In ancient times, people all wanted to "live a long life", and also created some miracle recipes for longevity, but in order to live a long life, it is difficult to achieve it with medicine alone, after all, longevity is like the barrel theory, you need to lengthen the shortest plank. However, traditional Chinese medicine conditioning does have a good effect on prolonging life. The Southern Song Dynasty Prime Minister, medical scientist and numismatist Hong Zun's "Hong's Collection of Prescriptions" contains a wonderful tonic ointment formula, which has created a long history of traditional Chinese medicine ointment and nourishment. It is recorded that "if you take it over 64 years old, you can live to 100 years old", and it is said that "if you take ten doses, you will stop your appetite, cultivate yin gong, and become an immortal in the earth". So what exactly is this ointment? It is the Qiongyu ointment of "Qi Wu Shen Miao, Zhen Sai Qiong Yao".
According to the records of Hong's Collection of Prescriptions, the whole formula of Qiongyu paste is composed of four main medicines: "24 taels of Silla ginseng, 16 catties of rehmannia root, 49 taels of white poria cocos, and 10 catties of white sand honey". This recipe looks simple, but it's hard to make. The ancients were quite elaborate about the production of ointment. First, the ginseng is scooped a thousand times, and the white poria needs to be dug in the ninth month of the lunar calendar, pounded with snow white, and a thousand times with a wooden mortar is ground into fine powder. The white sand honey should be filtered with raw silk, and the rehmannia should be used to extract the natural juice with fresh rehmannia, and the rehmannia juice should not be filled with iron utensils. In this way, the four flavors of ginseng, fresh rehmannia root, white poria cocos, and white sand honey have been prepared, and then you can start the journey of boiling ointment.
The boiling process of Qiongyu paste is not simple, the specific process is, first prepare the four flavors of Chinese medicine powder and medicinal juice, mix well in the container, it is best to use silver stone utensils, you can also use high-quality porcelain to hold the liquid and the powder, and then seal it with clean paper twenty or thirty times, put it in the cauldron, and cook it for six days or three nights in a row with mulberry wood. Then take it out, wrap the mouth of the bottle with wax paper several times, put it in a well, remove the fire poison for one volt (that is, 24 hours), and then take it out and put it in a pot and cook it for a day to get out the water vapor. In this way, the Qiongyu paste was boiled. So, seeing this boiling process, don't you think it's too troublesome? But modern boiling Qiongyu paste is not so complicated. White Poria cocos three flavors of Chinese medicine add water to decoction three times, the first decoction for 4 hours, the second decoction for 3 hours, the third decoction for 2 hours, the three decoction of the liquid to mix, after standing and precipitation, filter only to take the clear liquid, concentrate into a paste; and then the three flavors of Chinese medicine boiled into the paste and white honey mixed, stir evenly, heat and refining, take out and then filter, remove the foam, put it into the tank to cool, and finally bottle and seal.
According to the records of the "Hong's Collection of Prescriptions," its main scope of treatment is "filling in the essence and replenishing the marrow, turning the blood into tendons, having all the spirits, overflowing the five organs, filling the marrow with solid blood, turning white and black, rejuvenating and rejuvenating, walking like a galloping horse, eating several times a day", and "not eating or hungry all day long, reciting ten thousand words every day, having a high sense of consciousness, and having no dreams at night." In addition, it is also said that "one ingredient can save five people from carbuncle disease in five places, and ten places can save ten people from fatigue." Moreover, according to the records of the Qing court doctors, Emperor Yongzheng often took this prescription, and said that this medicine "fills the essence and replenishes the marrow, rejuvenates the youth, replenishes the damage, removes all diseases, turns white to black, the teeth fall and regenerate, and the effect is not exhaustive." I have to say that Qiongyu paste is really an incredible classic prescription, and it is no wonder that later generations of doctors called it "fairy Qiongyu paste".
