水萍 개구리밥 (수평)

Original, read line by line 東醫寶鑑 · Tangaek — Decoctions vol. 3

1. 性寒, 味辛酸, 無毒.

   Its nature is cold, its taste pungent and sour, and it has no toxicity. It belongs to the class of cooling remedies that clear heat.

2. 治熱毒, 風熱疾, 熱狂, 㶸腫毒, 湯火瘡, 風疹, 暴熱, 身痒.

   It treats heat-toxin, wind-heat illnesses, heat-induced mania, swellings and abscesses, scalds and burns, hives, sudden fevers, and bodily itching. It was used as a broad remedy that calms both heat and itching at the same time.

3. 下水氣, 勝酒, 長鬚髮, 止消渴.

   It drains water from the body to reduce swelling, helps one withstand alcohol, promotes the growth of beard and hair, and quenches the thirst of wasting-thirst disorder. Its strengths clearly cluster around water regulation, edema, and thirst.

4. 卽是水中大萍. 葉圓滑寸許, 葉下有一點如水沫.

   This refers to the larger duckweed that floats on water. Its leaves are round and smooth, about an inch across, with a single dot beneath each leaf that looks like a bead of water-foam.

5. 其麄大者, 謂之蘋.

   Among them, the coarser and larger ones are called pin, a separate kind of water plant.

6. 春初生, 可糝蒸爲茹. 又可苦酒淹以按酒. 《本草》

   In early spring its fresh shoots can be sprinkled with grain flour and steamed as a vegetable, or pickled in vinegar and served as a side to wine. It was treated not only as medicine but as a seasonal spring food. 《Bencao》

7. 水萍發汗, 甚於麻黃.

   Duckweed induces sweating even more powerfully than ephedra. It was ranked at the very top among sweat-inducing herbs.

8. 此水中大萍, 非今溝渠所生者. 紫背者佳. 《丹心》

   What is meant here is the larger duckweed that floats on open water, not the small kind that grows in ditches and gutters today. Of these, the variety with a purple underside is considered the best in medicinal quality. 《Danxin》

9. 紫萍多蛭, 須寒月於山沼取之, 洗淨去泥, 略蒸乾用. 《正傳》

   Purple duckweed often harbors leeches, so it must be gathered from mountain ponds in the cold months. Wash it thoroughly to remove all mud, then steam it briefly and dry it before use to keep it safe. 《Zhengzhuan》

10. 採萍歌曰, 天生靈草無根幹, 不在山間不在岸,

    The Song of Gathering Duckweed begins like this. Heaven gives birth to a spirit-herb that has neither root nor stem, dwelling neither in the mountains nor on the riverbanks.

11. 始因飛絮逐東風, 泛梗靑靑漂水面,

    It is said to have first arrived borne on the east wind like willow catkins, then to drift across the water with its green stalk floating free. The verse captures its rootless, wandering nature as it is.

12. 神仙一味起沈痾, 採我之時七月半,

    As a single immortal-grade remedy it can raise even the most stubborn long-standing illness, and the verse declares that the right moment to gather it is the middle of the seventh lunar month. The poem fixes the harvest time clearly.

13. 選甚癱風與瘓風, 些少微風都不算,

    It claims to handle even paralytic strokes that leave half the body limp, while dismissing minor wind-disorders as hardly worth mentioning. The verse boasts of its strength against severe wind-diseases.

14. 豆淋酒內下三丸, 鐵【巾+僕】頭上也出汗. 《高供奉》

    If three pills are taken down with bean-steeped wine, sweat will break out even on a head covered by an iron helmet. The image dramatizes just how powerful its sweat-inducing effect can be. 《Gao Gongfeng》

15. 浮萍 머구밥

    Fuping was called meogu-bap in old Korean. The name uses the character for floating because the plant drifts on the water surface.

16. 主火瘡. 去面䵟, 消水腫, 利小便,

    It is mainly used for burns. It removes dark blotches on the face, reduces edema, and helps urination flow freely.

17. 是溝渠間小萍子也.

    This fuping refers to the small duckweed that grows in ditches and gutters. It is a different kind from the larger duckweed mentioned earlier.

18. 治熱病, 亦堪發汗, 甚有功. 《本草》

    It treats febrile diseases and is also quite capable of inducing sweat, with notable effect. Even this smaller kind was recognized for its powerful sweat-inducing action. 《Bencao》