, the light taste is different from the five flavors in action. The Inner Scriptures say: "Wet and lascivious dry inside, with a faint discharge, wet fornication wins, with a faint discharge." It is the "wet obscenity" in the clinical treatment of the six fornications, which is mostly classified into the category of the role of light taste, and from the clinical point of view, the role of light taste is "light infiltration". The ancients' understanding of the "taste" and "effect" of medicine and food was accumulated through a lot of practice, because the role of light taste is in addition to the effects of "sour harvest", "bitter firm", "sweet", "spicy" and "salty and soft", which also makes light taste have a reason to become the sixth ambiguity. Similar phenomena are found in other aspects of TCM theory, such as the contradiction between the Five Tibetans and the Six Classics and Six Classics, and the Neijing does not propose a better solution to this problem.
1.2 The pros and cons of the "light attachment to Gan" statement
Regarding the relationship between sweet taste and light taste, the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classics have been played by some doctors on this issue so far, and the views put forward are roughly as follows. One, "light and tasteless" says. In the Chinese Tungsic [ 24] and The Introduction to Chinese Physiognomy {25] it is stated: "Light is light and tasteless. Zhang Jiping I z6J more specifically: "Light, if the distilled water is introduced into the mouth does not cause any real taste, it can be described as tasteless and recognizable." "Second, the taste is not obvious. Clinical Practical Chinese Medicine [27j] and Introduction to Traditional Chinese Medicine [25J] point out: "There are also some drugs whose taste is not significant, called light taste. The "Selection of Terminology of Chinese Medicine Terms" [2s] also specifically explains: "There is another light taste, because its taste is not significant, so it is still called five tastes." Third, he said sweetly and lightly. Fundamentals of Traditional Chinese Medicine Pharmacy 129] states: "Talking about flavor medicine is actually the thinnest of the sweet tastes. For the taste of emblica. It is further explained in the "Pharmacology of Traditional Chinese Medicine" [30]: "Because it is close to Gan, it is often said that it is not listed separately. Fourth, another one. Light taste is different from Wu Ming, has its own unique role, that is, "light infiltration", should be as a separate taste 1311.
Regarding how to deal with the relationship between light taste and other five tastes, the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic does not give further explanation. Later generations of physicians have advocated "light attachment to Gan", that is, sweet and thin. Day· Danbo Yuanjian once explained in the "Medicine Cure Tongyi": "Materia Medica only says bitter and bitter, not light, how is it light in taste? Li Endangered Lake Day: Light attached to Gan", Wang Hao Gu Ri: "The five tastes of Materia Medica do not speak lightly, and the four qi do not say cold: only warm, big warm, hot, big hot, cold, big cold, slightly cold, flat, small poison, big poison, poisonous, non-toxic, why not? Lightly attached to the sweet, slightly cold is also cool. It is considered that a light taste is a thin sweet taste. There is also Li Shizhen in the "Compendium of Materia Medica" when comparing the smell and function of honey and honey wax pointed out: "The thick one tastes sweet and the sex is slow and soft, so it moisturizes the internal organs, and the thin one tastes light and the sex is astringent and firm, so it stops diarrhea." It can be seen from this that the theory of Gan Tan has basically been agreed by the doctors. However, the specific meaning of sweet taste in the five tastes still needs to be explored, which also directly affects the relationship between sweet and light.
(1) Sweet taste is divided into broad and narrow senses
Before discussing the issue of gantan, we should first clarify the specific meaning of "gan" and "light" within the scope of Chinese medicine, and the sweet taste has also been divided into broad and narrow meanings with the changes of the times. The Shuowen Jiezi records that "sweet, beautiful also", "light, thin taste also". Sweet taste is beautiful, the sweet meaning referred to here does not mean "sweet", in the past the simple living conditions, easy to accept and no other taste of food can be considered sweet, that is, sweet taste includes sweet and light taste, and sweet is a prominent representative of delicious. In the "Medicine Law Image", it is said that "the grass is sweet and non-toxic", and the later physician Zhang Deyu explained: "In this case, this sweet word, not the big sweet word, is actually a light word, such as spring water, the end of the food are all said to be gan examples. Among the medicines recorded in the Shennong Materia Medica, the wetting medicines such as "Poria" and "Pig Lily" are called "sweet", and it is difficult to have a sweet taste in the taste, and there is no light taste record in the whole book, which is strong evidence. However, with the accumulation of time and the deepening of the understanding of the "Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic" light taste and sweet taste "can supplement, can slow, can and", later generations of physicians have noticed the difference in taste and therapeutic effect between sweet medicine and light taste medicine, so light taste is reflected in later generations of Materia Medica, and the record of sweet medicine is also more focused on sweet medicine, because sweet medicine can better reflect the role of sweet nourishment.