Qiongyu paste has the effect of nourishing yin and moistening the lungs, invigorating qi and replenishing the spleen, mainly used for yin deficiency and fatigue, clinically mainly with dry cough and less phlegm, pharyngeal dryness and hemoptysis, muscle emaciation, shortness of breath and fatigue as typical symptoms, and the tongue and pulse are mainly characterized by red tongue and less lichen, and thin pulses. Some studies have found that Qiongyu paste is used in the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis, bronchiectasis, pulmonary fibrosis, silicosis and other lung diseases. Qiongyu paste can also be used for the treatment of malignant tumors, cancer patients are characterized by qi and yin deficiency, manifested as emaciation and fatigue, palpitations, insomnia, irritability, hot flashes, mental exhaustion, night sweats, or mouth and tongue sores, flushing, red tongue, pulse and other symptoms are appropriate; In modern clinical practice, Qiongyu paste can be used for the treatment of tuberculosis, bronchiectasis, pulmonary fibrosis, pulmonary cirrhosis, silicosis and other patients who are deficient in lung and kidney yin and spleen qi, and can also be used for the treatment of other chronic wasting diseases, and can also be used for the winter tonic of middle-aged and elderly people with yin deficiency [2].
So, what kind of secret code is hidden in the compatibility of such a wonderful Qiongyu ointment? The whole recipe uses rehmannia as the king's medicine, which mainly plays the role of nourishing the kidney yin, clearing heat and cooling the blood, and lowering fire and stopping bleeding; with white honey as the subordinate medicine, it mainly plays the role of moistening the lungs and relieving cough, nourishing the spleen and stomach; using ginseng and Poria cocos as adjuvants, among which ginseng nourishes the lungs and spleen, and Poria cocos strengthens the spleen and calms the nerves, infiltrates dampness and dissolves phlegm; and uses mulberry firewood as the medicine, which mainly plays the role of "pulling out poisonous gases," "dispelling wind and cold," and "removing decay and regeneration." Ginseng, Poria cocos and white honey are compatible, enhance the effect of nourishing qi and strengthening the spleen, and have the wonder of cultivating the soil and producing gold; Ginseng and Poria cocos actively belong to yang, and white honey and rehmannia nourish the main guard of yin, which not only has the wonder of Tai Chi and Tai Chi, but also can use the movement of yang medicine to make the nourishment of yin medicine not sluggish, which is quite suitable for movement and static, and the combination of rigidity and softness.
For example, why ginseng is the largest dose but not the medicine, why is the white honey not a medicine but a medicine, why use mulberry firewood, and other fires? Why use rehmannia as the medicine, this is because Qiongyu paste is actually in the same vein as the originator of the ointment (single rehmannia decoction in "Sketch Fang"), which is more in line with the mystery of the whole recipe to nourish yin. Why use white honey as a medicine, as the "Pharmaceutical Righteousness" said, "honey picks the essence of a hundred flowers, tastes sweet and replenishes, nourishes the five organs, the body is smooth, and moistens the three cokes", which is very close to the core effect of the whole formula, if it is used as a medicine, it will be too condescending. The reason why we want to use mulberry firewood is because the medical immortal Ge Hong said, "All immortal medicines must not be decocted without mulberry decoction", and the medicine saint Li Shizhen also said, "All tonic and ointments should be fried in this fire." Therefore, whether it is from the prescription medicine compatibility, or from the production process, or from the clinical efficacy, in a word, "this time, what a wonderful word"!
In addition to the effects of treating lung diseases, anti-cancer, regulating the gastrointestinal tract, and delaying aging [1], Qiongyu paste also has the effects of inhibiting cancer and increasing the efficiency and reducing the toxicity of chemotherapy drugs [2]. In recent years, it has also been found that Qiongyu paste has pharmacological effects such as the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's disease [3]. Of course, the pharmacological effects of Qiongyu paste should be far more than these, because ginseng and rehmannia in the recipe are extremely powerful traditional Chinese medicines with extremely strong pharmacological effects, as well as white poria cocos and white honey two flavors of traditional Chinese medicine, which should have very strong pharmacological effects, but there is still a lack of more in-depth pharmacological research on the whole formula. Although Qiongyu paste is known as a fairy prescription, but there are also precautions, the first is that if the amount of hemoptysis is large, the bleeding should be stopped first, and then the bleeding is stopped; the second is that the spleen is deficient and damp, loose stool is not suitable for people who are not usable; the third is that Qiongyu paste needs to be used for a long time, for a long time, if you suddenly suffer from external sensation or suddenly have diarrhea or loose stool during the process of taking the medicine, you should immediately stop the drug, cure the external sensation and regulate the diarrhea or loose stool, and then continue the anterior.
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Inner Mongolia Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine,2010,29(16):109-110.
[2] Li Fei.Traditional Chinese Medicine Advanced Series Formulary (2nd Edition)[M].Beijing:People's Medical Publishing House,2011.
Jilin Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine,2014,34(9):931-934.
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