The Divine Farmer's Materia Medica: A Translation of the Shen Nong Ben Cao ebook download
Par vidal ola le mercredi, avril 24 2013, 19:31 - Lien permanent
The Divine Farmer's Materia Medica: A Translation of the Shen Nong Ben Cao by Shou-Zhong Yang
Download The Divine Farmer's Materia Medica: A Translation of the Shen Nong Ben Cao
The Divine Farmer's Materia Medica: A Translation of the Shen Nong Ben Cao Shou-Zhong Yang ebook
Language: English
Page: 205
Format: pdf
ISBN: 0936185961, 9780936185965
Publisher: Blue Poppy Press
"Ancient people ate grasses and drank water. They gathered the fruit from trees and ate the meat of clams. They frequently suffered from disease and poisoning. Then Shen Nong taught people for the first time how to sow the five grains, to observe whether the land was dry or wet, fertile or rocky, located in the hills or in the lowlands. He tasted the flavors of all the herbs and springs, [determining] whether they were bitter or sweet. Thus he taught people what to avoid and where they could go. At that time, [Shen Nong] encountered 70 [herbs] in one day, [determining which were] medicines and [which were] poisons."
The words ben and cao mean tree roots and grasses or herbs respectively. Therefore, as a compound term, they generically refer to the Chinese materia medica, and materia medica is the most commonly used translation of ben cao used in Engish today. Ben and cao are used in Chinese medicine to refer to materia medica in general because the overwhelming majority of traditional Chinese medicinals are dervied from vegetable sources. However, since the Chinese materia medica also includes mineral and animal medicinals, we have used the words, "so-called Chinese herbal medicine," above.
As mentioned previously, this work is the locus classicus of the ben cao or materia medica literature of Chinese medicine. It is this literature which describes the ingredients of Chinese medicine, their flavors and natures (i.e., temperatures), their functions, and indications. According to this book, medicinals have five basic flavors -- sour, salty, sweet, bitter, and acrid -- and four qi or natures -- cold, hot, warm, and cool. Hot diseases should be treated with cold medicinals and cold diseases should be treated with hot medicinals. This book also introduced the first method of classifying Chinese medicinals. Within this classic, all medicinals are classified into three grades or categories: superior medicinals corresponding to heaven which govern the maintenance of life and are without toxicity, medium medicinals corresponding to humankind which benefit human nature and have some medicinal functions, and inferior medicinals corresponding to earth which cure disease and definitely do have some toxicity. Further, medicinals are also categorized into sovereigns, ministers, assistants, and envoys. Hence, one can find all the most basic and elemental theories of Chinese herbal medicine in seminal form in this classic.
MORE EBOOKS:
Amigurumi World: Seriously Cute Crochet download
She Comes First: The Thinking Man's Guide to Pleasuring a Woman download pdf
Tags:
The Divine Farmer's Materia Medica: A Translation of the Shen Nong Ben Cao ebook pdf epub djvu mobi rar
The Divine Farmer's Materia Medica: A Translation of the Shen Nong Ben Cao pdf epub djvu free download
The Divine Farmer's Materia Medica: A Translation of the Shen Nong Ben Cao free ebook pdf epub
The Divine Farmer's Materia Medica: A Translation of the Shen Nong Ben Cao read online free book
The Divine Farmer's Materia Medica: A Translation of the Shen Nong Ben Cao cheap ebook for kindle and nook
Shou-Zhong Yang ebooks and audio books
The Divine Farmer's Materia Medica: A Translation of the Shen Nong Ben Cao download pdf epub rar rapidshare mediafire fileserve 4shared torrent depositfiles scribd