Later generations of physicians used to classify sweetened medicines (such as ginseng, ginseng) and mildly flavored drugs with obvious tonic effects (such as astragalus) as "sweet"; The medicine that has a light taste and can penetrate moisture is recorded as "light taste", but because the "Shennong Materia Medica" uses "gan" to discuss water infiltration medicine, it is often crowned with "sweet" taste before the "light" taste in later generations of Materia Medica: but the effects of "sweet slowness" and "light leakage" have gradually differentiated. Yang Shangshan's "Yellow Emperor Neijing Taisu" Note Day "The five tastes are each into its own dirty, sweet taste two, sweet and light also." '' means that the sweetness is different in layers. In short, the broad sense of sweetness, contains sweet and light taste (even all delicious); The narrow sense of sweetness, that is, the sweet taste in the current five-flavor theory, is more focused on sweet taste. In a broad sense of sweetness, lightly attached to gan; In a narrow sense, the sweet talk has yet to be explored.
(2) The cause of "light attachment to Gan"
In the narrow sense of sweetness, sweet medicine and mild taste medicine also have the same and similarities. First of all, the five elements of sweet taste and light taste are all earthy. The Book of Shang records that the meaning of "soil" in ancient philosophical thinking can be represented by two words, namely "pregnancy" and "transformation", "all things born in the soil" and "all things perish in the soil" are a kind of embodiment. The role of earth in the five elements not only has the function of nurturing and nourishing all things, but also contains the meaning of operation and regulation. The role of sweet taste, mainly embodies the aspect of the incubation and nourishment of "soil"; The "seepage" effect of light taste is more reflected in the preparation of "soil", from the perspective of the five elements, sweet taste and light taste belong to the soil. Secondly, both the sweet taste and the light taste are closely related to the spleen. The spleen and stomach are the foundation of the day after tomorrow, and the nourishment of the qi and blood meridians of the five internal organs and six intestines depends on the transportation and dispersion of the spleen and stomach, and the so-called "sweet taste into the spleen" of the "Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic" is also this meaning, and the sweet medicine can only be achieved with the effect of the spleen and stomach whether it is yin, yang, qi and blood. At the same time, the spleen also has the effect of transporting water, and the spleen disease is not able to work with water, and the moisture is concentrated into water, so the water is wet as a disease, and it is mostly from the spleen and awakening the spleen; The effect of "moisture leakage" of light flavor medicine is also mostly achieved by regulating the function of the spleen and achieving water leakage effect. Again, in the extant Materia Medica more "sweet" and called. Taking "Chinese Pharmacy" as an example, there is no single existence of light taste drugs, but often sweet and light coexist (except for the light astringency of The medicine of Rob Hemp, the remaining 15 kinds are sweet taste); In the water-soaking wetting drug, there are some drugs that have the effect of "strengthening the spleen", and its effect can be said to be a manifestation of the sweet taste into the spleen. Also, modern drug research has confirmed that in light-tasting drugs, most drugs contain substances such as sugars, proteins, and starches that make up a sweet taste. It can be seen that the light taste also contains a certain material basis, and these material bases are the same as the sweet taste, so the statement of "lightly attached to the sweet" has a certain basis.
(3) The difference between light taste and sweet taste
Although there is a saying that "light is attached to gan" and is called sweet, there is a difference between gan and light. The Yellow Emperor's Inner Classics first put forward the light taste, and recorded the yin and yang properties and related functions of sweet taste and light taste, such as "Xingan diverged into yang", "light taste leaked into yang", "six or received or scattered..." to adjust its qi, so that it is flat", etc., laying the foundation for the "six taste theory", but also explaining the difference between sweet and light. Later generations of physicians have also discussed many times, such as the Jingyue Quanshu · Smell chapter" day: "The taste is the earth, the taste has six, the day is sour, bitter, sweet, salty and salty is also", is also the six tastes and said, the light taste is different from the sweet taste. "Introduction to Medicine" said: "Light is the basis of the five tastes, so the Materia Medica does not say light", which also shows that the light taste is not unique to the sweet taste. With the development of later Materia Medica, the light taste gradually differentiates from the sweet taste and becomes a relatively independent taste. The Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic not only juxtaposes gan and tam, but also describes a difference in role. If the light taste is "sweet and thin", why is there a difference in efficacy and sweetness? The "Soup Liquid Materia Medica" believes that the five flavors are used in "bitter discharge, sweet and gentle, sour harvest, salty and soft, light leakage, spicy scattering", "sweet energy slowness: light energy li tips"; "Materia Medica Play · The Essentials of Medicine also says, "Suffering is diarrhea." Willing to develop, and slow, detail what is appropriate to use. ⋯ ⋯ Dilute to exude it. It can be seen that many doctors in later generations, when discussing the five tastes, often distinguish the light taste from the sweet taste and describe it separately, and even the "Materia Medica Xuantong" writes: "The light taste, the five viscera have no return, and the sun enters the urine", indicating that although the later generations of doctors do not mention the six tastes, they have treated the light taste and the sweet taste differently in the use of medicine.
