What are the effects and actions of Tinglizi (Semen Lepidii)?
Tinglizi, also known as Dashi, Dashi, Dingli and other names, is the seed of plants in the Brassicaceae family: Tingli of the genus Lepidum, Qinxietingli of the genus Lepidium, and Boqianhao of the genus Descurainia. As a medicine, it has the effects of purging the lung and descending qi, eliminating phlegm and calming wheezing, promoting diuresis and reducing swelling, and draining heat to expel pathogenic factors. It has therapeutic effects on cough and wheezing with profuse phlegm due to phlegm-fluid congesting the lung, lung abscess, edema, fluid accumulation in the chest and abdomen, and difficult urination, and so on. Now let us take a look at the effects and actions of Tinglizi!
The Medicinal Effects of Tinglizi
[Nature and Flavor] Pungent and bitter in flavor, cold in nature.
[Meridian Entry] Enters the Lung, Bladder and Large Intestine meridians.
[Effects] Purging the lung and descending qi, eliminating phlegm and calming wheezing, promoting diuresis and reducing swelling, draining heat to expel pathogenic factors. It mainly treats cough and wheezing with profuse phlegm due to phlegm-fluid congesting the lung, lung abscess, edema, fluid accumulation in the chest and abdomen, difficult urination, and wheezing and swelling from chronic cor pulmonale and heart failure. It also treats carbuncles, malignant sores, scrofula and tuberculosis.
Related Discussions on Tinglizi
1. "Bencao Yanyi": Tingli uses the seed. The flavor of the seed has two grades, sweet and bitter, while its form is one and the same. Since the "Classic" already states that its flavor is pungent and bitter, the sweet ones are no longer used as medicine. In general, its therapeutic use is all based on moving water and causing discharge, and so it is said that taking it over a long time makes one deficient. This takes the meaning of bitter discharge, and the principle is very clear. What "Yaoxing Lun" says is complete, but it should not say that the flavor is sour.
2. "Tangye Bencao": (Tingli) has two flavors, bitter and sweet, with the same indications. Zhang Zhongjing used the bitter one, while other formulas sometimes used the sweet one, or did not specify sweet or bitter. In general, the bitter one causes downward discharge, while the sweet one is somewhat milder; use according to whether the disease is deficient or excessive, and one must be careful. Although the materia medica says the indications are the same, how can the sweet and bitter flavors not differ?
Clinical Applications of Tinglizi
1. For excess patterns of wheezing and cough due to phlegm turbidity obstructing the lung: Tinglizi has a relatively strong bitter and cold nature, excels at dispersing phlegm turbidity, and can also purge lung fire to calm wheezing and cough. Therefore, it is suitable for those with profuse phlegm-fluid causing wheezing, cough and copious phlegm, distension and fullness in the chest and hypochondrium, and wheezing so severe that one cannot lie flat. It is often used together with phlegm-transforming and cough-relieving medicines such as Sangbaipi (Cortex Mori) and Xingren (Semen Armeniacae Amarum).
2. For excess patterns such as pleural effusion, ascites, and generalized edema: Tinglizi is similar to Sangbaipi in that both can promote diuresis to reduce swelling. Sangbaipi is mostly used for edema of the face, eyes, skin and muscles, while this product is also commonly used to treat excess patterns of pleural and ascitic fluid. To treat fluid accumulation in the chest and hypochondrium with difficult urination and defecation, it is often combined with purgative medicines such as Dahuang (Radix et Rhizoma Rhei) and Mangxiao (Natrii Sulfas). If there is edema or abdominal distension with difficult urination, it can be combined with medicines that promote diuresis and percolate dampness, or with drastic purgatives that expel water.
Medicinal Formulas Containing Tinglizi
1. To treat lung congestion with cough and purulent blood, and wheezing and cough so severe that one cannot sleep: Sweet Tingli 2.5 liang (stir-fried over paper until purple). Grind into powder. Take 2 qian per dose, with 1 zhan of water, boil down to 6 fen, and take warm without regard to time.
2. To treat cough: Tinglizi 1 liang (roasted over paper until black), Zhimu (Rhizoma Anemarrhenae) 1 liang, Beimu (Bulbus Fritillariae) 1 liang. Pound and sift the three together, then add jujube flesh 0.5 liang and separately melt white sugar 1.5 liang, mix together into pills the size of a pellet. For each dose, wrap one pill in new silk and hold it in the mouth, swallowing the saliva slowly; in severe cases no more than three pills.
