The Essence of Five Woods
Ghost Herbs 5
Today is Hallowe’en, and I wanted to put out at least a brief post to mark the day and as a throwback to the #ghostherbs series I did about this time last year. If you are unfamiliar, you can catch up with those here, here, and here.
The Ghost Herbs series came about from my reading of the Shén Nóng Bӗn Cӑo Jīng (Divine Farmer’s Materia Medica Classic), and noticing that some of the medicinals in use today were given what would now be considered paranormal actions and indications – namely, warding off, eliminating, and/or killing ghosts, demons and assorted spectral entities.
In the brief series, I skipped over one of the more commonly-used herbs, which I had always intended to get back to. So, on this All Hallows’ Eve, I present Táo Rén, Semen Persicae, the humble peach seed.
Modern View of Táo Rén
The standard profile of Táo Rén, from Wiseman & Brand (2020):
· Tao ren is sweet and bitter, balanced, slightly toxic.
· Enters liver, heart, lung, large intestine channels
· Quickens blood, transforms stasis; used for a variety of gynecological conditions related to blood stasis, including pain, trauma, abdominal masses, menstrual block, and abscesses.
· Moistens intestines: dryness-type constipation
Not only the seed is listed in the Wiseman & Brand materia medica, but the flower (Táo Huā, treats water swelling), leaf (Táo Yè, dispels wind-damp), fruit (Táo Zĭ, engenders liquid and quickens the blood), root (Táo Gēn, treats jaundice and bleeding), twig (Táo Zhī, treats heart and abdominal pain), and resin (Táo Jiāo, treats stone and blood strangury) of the tree are included as well. What is omitted, of course, are the old actions and indications…
Ancient View of Táo Rén
Here is a much earlier take on Táo Rén, from Wilms’ (2017) translation of Shén Nóng Bӗn Cӑo Jīng (Divine Farmer’s Materia Medica Classic):
“Treats static blood, blood block and conglomerations, and evil qi. Peach blossoms [Táo Huā] kill infixation with malign demons and gives people a beautiful complexion. Overwintered dried peaches, which have stayed on the tree without dropping, are slightly warm. They are indicated for killing the hundred demons and spectral entities… Peach moths kill demons and ward off evil, malignity, and bad luck.”
The Divine Farmer presents a much broader scope of uses for the humble peach: from medicine to foodstuff to personal care to apotropaic and demon-slaughtering agents.
By the Qīng era, however, many of the paranormal indications had faded, even though the other indications from Shén Nóng Bӗn Cӑo Jīng remained. See for example, Běncǎo Jīng Jiě (Materia Medica Explanation), attributed to Yè Tiānshì in 1724 (my translation):
桃仁氣平。稟天秋收之金氣。入手太陰肺經。味苦甘無毒。得地中南火土之味。入手少陰心經、足太陰脾經。氣味降多於升。陰也。心主血。脾統血。血者陰也。有形者也。周流乎一身。灌溉乎五臟者也。一有凝滯。非瘀即閉矣。至有形可徵即成症。假物成形則成瘕。蓋皆心脾不運故也。桃仁甘以和血。苦以散結。則瘀者化。閉者通。而積者消矣。桃為五木之精。能鎮闢不祥。所以主邪氣。稟火之苦味。所以殺小蟲也。
Táo Rén’s qì is balanced. Endowed by heaven with the metal qì of the autumn harvest. Enters the hand tàiyīn lung channel. Its wèi is bitter and sweet, non-toxic. It gets the flavor of fire and earth from the soil of the center and south. Enters the hand shǎoyīn heart channel and foot tàiyīn spleen channel. Its qì and wèi are more descending than ascending. It is yīn in nature. The heart governs the blood. The spleen controls blood. Blood is yīn, it has form. It circulates through the whole body and irrigates the five viscera. Once it congeals and stagnates, there is not [merely] stasis, there is now blockage which is tangible enough to be identified as a fully-formed disease. If a substance takes shape the result is a conglomeration [abdominal mass]. Overall the reason for this is the heart and spleen failing to move and transform. Táo Rén is sweet to harmonize blood, and bitter to disperse binds so that the stasis will be transformed, the blockage unblocked, and accumulation reduced. Peach is the essence of five woods. It is able to suppress and break bad luck, thus masters evil qì. It is endowed with fire’s bitter taste, so it kills small worms.
