Tales From the Practice of Chinese Medicine
Ganlan water—scooped up a thousand times |


Water that has been “raised up” a thousand times is called Ganlan water in traditional Chinese medicine.

Ganlan water was invented by Zhongjing Zhang, a famous doctor in the Ming Dynasty. In “Jin Kui Yao Lue,” the book of Chinese medicine, there is a prescription that is made from poria (a kind of fungus), cassia twigs, licorice, and jujube. This prescription needs to be decocted in Ganlan water.

This prescription is for used for curing “bentun qi,” which is not a serious illness, but is a symptom of gas rushing up from the stomach to the throat. Because Ganlan water has the characteristic of rising up since it has been raised up a thousand times, it can help bentum qi.

There is a story about an old man who was dying. His son called on a very experienced Chinese medicine doctor. The doctor said that the disease was difficult to cure.

The son kneeled down and asked the doctor to save his father’s life. The doctor was moved by the young man’s filial piety, so he wrote a prescription and said the prescription must be decocted with water that had been raised up a thousand times.

The doctor put a big vat of water beside the old man’s bed. The son used the water ladle to repeatedly raise up the water in front of his father. His father was deeply moved because his son stayed up the whole night to raise up the water in order to cure the father’s illness. After the old man took the decoction, he recovered quickly.

Ganlan water was not the key to curing the old man’s illness. It was the son’s filial piety that cured his father.

The ancients thought highly of filial piety. They regarded it as a virtue that human beings should have. A sincere and kind heart really can change one’s environment.

Japanese scientists conducted research and found that when a person’s heart was purely kind, his voice could make the formation of water crystals very beautiful. (See “Messages From Water” by Masaru Emoto) The scientists used this method to purify water that was impossible to purify using modern technology.

As society has developed to the present day, people no longer think highly of virtue. Bad thoughts are everywhere and pollute people starting in childhood. As the society becomes increasingly worse, more diseases emerge.

Although the modern medical scientific establishment invests a lot of money in research, it can’t find the cures for new, modern diseases.

Only when people live according to the highest moral principles can their minds and health improve and society become better.


Photo: SPECIAL WATER: Ganlan water is used in Chinese medicine. The water has been scooped up 1,000 times. (Photos.com)

By Bu Chenguang Song