bubble_chart Property

sour, warm, nontoxic.

bubble_chart Efficacy

Mainly tonifies qi, relieves cough and upper qi, treats fatigue and emaciation, replenishes deficiencies, strengthens yin, and benefits male essence.

bubble_chart Note

Chen Xiu-yuan said:

• Schisandra Fruit has a warm qi and sour taste, deriving from the growth qi of the east and governing wind. People are in the wind but do not see the wind, just as fish are in water but do not see the water. The breath of humans, entering and exiting, would cease without wind, showing that what sustains life is wind. Wind qi connects with the liver, which is the wood qi of the human body.
• Zhuangzi said: 'The wild horses and the dust, the breath of living things blowing each other.' The character 'xi' has two meanings: one is 'growth', the other is 'rest'. Schisandra Fruit warms to promote the flourishing of wood qi, and its sourness helps to gather wood qi back to its root. Both growth and rest serve to enhance the endless qi of life.
• If the qi is not regulated ⁽¹⁾, cough and upper qi are caused by wind wood carrying fire qi to overcome metal.
• For fatigue, emaciation, impotence, and essence deficiency, it is as the Golden Cabinet says about various deficiencies and wind qi causing hundreds of diseases . Wind qi connects with the liver, and the ancient sages highlighted the major signs of deficiency fatigue, regrettably later generations could not fully elucidate its meaning. Schisandra Fruit tonifies qi, greatly possessing the wonderful mechanism of opening and closing, ascending and descending, hence it is generally used for these conditions.
• From the Tang and Song dynasties onwards, some scholars have said it possesses Wuwei and treats the five zang -organs; some have said its sourness astringes the lungs, its black color enters the kidneys, and its seed resembles the kidney and thus tonifies the kidney; these are speculative statements, not definitive conclusions.
• However, when the liver is regulated, the five zang -organs receive their vital qi and are at peace, which is the underlying principle of Benjing .
• Zhang Zhongjing used Dried Ginger as an adjuvant to assist its warming qi, making the qi and flavor complement each other and enhance the effect, which is a method of supplementing heaven.

bubble_chart Note

1. regulated, meaning peaceful.