Talking about "medicine that is not medicine"

Books that study Chinese medicine, such as Shen Nong's Classic of Materia Medica and Compendium of Materia Medica, always talk about the nature and taste, indications, dosage forms, collection, processing and prescription compatibility of drugs, so as to help save lives. However, there were many strange people in ancient times who focused on treating people's "heart diseases" and commented on the shortcomings of the times in the name of "materia medica". They made a pun and laughed, which made people think deeply.

In the floating world, the most attractive things are nothing more than power and money. In the Tang Dynasty, Zhang said "Qian Bencao", the later "Ben Cao" and Jia's "Jian Bencao" all used the metaphor of materia medica to fully explain the nature, essence, function and utility of power and money. All three people think that power and money are "sweet, hot and poisonous". Money is a symbol of material wealth, which can make people stay on face to satisfy their hunger and solve people's difficulties. The original meaning of "power" is hardwood used to make heavy objects, and it is extended to the power to dominate and command others.

In the final analysis, people who are keen on power and money are likely to attract "evil spirits" and get "serious illness". The drugs for treating these diseases are Zen Materia Medica by Zen Master Hui Riya in Song Dynasty, Dream Materia Medica by Dong Shuo in Ming Dynasty and Book Materia Medica by Zhang Chao in Qing Dynasty. Zen is "sweet in taste, cool in nature" and dreams are "sweet in taste, mellow in nature", which can reduce fire and have the effects of "removing heat and regret, removing filth and turbidity, being good at solving all kinds of poisons and conditioning all kinds of diseases". Whether it is Hui Riya's Zen or Dong Shuo's dream, they all want people to put down the shackles of fame, see through the world of mortals and get rid of utilitarianism. In my opinion, "Zen" and "Dream" are essentially escapism, and they don't take anything for the sake of being vigorous and promising. Juck Zhang's book Materia Medica still has reference significance today.

Tao Hongjing, known as the "Prime Minister in the Mountain" in the Southern Dynasties, regarded moral cultivation as the "prescription for health preservation", and "Materia Medica" essays gradually became the form of prescriptions. The Book of Jin contains Zhang Zhan's prescription for treating eye diseases: "damaging reading, reducing thinking, focusing on the interior, keeping the table simple, getting up late and going to bed early at night." It means to use your eyes less and rest more; Worry less and reflect more on yourself. To be a man, we should follow the trend and pay more attention to inner cultivation and physical health. Persistence is the best way to treat eye diseases and prolong life. This prescription is actually the essence of modern medicine, emphasizing the dual health of "body" and "mind".

In the Ming Dynasty, many "prescriptions" appeared, taking people's "fiery" desire and helplessness in the face of reality as symptoms and spiritual cultivation as the focus of treatment. During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, Tu Benjun had seven prescriptions, including He Qi Decoction, Xiaoyao Wuxiansan, Poor Recipe, Blind Drinking and Longevity, Six Prescriptions for Treating Eyes, Infinitely Xiaoyao Decoction and Simiao Honesty Pill. For example, He Qi Tang specializes in treating "all manners, anger, resentment and depression". It takes "patience" and "forgetting" as the main drugs, and uses silence "silence" to match. After taking it, it drank a few more glasses of wine and entered a dark and sweet country, and those troubles and grievances naturally vanished. To tell the truth, this prescription is really a cold joke, but for "helpless people", it does work sometimes.