Legendary Chinese healing herbs.

164 Pages·1991·24.31 MB·English

by  Henry C. Lu

LEGENDARY
CHINESE
HEALING
HERBS
Henry Lu
C.

LEGENDARY
CHINESE
HEALING
HERBS
Henry Lu
C.
I Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. New York
Edited by Laurel Ornitz
Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lu, Henry C.
Legendary Chinese healing herbs / Henry C. Lu.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 0-8069-8230-6
—
1. Herbs Therapeutic use. 2. Medicine, Chinese. I. Title.
RM666.H33L76 1991
615'.321'0951—dc20 90-24290
CIP
987654321
10
© 1991 by Henry C. Lu
Published by Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.
387 Park Avenue South, New York, N.Y. 10016
Distributed in Canada by Sterling Publishing
% Canadian Manda Group, P.O. Box 920, Station U
Toronto, Ontario. Canada M8Z 5P9
Distributed in Great Britain and Europe by Cassell PLC
Villiers House, 41/47 Strand, London WC2N 5JE, England
Distributed in Australia by Capricorn Ltd.
P.O. Box 665, Lane Cove, NSW 2066
Manufactured in the UnitedStates ofAmerica
All rights reserved
Sterling ISBN 0-8069-8230-6
Contents
Preface 5
Introduction 9
1 Classification of Chinese Herbs 19
2 The Chinese View of the Causes
of Disease 31
How
3 To Decoct and Take Herbs 49
4 The Herbs and Their Legends 53
Guide to Approximate Equivalents 156
Index 157

Preface
There are no fabulous stories about ordinary herbs, just as there are no
fabulous stories about ordinary people. For people to become legendary
figures, they must be heroic or outstanding in some way. For herbs to
achieve legendary status, they must be considered to be extraordinarily
effective. There are, all in all, over 5,000 Chinese herbs, but only a fraction
of them have made their way to becoming celebrated herbs in Chinese
legends. These are the herbs that have been traditionally regarded by the
Chinese people to be most effective and useful in their quest for freedom
from disease and in their maintenance of good health.
I'm sure you will enjoy these stories, although some are undoubtedly
more interesting or amusing than others. Eventually, however, you will
most likely move beyond the sphere of mere enjoyment, as you come to
realize through personal experience or theoretical understanding that these
legendary herbs still play an important role in the promotion of health
today. On my part, interesting though it is to tell fabulous stories about
Chinese herbs, I had a more serious intent in mind in writing this book,
which was to make people more keenly aware of the existence of these
exceptional herbs and to tell them how they can make use of them in
promoting their own health. In this se—nse, this book is more than a collec-
tion of legends about Chinese herbs it is a practical guide to Chinese
herbs for natural health by natural means.
In the prehistoric period, before the written language was invented, the
Chinese people could only communicate verbally, and in order to hand
down their knowledge about herbs to their posterity, they had to rely on
telling stories. In order to create deeper impressions in their listeners, the
stories about herbs were not confined to their effects and uses, but often
included episodes about how they had initially been discovered and what
tragedies or comedies and heroism were involved. As with other kinds of
stories, many of these stories about herbs had fictitious events, making
them like fairy tales, to catch the attention of the listeners. As time went
on, such stories became legends, and the herbs became legendary herbs in
the history of Chinese herbalism.
From the point of view of pharmacology, the legends about Chinese
herbs cannot be used as data for research into the effects of herbs, because
legends are no more than unverifiable stories handed down by tradition
from earlier times, and many ofthem are full ofmyths and fabrications. On
the other hand, it is a fact that virtually all the stories reveal effects ofherbs
that are consistent with those commonly recognized by professional Chi-
nese herbalists, both pastand present. For example, in the story about puff
balls, the herb was depicted as an outstanding herb to use for the arrest-
ment ofbleeding, and in modern Chinese herbalism, this same herb is still
used for this purpose. In anotherstory, Siberian motherwortwas described
as a wonder herb for mothers, and in modern Chinese herbalism, it is still
regarded as an important herb for women's ailments, such as irregular
menstruation, menstrual pain, disorders associated with childbirth, and
numerous other female symptoms.
Most of the stories about the herbs are relatively short and are charac-
terized by literary simplicity. But, nevertheless, all ofthem reflectverywell
and sometimes poignantly the important uses of the particular herbs.
In addition to the herbs and their legends, this book includes descrip-
tions of the 20 major classifications of herbs. The herbs represent all these
classifications. This is by no means a mere coincidence, because the herbs
included here are all important herbs and can even be considered the elite
group of Chinese herbs, and as such, it is natural for them to stand out
distinctly in the various classifications.
It is important for you to know about at least one herb in each of the 20
classifications, because the herbs in each are the best for treating a partic-
ular group of symptoms. For example, diseases associated with inflamma-
tion and infection are as a general rule treated by those herbs that reduce
excessive heatinside thebody, and ifyou are familiarwith atleastoneherb
in this class, you will be able to make effective use of it whenever you are
troubled by inflammation or infection. Herbs that reduce heat inside the
body are one of the most important classes of herbs, which is why a
number of herbs presented in this book fall under this classification.
Some of the herbs in this book can also be considered Western herbs in
the sense that either they are readily available in many natural foods stores
and are familiar to Western people in general, or they are frequently used
by Western herbalists in their clinical practice. Such "Western" herbs in-
clude agrimony, black false hellebore, boneset, Chinese ephedra, danggui,
garlic, jimsonweed, Koreanmint, kudzuvine, licorice, mistletoe, purslane,
and rhubarb. As to the exclusively Chinese herbs, all of them are available
in any Chinese herb shop. On an average, these shops stock more than
1,000 herbs in dried form. The vast majority of Chinese herbs are available
in dried form for decoction, not because of convenience or economy, but
because dried herbs contain very little water, which is not a necessary
ingredient and may even decrease the effects of certain herbs. Since my
intention is not merely to entertain my readers, but also to benefit them in
their quest for good health, the availability of the herbs included in this
book makes its contents all the more relevant.
In China today, Chinese and Western medicine are practised side by
side, and a patient has a choice between the two types of medicine. How-
ever, a mindful patient will always make use of both types of medicine to
his or her best advantage. And the reader is reminded that in case of
illness, it is always wise to consult a qualified physician to ensure that he
or she gets the best possible medical care available in modern society.