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Cinnabar (Zhusha): It has a slightly sweet taste and a cool nature. It is formed by the combination of mercury and sulfur in a five-to-one ratio. Due to its cool nature and heavy weight, it can nourish the spirit (Shen), stabilize the soul (Hun) and essence (Po), calm palpitations and fright, and extinguish liver wind. Because its red color enters the Heart meridian, it can clear heart heat and prevent blood consumption; thus, it can treat palpitations (Zhen Tong) and insomnia caused by heart deficiency. It can eliminate pathogenic bacteria, so it can treat acute infectious diseases and cholera with vomiting and diarrhea. It can enter the Kidney meridian and guide kidney qi upward to the Heart, thereby harmonizing yin and yang and achieving water-fire intersection (Xin Shen Xiang Jiao); the eyes receive the essence of water and fire to nourish the pupils, so it can improve vision. When applied externally, it can also be used to apply to sores, ulcers, scabies, and other toxic conditions.

Zou Run'an stated: All medicines aim to generate vital energy within the diseased body, transforming pathological qi into vital qi. Medicines are used for their inherent biases to correct the excessive or deficient states of human yin and yang. Therefore, the nature of medicinal substances is invariably biased. Xu Huixi stated: The function of medicines may derive from their "qi," "flavor," "color," "shape," "substance," "temperament," the time of their growth, or the place of their maturation. I believe that Cinnabar utilizes its "substance," "qi," and "color." The hardness of its substance belongs to yang; the coldness of the contained mercury belongs to yin; its pure red color belongs to yang. Thus, its principle is yang embracing yin and yin supporting yang, derived from innate nature without artificial fabrication. Before birth, the interaction of two essences generates spirit (Shen); spirit relies on essence to generate qi; with qi comes life; with life comes knowledge, forming the ethereal soul (Hun); with discernment comes the corporeal soul (Po). Therefore, whenever essence and qi lose their nourishment, hun and po become unsettled. To nourish and settle them, what else could one rely upon but Cinnabar, which tightly embraces and closely connects yin and yang? However, why is it said to treat various diseases of the body and five zang organs, nourish the spirit, settle hun and po, benefit qi, and improve vision? This is because Cinnabar is cold in nature and not a tool for warm, generative vitality; thus, it only serves to nourish the spirit, settle hun and po, benefit qi, and improve vision among various diseases of the body and five zang organs. For those conditions among the body and five zang organs that do not require nourishing the spirit, settling hun and po, benefiting qi, or improving vision, Cinnabar need not be used. Impaired blood circulation indicates that the fire within water fails to continue; irritability, fullness, and wasting-thirst indicate that water within fire loses moistening. Sudden evil attack causing abdominal pain, where yin and yang fail to protect each other, allows pathogens to enter opportunistically; toxic vapors, scabies, and various sores indicate yang failing to contain yin and instead burning it. Only by using medicines characterized by yang embracing yin and yin containing yang can these be treated, such that yang does not harm yin, and yin does not burden yang, allowing all diseases to heal. According to this, Zou's interpretation of the text in the *Shennong Bencao Jing* (Divine Farmer's Materia Medica) is indeed meticulous and profound.

[Attached Case] In the autumn of the Renyin year, cholera was prevalent. A nephew of my friend Mao XX contracted this condition and reached a critical state; his clothes and coffin were already prepared, and he was carried onto a bed. Seeing that he still had faint breaths, Mao XX ground approximately one qian of Cinnabar, mixed it with child's urine, and administered it orally. His illness was consequently cured.

A young woman suffered from cholera to a critical degree. Physicians declined treatment. At that time, I served as a teacher there and requested medical assistance for her, but prescribed medications were ineffective. Suddenly, a traveling medicine seller claimed he could cure this condition. He also used a single heavy dose of approximately one qian of Cinnabar, and she recovered. From this, I learned that Cinnabar is effective in neutralizing the toxic bacteria of cholera. In the Jiwei year, while in Fengtian, I formulated two emergency prescriptions: *Ji Hui Sheng Dan* (Emergency Life-Returning Pill) and *Wei Sheng Fang Yi Bao Dan* (Hygiene Epidemic-Prevention Precious Pill), both of which heavily utilized Cinnabar. They cured countless cases of cholera that year, and when transmitted to other provinces, they saved many lives. This demonstrates the miraculous efficacy of Cinnabar. However, natural Cinnabar must be used for effectiveness. Artificially manufactured Cinnabar (which appears purple-black, in large chunks shaped like ingots) can only be used as pigment and is unsuitable for medicinal use.