Categorizing Chinese herbs
Chinese physicians used several different methods to classify traditional Chinese herbs: * The Four Natures (四氣 or 四性) * The Five Tastes (五味) * The Meridians (歸經) The earlier (Han through Tang eras) Ben Cao (Materia Medicae) began with a three-level categorization:
Herbology
Herbology is the Chinese art of combining medicinal herbs. Herbology is traditionally one of the more important modalities utilized in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Each herbal medicine prescription is a cocktail of many herbs tailored to the individual patient.
The Four Natures
This pertains to the degree of yin and yang, ranging from cold (extreme yin), cool, neutral to warm and hot (extreme yang). The patient’s internal balance of yin and yang is taken into account when the herbs are selected. For example, medicinal herbs of “hot”, yang nature are used when the person is suffering from […]
The Five Tastes
The five tastes are pungent, sweet, sour, bitter and salty, each of which their functions and characteristics. For example, pungent herbs are used to generate sweat and to direct and vitalize qi and the blood. Sweet-tasting herbs often tonify or harmonize bodily systems. Some sweet-tasting herbs also exhibit a bland taste, which helps drain dampness […]
The Meridians
The Meridians refer to which organs the herb acts upon. For example, menthol is pungent, cool and is linked with the lungs and the liver. Since the lungs is the organ which protects the body from invasion from cold and influenza, menthol can help purge coldness in the lungs and invading heat toxins caused by […]
50 fundamental herbs
In Chinese herbology, there are 50 “fundamental herbs.”[1] These include: Agastache rugosa – huòxiāng (藿香) Alangium chinense – bā jiǎo fēng (八角枫) Anemone or Pulsatilla chinensis – bái tóu weng (白头翁) Anisodus tanguticus – shān làngdàng (山莨菪) Ardisia japonica – zǐjīn niú (紫金牛) Aster tataricus – zǐwǎn (紫菀) Astragalus membranaceus – huángqí (黄芪) or běiqí […]
What is Traditional Chinese Medicine
Traditional Chinese Medicine has its origin in ancient Taoist philosophy which views a person as an energy system in which body and mind are unified, each influencing and balancing the other.
