Library

The foundation of preserving one's health must lie in diet. The way to cure diseases relies solely on medicine. One who does not understand the appropriateness of food is insufficient to preserve life; one who does not understand drug properties is not truly knowledgeable about health preservation.

For Qi disorders (diseases caused by dysfunction of Qi), milk, cheese, butter, and honey should be consumed warm regularly. This brings great benefit to the elderly. If consumed suddenly in large quantities, it may also cause abdominal distension, diarrhea, and dysentery. It should be consumed gradually.

Daily consumption of "Po Tang" (referencing a specific decoction mentioned previously or implied) treats fire deficiency and wind-cold, characterized by emaciation and lack of luster in complexion.

Butter Decoction Recipe:
* Butter (1 jin)
* Fresh Ginger Juice (1 he)
* Scallion Bulb (3 handfuls, remove roots and slice)
* Wine [2-3 sheng]
* White Honey (1 jin)
* Refined Oil (1 sheng)
* Sugar (1 sheng)

Take the above ingredients. First, soak fermented soybeans (Dou Chi) in wine overnight, then strain to remove dregs. Pour the wine into a silver vessel. Next, add butter, honey, oil, sugar, and ginger juice. Boil until bubbling. Add scallion bulbs, Sichuan pepper, orange leaves, and sesame seeds. Simmer over low heat until the scallion bulbs turn yellowish-red. Strain out the dregs and store in a porcelain box. Take one he warm on an empty stomach every day. This prescription resists aging and preserves youthfulness.

Black Sesame Powder Recipe:
Black Sesame (as needed). Mix evenly with water, ensuring it is not too wet. Steam until the heat penetrates thoroughly, then dry in the sun. Repeat steaming and drying nine times. After completion, grind and remove impurities. This formula tonifies deficiency, emaciation, and weakness.

White Honey Pill Recipe:
* White Honey (2 sheng)
* Pig Lard from the Twelfth Lunar Month (1 sheng, remove membrane)
* Sesame Oil (half a jin, lightly fried until cooked)
* Prepared Rehmannia Root (Shu Di Huang) (1 sheng)

Mix the above ingredients. In a silver vessel, cook over a double boiler until suitable for forming pills. Shape into pills the size of paulownia seeds. Take thirty pills per dose, washed down with warm wine.

Cow Milk for Tonifying Deficiency and Replenishing Qi Recipe:
* Cow Milk (5 sheng)
* Long Pepper Powder (Bi Ba Mo) (1 liang)

Place the above ingredients in a silver vessel. Add three sheng of water, mix with the milk, and boil down to three sheng. Store in a porcelain box. Take one small cup warm before meals.

Pig Stomach for Tonifying Emaciation and Weakness Recipe:
* Fat Pig Stomach (one piece, cleaned as for cooking)
* Ginseng (2 liang, remove rhizome head)
* Sichuan Pepper (half a liang, remove eyes and closed-mouth peppers, lightly stir-fry to remove moisture/sweat)
* Dried Ginger (appropriate amount)

Grind the above herbs into powder, mix with rice, and combine well. Stuff into the pig stomach, sew tightly to prevent leakage. Add five sheng of water and simmer in a pot over low heat until tender.

Generally, cow milk has a neutral nature. It tonifies blood vessels, benefits the heart, promotes muscle growth, makes the body strong and healthy, moistens the skin, brightens the eyes, and prevents decline in spirit and energy. Therefore, it is an excellent remedy for tonifying deficiency and supporting the elderly.

Recipe for Drinking Medicinal Water to Cows and Consuming the Milk:
* Milky Stone (Zhong Ru) (1 jin, high quality, finely ground)
* Ginseng (3 liang, remove rhizome head)
* Licorice Root (Gan Cao) (5 liang, honey-fried until slightly red, chopped)
* Prepared Rehmannia Root (Shu Di Huang) (3 liang)
* Astragalus Root (Huang Qi) (remove core)
* Yam (Shu Yu)

Grind the above herbs into a fine powder. Use three dou of water to first cook seven sheng of millet into porridge. Add one liang of the powder, stir well, and add a little cold water. Feed this mixture to cows, then collect and consume the milk. (Note: The original text implies a method where medicinal decoctions are used to treat the cow or mixed with feed to alter the milk's properties, though the phrasing is archaic).

For those who have frequently suffered severe illnesses, resulting in persistent emaciation that cannot recover easily, it is advisable to take this "Goji Decoction".
* Fresh Goji Root (Cortex Lycii) (finely chopped 1 dou, boiled in 5 dou of water to extract 1.5 sheng, clarified)
* White Sheep Spine Bones (one set, chopped)

Boil the above ingredients over low heat to extract five sheng. Strain and store in a porcelain box. Take one he each time, mixed with one small cup of wine, warmed together. Take warm before meals.

Method for Tonifying Five Exhaustions and Seven Injuries, Boiled Sheep Head and Trotters Recipe:
* White Sheep Head and Trotters (one set, burned with straw until yellow, scraped clean of dust)
* Black Pepper (half a liang)
* Long Pepper (Bi Ba) (half a liang)
* Dried Ginger (half a liang)
* Scallion White (cut)

First, boil the head and trotters in water until half-cooked. Add the herbs and continue boiling until tender. Remove bones. Eat appropriately on an empty stomach. Consume one set per day, stop after seven sets.

To treat severe deficiency, emaciation, and extreme fatigue, it is advisable to fry pig lard.
* Pig Lard (not contaminated with water, half a jin)

Add one stalk of scallion white. Fry in a clay pot until the scallion turns yellow, then stop. Wait until the temperature is lukewarm, similar to human body temperature. Take all at once on an empty stomach. Cover warmly and lie down to rest.
By late afternoon, eat thick white rice porridge. After three days, it is further advisable to consume "Sheep Liver Soup".

* Sheep Liver (one piece, remove fascia and slice thinly)
* Sheep Back Meat (two strips, slice thinly)
* Fermented Rice Cake/Qu (Qu Mi) (half a liang)
* Goji Root (five jin, chopped, boiled in 1.5 sheng of water to extract juice)

Use the Goji root juice to boil and fry the sheep liver and other ingredients until tender. Add one small cup of soybean paste juice (Chi Zhi), seven cut stalks of scallion white, and season with five flavors to make soup. Eat fully on an empty stomach.

Tonifying Deficiency and Consumption, Oil Noodle Dumpling Recipe:
* Raw Sesame Oil (1 sheng)
* Rice Washing Water (Zhe Jing Mi Gan Qing) (1 sheng)

Simmer the above two ingredients over low heat until the rice washing water evaporates completely. Remove and store. Take two he of cold salted water to mix with flour to make dumplings (Tun). Cook thoroughly, then add five flavors for seasoning.