Ba Dou a new twist on an old devil |
But that's a rather limited way of looking at holistic medicine. Holistic medicine can't stop with identifying just the body and mind as connected. We must, and many do, understand that what effects one level of our being, also effects the body, mind, emotions, spirit, soul, and beyond. One could think of these different levels of the patient as octaves. Each of these octaves get expressed in a manner consistent with its dimension.
Just as wood energy is associated with the Liver on the yin organ octave, so it is associated with the Gall Bladder on the yang organ octave. Other octaves of this note that we'll call "wood" include the color green within the visible spectrum, the spring season on the temporal plane, the sour taste on our tongues, and the ethereal soul of our minds. Different octaves of existence, all maintaining a certain degree of "woodyness."
Pathology can be understood in terms of energetic octaves as well. This is very easy to do with Chinese medicine.
Damp exists on one level as the mucoid substances that are stored in the lungs. Damp exists on another level as muddy thinking. Still, on another level damp represents the fogginess in one's life or about one's path and ultimately about one's self. It is the result of a weakened Spleen along with all of its energetic expressions or symptoms. Poor digestion on the physical level, is expressed as the inability to digest one's experiences, to understand the significance of one's life, the inability to even see themselves clearly. When you don't understand why things happen, its hard to accept them, hard to digest them. You walk around in a fog of sleepiness. Dampness. Maya.
In modern English, "ghost" can mean many things. The soul of a disincarnate spirit, or vivid memories. To walk into the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles and sense the ghosts of the roller derby or professional wrestling is indicative of the emotional charge of the memory. There are no disincarnate spirits that loom about the Olympic Auditorium, and if there are, I don't think Ba Dou is the required herb. That aside, if we take one simple leap of faith and presume that Shen Nung's "spirits" or "ghosts" that can be treated by Ba Dou are more like vivid memories, then its therapeutic significance for this purpose makes ample sense. Ba Dou helps you let go of the past, let go of whatever, or whomever, you're holding on to.
This is pathology of the Metal element. The inability to let go which is the other half of bonding. Bonding and detachment from people in life is considered a function of the Metal element. As expressed in the Lungs, the inspiration and expiration are an obvious metaphor of this experience of bonding and letting go. The Large Intestine's function of being in charge of placing fecal matter into the toilet is a clear, if not a deeply metaphorical expression of that whole "letting go" experience or detachment as is the yang expression of the metal element.
Here, we see that Ba Dou actually enters the metal element, as well as the Large Intestine's blood brother, the foot yang ming (Stomach). The Lung attaches and detaches with each breath. And the Stomach and Large Intestine share that same relationship. The Stomach absorbs the nutrition, and the Large Intestine lets the remains go.
Ba Dou is all about letting go. It's key function is as a cathartic. That is how it expresses itself on the physical, fu organ octave. But it can also be described as a "yang metal tonic". Ba Dou tonifies the function of the yang metal organ, the Large Intestine, the letting go.
Bensky translates the literal meaning of Ba Dou to "clinging bean." Even the name of this herb suggests that it is to be used when you're clinging to something too hard. Ba Dou is translated, or at least the name is explained in the Pen Cao Kang Mu as meaning: the bean (dou) from the area of China that is known as Pa-Shu (Ba). I don't know what Bensky's source on this was.
The Ben Cao describes Ba Dou's functions as the following:
Expels poisonings caused by demons, and removes possessions by the ku and other evil things. The Ku were kind of like curses that ended up being parasites and worms that, from what I've read, resemble something from "Alien". In modern day psychology we understand that it is not the power of another that can hurt us, but our attachment to them that possesses the power for self-mutilation. This line from the Ben Cao describes Ba Dou's ability to allow you to let go of past attachments, and all the pain that was associated with them. When you are no longer attached to someone who wishes you ill will, their power is removed and you can once again associate with them, fully in control of your reactions. In otherwords, Ba Dou removes possessions by the ku.
It has a beneficial effect on the blood vessels, gives a good coloring to humans, and helps them to transform themselves, and to associate with demonic spirits. Well, when you're no longer attached, you transform, there's no fear to pale the face when associating with demonic forces, or ex-wives as the case may be.
If one has been hit by the malevolent, or the heart aches and if the abdomen is swollen, and if one is constipated, he should prepare the Tuning Horse Decoction (which has the king herb of Ba Dou). This one hardly even needs to be commented on.
In Bensky's text we see that Ba Dou exhibits the following therapeutic qualities:
Promotes the healing of abscesses that have suppurated but not yet ulcerated to accelerate the ulcerating process. In other words, pushing out the toxins from the body. This is a uniquely metal element function, in the same way that it is the job of the Large Intestine to eliminate the body's toxins via bowel movement, and in the same way that we push out attachments to those who remain "under our skin."
This herb drives out water and reduces edema for asciitis. Another purging function.
Finally, this herb is said to be effective for bursting clogged phlegm and improves the condition of the throat. Also for phlegm veiling the sensory orifices. This is an interesting development. Suddenly, after all of that purging, we find that Ba Dou can "burst" clogged phlegm and improves the condition of the throat. That to which Bensky is likely alluding is the plum pit syndrome that follows the rapid destruction of an emotional bond. The stagnation that can follow an emotional shock seems reasonable enough, but where did this phlegm come from? From the middle jiao.
Those who have the greatest problems with letting go are those with weakened middle jiaos. They are deficient in the element of earth. They weren't weaned well. When we're born, we attach ourselves to the Stomach channel of our mothers at the breast. After a time, we develop our own stomach channels and we are weaned. Mom and dad are also in charge of emotional nutrition as well as the kind derived from food. Mom and dad's support and nurturing are required by the child because it has not yet developed the ability to provide himself or herself with their own self-esteem. Some people eventually do mature to the point of becoming emotionally self-sufficient. Many do not. For those who do not, their earth element cannot mature enough to properly nourish their metal element and an emotional neediness becomes pathological. Emotional neediness and attachment go hand in hand, just like mother and son.
Middle jiao deficiency also leads to the formation of damp and phlegm. What does damp or phlegm have to do with anything in the spiritual realms? It can be described as the inability to understand your place in the world, or your place with yourself. Hence, there follows the pathology of clinging. Pathology uniquely treated by the Clinging Bean, Ba Dou. Add to this, the fact that the phlegm slides down to veil the acuity of the orifices and you've got demons in the night, possessions by dead spirits and ku curses!
Ba Dou, when used correctly, is good for being possessed by the spirits of the dead.
Simply because it helps you let go.
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