The story of Shennong tasting all kinds of herbs

The story of Shennong distinguishing medicine and tasting all kinds of herbs is a famous ancient Chinese myth.
Shennong was one of the three emperors, born in a stone cave in Lieshan, legend has it that he had a cow head. Because of his special appearance and diligence and bravery, when he grew up, he was pushed to be the tribal leader, because his tribe lived in the hot south, called the Yan Tribe, and everyone called him Yan Emperor. Once he saw birds with seeds, thus invented grain agriculture, because of these outstanding contributions, we also called him Shennong.
He saw people sick, and went to the wide field to build wood on the emperor garden to take Yao grass and meet the emperor to give God whip, Shennong took this god whip from the wide field all the way back to the mountain. Shennong tasted hundreds of herbs many times poisoning, all thanks to tea detoxification. Because he vowed to taste all the grass, and finally died because he tasted the grass. In order to commemorate his kindness and achievements, people honored him as the king of medicine God, and built the temple of Medicine King four times to offer sacrifices. In China's Sichuan, Hubei, Shaanxi border legend is Shennong taste a hundred grass place, called Shennongjia mountain area.

After Nuwa mending the sky, I do not know how long it took, in a stone cave in Lie Mountain (there is Shennong born in Jiangshui, Jiangshui in today's Baoji territory, which is why there is a dispute over whether Yan Emperor and Shennong is a person, it should be confused when deifying them, Mr. Yuan Ke listed it as a person; Then "Li Ji" accordingly also called Shennong for Lie Shan, cover are due to his line of many titles), was born a child. Strange to say, when he was born, nine Wells naturally sprang up around the stone cave, and the water in these nine Wells was connected to each other, and if the water in one eye was taken, the other eight eyes would fluctuate. The child was born different, the body is transparent, the internal organs are clearly visible, the head has two horns, the head of a cow. The people who saw it said that it was the God of heaven who had come down to earth, and that the nine Wells were brought by him. So when he grew up, they elected him to be the leader of the tribe, because they lived in the hot south, so they called themselves Yan Tribe and called him Yan Emperor. Once, Emperor Yan saw a red bird holding a bunch of things like seeds, Emperor Yan saw the bird spit it out, Emperor Yan picked it up, the bird flew around him three times, and then chirped for a while and flew away. Emperor Yan thought that this was the food seed sent by the red bird sent by the Emperor of Heaven, so he buried the seed in the soil. He also used wood tilling tools to teach people to loose soil and dig Wells to irrigate crops. In the autumn of that year, a large crop of grasses reached maturity. How happy the people were! Everyone appreciated Emperor Yan's merits and called him Shennong. So the surrounding tribes also called Yandi tribe Shennong tribe, and called him Shennong, that is, the leader of the agricultural tribe. (The original meaning of "Shi" is a kind of god, a common title for tribal leaders in primitive society, but later scholars interpreted it as a god, which is related to the rise of Chinese mythology.)
Shennong is the last god since the emergence of the Five gods. The Chinese gods created the world and created man. They built houses and lit fire, got married in tribes, raised herbs and grains, raised livestock, planted crops and so on. Shennong was the tribal leader of Jiangshui river basin Jiang surname, after the invention of farming tools with wooden tilling tools, teaching people farming and breeding, pottery textile and the use of fire, with outstanding achievements, fire de called the family, so Yan Emperor, respected Shen Nong, and was revered as the god of Chinese agriculture by later generations.

