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Ophiopogon Tuber (Maidong): It has a sweet taste, a cool nature, a faint fragrance, and is rich in thick fluids. Its color is a mix of yellow and white. It can enter the Stomach to nourish Stomach fluids (Wei Ye), open the appetite, and promote food intake. Furthermore, it can enter the Spleen to assist the Spleen in distributing essence to the Lungs, thereby calming asthma and relieving cough. This action essentially guides Lung Qi to descend with clarity and purity, regulating the water passages so they return to the Bladder. Because of its cool nature, thick fluids, and fragrant aroma, it possesses both ascending-descending and moistening properties, along with an opening power. Thus, it yields various effects. Users should not remove its heart.

Coptis Rhizome (Huanglian): It has a strongly bitter taste and a cold, dry nature. Bitterness corresponds to the flavor of Fire, and dryness corresponds to the nature of Fire. Therefore, it is good at entering the Heart to clear heat. Once the heat in the Heart is cleared, the heat in the Upper Jiao is also cleared. Consequently, it is effective in treating meningitis, cerebral congestion, frequent vertigo, eye diseases causing swelling and pain (contraindicated for those with corneal opacity or nebula), and erysipelas affecting the upper half of the body. Its pure yellow color allows it to enter the Spleen and Stomach to clear excess heat, thereby improving appetite (Westerners regard Coptis as a stomachic; this is because heat in the Stomach causes nausea and loss of appetite. Westerners are generally robust and consume much meat, leading to accumulated heat in the Stomach, which is suitable for clearing with Coptis). The effect extends from the Stomach to the Intestines, treating dysentery with pus and blood. Due to its cool and dry nature, it treats fullness and obstruction caused by damp-heat stagnating in the epigastrium (used in Zhang Zhongjing's Xiaoxianxiong Tang and all Xiexin Decoctions), as well as inflammatory ulceration of the female vulva due to damp-heat.

Xu Lingtai stated: "Bitterness belongs to the nature of Fire and should be hot; this is common sense. However, Coptis is extremely bitter yet extremely cold, meaning it obtains the flavor of Fire and the nature of Water. Thus, it can eliminate diseases caused by the disorder of Water and Fire, which refers to damp-heat. Therefore, eye pain, tearing, and blurred vision caused by heat are damp-heat in the upper part; borborygmus, abdominal pain, and diarrhea are damp-heat in the middle part; and swelling and pain of the female genitals are damp-heat in the lower part. Coptis can eliminate all these. Generally, herbs that remove dampness increase heat, and those that clear heat cannot remove dampness. Only Coptis can dry dampness with bitterness and clear heat with coldness, achieving two goals with one stroke."

The efficacy of Coptis in treating eye diseases need not always be achieved through internal administration. When I treated patients with distending and painful eyes, I instructed them to use water infused with Coptis. While still hot, they would repeatedly dip cotton wool into the liquid and wipe their eyes until they felt bitterness in their throat. At that point, the distending pain would immediately subside. In another case, for eye diseases presenting with redness, swelling, and pain, I mixed fine powder of Coptis with sesame oil and had the patient frequently inhale the scent through the nose, which also produced immediate results.