At the request of everyone, I will tell you about the knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine. I myself learned the knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine according to the university textbook "Chinese Materia Medica", so I will also explain it to you according to this book.
First of all, I want to emphasize that I am speaking for amateur beginners, not for professional doctors, medical students, folk masters, or masters of Chinese medicine. Fortunately, I don't charge any fees, and I can't cheat money. At most, I can cheat one or two cheers. This should not be considered illegal.
Beginners do not refer to people who have zero foundation and know nothing about Chinese medicine. You can't understand what I say to such people. As the third book of the introductory textbook for the University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, it is definitely necessary to have some basic knowledge. There are two purposes for me to talk about this: one is to lead everyone to learn Chinese medicine knowledge together, so that everyone can supervise each other and have the motivation to learn. The second is to explain to amateurs who are not high-level how to use traditional Chinese medicine in clinical practice, and talk about this idea.
With this idea, you will know how Chinese medicine is used. As for which medicine you want to use and which medicine you want to learn, that is your personal problem, and you still need to memorize what you should memorize. It is a dream to expect to understand everything after hearing me explain it once. If I really had this ability, I would have gone to the paid class a long time ago.
Whether this is called a lecture on Chinese Materia Medica or a chat, the most important thing is the content of the first two lectures. The degree of mastery of these two classes determines whether you can learn this class well. These two lectures do not talk about specific knowledge, we are mainly brainwashing and changing your perception of traditional Chinese medicine. So you have to learn with an open mind, accept it all now, and then criticize me later, knock me to the ground, and then step on ten thousand feet.
Well, let's get down to business and start the lecture. First of all, it is necessary to clarify the purpose. Learning without purpose is a waste of effort. What is the purpose of our amateur beginners in learning Chinese pharmacy?
Become a master of Chinese medicine? Become a typhoid dean? Going for a medical license? Or do you want to increase some knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine and take care of yourself and your family? If your purpose is the first three, then what I'm talking about has nothing to do with you. Especially for those who want to become a master of typhoid fever, the book "Chinese Materia Medica" is not suitable for you, you should study "Shen Nong's Herbal Classic".
Secondly, we need to know what is the difficulty for amateurs to learn Chinese pharmacy? One is that they don’t know the medicinal materials, the second is that they can’t remember the properties, flavors and main functions of the medicinal materials, and the third is that they don’t know how to use them clinically.
For the first difficulty, it is very simple. You go to the pharmacy and buy 10 grams of each medicinal material you want to know. After you get home, seal it in a plastic bag, stick a label on it, and look at it repeatedly. For the second difficulty, there is no other way but rote memorization. Especially for professional physicians, it must be memorized. There is no room for negotiation.
However, for amateur beginners, we have a natural advantage, that is, we can turn books. For example, the medicine Rhodiola is usually used very little, and I can’t remember that its nature and flavor have meridians, what should I do? It's very simple, just look it up in the book or Baidu. You are an amateur, who will laugh at you? And you are giving medicine to yourself and your family, wouldn't it be better to be more cautious and check the books first? It is of course better if you can memorize it, but you must not make a mistake, otherwise the difference will be a thousand miles away. Medicine is something that can really cause trouble if you use it wrong.
There is another purpose to be clear, how high accuracy do you want to achieve? This is like shooting a target, do you want to shoot 10 rings? Or just hit the target? For example, playing CS and eating chicken games, do you want to shoot your head? Or do you want to shoot the enemy randomly? Do you want to recap the cup and heal? Or maybe two or three doses will do it?
If you want to be cured with a single shot, then stop listening to me and read the four classics seriously. If you just want to hit the target, don't care how many rounds you hit, and don't care about shooting the enemy to death, you can continue to listen to me.
Everyone should understand this. There are two prerequisites for learning the book "Chinese Materia Medica" with me: the first is to temporarily abandon the pure classic prescriptions, because the book "Chinese Materia Medica" is to pave the way for learning "Prescriptions", and "Prescriptions "It is time-based. The second is to temporarily give up the idea of "one shot to the head" and learn from me the skills of random shooting. What you gain is a kind of thinking about the clinical application of traditional Chinese medicine and the experience of quickly learning "Chinese Materia Medica". How fast? This book can be finished in about one month to half a year.
I just asked you to give up for the time being, and you can continue to study the scriptures and headshot technique in the future. About three to five years, when your level of TCM, TCM diagnosis, and prescriptions (including classic prescriptions) has reached a certain level, especially after you understand the framework of the six meridians syndrome differentiation, you will find that you are actually shooting at random. The effect is not much worse than a headshot. The greatest lethal record in the history of war was fought by Germany with machine guns against Britain during World War I.
How did Chinese medicine come into being? The folks tend to say that Shennong tasted all kinds of herbs, saying that Shennong tasted every kind of grass, and then recorded his feelings. It's a good story, but it's a lie. First of all, there was no writing during the Shennong period. The writing was gradually produced by the Chinese nation in the process of labor and production, and the writing of each tribe and country was different, and it was not unified until the Qin Shihuang period. And even if according to the myths and legends Cang Jie created the characters, Cangjie might not have been born in Shennong’s time, and even if he was born, he might not have created the characters, because Shennong’s age was older than Huangdi’s. At that time, the Shennong clan declined." What's more, the Xiong clan and the Shennong clan are two tribes, and it is unlikely that the writing will be passed on.
