Guest guest Posted February 26, 2005 Report Share Posted February 26, 2005 further evidence of the arbitrary nature of flavor attribution. the new bensky presents two different explanations of the action of zhi mu based upon its flavor, but alternately uses two different flavors to explain the same action > the first paragraph in the commentary says zhi mu mostens because it > is sweet. but later on in the > > Materia Medica pg. 139 under the section Anemarrhenae Rhizoma with > huang bai, it says > > " When the Kidneys suffer dryness, the acrid flavor should be consumed > to moisten. When the Lungs suffer rebelious qi, the bitter flavor > should be consumed to drain it. Anemarrhenae Rhizoma (zhi mu) is > acrid, bitter, cold and cooling, nuturing the Kidney yin in the lower > body to elimated dryness. " > > Now what does that mean, " acrid " flavor, acrid moistens? Another thing > I find interesting in this section, it does start discussing the herb > as bitter, but does not mention sweet. my comment back was: the above appears to be a five phase ideas that is not used as an explanation in modern practice. acrid nurtures metal (lung), which is the mother of water (kidneys). Or perhaps the idea is that it enables the lung qi to disperse fluids downwards. note the function remains the same regardless of the explanation. Chinese Herbs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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