For example, there is a saying: The heart of a saint is like a pearl in the abyss, while the heart of an ordinary person is like a gourd in the water! A saint can be understood as a person who has attained the Tao. This means that a person who has attained the Tao can keep his qi and blood down, which is a description of a person who is more stable; while the qi and blood of an ordinary person are like floating on the water, which is a description of a person who is restless and impatient.
But look at today, everyone is looking at money, talking about making money, talking about comparison, how many people are not impetuous? So why do people get angry easily? They magnify the little things and even divorce, because your anger is floating on the small things.
So why do people today have trouble sleeping? How can we sleep if the fire (qi and blood) is floating on top? Even if we can sleep, we still have many dreams. Some people say that our brains are very active and cannot be stopped at all. Therefore, the more we think, the more we cannot sleep. The more we cannot sleep, the more we think. Isn’t this a vicious cycle? To put it bluntly, it is the qi and blood floating on top.
So at this time, you still use the bark of Albizzia jujuba, the seeds of Ziziphus jujuba, and the night clover. What should you use? Try to lower the qi and blood, that is, to converge downward. This is why Chinese medicine uses dragon bones and oysters. Some people say that dragon bones are not useful. They are also useful. We use their weight to make the qi descend.
If dragon bone and oysters are not enough, Chinese medicine also has agarwood. In fact, agarwood is a kind of tree. Why is it called agarwood? Xiang means fragrance, and Chen means sinking. This kind of wood, if you throw it into the water, it will sink immediately. This is the origin of the name agarwood (because generally dry wood will float on the water surface when you throw it)
What is the function of this sinking? It can lower the Qi. As the saying goes, when the Qi is lowered, the Fire is lowered. When the Qi is lowered, the blood will also be lowered. When the Qi and blood are no longer floating on top, it will be easier to fall asleep. Therefore, when Chinese medicine looks at sleep, if it is really getting angry, then it can be directly reduced. If it is a false fire, then it needs to be reduced with dragon bone, oyster, agarwood, etc. Chinese medicine calls this “Qian Yang”.
Nowadays, modern medicine is indiscriminate. If you can’t sleep, you can take tranquilizers. They directly control the nerves, so there is no reason not to sleep. But when you stop taking the medicine, the symptoms come back. It is obviously only a temporary solution, not a permanent solution. Over time, it will make people dependent on it, which is quite troublesome. For example, my neighbor next door can sleep 4 to 5 hours a night without tranquilizers, but can sleep 6 to 7 hours with them. He is so happy.
As a result, after stopping the medication, it was difficult for him to sleep for 3 hours a night, and he even had trouble falling asleep without taking the medicine. He had no choice but to come to me to prescribe some Chinese medicine to get rid of the control of the medicine. Now he can sleep for 4 to 5 hours. I told him not to bother with it, because he doesn’t have to go to work anyway, so he can just make up for the sleep if he is tired.
The nature of fire is to burn upwards, and the nature of water is to flow downwards! The nature of fire is to go upwards, and the nature of water is to flow downwards. Because fire goes upwards, people are prone to getting angry. That is why Peng Ziyi said that it is easy for fire to rise but difficult to go down. But why is fire always on top? People will get sick very quickly. So when ordinary people get sick, they often say that they are getting angry, but no one says that they are getting rid of the fire. Therefore, the ancients understood this principle and said that they should go to bed when it gets dark. Sleeping is to let the fire go down. There are also meditation, sitting, standing, etc., which are all to guide the fire downward.
For example, if you have a sore throat, you can go to bed early and wake up feeling fine. You won’t have a headache anymore. Sleeping will help calm the heat. But people nowadays like to stay up late. Not only young people, but many elderly people also don’t go to bed early. So if you stay up late for a long time, you won’t be able to sleep even if you want to. Your hair will turn white quickly, and your body will also decline rapidly. Although you are not old, your body has already aged.
For example, a relative’s son, 35 years old, said that he fell off the bed at night and both kneecaps were broken. What does this mean? He already has osteoporosis, and now the bed is 40 cm from the ground? Why did he break even with such a low bed? Is it because of his health or just bad luck?
