Problematics of using Western herbs in TCM practice

June 11, 2003

Dear TCM Colleagues,

I have followed with interest discussion about utilising Western herbs in TCM practice. A similar discussion took place in the Register of Chinese Herbal Medicine email discussion group some time ago. You may find some of the comments I made about recruiting Western herbs into TCM practice of interest.

Best wishes,

Wainwright Churchill - TCM acupuncturist and herbalist in UK

Following on from my discussion of Myrrh [in a previous RCHM DG email], for which it was apparent that the traditional Western herbal and Chinese medical understandings of its actions and uses are very different, I am approaching the issue of herb recruitment from one traditional to another from another angle.

The herb Gotu Kola has been discussed by both Michael Tierra and Bob Flaws. I believe that both these individuals know each other, and Flaws is aware of Tierra's thoughts on Gotu Kola.

I quote their respective comments on this herb.

Michael Tierra: Planetary Herbology. 1988. p200

GOTU KOLA [in Tierra's Heat-Clearing Herbs category]

Energetics: bitter, sweet, cool

Merdians/Organs affected: heart, liver

Part used: root

Properties: alterative, antipyretic, diuretic, antispasmodic, nervine, tonic

Uses: Gotu kola is an alterative for sore throat, measles, tonsillitis, hepatitis, venereal diseases and urinary tract infections. In Ayurveda it is considered the prime nervine tonic and is used to treat insomnia, stress, nervousness and disturbed emotions, and many nervous system disorders. It promotes mental calm and clarity and assists in the practice of yoga and meditation. It possesses tonic properties and could be considered a yin tonic like eclipta. It is used with eclipta for strengthening the nerves and promoting the growth of hair.

Bob Flaws: Something Old, Something New. 1991. p69

Gotu Kola (Radix Hydroctylis Asiaticae) is the ruler of this prescription [bob Flaw's 'Heavenly Water 15']. In many ways it is quite similar to Bupleurum. Both are Umbelliferates. Gotu Kola is likewise Cool and Acrid. Also like Bupleurum, Gotu Kola enters the Liver and Gallbladder Channels. It clears Heat, dissolves Toxins, stimulates the production of Body Fluids, and transforms Phlegm. However, it also relaxes constrained Liver Qi and relieves Depression. It is especially useful for promoting mental calm and it relieves nervousness. Michael Tierra goes so far as to say that Gotu Kola possesses Yin tonic properties; however, I would simply say it possesses all the Qi-regulating properties of Bupleurum without Bupleurum's drawbacks. In Indian Ayurvedic medicine, Gotu Kola is the most important nervine.

Both Flaws and Tierra are influential herbalists. The properties which Flaws and Tierra ascribe to Gotu Kola are quite different.

Some of the properties they list are in common, but this is not surprising, given that

i) Flaws is aware of Tierra's work [Note 11-6-03 - I wrote this some time ago - I can't recall the source of this comment. It may be in 'Something Old, Something New', or gleaned from a seminar I did with Flaws on the subject of recruitment of medicinals from outside the Chinese materia medica.]

ii) Undoubtedly, there is source material - probably Ayurvedic - that they both utilise.

Nevertheless, Tierra regards Gotu Kola as essentially a herb similar to Eclipta, while Flaws likens it to Bupleurum, without Bupleurum's drawbacks [presumably, its reputation for ravaging the Yin.]

A few comments come to mind:

1) The functions of herbs are at least in part dependent on the context of their use.

It seems that Flaws and Tierra have extracted Gotu Kola from Ayurvedic knowledge, and one must ask how important is the context in which Gotu Kola is used in Ayurvedic medicine, before one isolates the properties of the herb from the context of its use, translates them into a different theoretical framework and world-view, and then presents this translation for use within an entirely different context.

2) Even so, two eminent and influential Western herbalists have associated Gotu Kola with two very different Chinese herbs, not even in the same herb category. If Chai Hu became banned, one can imagine that some herbalists might say 'Bob Flaws says that Gotu Kola is a substitute for Chai Hu, without the latter's disadvantages. Let's use Gotu Kola as a substitute for Chai Hu in traditional Chinese formulas'. If Tierra is right, one would not think of substituting Chai Hu with Han Lian Cao.

The above gives a clue to some of the profound problems of enlisting a medical substance from one tradition into another. At best, this process would take a profound understanding of both traditions, and a great deal of time - perhaps hundreds of years - to begin to really come right.

Once again, the importance of keeping within the tradition is highlighted.

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