Shuisheng san
More actions
| Kind | Traditional medicine |
|---|---|
| Part of the plant | Flower |
| Also called | shui sheng san |
| Language | Chinese |
Shuisheng san (睡聖散, shuìshèng sǎn, "sagacious sleep powder" in E. Joseph Brand and Zhao Zhongzhen's translation) is a powder of the flowers of cannabis and datura, taken in tea or wine to put a patient to sleep before moxibustion. It is recorded in the Bian Que xinshu (扁鵲心書, "Heart Text of Bian Que"), a book on moxibustion compiled by Dou Cai and dated by Brand and Zhao to between 1127 and 1270. They call it the first well-documented use of cannabis in an anaesthetic formula in China.[1][2]
Making shuisheng san
The Bian Que xinshu calls for the flowers of the shanqie (山茄花) and of hemp (火麻花), both gathered in the eighth month. The gatherers must be grave and keep their mouths shut, picking with hands and feet together. If two people go to pick them, or the picker laughs or talks, the patient will laugh or talk after taking the powder. The flowers are ground together and three qian are taken in tea or wine, one qian for a child. After one dose the patient falls into a stupor and 50 moxa cones can be burned; on waking the patient takes another dose and the burning goes on. The text sets it out for "a person who cannot bear the pain of the moxa fire": the powder brings a heavy sleep, without pain and without harm.[2]
In the edition with the Qing commentary of Hu Nian'an, a note identifies huoma (火麻) with dama (大麻) and the shanqie with the flower of the datura (曼陀羅花). The note adds that hemp flowers are over by the middle of the eighth month, so that the seventh month is probably meant.[2]
In the Bencao gangmu
Li Shizhen's Bencao gangmu (1593) gives the same mixture, without a name, under the datura flower. Datura flowers picked in the eighth month and hemp flowers (火麻子花) picked in the seventh are dried in the shade and ground in equal parts. Three qian in hot wine leave the patient dazed as if drunk after a short while, so that it should be taken first by anyone having sores cut or moxa burned, who then feels no pain.[3][1]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Brand, E. Joseph; Zhao, Zhongzhen (2017). "Cannabis in Chinese medicine: are some traditional indications referenced in ancient literature related to cannabinoids?". Frontiers in Pharmacology. 8 108. doi:10.3389/fphar.2017.00108.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 竇材 (Dou Cai). "睡聖散". 扁鵲心書 [Heart Text of Bian Que] (in 中文). Commentary by 胡念庵 (Hu Nian'an). Retrieved 29 October 2026 – via Wikisource.
- ↑ 李時珍 (Li Shizhen). "草之六：曼陀羅花". 本草綱目 [Compendium of Materia Medica] (in 中文). Retrieved 29 October 2026 – via Wikisource.