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1. There was once an old temple on Chang Mountain where a poor monk lived.
2. He begged for alms every day in villages around the mountain.
3. Once he came down with malaria and suffered from chills and fever each afternoon.
4. He was so poor he barely had enough to eat, let alone money to see a doctor.
5. One day the monk came down from the temple to beg as usual.
6. "It's almost noon," he said to himself, "and I still don't have anything to eat."
7. He came to the door of a poor family.
8. "We don't have anything good to eat here," they said. "But we just cooked up a pot of weed gruel. You're welcome to try some if you'd like."
9. The monk was about to faint with hunger. He had two bowls without saying a word.
10. Strange to say, the monk didn't feel sick to his stomach at all. He said thanks, left and rested against a pile of hay.
11. He felt relaxed and comfortable, and his malaria was gone.
12. Unfortunately, the malaria suddenly reoccurred a month later.
13. "The last time I ate weed gruel and got better," he thought. "Maybe that plant cures malaria."
14. "Where did you pick the plant you cooked in the gruel I ate here last time?" he asked.
15. "It was picked by that stupid son of mine," the man said. "Maybe it's poisonous. After we ate it we all threw up."
16. The boy led the monk up the mountainside.
17. They came to a place full of blue flowers.
18. The monk brought some back to the temple, boiled them and drank the concoction. The disease didn't act up again.
19. He planted some of the herbs next to the temple and took them every day. The malaria never reoccurred.
20. From then on, whenever the monk met someone suffering from malaria on his rounds he would give them the herb to take.
21. Word got around, and people came from miles and miles around in search of the monk and his herb.
22. Because of this story, the herb is called Chang-shan, or Chang Mountain, in Chinese. Its English name is Dichroa root.
Dichroa Root
Appearance: A small deciduous bush belonging to the Saxifragaceae family with thin, twisted yellow roots.
Properties: Cold natured, pungent in taste.
Effectiveness: Removes sputum, cures all kinds of malaria, reduces swelling, kills intestinal parasites and cures tympanites.
(To be used by prescription only.)
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