Library

Hemp Seed (Cannabis Fructus)

Indicated for wind-stroke, sweating, expelling water qi, promoting urination and defecation, moistening the five zang organs, clearing wind-heat from the large intestine, relieving constipation, tonifying deficiency and fatigue, promoting lactation, and facilitating difficult labor. Administration method: Use one sheng of hemp seeds, seven liang of mutton fat, five liang of beeswax, and one he of white honey. Mix and pound until uniform; consume to resist hunger and aging. Hemp Seed Wine: Soak a large sheng of sunken hemp seeds in water, dry them, and slowly stir-fry in a silver vessel until fragrant and cooked. Pound with a wooden pestle until fine as white powder. Divide into ten doses. For each dose, take a large bowl of unadulterated wine, mix with the hemp powder in a clay mortar, beat with a willow pestle, filter out the husks, and decoct until reduced by half. Take on an empty stomach. Treats pain from bone marrow wind-toxin causing immobility; mild cases resolve in four or five doses, severe cases upon completion. Hemp Seed Porridge: Half a jin of winter hemp seeds, crushed and filtered through water to extract juice. Add two he of japonica rice to cook porridge. Consume with scallion, pepper, salt, and fermented soybeans on an empty stomach. Treats abdominal distension, heavy pain in the waist and umbilicus, wind-bi in the elderly, painful dysuria of the five types, and constipation. Hemp Seed Pill: Two jin of hemp seeds, one chi of magnolia bark, one jin each of rhubarb and immature bitter orange, one sheng of apricot seeds. Stir-fry, grind, and make pills with honey the size of wu zi (similia fructus). Take ten pills three times daily; increase dosage if ineffective. Treats spleen constraint with constipation and frequent urination. Another prescription: Two sheng of hemp seeds, two liang of peach kernels, ground uniformly. Mix with one sheng of ripe wine [to treat amenorrhea lasting two to three months, six months, or a year].

Floating Wheat

Indicated for clearing heat, stopping spontaneous sweating, night sweats, and tidal fever due to deficiency.

Wheat Starch

Indicated for reducing swelling, dissipating heat, harmonizing the five zang organs, benefiting meridians, and treating dysentery. This is the starch precipitated during the washing of wheat bran to make gluten.

Coix Seed (Coicis Semen)

Indicated for strengthening the spleen, benefiting the stomach, tonifying the lungs, promoting water metabolism, clearing heat, dispelling wind, overcoming dampness, treating lung abscess and pulmonary carbuncle, coughing up pus and blood, throat abscess, muscle spasms, chronic wind-damp bi, removing pathogenic qi causing numbness in bones and muscles, reducing edema, and breaking toxic swellings. Coix Pill: Equal parts of coix seed, angelica root, gentian root, saposhnikovia root, and sour jujube seed. Grind into powder, make pills with honey the size of euryale seed. Take one or two pills washed down with deer musk and schizonepeta decoction. Treats weak liver qi in children, tendon contraction, and weakness in extending both hands. Another prescription: One liang each of coix seed, licorice root, and peach kernel; two qian of dendrobium; three qian each of achyranthes root and rehmannia root; five qian each of ginseng, prepared aconite, asarum, aurantium, biota seed, ligusticum chuanxiong, and angelica sinensis. Grind into powder, make pills with honey the size of wu zi. Take thirty to forty pills washed down with warm wine three times daily. Treats bone pain and bi syndrome. Coix Wine: Two liang each of coix seed and achyranthes root; one liang each of seabuckthorn bark, eucommia bark, angelica pubescens, saposhnikovia root, and eucommia bark; one liang five qian of prepared rehmannia root. Grind into coarse powder, place in a raw silk bag, and soak in five sheng of good wine for fourteen days in spring, autumn, and winter; in summer when heat is intense, divide into several batches for soaking. Take one cup or half a cup, warmed on an empty stomach, three to four times daily. Maintain continuous alcohol effect. Long-term use manifests as sensation of thousands of threads under the skin, indicating dispersion of dampness. Treats foot bi. Coix Powder: Equal parts of coix seed, gypsum, ligusticum chuanxiong, cinnamon twig, saposhnikovia root, praecox polygonum, antelope horn (shaved), red peony root (stir-fried), and roasted licorice. Decoct in water and take. Treats extreme flesh fullness, skin crawling sensation like mice running, leakage of body fluids, or occasional numbness. Another prescription: Grind coix seed into powder. Slice cooked pig lung and dip in powder; eat on an empty stomach. Treats hemoptysis. Coix Decoction: Three qian each of coix seed and trichosanthes seed; two zhong of moutan bark [decocted to one zhong and taken]. Treats intestinal abscess with protruding umbilicus, abdominal pain, irritability, abdominal fullness with loss of appetite, difficult urination, painful dysuria, and uterine abscess in women. Another prescription: One liang of coix seed (soaked in ginger decoction); one qian five fen each of paeonia lactiflora (washed in wine) and angelica sinensis; eight fen each of ephedra stem and cinnamon twig (stir-fried); one qian of roasted licorice; seven slices of fresh ginger. Decoct in water and take. Treats wind-damp bi affecting joints with severe pain. Add gypsum for spontaneous sweating; add prepared phellodendron bark (wine-processed) for irritability, heat, and pain; add prepared aconite for cold limbs and spasms. Coix and Melon Seed Decoction: Three he of coix seed, six he of melon seed, two [units] of moutan bark [take to treat intestinal abscess]. Coix, Aconite, and Patrinia Powder: Ten parts of coix seed (stir-fried), two parts of prepared aconite, [and patrinia]. Take one cun spoonful. Decoct in two sheng of water until half remains and take. Stop when urination becomes smooth. Treats intestinal abscess. (Or all three ingredients are one liang one...)