Digest Number 1088/Mutual Counteraction

[Guest guest]

Dear Ken,

 

Thanks for this information. Your response has been the most inspiring

to look into the Chinese language. I have seen this " mutual fear " or

" awe " among high level tai ji players a time or two. Thanks again.

 

~Fernando

 

 

 

, <yulong@m...> wrote:

> Julie,

>

>

> >

> > Is " mutual counteraction " of herbs (xiang wei)

> > really a matter of one

> > substance being able to reduce the toxic effect

> > of another?

>

> Well, yes and no. The Chinese term means

> " mutual fear " and as Wiseman explains the

> meaning of the term on p.527 of the

> Practical Dictionary, the sense of fear

> here is " awe " , so that the functional

> meaning of xiang1 wei4 is that two

> medicinals categorized as having this

> relationship will tend to hold one

> another in awe, i.e., to make one

> another less active. I guess I think

> of it in terms of co-motion of ingredients

> and their effects within a formula or

> in combination. In this phrase the

> Chinese terminology makes use of a

> metaphor of the human emotion fear

> or awe to describe the interactive

> potentials of medicinals. So you have

> to get the idea of what this emotion

> produces in the way of a tendency

> to move or act in people and then

> apply this concept to the potentials

> of any particular medicinals which

> fit the description.

>

> If so, I am

> > confused over numerous references in Bensky;

> > for example, Mai Men Dong is

> > said (according to some traditional sources) to

> > counteract Bai Mu Er. But

> > what possible side effect/toxic effect could

> > Mai Men Dong OR Bai Mu Er have

> > that would be counteracted? Or would need to be

> > counteracted?

>

> Good questions. I don't think it's

> necessary to restrict the use of

> this term only to toxicity. I can't

> really say to what extent in medical

> literature xiang1 wei4 is used to

> describe mutual " fear " or " awe " between

> medicinals other than with respect

> to their toxicity. But clearly in

> the case you mention, someone has

> used it that way since neither of

> the medicinals mentioned is toxic.

>

> Perhaps Dr. Bensky can help to

> clarify the usage, as it seems

> that you are referring to his

> book.

> >

> > Secondly, if a person consumed a rice cake

> > before noticing that the other

> > rice cakes in the package were teeming with

> > little white worms, what should

> > that person do? Do the digestive juices make

> > short work of little white

> > worms (versus contracting parasites via eggs)?

> > Should the person drink an

> > anti-parasitic formula just in case? (It wasn't

> > I who consumed the pesky

> > things.)

>

> Well, the old song doesn't say

> what to do after eating worms.

> Seems to me that people eat worms

> all the time. Without knowing what

> kind of pesky white worms were

> eaten here, I guess it's not 100%

> possible to say whether or not they

> were likely to have been digested,

> just as any other worms or critters

> put into a stomach in chewed up bits.

>

> Lord knows what else was in the

> rice cake, eh? Along with larvae

> that may be more likely to survive

> the acidic environment in the stomach

> and find their way to some more hospitable

> portion of this individual's digestive

> tract, there could have been all manner

> of stuff that could be considered

> pathogenic. I think the way to go

> about making a decision as to whether

> or not to introduce a potentially

> powerful anti-parasitic formula

> is to rely on the standard rules

> of diagnosis.

>

>

> Ken