1.3 Sweet taste has no yin and yang properties
Suqin · According to the "Great Theory of True Truth", "The singularity of the yang", the yin and yang properties of the sweet taste seem to have been conclusive. Later generations of physicians took the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic as a classic, believing that his remarks must be reasonable and rarely thought, and even if they talked about it, they were more than one thing, such as "Materia Medica Mengxiao · Therapeutic Odor" Day: "Yang is floating, yin is sinking... Carefully explored, but there are a number of doubts, the medicinal effect is extensive, why not divergence, gushing two ways? In this way, the distinction between yin and yang is inevitable to be partial to the whole. In modern literature, some people believe that the five tastes of the spicy taste are only yang, and the sweet taste is the opposite of the spicy medicinal properties, showing more of the nature of "yin", and the sour bitterness and bitterness and saltiness should belong to the yin [32]. However, the perception of sweet taste as "yin" is also somewhat one-sided, because the characteristics of sweet taste as yang are also obvious.
Before analyzing the yin and yang properties of sweet taste, we should first clarify the ancient method of dividing the yin and yang properties in Chinese medicine theory. First, divided by part, the upper one is yang, the lower one is yin, the outer one is yang, and the inner one is yin. Therefore, "the accumulation of yang is heaven, the accumulation of yin is the earth", "yin is inside, yang is also guarded, yang is outside, and yin is also made". Second, according to the direction of walking, those who tend to go up are yang, those who tend to go down are yin, those who tend to disperse are yang, and those who tend to be introverted are yin. Therefore, "yin taste out of the trick, yang out of the trick", "qingyang out of the trick, cloudy yin out of the trick; Qingyang hair and texture, turbid yin to go to the five viscera; Qingyang solid limbs, turbid yin return to the six intestines". Third, from the perspective of operational characteristics, the invisible qi is yang, the tangible quality is yin, the active one is yang, and the quiet person is yin. The so-called "yin quiet yang dry, yang born yin long, yang kill yin hidden, yang qi, yin forming." Under this premise, the sweet taste is analyzed, and the sweet taste has both a yang side and a yin side. It will be elaborated from the following perspectives.
First, an analysis of "Singan diverging into yang". Suqin · The Day "Xingan Diverges into Yang", and then there is talk of salty and light taste, and judging from the characteristics of its writing, "Xingan" here refers to the role of duality rather than compatibility. The role of the divergence of the spicy taste is beyond reproach, but the statement of the divergence of the sweet taste is not carefully appropriate. From the sweet taste and divergence of the drug is not nothing, such as guizhi flavor spicy and sweet and can sweat and dissolve muscles, anti-flavor spicy and sweet and can dispel the wind and dissolve the table, but the number of such drugs is very small. Taking the "Chinese Herbal Medicine" 112J anti-epileptic medicine as an example, the anti-epithetical medicine has 29 flavors, with 7 flavors of sweet taste, while the taste is spicy and sweet, and the sweet and non-spicy is only cicada and mulberry leaf 2 flavors. Spicy divergence is well known, so as far as the antidote of sweet taste is concerned, it is difficult to determine whether the sweet taste is manifested as a divergent effect, and the clear sweet divergence is only 2 flavors, so the divergence of sweet taste is too far-fetched. Therefore, the view that sweet taste has no divergent effect, and that it is yang because of the divergence of sweet taste is difficult to establish.
Secondly, from the analysis of the five elements of the sweet and ambiguous. The five elements of sweet taste belong to the earth, and the sweet taste is born of earthy qi; The other four-way land of the Lord of the Four Directions has four seasons, and the central land of the Lord of the Earth has a rustic atmosphere in all four seasons. The earth dwells in the center, without the distinction between the four sides; Soil is hidden in the four seasons, there is no distinction between the four seasons; The homeland has no obvious yin and yang properties. However, the earth is between yin and yang, among the five elements, and the qi of the four directions is operated, all because of the earth qi, that is, the earth is the center of the operation of the five elements, and the five elements are ruled by the soil, and the other four elements of the qi also depend on it to be able to live and overcome each other. The circular motion of yin and yang must have an axis to operate, and the axis in the five elements is earth. Tuzhi five elements, while Gan ruled the five tastes, and Gan can reconcile the five tastes is the embodiment.
