By Eric Brand

The title alone is enough to raise eyebrows.  In the modern day, we do not ascribe supplementing effects to Mu Dan Pi.  Granted, we often use Mu Dan Pi with supplementing medicinals, as in formulas such as Liu Wei Di Huang Wan, but we don't typically think of Mu Dan Pi as a supplementing agent itself.

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When we study the yin-supplementing formula Liu Wei Di Huang Wan, the role of Mu Dan Pi is explained by emphasizing its ability to clear vacuity heat and control the warmth of Shan Zhu Yu (Corni Fructus). However, if we look at older texts such as the Yi Xue Ru Men, we find that Mu Dan Pi was also said to “nourish true blood and qi while breaking binding amassment.” It is also said to be especially suitable for steaming bone with absence of sweating, and is said to supplement insufficiency of the spirit-mind (shen zhi).

The text Yi Xue Ru Men (“Gateway to Medicine”) was written in the Ming dynasty in the late 16th or early 17th century C.E. The Yi Xue Ru Men was an important Ming dynasty text that covered a broad range of topics, including acupuncture, moxibustion, materia medica, diagnostics, gynecology, external medicine, etc. Below are the properties that the Yi Xue Ru Men ascribed to Mu Dan Pi. Below is basically a complete translation of the Mu Dan Pi monograph from the Yi Xue Ru Men:

The Yi Xue Ru Men describes Mu Dan Pi as the essence of heaven and earth. It says the leaf is engendered by yang and the flower forms fruit from yin; its cinnabar color is red so it is associated with fire. It thus drains fire from within yin, and it is acrid, bitter, and non-toxic.

The Xi Yue Ru Men goes on to say that Mu Dan Pi is slightly yang within yin, and enters the foot shaoyin (kidney) and hand jueyin (pericardium) channels. It governs vomiting of blood and nosebleed, static blood, and non-dispersing heat that abides in the stomach and intestines. It disperses static blood from injuries and joins sinew and bone. It treats blocked channels in women (blocked menstruation) with dripping blood and sore lower back, and breaks hardness, descends the fetus and the placenta, and treats “all postpartum cold, heat, blood, and qi.” It treats sores and welling-abscesses, expels pus and relieves pain, and also treats sores in the lower body that form holes. These indications are all due to its ability to nourish true blood while breaking static blood and blood amassment.

If that wasn’t enough, it also treats cold qi, disperses all binding pain, and treats wind-strike with tetany, epilepsy, or evil qi, and it eliminates headache due to seasonal qi with “guest heat.” It is said to treat the five taxations, headache and lower back pain, and withdrawal disease. These actions derive from its ability to secure true qi while moving bound qi and depressed qi. Fascinating!