1 Rnshn [Panax ginseng Meyer], taste: sweet, slightly cold [and] slightly warm,2 not poisonous.

Mainly for supplementing- mending the five internal-viscerai, quietsii the essence-spirit,iii settles the superior [and] inferior souls,3 stops fright palpitation, does away with evil qiv [and] brightens the eyes.v Opens the heartvi [and] increases wisdom.vii Treats4 [the] intestines, stomach [and] center cold,viii drum distention painix [in] the heart [region] [and] abdomen, chest [and] rib-side counter-flow fullness,x sudden turmoilxi [,?] vomiting,xii moves the center, stops dispersion thirst,xiii frees the blood vessels, breaks up hard accumulations [and] causes a person to not forget.xiv Long term consumptionxv [makes] the body light [and] delays aging. Another name is rnxin (rank of man),5 another name is guga (ghost cover),6 another name is Shencao (divine herb), 7 renwei,8 another name is tjng (earth essence) [and] another name is Xueshen (blood root). [A root] that has the form of a man has shn (spirit), it grows above villages(?)9[in] the mountains [and] valleys [and its range?] extends to the distant east. [On] the second month, fourth month [or] eight month [in] the first ten day period gather the root, [using] a bamboo knife scrape [the root], dry in the sun, [but] do not allow [it] to see the wind.

1
2

From Qinjn Y Fng.

In the Shnnng BncoJng ginseng (rnshn man root) is listed as slightly cold. Unprocessed ginseng (white), especially when fresh, is definitely considered slightly cool, whereas steamed (processed) or red ginseng, especially Korean red ginseng, is warm to hot. I dont know at what point in time red ginseng was invented. [Check Leigongs << Paozhilun>> ancient text on prepared medicinals.] Steaming ginseng increases its radical-scavenging activity, its ability to induce endothelium-dependent relaxation, as well as creating new active ingredients not present in unsteamed ginseng; new research suggests that ginseng steamed at 120 degress Celsius for two hours celcius is more efficacious than the traditional method of steaming ginseng at 98-100 degrees Celsius for two to threee hours (Kim, 2000). Steaming also causes the roots to turn a translucent reddish brown color. In addition, sometimes processors add herbs to the steam water. According to Ron Teeguarden the preparation of (high grade ?) North Korean red ginseng is a closely guarded secret process and makes the ginseng very hot and yang. (Teeguarden, 1998, pages 102-103) In the Bencao Jing Jizhu, which is a collection of commentaries on the Shnnng Bnco Jng, slightly warm is written in as an addition by a later commentator. It appears that in subsequent works such as the Qianjin Yi Fang this distinction (at least in my modern reprint) between original text and commentary is not present. The likely correct reading should be slightly cold or slightly warm, even though the text is not explicitly written with an or. 3 See appendix I onhnp superior and inferior souls. 4 The Bnco Jng Jzh has zh (to rule, to govern, to manage, to cure) instead of lio (to treat, to cure). Interestingly, the character lio never appears in older medical texts Hungd Nijng Swn, Lingshu and Shang Han Lun only zh. In the Swn, zh appears about 430 times, in the Lingshu almost two hundred times and in the Shng Hn Ln about one hundred times. Further, lio only appears twice in the Daoist work Bopz, whereas the use of zh as to cure appears tens of times. In the Shnnng Bnco Jng, zh appears about three hundred fifty times, but lio only appears around ten times. These frequency counts weakly suggest that the use of lio in medical texts, evolved sometime after the Hn dynasty, and that perhaps select portions of the Shnnng Bnco Jng were written shortly after the Hn dynasty, around the time the Bopz was written. Since the Shnnng Bnco Jng is a reconstructed text with multiple variants, and the Bopz is a difficult text for me to translate, not to mention the small number of texts examined, this may all be idle speculation on my part. 5 According to the Bencao Gangmu (vol. 12-02) xin means rank, so rnxin is so named as the ginseng root has horizontal layers and is shaped like a man when it is fully developed. [Check Bencao Gangmu text in original Chinese.] 6 So named because ginseng grows in shady places, ibid., page 1246. 7 Meaning it has magical and miraculous powers, ibid. 8 According to Bencao Gangmu: <according to Mingyi Bielu wei is a character similar to shen, but this is an error.> . [Check Bencao Gangmu text in original Chinese.] 9 dng means a village of five hundred families.

