We have talked about some specific theories of Chinese medicinal property in this session, I'd like to talk about the healing wisdom of traditional Chinese medicine There is a widespread statement holding that Chinese medicine doesn't have experimental basis but rather an experienced medicine which is not scientific It lacked the process of animal testing before clinical practice Is this statement true This is one aspect The other aspect We are often asked about Chinese herbs today are actually the experience of ancient people How did our ancients know and how did they recognize the heat or cold nature of Chinese herbs In fact, these questions and statements are ultimately the issue of understanding and re-understanding Chinese herbs for thousands of years how were they found in the earliest time For this question I'd like to answer like this first of all, the statement is one-sided and incorrect We not only do experiments in Chinese herbs but also, to some extent we do higher-level experiments But where are our laboratories Instead of doing closed-door tests we open our doors because our laboratory is the whole nature Our tests are not mainly on animals, but the direct reaction of human body It is commonly known that Shennong tasted hundreds of herbs and encuntered 70 toxic herbs in one day which was surely an experiment Aren't 70 toxic herbs the experience of Shennong This was one aspect The second aspect Let me tell you a story about yunnan baiyao How was it found Yunnan baiyao powder is now known to be a national treasure the formula of which is still unknown to the public The finder of yunnan baiyao was a doctor named Huanzhang Qu Dr Qu is the founder and inventor of yunnan baiyao powder He started to gather herbs from childhood and took up a job as a doctor from youth At the age of 22 he found yunnan baiyao Once upon a time, he went into the mountain to pick up herbs On the way to the mountain, he found two snakes tangling one of which was beaten black and blue and almost dying Its body was almost broken That moment, Dr Qu was very surprised to discover the wounded snake rolled into the nearby grass and twisted soon after he found the snake that covered in blood and wounds magically recovered and got back to the fight. At that time, he was shocked by the dying snake for only by rolling in the grass and then completey recovered Hence, after the snake left, Huanzhang Qu picked up some grass that the snake rolled in and studied it carefully He believed the grass must be extraordinary in some way and marvelous Combing with his clinical experience of healing wound and stopping bleeding he did some research and worked out a formula and finally made today's yunnan baiyao powder which was first called Baibaodan What can we learn from the story? Think about it Is the statement that Chinese medicine is non-experimental true As I said Our experiment was done in the larger environment the process of which was based on the understanding of the nature and rules of the universe and was the direct experience of human body As a matter of fact, the science of traditional Chinese medicine is an achievement acquired with blood and costs of lives and is the wisdom of the ancients. Let me give you a very simple example There are so many kinds of traditional medicine and traditional pharmacy which are nearly on the edge of dying away and extinction Then what makes traditonal Chinese medicine especially Chinese herbs attract more and more internatioanl attention That is because of its effectiveness and its strong vitality Its effectiveness are closely associated with the firsthand experience of the ancients and their observation of the nature Next, I'd like to talk about the healing wisdom of Chinese herbs I'll explain in two aspects one is the natural attributes of Chinese herbs We know that Chinese herbs grow in the nature and are influenced by many factors such as climate changes environments and so on What I want to talk about here is the relationship between environmental factors and the cold/heat nature of herbs Let's take two herbs for example one is a representative warm-property herb called Fu Zi (Radix Aconiti Lateralis Preparata) the other is a representative cold-property herb called Huang Qin (Radix Scutellariae) let's take a look at Fu Zi first as we know among all Chinese herbs, Fu Zi is one of the warmest ones It is a typical herb with warm/heat property Its original growing area is Jiangyou, Sichuan We know that the weather in Jiangyou is not very cold but Fu Zi grows in lofty mountains and steep hills which is comparatively cold The capability to grow in freezing areas proves that the herb itself is full of yang (heat) qi So we regard it as a pure yang herb that grows in an extremely yin place So now we believe the property of Fu Zi is pungent, sweet and hot which endows it with the basic functions In terms of pungent and hot pungent disperses and heat dissipates cold it can disspiate cold In terms of sweet and hot sweet tonifies. Tonify what Of course it tonifies yang qi So it can warm yang Thus the functions of Fu Zi can be summarized as warming yang and dissipating cold According to its functional features one step further what kind of diseases can it be used to treat I think you've all experienced that when you caught a cold you'll experience all sorts of pain In Chinese medicine we say cold causes pain some people may present with headache some may present with abdominal pain some may present with low back pain and some may present with joint pain. To make a long story short, wherever the pain is as long as it's related to cold itcan always be treated with Fu Zi becuase Fu Zi is srongly warm and hot in nature and can dissipate cold and relieve pain This is the first aspect The second aspect is that Fu Zi is a