The story of Shennong tasting hundred grasses
In ancient times, people had little to eat and lived by rolling grass seeds, gathering wild fruits, and hunting birds and animals. Sometimes you eat something you shouldn't eat, you get poisoned, and then you die. People get sick, do not know the right medicine, are hard, through the good, can not survive to die. God Nong emperor for this matter is very worried, determined to taste a hundred herbs, fixed medicine, for everyone to eliminate the disaster. Once, Princess Huarui, Shennong's daughter, fell ill. Tea does not think, rice does not want to, the whole body is uncomfortable, abdominal distention like drum, how to treat it is not light, Shennong is very difficult, think about, caught some grass roots, bark, wild fruit, stone, counted, a total of 12 tastes, called Princess Huarui to eat, because of the busy life, he left. Princess Huarui took the medicine, and her stomach hurt like a knife. Not long after, gave birth to a bird, which can be frightening. They say it's a monster. Let's get it out of here. Who knows this bird through human nature, see family annoying it, fly to the ground to seek Shennong.
Shen Nong was dozing under a tree when he suddenly heard: "Ji Ji, Grandpa! Ji Ji, Grandpa!" Looking up, it was a bird. It is annoying, he brandished his arm: "Wow hiss -" a sound, and drove it away. Not long after, the bird flew back up the tree. Also called: "Ji ji, Grandpa! Ji Ji, Grandpa!" Feeling angry, Shen Nong picked up a piece of dirt and threw it into a tree, causing it to fly away. After a while, the bird came back to the tree and called again, "Grandpa, Chi chi! Grandpa, Chi Chi!" As soon as Shen Nong thought and understood, he raised his left arm and said, "If you are my nephew, you will fall on my hand and neck!" The bird really fluttered down and landed on Shennong's left hand neck. Shennong looked closely at the bird, green and transparent, and even the intestines inside could be seen clearly. As soon as Shennong's mouth came out, the bird swallowed too much spit. Hey, you can see exactly how that spit got into your stomach. Shen Nong was overjoyed. When Shennong returned home with this exquisitely carved bird, his family saw it, and they were scared to retreat again and again, saying: "Soon, monster, soon..." Shen Nong laughed and said, "It's not a monster, it's a baby!" Let's call it a litmus bird!" Shennong also put Princess Huarui had eaten twelve kinds of medicine separately in the pot boil. Boil blindly, feed the bird blindly, while feeding, while looking, see where this taste medicine goes to the bird's stomach, what changes. Try it for yourself and see how it feels in your stomach. Twelve medicine finished feeding, tasted, a total of hands and feet three Yin three Yang twelve meridians.
Shennong carried the bird up the mountain, drilled into the old forest, and picked all kinds of roots, bark, seeds, and fruits. Catch all kinds of birds and beasts, fish, turtle, shrimp and worms; Dig all kinds of rocks and minerals, feed the birds the same, taste the same. Observe where they go in the body, what they are, what they treat. But which one is only in the twelve meridians circle, beyond. Over time, Shen Nong formulated the twelve meridians of the human body and the Herbal Classic. Shennong think, still not assured, on the hand of this bird to continue to verify, he came to Taihang Mountain, turned around in ninety-nine eighty one day, came to the small north top (Shennong Altar), catch the whole crown worm to feed the birds, did not think that the worm gas is too big, a bird's intestine broke, died. Shen Nong really regretted, very sad, crying. After crying, he chose good wood and carved a bird in the same way, taking it wherever he went. Later, Shen Nong in the small north ding on both sides of Baicaowa, accidentally tasted the grass and died. On the top of a hill in the northwest of Baicaowa, there is a stone like a man bent over his stomach, which is said to have been transformed by Shennong.
In order to commemorate Shennong's creation of traditional Chinese medicine and the creation of materia medica, people changed the name of small North Ding to Shennong Altar, and built Shennong Temple on the altar. In the temple, a statue of Shennong was formed, holding a flower bird in his left hand, and medicine was being sent to his mouth in his right hand. Every day, many people watch the scenery of Shennong Altar and admire the statue of Shennong.

