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Shengma (Rhizoma Cimicifugae) from Chuzhou
Shengma (Rhizoma Cimicifugae) from Hanzhou

Bitter, sweet; neutral, slightly cold. Its flavor and qi are both thin, floating and ascending, belonging to Yang. Non-toxic. Although produced in many places in Shaanxi, only that from Yizhou (belonging to Sichuan, now Chengdu Prefecture) is preferred for medicinal use. The root should be used for decoction, harvested only in autumn. Those dried in the sun, light in form and solid in texture, are of the first grade; those peeled to reveal a greenish color are also good. Select those resembling chicken bones, removing the black skin and rotten parts. It is a herb that travels through the Foot-Yangming Stomach Meridian and Foot-Taiyin Spleen Meridian. Whenever tonifying the Spleen and Stomach, it must be used as a guide. If decocted with Bai Zhi (Radix Angelicae Dahuricae) and Cong Bai (Sclerium Allii Cepae), it can also enter the Hand-Yangming Large Intestine Meridian and Hand-Taiyin Lung Meridian. It should not be used unless the disease involves these four meridians. It resolves hundred toxins, kills hundred spirits and evil ghosts; dispels various miasmas, wards off various epidemic pathogens. It expels wind-cold from the skin, disperses heat from the muscles. If taken mistakenly when Taiyang Syndrome (a syndrome caused by pathogenic invasion of the Taiyang meridian) symptoms are present, it is like inviting thieves to break up the home. (Li Dongyuan said: If one takes Shengma Gegen Tang at the onset of Taiyang Syndrome, it leaves the Taiyang meridian unresolved and instead draws the Taiyang pathogenic qi into the Yangming meridian, making it impossible to resolve. Hence, it is called "inviting thieves to break up the home.") One must recognize clearly, never act rashly. It treats headache, sore throat, toothache, and abdominal pain due to sudden evil; regulates mouth ulcers, scabies, macules, and pock-like sores. It treats wind swelling, wind epilepsy, lung abscess, and lung萎 (flaccidity). Thus, it is known as the Holy Medicine for wound cases, and the True Medicine for wind cases. It raises Yuan Yang, preventing it from sinking into the Yin aspect; it guides other herbs, traveling together to reach the four meridians. Li Dongyuan said: Guiding Cong Bai, it disperses wind-pathogen of the Hand-Yangming meridian; guiding Shi Gao (Gypsum Fibrosum), it stops toothache of the Yangming meridian. The tips collected can treat Pi Dan (spleen-heat causing sweet taste and excessive salivation). Long-term use prevents premature death, lightens the body and benefits longevity.

(Chen Jiamo) Commentary: Zhang Zhongjing's *Treatise on Cold Damage* states: When blood stasis enters the interior, if there is epistaxis or hematemesis, Xi Jiao Di Huang Tang (Rhinoceros Horn and Rehmannia Decoction) is the primary formula. Xi Jiao (Horn Rhinocerotis) is the holy medicine of the Yangming meridian. It also says: If Xi Jiao is unavailable, substitute with Shengma. How can Xi Jiao and Shengma, whose flavors and qi are vastly different, be substituted? It is merely because Shengma is also a herb of the Yangming meridian, used to guide Di Huang (Radix Rehmanniae Preparata) and other herbs to enter the Yangming meridian together. If used for purposes other than this, how could it possibly work?