Insights and Updates

I have never known an early-rising, hardworking, cautious, honest person who complained about ill fortune. — Benjamin Franklin Our greatest enemy has always been ourselves, not others. Laziness, ignorance, and vice have ruined many people's physical and mental health and personal fortunes, making their survival…

I have known an older brother in the cancer community for over ten years. He has survived more than twenty years after a cancer diagnosis; he was treated purely with TCM by a now-deceased famous TCM anticancer physician. More than ten years after being cured,…

In Waike Zhengzhi Quansheng Ji (Records of Comprehensive Sage-Style External Medicine) there is a formula named Dai Dao San (Scalpel-Replacing Powder), composed of "Zaojiao Ci (Gleditsiae Spina) and Mian Huangqi (astragalus) each one liang (stir-fried), Sheng Gancao (raw licorice) and Ruxiang (Olibanum) each five qian."…

The Qing-dynasty physician Zhao Xuemin wrote in Bencao Gangmu Shiyi (Supplement to the Compendium of Materia Medica): "Li Bingwen, an assistant prefect in Shaoxing, long stationed on the frontier, said that in Barkol there grows a medicinal herb called Yizhihao. It grows in deep mountains,…

Qing Wei San is recorded in Lanshi Micang (Secrets of the Orchid Chamber). It is composed of "Danggui Shen (Angelicae body) two qian, Huanglian (Coptidis Rhizoma) one and a half qian, Shengdihuang (Rehmanniae Radix recens, prepared with yellow wine) four qian, Mudanpi (Moutan Cortex) two…

In Waike Jingyao (Essentials of External Medicine) there is a formula named "Wan Jin San" (Ten-Thousand-Gold Powder), composed of "Gualou (Trichosanthes Fructus) one whole, Da Gancao Jie (large Glycyrrhizae Caulis nodus) two qian, Moyao (Myrrhae) one qian (ground to powder)." The original preparation is: "Use…

Da Chaihu Tang is a classic renowned formula from Zhang Zhongjing's Shanghan Lun (Treatise on Cold Damage). It is composed of "Chaihu (Bupleuri Radix) half a jin, Huangqin (Scutellariae Radix) three liang, Shaoyao (Paeoniae Radix) three liang, Banxia (Pinelliae Rhizoma) half a sheng (washed), Shengjiang…

Since moving, my spiritual home has shrunk from a former fifty-plus-square-meter private room to a small two-square-meter balcony in my apartment. My home also has a long seven-meter balcony; the wall-side space there I have commandeered for low floor-standing bookcases, and on top of those…

Yu Ping Feng San (Jade Windscreen Powder) is the representative TCM formula for boosting qi and securing the exterior. It comes from the Jiu Yuan Fang, recorded in the Yi Fang Lei Ju, and has been passed down to the present. The original formula is:…

This summer and autumn, because of the heavy rain, many people developed common skin diseases such as eczema. Just after summer vacation began, my son went to military training and, because he sweated too much, developed eczema. Not long ago, my mother-in-law back in my…