Incense and Herbal Medicine Prescriptions · The Shared Origin of Incense and Medicine and Famous Formulas Through the Ages_Chinese Incense Culture(香学)
The Shared Origin of Incense and Medicine: agarwood, sandalwood, musk, borneol, frankincense, storax, and others are both spices and medicinal materials. A compilation of famous formulas through the ages: Suhexiang Pill, Zhibao Pill, Zixue Pill, Angong Niuhuang Pill, Agarwood Qi-Lowering Decoction, Huoxiang Zhengqi Powder, Musk Baoxin Pill, with sources, compositions, and effects noted.
"The shared origin of incense and medicine" is the underlying logic of Chinese incense culture(香学): many spices are themselves medicinal materials. From the Shennong Bencao Jing listing agarwood and musk as superior-grade herbs, to the Huangdi Neijing using aromatic medicines to treat illness, and Li Shizhen's Bencao Gangmu bringing it all together, spices and medicinal materials have always been one source with two uses—they can be burned to cultivate one's nature, and also taken to treat illness.
A Brief Compendium of Incense and Medicine
- Agarwood: promotes the movement of qi and relieves pain, warms the middle and stops vomiting; a key herb for regulating qi.
- Sandalwood: promotes the movement of qi and warms the middle, stimulates appetite and relieves pain; skilled at regulating qi of the chest and abdomen.
- Musk: opens the orifices and revives the spirit, invigorates blood and unblocks menstruation; its action is potent and dispersing.
- Borneol (bingpian): Clears heat and opens the orifices, reduces swelling and relieves pain, cool in nature and penetrating.
- Frankincense: Invigorates blood and moves qi, reduces swelling and promotes tissue regeneration, a key herb for traumatic injuries.
- Storax: Opens the orifices and dispels turbidity, warms and unblocks to relieve pain, mostly used for stroke with closed syndrome.
- Benzoin: Opens the orifices and dispels phlegm, moves qi and invigorates blood, calms the mind and stabilizes the spirit.
- Clove: Warms the middle and directs downward, tonifies the kidney and assists yang, a key herb for stopping vomiting.
- Patchouli: Aromatically transforms dampness, harmonizes the middle and stops vomiting, a sovereign herb for summerheat-dampness.
- Atractylodes rhizome: Dries dampness and strengthens the spleen, dispels turbidity and transforms turbid qi, often burned to prevent epidemics.
Compendium of Celebrated Formulas Through the Ages
Storax Pill
Source:"Taiping Huimin Heji Jufang" (this formula originates from the Tang "Guangji Fang").Composition:Storax, musk, borneol, benzoin, agarwood, clove, costus, atractylodes, chebulae, etc.Actions:Aromatically opens the orifices, moves qi and relieves pain; mainly treats sudden collapse from stroke, qi closed with spirit faint, and sudden pain of the heart and abdomen.
Zhibao Pill
Source:"Taiping Huimin Heji Jufang".Composition:Musk, borneol, benzoin, cow bezoar, rhinoceros horn (now substituted with buffalo horn), cinnabar, gold foil, silver foil, etc.Actions:Opens the orifices and calms fright, transforms turbidity and resolves toxin; mainly indicated for internal blockage of phlegm-heat with clouded spirit and delirious speech.
Zixue Dan
Source:Waitai Miyao.Composition:Musk, cinnabar, niter, gypsum, hanshuishi, magnetite, antelope horn, etc.Actions:Clears heat and calms fright, extinguishes wind and stops spasms; mainly indicated for high fever with clouded spirit, twitching and convulsions.
Angong Niuhuang Wan
Source:Wenbing Tiaobian (Qing dynasty, Wu Jutong).Composition:Musk, cow bezoar, borneol, rhinoceros horn (substitute), pearl, Coptis, Scutellaria, Gardenia, etc.Actions:Clears heat and resolves toxin, opens the orifices and revives the spirit; a famous emergency formula for high fever with clouded spirit in warm diseases.
Chenxiang Jiangqi Tang
Source:Taiping Huimin Heji Jufang.Composition:Agarwood, Cyperus rotundus, Amomum, licorice.Actions:Regulates qi and directs it downward, warms the middle and harmonizes the stomach; mainly indicated for chest and abdominal distention and fullness, and qi counterflow with panting.
Huoxiang Zhengqi San
Source:Taiping Huimin Heji Jufang (Taiping Imperial Benevolent Pharmacy Formulary).Composition:Agastache rugosa, Angelica dahurica, Atractylodes macrocephala, Poria, Magnolia officinalis, Pinellia ternata, Citrus reticulata, Platycodon grandiflorus, etc.Efficacy:Releases the exterior and resolves dampness, regulates qi and harmonizes the middle; mainly treats summerheat-dampness common cold and vomiting/diarrhea due to externally contracted wind-cold with internal damage from dampness stagnation.
Shexiang Baoxin Pill
Source:Modern (Shanghai Leiyunshang, originating from the approach of Suhexiang Pill).Composition:Muscone, ginseng, cow-bezoar, cinnamon, storax, toad venom, borneol, etc.Efficacy:Aromatic, warming and unblocking, supplements qi and strengthens the heart; used for chest impediment (coronary heart disease, angina pectoris) due to qi stagnation and blood stasis.
Incense and medicine share the same origin, reminding us that spices and medicinal materials come from the same source; the listed famous formulas are for understanding incense culture(香学) and traditional Chinese medicine culture only,for medicinal use please follow a physician's advice and do not self-prescribe or take them. For more blending incense theory seeThe Way of Blending Incense, and for examination of incense materials seeAn Examination of Agarwood。
Browse by dynasty in separate volumes
This topic has been divided into volumes by dynasty, examining the forms, ritual systems and formula examples of each dynasty in turn:
- Incense and Medicine Formulas · Overview of Volumes
- Han · Incense and Medicine Entering Classical Formulas
- Tang · Qianjin Formulas and the Import of Incense and Medicine
- Song · Heji Jufang
- Ming Dynasty · Compendium of Materia Medica: A Study of Incense Medicines
- Qing Dynasty · The Three Treasures of Cooling and Opening
Incense Medicine Prescriptions · The Common Origin of Incense and Medicine and Famous Formulas Through the Ages_Chinese incense culture(香学)
The following Q&A is compiled from content on this site for quick reference; descriptions of incense material properties are all based on traditional understanding and do not constitute medical advice.
What does "the common origin of incense and medicine" mean?
It refers to substances such as agarwood, musk, borneol, frankincense, and storax that are used both as incense materials and as medicines, sharing a common origin while diverging in traditional medicine and incense culture. This site organizes their historical development based on traditional literature.
Which famous incense medicine formulas are included?
It includes the documentary records and historical development explanations of famous formulas through the ages, such as Suhexiang Pill, Zhibao Dan, Zixue Dan, Agarwood Qi-Lowering Decoction, and Huoxiang Zhengqi Powder.
Can these formulas be prepared and used on one's own?
No. The above is all historical and cultural compilation; it involves controlled medicinal materials such as musk and specific medical conditions, so it must be guided by a professional physician's syndrome differentiation, and must never be prepared or used on one's own. This site does not provide any medical advice.