The story of Shennong tasting hundred grasses version II
In ancient times, grain and weeds grew together, medicine and flowers blossomed together, and no one could tell which grain could be eaten and which herbs could cure. Li people live by hunting, the fewer birds in the sky, the fewer animals in the ground, people have to starve. Who wants to get sore and sick, no medicine, not dead also want to delamination ah! The sufferings of the people, Shen Nong's look in the eyes, pain in the heart. How to satisfy the hunger of the people? How to cure the people?
After three days and nights of hard thinking, Shen Nong finally came up with a solution. On the fourth day, with a group of subjects, he set out from his hometown with the state mountain and walked to the northwest mountain. They go wow, go wow, legs go swollen, feet calloused, or keep walking, a whole walk for seventy-seventy-forty-nine days, came to a place. I saw mountains peak after peak, canyons one after another, the mountains are covered with strange flowers and grasses, and I smelled the aroma far away.
Shen Nong and they were walking along when suddenly a group of wolves, insects, tigers and leopards jumped out of the canyon and surrounded them. Shen Nong immediately asked the subjects to wave the divine whip and strike the beasts. One batch was beaten away, and another was brought up, and it took seven days and seven nights until all the wild animals were driven away. Those tiger and leopard pythons were pulled out of the body by the God's whip, a piece of scars, and later turned into markings on the skin. At this time, the subjects said that it was too dangerous and advised Shennong to go back. Shen Nong shook his head and said, "I can't! The people are hungry and have no food and no medical care. How can we go back?"
As he spoke, he led the way into the ravine and came to the foot of a vast mountain. The mountain was half pierced by clouds, surrounded by kniff-cut cliffs with waterfalls hanging on them, moss growing on them, and smooth water, which seemed impossible to climb without a ladder to heaven. His subjects advised him to forget it and go back as soon as possible. Shen Nong shook his head: "Can't go back! The people are hungry and have no food and no medical care. How can we go back?"
He stood on a small stone hill, facing the high mountain, looking up, looking down, glancing left, glancing right, thinking, thinking. Later, people called the small mountain where he stood "Wangnong Pavilion". Then he saw several golden monkeys crawling over the hanging vine and the decayed wood lying on the side of the cliff. Shennong had an idea! Then he called his subjects to him and told them to cut poles and vines and build a shelf against the cliff, one layer a day, from spring to summer, and from autumn to winter, never stopping in spite of wind and rain or snow and ice. It took a year and 360 floors to get to the top of the mountain. Legend has it that the scaffolding people used to build buildings later was the way to learn from Shennong.
Shen Nong led his subjects to climb the wooden frame and reach the top of the mountain. Hey! The mountain is really a world of flowers and plants, red, green, white, yellow, various, dense clusters. Shen Nong liked it very much. He told his subjects to guard against wolves, tigers and leopards. He picked the flowers and plants himself and tasted them in his mouth. In order to taste hundreds of herbs here and find food and medicine for the people, Shennong asked the people to plant several rows of fir trees on the mountain as a wall to keep out wild animals, and built huts inside the wall to live. Later, people called the place where Shen Nong lived "Wood City". During the day, he led his subjects to the mountains to taste all kinds of grass, and at night, he told his subjects to build a bonfire, and he wrote down in detail by the fire: which grass is bitter, which is hot, which is cool, which can satisfy hunger, which can cure disease, and wrote clearly.
Once, he put a grass in his mouth and tasted it. All of a sudden, the world turned upside down and he fell over. The subjects hurriedly helped him to sit up, he knew that he was poisoned, but he could not speak, so he had to use the last bit of strength, pointing to a bright red ganoderma in front of him, and pointing to his mouth. The subjects hurriedly put the red Reishi into their mouths to chew and feed it into his mouth. Shennong ate ganoderma, the gas was dissolved, the head was not dizzy, and he could talk. Since then, people say ganoderma can bring back the dead.
The people were afraid that it was too dangerous for him to taste the grass, so they advised him to go back down the mountain. He shook his head again and said, "No! The people are hungry and have no food and no medical care. How can we go back?" Then he went on to taste all kinds of herbs. After he had tasted the flowers and plants of one mountain, he went to another mountain and climbed it with a wooden pole. I have been tasting for seventy-seven and forty-nine days, and have traveled all over the mountains and mountains here.
He tasted wheat, rice, millet, sorghum can satisfy hunger, so he asked his subjects to take the seeds back, let the people plant, this is the later five grains. He tasted 365 kinds of herbs and wrote "Shennong Materia Medica" and asked his subjects to take them back and cure the people of the world. Shennong tasted all kinds of herbs, and found the grain for the people to satisfy their hunger and the herbs to cure the disease. He came to Huisheng Village and prepared to go back down the mountain. He looked around and saw that the wooden frames built all over the mountain were gone. It turned out that those wooden poles, landing roots, spitting buds in the rain, the end of the year, unexpectedly grew into a vast sea of forests. Shennong was in a dilemma when suddenly a group of cranes flew from the sky and took him and several of his protectors to the heavenly Court. Since then, Huisheng Village throughout the year, the fragrance filled. In order to commemorate the achievements of Shennong, who tasted hundreds of herbs and benefited the world, the people named this vast forest "Shennongjia". The Hui Sheng village of Shennong ascended to heaven was renamed "Liuxiang Village".

The third version of the story of Shennong tasting hundred grasses
In ancient times, people ate weeds, drank raw water, ate wild fruits on trees, and ate small insects crawling on the ground, so they were often sick, poisoned, or injured. Shen Nong taught human beings how to sow grain and ensure enough means of living by their own labor. Shennong is a loving god of heaven, his long is the head of a cow, a person, a great power, he often helps the poor family farming, like a cow, hard work for human service. Humans learned to farm with Shennong, and with enough food, they never had to worry about hunger. However, many people often get sick after eating a full meal. Some people get sick, not good for a long time, can only survive until death. When Shennong found out about this kind of thing, he felt very anxious. He did not believe the witch doctors, but he also had no way to cure the disease. So he discussed with many people how to cure people of their diseases and rid them of their troubles. He thought of many ways, such as fire and water, sun, freezing, etc., although the symptoms of some diseases can be alleviated, the effect is not ideal. One day, Shen Nong came to Taiyuan, Shanxi Jingang area, taste the grass, found that the grass is not sweet, sour and hot and other flavors. Then he gave the bitter grass to the one who could not stop coughing, and his cough was immediately greatly alleviated. Give the sour grass to a person with a sick stomach, and the person's stomach will no longer hurt.

