Hey, I'm back to discuss the 4th Division Officer's herb in 2 pairs for this Bai Du Tang. At this point, it's very important to do a quick revision on the function of the 4th Division Officers as:
- The division 4 Officer's herb coordinates with the monarch and minister herbs to enhance the therapeutic effect of the decoction as well as directly treat minor complications.
- It would also slow down the strong effect of monarch and minister herbs.
This is how to analyse the therapeutic functions of the various decoctions. (part 13)
Therefore, there are 4 herbs in this decoction and would become some other combination in other decoctions.
It would be very interesting when you realise and understand the applications and functions of the combinations becoming more and more effective as more herbs are discussed in the later blogs.
4th Division Officer Herbs in 2 pairs:
- Zhi Ke
- Jie Geng
- Fu Lin
- Qian Hu
The scientific name for the 4 herbs are as follow:
- Zhi Ke = Fructus Aurantii Immaturus
- Jie Geng = Platycodon Gradiflorus
- Fu Lin = Poria
- Qian Hu = Peucedanum Praeruptorum
Over here, let me indicate some root words to explain the reason why are we learning Latin or scientific words? Fructus Aurantii links to citrus orange and Immaturus links to not ripe or sour. So Zhi Ke belongs to the families of sour oranges in that sense.
Association to a Specific Meridian Channel
Zhi Ke is associated with:
- Spleen
- Stomach
- Large Intestine --- Meridian Channel respectively
Fu Lin is associated with:
- Heart
- Spleen
- Kidneys --- Meridian Channel respectively
Both Jie Geng and Qian Hu are associated with the
- Lung Meridian Channel only
As about the role of the decoction to eradicate the cold virus in our topic, these 4 herbs would apply their natural primary function of :
- (Zhi Ke) = Jiang Qi means lower the Qi, ensuring smooth sailing of air passage
- (Jie Geng) = Kai Fei means clear the airway of the Lung
- (Fu Lin) = Sheng Shi means to remove the wetness
- (Qian Hu) = Qu Tan means clear and remove phlegm
respectively for all treatment in the TCM perspective. This means everyone can use these 4 herbs according to their natural primary function except that you must be qualified to identify the cause of illness.
Specific Taste
These 4th division officer's herbs possess the following specific taste:
- Zhi Ke = pungent and bitter
- Jie Geng = pungent and bitter
- Fu Lin = sweet and light
- Qian Hu = pungent and bitter
Looking at these 4 herbs' taste Fu Lin would stand out to supplement the rest of the 3 herbs of which they would complement each other to clear the cold virus.
Specific Property
The Specific Property of these 4 herbs are:
- Zhi Ke and Qian Hu = slightly cold
- Jie Geng and Fu Lin = moderate
So far I have discussed only the warm properties of the monarch and the minister's herbs to combat the cold virus infection. On the contrary, the effect of these 4th division officer's herbs are moderate and slightly cold meaning they would together slow down the strong effect of the monarch and minister's herbs, thus reconciling the whole decoction to better off in the following actions:
- smooth sailing of air passage
- clear the airway of the Lung
- remove the wetness
- clear and remove phlegm
It's time to review the specific function of the 4th division officer's herbs to the Bai Du Tang in the discrimination.
Firstly the Monarch's herbs aim at:
- inducing perspiration
- Remove wetness
Secondly, the minister's herbs aim at:
- inducing perspiration
- Remove blood stasis
- Relieving pain
The selection of the 4th division officer's herbs is aimed at aiding the monarch's and minister's herbs in combating the cold virus and at the same time perform its primary role as follows:
- Zhi Ke ensures smooth sailing of air passage
- Jie Geng clears the airway of the Lung
- Fu Lin removes the wetness
- Qian Hu clears and removes phlegm
Am I going too fast for you because I like to introduce a set of three common additional herbs which is:
- Sheng Jiang
- Bo He
- Ren Shen
into the decoction? These 3 herbs are optional and the decoction can work effectively with or without them. However, they are being adopted by many TCM physicians in many other decoctions and so it is necessary to throw some light on these areas.
One very important difference between them is:
- Sheng Jiang and Ren Shen need long hours to boil, a minimum of 4 hours, to bring out their extract effectively.
- Bo He on the contrary needs only a short time to boil out, like a maximum of 5 minutes, the volatile oil which is the required extract responsible for sterilizing, disinfecting, removing turbidity and defilement.
Once again, the scientific name for these 3 optional herbs are:
- Sheng Jiang = Zingiber Officinale Rose
- Ren Shen = Panax Ginseng C. M. Mey
- Bo He = Mentha Haplocalyx Brig.
Their:
Association to the Specific Meridian Channel are as follow:
- Sheng Jiang = Lung and Spleen
- Ren Shen = Lung and Spleen
- Bo He = Lung and Liver
Specific Taste:
- Sheng Jiang = Pungent
- Ren Shen = Sweet and slightly better
- Bo He = Pungent
Specific Property:
- Sheng Jiang = Lukewarm
- Ren Shen = Lukewarm
- Bo He = Cold
These optional herbs are added to the Bai Du Tang if you can identify the correct symptoms observed.
Moreover, these are only optional and would become monarch's or minister's herbs in some other decoction of which I would further discuss them in detail.
I'll leave you with more time to digest the above and would commence with the discrimination between Ma Huang Tang and Jing Fang Bai Du Tang in the blog after next.