You don’t need to tell me why Shennong tasted hundreds of herbs. He has never done this. We can’t take mythology as history. "Historical Records" said that an unmarried woman ate a black bird egg and gave birth to the ancestors of the Qin State. Do you believe this? "Synopsis of the Golden Chamber" says, "Ginger is eaten during pregnancy, so that the child will have more fingers." There are more pregnant women who eat ginger, and they all give birth to six-fingered children? Has Zhuge Liang borrowed the east wind? Did Ma Di lose to Sima Yi in the Battle of Jieting? Lying on the ice begging for carp has entered the twenty-four filial piety. There are many things in ancient books, just listen to them, don't take them seriously.
The academic circles believe that Chinese Materia Medica is the knowledge that the Chinese people gradually discovered, summed up and accumulated in the process of labor. After people get sick, they find some plants to eat, and then they cure their diseases. Don’t be surprised, there are many animals in nature that have this ability. For example, elephants can treat their own dystocia by eating herbs, and hares can use herbs to treat their enteritis.
According to literature records, there are more than 100 traditional Chinese medicines described in The Book of Songs. In the Western Han Dynasty, "Shen Nong's Materia Medica" came out, recording 365 medicinal materials. During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, there were as many as 700 flavors in clinical use. In the Song Dynasty, it showed explosive growth, reaching more than 1,500 flavors. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there were nearly 2,000 flavors. Now the "Dictionary of Chinese Medicine" (second edition) compiled by Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine contains 6008 Chinese herbal medicines. It can be seen from the figures that the science of traditional Chinese medicine has been showing a trend of progress. Nowadays, many people always say that the present is not as good as it used to be. They are talking nonsense with their eyes open. How much is a catty of gold? How much is a catty of tin? Why is gold not as good as tin?
Can amateur beginners learn "Shen Nong's Materia Medica" directly? Again, what is your purpose? If you want to become a great doctor, you should follow this book to learn. For people like me who have no ambitions and just want to self-medicate and self-management, it is enough to read "Chinese Materia Medica". One is that Shennong’s Materia Medica was written in the style of the Western Han Dynasty, so you may not be able to understand it. The second is that the dosage is not written, so you are not afraid of taking too much? The third is that you may not have the ability to identify authenticity. For example, Shennong’s Materia Medica says cinnabar: “If you take it for a long time, you will not grow old.” Who dares to take it for a long time? You ask how many professional doctors dare to let patients take cinnabar for a long time? Don't cite one or two cases of great gods to raise the bar, the current audience is amateur beginners. Shi Jinmo even made him drink two taels of arsenic, do you dare?
Anyone who advises amateur beginners to only read "Shen Nong’s Materia Medica", you can ask him: "Do you only read the prescriptions of this scripture? How do you determine the dosage of medicines? There are 365 herbs in this scripture, among which "Chinese Materia Medica "How many drugs have you used that are not mentioned in "? How often are you using them? How high is the clinical effectiveness?"
Who wouldn't raise a bar? Crap who wouldn't? Isn't what you're talking about heresy? Are you talking about misleading amateur beginners? After all, Lu Zhishen shouldn't be riding a red rabbit horse when he was three times beating the Bone Demon. Because the twisted melon is very unfavorable to the fermentation of red wine from the perspective of gravitation. If Xiang Yu did not use Alipay to scan the code to pay, it would not lead to a large area of wheat failure on Pluto. As we all know, under the current trend of the stock market, it is impossible for Lin Daiyu to fall in love with Quasimodo. Qin Shihuang must also consider the impact of Zelensky on the farrowing rate of sows.
I was also an amateur beginner, and I know very well that amateur beginners have countless doubts in their hearts, and their minds are full of question marks. Teachers with a certain level, please give them some down-to-earth help and answers. What they need is for you to reach out and give them a hand, not for you to draw big cakes. "Shen Nong's Materia Medica" is not bad, but not suitable for amateur beginners. I really like "Shen Nong's Materia Medica", and friends who want to devote themselves to the study of this book, I recommend you to read the two versions annotated by Chen Xiuyuan and Gu Guanguan.
Amateur beginners, the purpose of our study of Chinese pharmacy should be to solve practical problems rather than become an academic master. On the one hand, it is to understand traditional Chinese medicine, and on the other hand, it is to lay a solid foundation for future study of prescriptions. The book "Chinese Materia Medica" is indeed not the best textbook on herbal medicine, but it is the easiest to understand and the easiest to operate. In the following class, I will take you through the book "Chinese Materia Medica" in a "rebellious" way, so that you can quickly understand the thinking method of clinical application of Chinese herbal medicines. You will feel that Chinese herbal medicine is so simple. and fun.
Finally, I would like to say a few words to friends who like to read ancient books. As far as the books on Materia Medica I have read personally, the best one is neither "Shen Nong's Materia Medica" nor "Chinese Materia Medica" textbook, but Wang Ang's "Compendium of Materia Medica". In addition, the two books "Compendium of Materia Medica" and "Materia Medica Harmony" are also very valuable for reference and study.
That's all for today, next time I will take the time to talk about the four natures and five flavors and the precautions for using traditional Chinese medicine
