06 Case Study: The Death of Huang Yuanyu
Stomach health is crucial to our overall well-being. In this section, we will explore case studies that highlight its significance and learn how to treat the spleen-stomach subsystem for optimal health.
When Huang Yuanyu was young, he was asked to take the wrong medicine for an eye disease on the advice of a mediocre herbal practitioner. This resulted in severe damage to his pi-wei (spleen and stomach) subsystem. Despite being known as the fifth greatest herbal medicine practitioner since ancient times, Huang Yuanyu’s damaged spleen and stomach were beyond help, illustrating the vulnerability of even the most knowledgeable individuals.
Harmful Herbs for the Pi-Wei Subsystem
According to Huang Yuanyu, certain herbs can cause significant damage to the pi-wei subsystem. These herbs are typically bitter and cold in nature. The most harmful include:
- Mangxiao (sodium sulfate)
- Huang-lian (coptis root)
- Bitter-melon (in food)
- Green tea (in drink)
The base taste of these substances is bitterness, and their nature is cold. The greater the bitterness, the colder the nature, leading to irreversible damage if consumed in excess or over a long period.
To protect our pi-wei subsystem, it is essential to follow a doctor’s advice when taking medicine. Bitter and cold foods should be consumed in small amounts, especially by diabetic patients, who should minimize or avoid them altogether. In traditional herbal medicine, diabetes is referred to as “thirst disease,” rooted in pi-deficiency. Bitter and cold substances exacerbate this condition, causing more harm than many medicines.
Even healthy individuals should be cautious about their diet. Most fruits and vegetables are cold in nature and should be eaten with grains in proper proportion. A diet consisting solely of fruits and vegetables, especially for weight loss or managing chronic diseases, is incorrect. Grains should be the staple food, with fruits and vegetables as supplements. This is a fundamental dietary principle.
According to the Huangdi Neijing: “If a person has no stomach-qi, it is called reversal, and the reversal will die.”
This was later simplified in traditional herbal medicine to “a person cannot live without stomach-qi.”
This means that a weak stomach will have weak stomach-qi which will eventually lead to death.
07 Fatal Disease
Traditional herbal medicine views diseases differently from Western medicine. While Western medicine often believes that some diseases, such as diabetes and high blood pressure, can only be controlled, traditional herbal medicine theorizes that they can be cured without much trouble.
The Concept of Fatal Disease
One disease that traditional herbal medicine cannot cure is the “fatal disease,” characterized by the absence of stomach-qi. Stomach-qi is essential for life. Insufficient stomach-qi leads to illness, and its absence results in death.
Initially, a person with insufficient stomach-qi may show no symptoms, only a slight lack of interest in food or abnormal bowel movements. These mild symptoms can be easily overlooked, but an experienced herbal doctor can diagnose the condition by observing the patient’s complexion.
Signs of Fatal Disease
A healthy person’s skin, regardless of color, always has a rosy luster. If the face is yellow and the muscles thin, it indicates illness but not a serious one, requiring only simple revitalization. However, a green complexion, especially in the middle and upper part of the eyebrows, signifies a life-threatening illness.
As practitioners of life cultivation, we should check our complexion daily to ensure it remains rosy. If it appears unhealthy for an extended period, seeking medical attention is crucial.
(to be continued)
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