Properties: Salty, cold

Meridans Entered:
Primary: Kidney, Bladder, Heart

1. Cools the Blood
   Blood in the urine, vomiting blood, bleeding from the teeth and tongue, toothache
2. Improves eyesight
   Red and painful eyes, eye ulcers

Suggested Daily Dosage: Typically 9-15 g in decoction, but sometimes as little as 3g; or made into pills or powder. For external use grind into powder and use for brushing teeth or mix with water to rinse the mouth and wash eyes.

Cautions: Traditionally contraindicated in oedema and vomiting. Excessive salt can damage the Blood (Su Wen 10), causing atherosclerosis and hypertension.

Notes:

Salt also has a spiritual power in many cultures: In Shinto, it purifies shrines, including the ring of sumo wrestlers, it is considered auspicious in Hinduism and used in house-warming and wedding rituals, Jain sprinkle salt on a person's cremated remains before burial, and in Mahayana Buddhism it wards off evil spirits and is thrown over the shoulder after funerals. In the Abrahamic faiths, it is mentioned in both the Old and New Testaments and plays a part in both Jewish and Catholic rituals. In many Islamic cultures it used to ward off the evil eye and Jinn, while in European superstition, it is often considered bad luck to accidentally spill salt, which is countered by throwing a pinch over the left shoulder, said to blind the devil and stop his malevolent intentions. Many of these actions could be explained in the Chinese medical association of salt with the Water element, which has the power to control Fire, the domain of the Shen, gods and spirits.