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Sweet, neutral, non-toxic. White honey (Bai Mi) is used in harmonizing and tonifying prescriptions, while red honey (Chi Mi) is used in purging-fire prescriptions. Honey with a sour taste is unsuitable for medicinal use. It should not be consumed together with raw green onion (Cong Bai), single-clove garlic (Du Suan), or lettuce (Wo Ju), as this may cause diarrhea. When refining honey, slow heat over charcoal fire is applied; the foam is skimmed off until a drop of honey forms a bead when dropped into water. After refining, for every jin (500g) of honey, four liang (approx. 125g) of aged wine are added, and it is boiled again. When used to bind herbs into pills, the medicinal efficacy becomes easier to assimilate.

The *Shennong Bencao Jing* states: It treats evil qi in the heart and abdomen, various types of jingxian (convulsions and epilepsy due to fright or heat), calms the five zang organs, supplements deficiencies, benefits qi and the middle jiao, stops pain, detoxifies, eliminates numerous diseases, harmonizes hundred herbs, and long-term consumption strengthens willpower, lightens the body, prevents hunger, and delays aging.

Invention: Honey is produced by bees fermenting nectar from non-toxic flowers. Raw honey has a cool nature and clears heat, thus treating evil qi in the heart and abdomen. Refined honey has a warm nature, tonifies the middle jiao, and calms the five zang organs' deficiencies. Its sweet and mild nature allows it to detoxify. Its soft and moistening quality enables it to lubricate dryness. Its缓 (slow/gentle) action relieves urgency, thus treating pain from sores and ulcers on the heart, abdomen, and muscles. Zhang Zhongjing treated yangming constipation (Yangming Jie Zao) with unformed stools using the honey suppository method (Mi Jian Dao Fa), utilizing its ability to unblock constipation without damaging the stomach and intestines. All tonifying prescriptions use refined white honey for pills, taking advantage of its ability to harmonize the spleen and moisten the lungs. Red honey is sour; consuming it causes mental restlessness, so it is used only for descending-fire prescriptions. Although white honey tonifies the spleen and lungs, its cool and moist nature requires contraindication in cases of spleen-stomach deficiency-cold, kidney qi deficiency with incontinence, damp-heat with phlegm stagnation, and chest fullness without relief. Therefore, Qiongyu Gao uses rock sugar instead; Zhizhu Wan is wrapped in lotus leaf with rice; Zuojin Wan is taken with rice decoction; Niuhuang Wan is taken with steamed cake; Heixi Dan is taken with yeast; Cizhu Wan is taken with Shenqu (Medicated Leaven); Hujian Wan is taken with wine; Xianglian Wan is taken with vinegar; Rongzhu Dan is taken with red dates; Gutan Wan is water-pelleted. Each has its appropriate suitability. Modern practitioners generally use honey for all pill preparations, which significantly deviates from the profound meaning of formulas by ancient sages.

Tasteless, neutral, non-toxic.

The *Shennong Bencao Jing* states: It treats dysentery with pus and blood, tonifies the middle jiao, repairs severe injuries and metal wounds, benefits qi, prevents hunger, and promotes longevity.

Invention: Beeswax is derived from honey. Among all things, nothing is sweeter than honey, and nothing is more bland than beeswax; does this not imply favoring one over the other? Zhang Zhongjing’s Tiaoqi Yin treats dysentery, and the *Qianjin Fang*'s Jiaola Tang treats dysentery. Both reflect the principles found in the *Shennong Bencao Jing*. Blandness is the root of the five flavors, and the stomach is the source of the five zang organs; thus, it can tonify the middle and repair injuries, aligning with the principle of Taiji. Zhen Quan treated pregnant women with fetal unrest and continuous bleeding nearing death by boiling one egg-sized piece of wax for three to five boils, mixing it with half a jin of fine wine, and administering it resulted in immediate recovery. Beeswax also detoxifies, serving as the chief ingredient in Lafan Wan. Hua Tuo treated dysentery with immediate vomiting after eating by using one cun-chi spoonful of white beeswax, one egg yolk, half each of rock sugar, Kujiu (vinegar), hair ash, and Coptis chinensis powder. The first four ingredients were mixed evenly in an eggshell and boiled, then Coptis powder and hair ash were added and cooked until suitable for forming pills. Taken within two days, it proved miraculous.