3. To treat upward qi and cough, with prolonged gasping and inability to lie down, or edema, or generalized qi swelling, or swelling of one side of the face, or swelling of the feet: Tinglizi 3 sheng, lightly roasted, pounded and sifted into powder, soaked in 5 sheng of clear wine. In spring and summer, soak for 3 days; in autumn and winter, 7 days. At first take an amount the size of a walnut, 3 times a day and once at night; in winter, twice a day and twice at night. Adjust according to the patient's strength, aiming for slight purgation. If the patient is in urgent distress, one need not wait until the days are complete; it may also be squeezed through fine cloth and taken immediately.
4. To treat cough with phlegm-fluid and urgent wheezing: Tingli 0.5 liang, Banxia (Rhizoma Pinelliae, soaked soft in ginger juice and cut into slices) 0.5 liang, Badou (Semen Crotonis) 49 kernels (peeled, stir-fried together with the above two until Banxia turns yellow). Discard the Badou and use only the above two ingredients, grind into fine powder. Take 1 qian per dose, mixed with ginger juice and a little honey, after meals.
5. To treat lung abscess with wheezing and inability to lie down: Tingli (roasted until yellow, pounded, made into pills the size of a bullet), jujubes 12 pieces. First boil the jujubes in 3 sheng of water to obtain 2 sheng, remove the jujubes, add Tingli, and boil down to 1 sheng; take all at once.
6. To treat sudden abdominal dropsy: Tingli 1 liang, Xingren (Semen Armeniacae Amarum) 20 kernels. Roast both until yellow, pound, and divide into 10 doses. When urine is passed, one is cured.
7. To treat yang edema with sudden swelling, red face, restlessness and thirst, urgent wheezing, and difficult urination: Sweet Tingli 1.5 liang (stir-fried and ground into powder), Hanfangji (Radix Stephaniae Tetrandrae, powder) 2 liang. Together with the blood and head of a green-headed duck, pound ten thousand times, and make into pills the size of wutong seeds. In severe cases, take 10 pills on an empty stomach with plain hot water; in mild cases, 5 pills, 3 to 4 times a day, stopping after 5 days. Free urination is the sign of efficacy.
8. To treat swelling and fullness with a large abdomen, withered and thin limbs, and scanty turbid urine: Sweet Tingli (stir-fried over paper) and Jicaigen (root of Capsella bursa-pastoris) in equal parts. Grind the above into powder and make honey pills the size of a bullet. Take 1 pill per dose, chewed and swallowed with Chenpi (Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae) decoction. After only 3 pills, the urine becomes clear; after several pills, the abdomen should return to normal.
9. To treat swelling of the head, face, hands and feet in men, women, adults and children: Bitter Tingli, stir-fried and ground, mixed with jujube flesh into pills the size of small beans. Take 10 pills per dose, swallowed with a decoction of Maziren (Semen Cannabis), 3 times a day. After 5 to 7 days, urine increases and the swelling subsides. Avoid salty, sour, raw and cold foods.
10. To treat abdominal fullness with dry mouth and tongue, where there is water qi among the intestines: Fangji (Radix Stephaniae Tetrandrae), Jiaomu (Semen Zanthoxyli), Tingli (roasted), and Dahuang (Radix et Rhizoma Rhei) 1 liang each. Grind the above four ingredients into powder and make honey pills the size of wutong seeds. Take 1 pill with drink before meals, 3 times a day, gradually increasing. If there is fluid in the mouth and thirst, add Mangxiao (Natrii Sulfas) 0.5 liang.
11. To treat head wind pain: Grind Tinglizi into powder and wash the head with the juice strained through wine, 3 to 4 times.
12. To treat scrofula and tuberculosis: Tinglizi 2 ge, Chi (fermented soybean) 0.5 jin (soaked in hot water until soft). Pound all the above medicines thoroughly, knead into cakes the thickness of a coin, place on the scrofula, and apply moxa cones the size of a little finger on the cake, moxaing 7 cones once every 5 days.
13. To treat white ringworm of the head in children: Pound Tingli into powder, wash with hot water, and then apply.