The story of Shennong tasting hundred grasses version four
Original article: People have disease, unknown medicine stone, Yan Emperor (Shennong's) the beginning of the plant, observe its cold, warm, flat, hot sex, distinguish its king, minister, Zuo, make the righteousness, taste one day and encounter seventy poison, God and change it, then the composition book to cure the nation, and the medical way since the beginning.
The ancients were sick, but medicine had not yet been invented. Shen Nong began to taste the taste of all kinds of herbs, to observe the medicinal properties of herbs cold, warm, flat and hot, and to distinguish the relationship between herbs like king, minister, Zuo and make. Once he encountered seventy poisons in a single day, and he magically defused them. So he wrote down the medicine to treat the diseases of the people, and the cause of medicine in China was born.

The story of Shennong's scourge medicine
After the goddess mending the sky, I do not know how many years passed, in a stone cave in the Lie Mountain, a child was born, that is, Shennong family, grew up to become a tribal leader. One day, Shen Nong went to a tribe near the mountains and saw wild animals being thrown everywhere. Asking, I know that there are many wild animals in this area, and the meat of the hunted animals is too much to eat. Once again. He went to another tribe and saw that they were throwing away large quantities of sorghum and grain. Yan Di thought it was a pity. Local people smiled and said: "What a pity, in a few days, the new valley will be ripe again!" (This is three crops a year in the South.)
After returning, Shen Nong thought about these two things all day long. While he was thinking, suddenly a group of children came noisily in. He asked the children why they were arguing. The children tried to tell him that one of them had two bows, and the other had two arrows, and that they had agreed to exchange with each other, but that the one with the bow had changed his mind, and there had been a quarrel. Shennong a listen, suddenly opened the orifich. Wouldn't the tribe with more meat trade with the tribe with more grain, he thought? This was in the early days of primitive society when hundreds of thousands of tribal individuals were few, and later there were more tribal alliances, more people, more food, more selfish leaders, and private property. All human wars since ancient times have been fought over food and survival, no matter how modern. He had no time to greet the children and ran out joyfully. He discussed with the chiefs of several tribes and decided that every ten days, at the middle of the day, everyone would take their excess stuff to a designated place (market) and exchange it for what they needed. People were very much in agreement, and happily took their extra things to the designated place. At this time, people come and go, bustling, very lively. They exchange what they need with each other. This was the beginning of the barter, Japan-China market. It is also a kind of free trade in which people in primitive society have a simple heart and a simple life. Unfortunately, people's simple and simple life was changed by the robbers and robberies of nomadic tribes. In order to protect their tribe and territory, countries and classes were born.
At that time, people did not know how to get sick, they could only rely on their own physical resistance, and some had to wait for death. Shennong thought that there were strange flowers and herbs in the garden of the Emperor of Heaven, maybe it could cure diseases. He decided to go to heaven. At that time, there were two roads in heaven: one went up from Mount Kunlun; The other one goes up from the Mitsuhiro Field along a big tree called Kenmu. Shennong chose to climb from the wide field to build wood on heaven. He chose a large handful of Yao grass, and when he walked out of the garden, he met the emperor of Heaven, who said that this Yao grass could not cure many people's diseases, and gave him a divine whip, which can be whipped to identify herbs as toxic and non-toxic. It is said that in the west of Hubei Province, China, the place where Shennong's whip medicine can still be found is called Shennong Yuan.
One day, he saw a kind of leaf, just when he was thirsty, he picked a few pieces and put them in his mouth to chew. This chew, really quench thirst, Shen Nong pulled a few chew. He felt something rub up and down in his stomach. His stomach was transparent, and little leaves had scrubbed his stomach clean. This discovery. Make him very happy. He concluded that this small leaf can quench thirst and detoxify, and he decided to change the whip medicine to taste medicine, and if he encountered poison, he would use it to save. He called the leaves "Zha" (meaning to inspect). Later people read the vernacular, called "tea". Shen Nong walked all the way, all the way to taste the grass. Back to the mountain. Shennong tasted all kinds of herbs and was often poisoned, all thanks to "check" to save him. He is said to have tasted 398,000 kinds of flowers, grasses, roots and leaves. He made up his mind to taste all the grass.
That day, he suddenly found a vine clinging to a tree, with small yellow flowers, the leaves would shrink, he was very surprised, so he picked some leaves and put them in his mouth to chew. Who knows this is a highly toxic herb, called the grass. Shen Nong died in this way. In Shanxi Taiyuan God Bugang still keeps Shennong taste medicine tripod. (When Shen Nong had only pottery, it had long been damaged, and later people rebuilt the tripod from metal in memory of the tribal leader who died for his people.) In order to commemorate his kindness and achievements, he was the king of medicine God, and built the King of medicine temple, every lunar April 26 Shennong birthday (of course, it is the date of legend, it is estimated that the temple was built to commemorate the dedication of the sacrifice day), people have come to the temple of medicine. In China's Sichuan, Hubei, Shaanxi border of the natural Chinese herbal medicine library, legend is that Shennong tasted hundreds of herbs, people in order to commemorate his achievements, the belt of the place called Shennongjia Mountain. Chinese Myths and Legends by Yuan Ke