Book Review: Chinese Herbal Cures by Henry C. Lu

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Chinese Herbal Cures by Henry C. Lu is an especially good book for

people who are new to TCM but want to learn more about it in general

and about herbs in particular. The reason I recommend this book so

highly is that most of the herbs have a story about their discovery

or use. The stories may or may not be true, but they help readers to

remember the herb.

 

One of my favorites is the one for Shan Yao (aka Radix Dioscoreae

Oppositae, aka Chinese yam, aka " mountain medicine " or " mountain

herb " (a translation)).

 

Two armies fought. The weak army was defeated but escaped into the

mountains. The victorious army waited at the base of the mountains,

figuring that eventually the other army would run out of food and be

forced to surrender instead of starving.

 

But there were a lot of big roots in the mountains that the defeated

soldiers were able to eat. They fed the vines to their horses.

Eventually after consuming so many Chinese yams, the once weak and

defeated soldiers cam roaring down out of the mountains. To use an

American slang expression, they were " loaded for bear " . In this case

for enemy soldiers and in more ways than one. They won.

 

As some of you probably have guessed, Shan Yao (Chinese yam) is

classified as a Qi tonic herb in the TCM Materia Medica. It will

energize you. It targets the Kidney, Lung, and Spleen. These 3

Organs have quite a lot to do with people having enough energy and

not feeling fatigued. Its thermal energy is neutral, so you don't

have to worry about it further heating a person who already is too

Hot or cooling a person who already is too Cold. It is however

contraidnidated when there's Excess, especially Dampness, Qi

Stagnation, or " accumulation " . (Cninese Herbal Medicine Materia

Medica, Revised ed., Dan Bensky and Andrew Gamble, pp. 320- 321.)

 

Lu's Chinese Herbal Cures also gives the thermal energy and the

flavor. Some of his classification groups are slightly different

from the ones used by Bensky and Gamble and some other authors. For

example, he uses the class " Herbs to Induce Perspiration " whereas the

classification in other books is " Herbs to Release the Exterior " (and

not all of them do induce sweating, and many of them do things

besides inducing sweating). But these are minor differences. The

important thing to realize is that herbs in TCM are divided into

classes and subclasses. For example, the class " Herbs that Release

the Exterior " is subdivided into " Warm, Acrid Herbs That Release the

Exterior " and " Cool Acrid Herbs That Release the Exterior " . It's that

Heat and Cold thing again.

 

Lu also explains about how Heat, Cold, Dampness, Dryness, and Wind

can cause imbalance. He touches on some other basic TCM concepts as

well in a very readable way.

 

BTW, when the person has been " invaded " by Wind Cold, a Warm, Acrid

(Spicy) Herb That Releases the Exterior is called for. If it's Wind

Heat, use a Cool, Acrid Herb That Releases the Exterior. (The

term " Exterior " refers to the head, neck, shoulders, arms, legs,

skin, muscles, bones and meridians. The term Interior refers to the

Organs. The word " Organ " and the names of the TCM Organs are

capitalized because they are not the equivalent of the anatomical

organs but collections of functions.)