The statement It mainly (zh) supplements the five zng (). is a quotation from theShnnng Bnco Jng (Divine Husbandman's Classic of the Materia Medica). However, not all reconstructed versions of the Shnnng Bnco Jng have the character zh. The five yin storing zng-organs are the heart, spleen, lungs, kidneys and liver. ii n (transitive verb, causative sense) here means: calm, settle, soothe, make content and pacify. iii jng-shn: essence-spirit. This term has several meanings: zhng q (right q) and jngq h shnzh (essential qi together with consciousness or state of mind). In this context the second meaning applies. Intuitively one of my teachers explained to me that when jng-shn is strong the mind is calm, alert and able to concentrate. When jng-shn is weak the person is tired and is not able to concentrate the mind as the mind is scattered and weak. Another meaning according to Wiseman and Feng Ye (1998, page 179) describe it as the manifestation of life force as well as vitality. iv xiq evil qi refers to pathogenic factors. From chapter five of the Suwen. G tin zh xi q gn z hi rn w zng. For this reason the evil qi of nature touches and then causes harm to the five internal organs of man. And in Suwen treatise fourteen. Yellow [Thearch] asked: In high antiquity the sages prepared decoctions, opaque wines (unfiltered wines containing the lees) [and] sweet wines; [they] made [these] and did not employ [them], why? Qb said: Since ancient times sages prepared decoctions, opaque wines [and] sweet wines only in order to be prepared. So in high antiquity prepared decoctions [were] made, but not taken. In the era of middle antiquity the Dao [and] Virtuous-Power declined slightly [and] often evil qi arrived, [and] [the people] swallowed these [medicinal-liquids] to insure [their] well-being. mng m, literally means: brightens-clears the eyes which is an ancient idiom for sharpens vision. According to the Hanyu Da Cidianki xn could mean: ki tng xn qio (opens [and] unblocks the orifices of the heart [spirit]). According to Wiseman and Fe (page 421) the orifices of the heart spirit either denotes a speculative entity or is a metaphor describing consciousness as a portal to the external world. At any rate when the orifices of the heart are free and clear, the spirit-mind (shn zh) is clear, likewise, when the orifices are blocked there is clouded spirit (consciousness), mania or withdrawal. Also, see the entry for calamus in the Shnnng Bnco Jng. vii y zh can also be translated as: increases intelligence. viii lng equals hn equals cold. ix g refers to distention so severe that the area becomes tight like a drum, it is accompanied by severe pain. Historically it was further divided into q drum, blood drum, water drum and worm drum, however today the first three types are not distinguished. In Wiseman and Fe (pages 150152) only abdominal drum distention is mentioned. Since ginseng opens the heart it follows that it would be good for severe distention pain in the heart region. I do not know how the patterns of drum distention pain were described in Sn Smios time. Today distinctions are made between the following patterns of drum distention pain: qi stagnation, damp obstruction, waterdamp encumbering the spleen, brewing damp heat, liver-spleen blood stasis, spleen-kidney yang vacuity and liver-kidney yin vacuity. x Means the qi is moving upward (the wrong way). xi hu lun, literally means: sudden turmoil and in more modern usage is synonymous with cholera. Cholera in TCM includes Western medicines definition of cholera as well as acute gastroenteritis when it has the same signs and symptoms (see
vi v

Wiseman and Fe page 61). Cholera is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae and is spread by contaminated water and food. The bacteria produces an enterotoxin that causes a copious, painless, watery diarrhea that can quickly lead to severe dehydration and possibly death if treatment is not promptly given. The toxin makes it impossible for the intestional cells to absorb water, however there is no inflammation present in the intestional tissue, the bacteria itself is non invasive, it just grows in the GI tract and produces a toxin that affects the lining so it cant absorb fluid. Studies have shown that an adult receiving constant fluids can lose several gallons of fluid in a twenty-four hour period due to the watery diarrhea. In poor countries the standard treatment is oral rehydration, consisting of a packets of salts and sugar mixed with water. The sugar facilitates the absorption of the mineral salts. In most cases (approximately 75% for adults) vomiting is not present. A third of infants will have fever, due to the debility of cholera causing other infections that cause fever. About ten percent of adults will have a fever. In severe cases of dehydration, intravenous fluids are necessary. In serious cases, antibiotics can reduce the volume and duration of diarrhea and the period of time the bacteria is excreted. Tetracycline is the usual antibiotic of choice, but resistance to it is on the rise. The majority of persons infected with V. cholerae do not become ill, although the bacterium is present in their feces for seven to fourteen days. It has a short incubation period, from less than one day to five days. When illness does occur, more than 90% of episodes are of mild or moderate severity and are difficult to distinguish clinically from other types of acute diarrhea. (2006, personal communication, Professor Burton Andersen, Professor of Infectious Diseases, University of Illinois-Chicago; also see WHO Fact sheet N107.)

t n: literally, ejection counter-flow. xio k Dispersion thirst (synonym for wasting-thirst), is a condition characterized by episodes of extremely sweet urine caused by kidney vacuity. There is also thirst, increased fluid intake and copious urine. Dispersion thirst includes diabetes mellitus, but is broader in scope. (See Wiseman and Ye, page 142 for the full description from Wai2 Tai2 Mi4 Yao4 Essential Secrets from Outside the Metropolis Tang dynasty, 752 CE). xiv The standard interpretation is ginseng improves a persons memory. xv f: literally: to swallow, means: to take medicine.
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xii