representative herb for yang deficiency what are the characteristics of Fu Zi in treating yang deficiency We know Fu Zi is considered to be a pure yang herb since pungent and sweet are also attributed to yang and heat is strong yang Moreover, Fu Zi was described as dispersing but not retaining by ancient doctors it spreads over the entire body Consequently it is indicated for yang deficiency Whether severe yang depletion or milde yang deficiency can both be treated with Fu Zi For example, yang depletion what is yang depletion depletion means almost dying out Yang qi is about to die out In other words one is about to die coupled with cold hands and feet At this moment, you can use Fu Zi to restore yang-qi adn save the patient from death Our medical sage Zhongjing Zhang had a formula for yang depletion Called Si Ni decoction. One of the main ingredients is Fu Zi Modern studies have also proven that Fu Zi can benefit the heart and treat cardiac shock So it can restore yang and save lifes Another aspect is about its treatment for yang deficiency Like we said, it can spread over the entire body mainly to the heart to warm and unblock heart yang It can be used to treat chest tightness and chest pain or so-called chest-Bi (impediment) due to heart yang deficiency Besides Fu Zi can also act upon the spleen and treat abdominal pain adn diarrhea due to spleen yang deficiency because of its effect in warming spleen yang Thirdly let's move on to kidney yang, the primordial yang the genuine yang yang deficiency will ultimately lead to kidney yang deficiency Fu Zi without any doubt, helps warm and tonify kidney yang， and treat low back soreness, pain and impotence due to kidney yang deficiency Thus, the application mentioned above is called tonifying fire to assist yang Therefore, Fu Zi can be used to treat yang deficiency and cold syndrome because of its warm and heat property which is related to its growth in bitterly cold environment This indicates that it's full of yang (heat) qi You can imagine how dramatic the environmental impact on the nature and function of Fu Zi So much for Fu Zi After the hot-natured Fu Zi let's move on to the cold and cool-property Huang Qin (Radix Scutellariae) Today, we all know it's widely used in clinical practice We also know it is cold in nature Why is it cold in nature If you've ever picked up herbs, you'll have the experience that wild Huang Qin is found in dry hillside facing the sun Even in burning hot summer the hillside facing the sun is too hot to be touched by hands or sat on however, Huang Qin grows on it and grows well and happily What can we learn? The fact that it grows in such a hot condition indicates it is heat resistant and can clear heat. This herb is cold in nature and extremely cold which endows its basic function of Clearing heat through that clearing heat and fire resolving dampness cooling down blood and removing toxins All functions are related to heat clearing The reason why it clears heat is its cold nature So in clinical application it is extensively used No matter how extensively it is used the real focus is its cold or cool nature For example, for toxic fire or heat since it enters the lung meridian it has remarkable effect in treating cough and asthma due to lung heat Secondly for fever due to common cold We have all heard of shuanghuanglian oral liquid One of the active ingredients huang refers to Huang Qin which is known to be effective on flu and viral cold to some extent Thirdly, because of its action of clearing heat and fire Huang Qin can be used to treat fire and heat of the liver and gallbladder manifesting as a bitter taste, hypochondriac pain and so on Especially in the treatment of excess heat in gallbladder meridian a syndrome characterized by alternating fever and chills Huang Qin combined with Chai Hu (Radix Bupleuri) can obtain a very good effect That was the first application The second application it can clear heat and dry dampness In that case it can be used to treat damp-heat syndrome Damps-heat syndrome is a general term that encompasses a wide range of problems What kind of damp-heat is Huang Qin indicated for Of course, it's related to its meridian entry We have already mentioned its action location First it enters the spleen and stomach meridians so it can be used for damp-heat in the spleen and stomach such as a poor appetite, abdominal fullness and distention, nausea and vomiting and so on Second it enters the liver and gallbladder meridians it can be used to treat jaundice due to damp-heat in the liver and gallbladder Third, it also enters the large intestine meridian, so it can be used to treat diarrhea, dysentery abdominal pain and fever due to damp-heat in the large intestine All effective The third application: it can clear heat and cool down blood It deals with heat entering the blood phase You can imagine what will happen if heat enters the blood phase Bleeding. Heat fire agitates blood in the vessels, making blood flow rapidly and may run out of the blood vessels resulting in bleeding This extends an important application of Huang Qin miscarriage prevention It cools blood and prevents miscarriage which refers to fetal irritability and fetal bleeding also known as threatened abortion Now we can come to a conclusion that no matter Fu Zi or Huang Qin although now known to have hot nature and cold nature respectively in fact, its nature is endowed by its growing environment By observation of the natural environment our ancients summarized the warm and hot nature of Fu Zi and cold and cool nature of Huang Qin providing us with the medicinal knowledge today In fact, it fully reflects our ancients' wisdom of understanding the natural environment and applying to understanding herbs That's all about the environmental influence and medicinal nature
