Ren Shen: sweet in flavor, slightly cold in nature. It primarily tonifies the five zang organs, calms the spirit, settles the ethereal and corporeal souls, stops palpitations and fright, dispels pathogenic qi, brightens the eyes, opens the heart, and sharpens the intellect. Prolonged use lightens the body and prolongs years.
Gan Cao: sweet in flavor, neutral in nature. It governs cold and heat pathogenic qi of the five zang and six fu, strengthens sinew and bone, builds muscle, doubles strength, treats metal-inflicted wounds, and resolves toxins. Prolonged use lightens the body and prolongs years.
Huang Lian: bitter in flavor, cold in nature. It governs eye pain from heat qi, injury at the canthus with tears flowing, brightens the eyes; it treats intestinal dysentery with abdominal pain and diarrhea, and treats swelling and pain of the female genitals. Prolonged use prevents forgetfulness.
Da Huang: bitter in flavor, cold in nature. It purges static blood, opens blood-closure with alternating cold and heat, breaks masses and accumulations, eliminates lodged fluids and stagnant food, washes out the stomach and intestines, pushes out the old to bring forth the new, frees the passage of water and grain, harmonizes the middle, digests food, and pacifies the five zang.
✓Editor-reviewed· 2026-04-08
Permalink · CC BY-SA 4.0
Cite this entry
+
@misc{bencaodian-shen-nong-ben-cao-jing,
author = {{Bencaodian Editorial}},
title = {Shén Nóng Běn Cǎo Jīng 神农本草经 (Divine Farmer's Classic of Materia Medica) — 托名神农},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {Bencao Dian: A Bilingual Knowledge Graph of Traditional Chinese Medicine},
url = {https://bencaodian.org/en/texts/shen-nong-ben-cao-jing},
urldate = {2026-04-17},
note = {CC BY-SA 4.0}
}