Still, some mention remains regarding bad luck and evil qì that is not necessarily limited to physiology.
Regarding the peach blossom/flower (Táo Huā), we read from Běn Cǎo Bèi Yào (Essentials of Materia Medica) by Wāng Áng (1694, my translation):
桃花苦平。下宿水，除痰飲，消積聚，利二便，療風狂（範純佑女，喪夫發狂，夜斷窗檽，登桃樹食花幾盡，自是遂愈。以能瀉痰飲、滯血也）。
Peach flower is bitter and balanced, it downbears abiding water, gets rid of phlegm-rheum, reduces accumulations, facilitates urination and defecation, cures wind mania (Fàn Chúnyòu’s daughter lost her husband and went mad, at night she broke a window and climbed out onto a peach tree, eating nearly all the flowers on it, after which she spontaneously recovered. This is because it is able to drain phlegm-rheum and blood stagnation.)
So we see, in the Qīng era, an example which in earlier times might have been regarded as “infixation with malign demons” is now attributed to fluid and blood dynamics. At the end of his entry, though, Wāng nods to the unseen world, noting:
桃為五木之精，其枝、葉、花、仁，並能辟邪。《食醫心鏡》桃仁煮粥，治鬼證咳嗽。
The peach is the essence of five woods, and the branch, leaf, flower and seed are all equally able to ward off evil. Shí Yī Xīn Jìng [Insights into Dietary Medicine] says Táo Rén cooked into congee can treat ghost-pattern cough.
The Peach: Guardian Against Malign Influences
In his book, Food in China: A Cultural and Historical Inquiry, Frederick J. Simoons writes that the ancient Chinese "considered peach wood (t'ao-fu) protective against evil spirits, who held the peach in awe. In ancient China, peach-wood bows were used to shoot arrows in every direction in an effort to dispel evil. Peach-wood slips or carved pits served as amulets to protect a person's life, safety, and health... The Li-chi (Han period) reported that the emperor went to the funeral of a minister escorted by a sorcerer carrying a peach-wood wand to keep bad influences away. Since that time, peach-wood wands have remained an important means of exorcism in China." Later he notes that “peaches themselves were made into decoctions used to expel evil spirits or prepared as a soup consumed at New Year.”
Conclusion
For a #ghostherb, Táo Rén is quite easy to procure. If you are located in an area where peach trees grow, you’re in good shape vis-à-vis demons and spectral entities (if you live in Georgia or South Carolina, for example, you’re well covered). And if you start to feel a chill this time of year, it could be wind-cold, or it could be… something else. You might want to dig into some peaches or make some peach blossom tea, and keep one of the branches handy just in case.
Happy Hallowe’en to all who are celebrating.
Note: this newsletter is for information purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Please seek the opinion of a health care professional for any specific medical issues you may have.
References
Simoons, F.J. (1990). Food in China: A cultural and historical inquiry. CRC Press.
Wang, A. (1694). Běn cǎo bèi yào. Retrieved October 22, 2023 from https://jicheng.tw/tcm/book/%E6%9C%AC%E8%8D%89%E5%82%99%E8%A6%81/index.html
Wilms, S. (2017). Shen Nong ben cao jing: The divine farmer’s classic of materia medica. Happy Goat Productions.
Wiseman, N., & Brand, E. (2020). Comprehensive Chinese materia medica. Paradigm Publications.
Yáo, Q. (1926). Jīng xiào Yè Tiānshì běn cǎo jīng jiě. Guǎng Yì Book Company. Retrieved December 14, 2022, from https://jicheng.tw/tcm/book/%E6%9C%AC%E8%8D%89%E7%B6%93%E8%A7%A3/index.html