Again, from the role of sweet taste. (1) Sweet taste "can be slowed". Yang active and yin main quiet, sweet taste slow, can restrict the spicy taste to prevent too much dispersion, spicy taste to go away, can make the sweet taste too slow, it seems to indicate that the two tastes of spicy and sweet are opposite to each other, why does it belong to the yang? The sweet taste is slow, and the calm is yin. (2) Sweet taste "can and". Harmony is harmony, which can not only reconcile the various medicines, but also regulate the medium focus. Reconcile the various medicines, so that the medicine in the formula is cold and hot, dry and greasy, and moderate. The center focus is the upper and lower center, and the conditioning of the center focus is the harmony of the gas machine, which can both raise and lower the air. Sweet taste "can and", no yin and yang attributes can be divided. (3) Sweet taste "can be replenished". If it is said to be "tonic", "tonic" should be yang; However, in the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic, "the light taste permeates into the yang" and "the xingan diverges into the yang", so it is not appropriate to talk about the five tastes as "tonic diarrhea". In terms of nourishment alone, there are points of yin and yang qi and blood; The sweet medicinal properties of tonic qi and yang are more than dry fire, and the invisible yang qi is beneficial, which belongs to yang; The sweet medicinal properties of blood tonic yin are mostly greasy, and the yin liquid that increases the form is yin. That is, the sweet taste can be replenished, and the yin and yang attributes are both seen. (4) Compatibility. Acid ganhua yin, and xinganhua yang, that is, sweet taste can transform yin can also turn yang, gan is yin or yang in the combination of compatible taste, that is, sweet medicine contains two attributes of yin and yang.
Again, from the point of view of the sweet part of action. The Yellow Emperor's Inner Classics "Sweet Taste into the Spleen", "White Tiger Pass" Day "Earthy Taste Sweet, Central Neutralizing Also, So Sweet Five Tastes, Ganyu Mainly Also". The spleen is located in the middle focus, with the heart and lungs on the top, the liver and kidneys on the bottom, the upper yang and the lower yin, although the "Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic" says that the spleen is yin and yin, but from the point of view, it is between yin and yang. Spleen Lord Ascension, Yang; And the spleen of the stomach is mainly turbid, which belongs to the yin. Modern literature statistical research shows that the sweet taste medicine mainly into the liver, spleen, lung meridian, in the stomach, heart, kidney meridian also has a certain distribution, it can be seen that the sweet taste is widely attributed to the meridian, and the organs of its meridians are distributed in Sanjiao. Therefore, from the point of view of the action site, the sweet taste does not have obvious yin and yang properties.
Also, in terms of the tendency of the sweet taste effect. Jingyue Quanshu · The Smell Chapter" contains "The taste is the earth..." The Yang Lord rises and floats, and the Yin Lord sinks and falls. Although Li Shizhen said that "the acid and salt do not rise, the xingan does not fall, the cold has no float, the heat has no sinking, and the meaning of this rise and fall is also", the sweet taste is not impossible to descend. From the perspective of Materia Medica, the role of sweet herbs does not have obvious tendencies, both upward tonic lung qi, downward to strengthen the kidney yang, both upward nourishing heart and blood, and downward nourishing liver and yin, as well as toning the spleen and stomach in the middle. "Lei Gong Concocted" Day: "Whoever tastes bitter, ⋯ ⋯ alone is a sweet taste, can rise and fall, can float or sink, can be inside and outside, there is harmony and relaxation, there is supplement and leakage."
Cover the earth flavor as sweet, the soil is in the middle, and can also be the five elements. "⋯ ⋯ Sweet goes up, and Materia Medica says licorice is down? In the main lid of sweet taste, there are lifts and downs, which can be up and down, and can be outside and inside. There is harmony and relaxation, there is replenishment and leakage, and the way of centering is exhausted. Sweet taste can both rise and fall, both yang and yin. In short, sweet taste has some characteristics of yang, has the characteristics of showing yin, and does not have a clear yin and yang orientation, so its properties are yin and yang neutral or neutral, such as the five elements of the earth dwelling and operate in the four directions.
The Yellow Emperor's Inner Classics and later physicians may have attributed sweet taste to yang for two reasons. On the one hand, the influence of the yin-yang theory. The already formed theory of yin and yang holds that yin and yang are the foundation of all things, and that "all things are right", and when yin and yang match, everything in the world can be harmonized. Relatively speaking, the yin properties of acid, bitterness and saltiness are obvious, and in order to achieve yin and yang peace, it is natural to classify sweet into the category of yang. On the other hand, the characteristics of sweet herbs. Sweet herbs can indeed reflect the characteristics of yang in some aspects, such as tonics and yang tonics, which makes sweet herbs different from the negative characteristics of acid, bitterness and saltiness.