wood lock oil & other favorites

[herb ox]

Greetings,

Ahh, the smell of linaments - the soy-sauce smell of a good dit da jow, the cinnamon of Po Sum On oil, and the sweet wintergreen of Wood Lock Oil - each recalls a particular injury or era of practice for me. Researchers generally agree smell (possibly due to the nearly direct termination of the olfactory bulbs near the lymbic system where our most primal of behaviors are often generated) can strongly trigger memories associated with the odors. Even different brands of Dit Da Jow trigger different memories for me. But alas, this thread is not about memories, but rather recalling our favorite herbal linaments. There are so many out there, it always suprises me how there's something I haven't tried yet. Most recently, I picked up a bottle of Wood Lock Oil - it says the ingredients are Menthol, Methyl Salicylate, Turpentine Oil and Camphor... wait a minute - didn't I use Turpentine oil to clean my paintbrushes?!?! Fact is, the oil is pretty dark for just having 4 ingredients - does anybody know if there are other herbs used in Wood Lock Oil?

peace,
herb ox

[fanzi]

There's probably more in it. My friend who owns an herb shop says that most linaments won't say what is really in there. At that shop they make their custom linament which he will not tell you what's in it.

I got a lot of relief taking hot baths with epsom salt and Zheng Gu Shui. Really quick relief for injuries I thought would have kept me out longer.

There is a japanese linament that my Sifu as well as other students swear by, and they've used Zheng Gu Shui, Wood Lock Oil, and other favorites. The japanese one (I'll get the name) uses ammonia as a base. It smells like ammonia, which like some common hit medicine herbs: bing pian, she xiang, is very aromatic and penetrates to the pain very fast. For long term healing I don't know, but definately the best for pain relief.

I used Ben Gay for a while since the cream is easy to apply. The whole rubbing the area before applying a watery linament for 15 minutes can be a chore. Then again, if you've just worked out or taken a hot shower/bath, the pores are open and the linament can penetrate easily.

[gwa sow]

is there any literature (book form or website) that has information for herbal remedies such as these. there was an article in the kung fu magazine recenly that talked about tis stuff. had two recipies. one for a jow and another for a paste type of stuff.

[Buddy]

Check out Tom Bisio's book A Tooth from the Tigers Mouth for an array of herbal concoctions, qigong, etc.

[herb ox]

Yeah, I haven't come across too many books that tell the ins-and-outs of dit da - in an easy to understand format for the lay-practicioner of herbal medicine. However, Bob Flaws has published a great line of books addressing these issues - the books are just hard to find - however www.bluepoppy.com carries the books. My favorite read currently is called "Shaolin Secret Formulas for the Treatment of External Injury" by Mr. Flaws. It has recipe after recipe of remedies, but many of the formulae use hard-to-find ingredients (or those you'd probably not want to use - like prepared human feces).

Boy, I'd sure like a book describing all the mis-labeled items at Ranch 99!

happy friday, y'all!

herb ox

[gwa sow]

i was looking in the back of the book called 72 secret shaolin arts (something like that, it has an orange cover) i saw a few things like that. didn't know what to think about it. really grossed me out thinking about it.

[GeneChing]

The last time I saw GM Shi Deqian (in 2003) he was rather upset with Bob Flaws. Apparently, not only did Flaws neglect to pay him any royalties for the book, he neglected to even tell him that he was publishing his own translated version. Needless to say, Deqian thought pretty poorly of Bob Flaws. and after being plaguerized many times myself, I don't have a lot of respect for anyone who might be stealing from our elder Shaolin masters.

That being said, one of my favorite old tiedajiu bottles came from Shaolin. It was called Shaolin Magical Lotion. I can't remember what was in it, but I love that name and it came in a really cool bottle, a tiny ceramic jug.

True story - once I was with some friends who were getting some work from a Shaolin tieda zhang. At one point, he asked his nephew to run outside a fill a bowl with what we assumed was urine. It was mixed into a poultice he was making. Virgin boy urine is often described as a curative (but let's not start that again). That's the first time I've ever seen it used so. Fortunately, it didn't go into my treatment.

[scholar]

Plagiarism isn't unique to Shaolin, let me tell you. I'd say 80% of the t'ai chi books published by Western "masters" and "experts" are lifted from Chen, Yang, Wu/Hao and Wu family documents. They are too tedious to mention by name, but several books published recently from New York and Boston have featured chapters on "lost secret" this and "hidden" that with no consideration for the intellectual property and estate rights of those who produced the work in the first place or their heirs...

[shixingrui]

[QUOTE=GeneChing]The last time I saw GM Shi Deqian (in 2003) he was rather upset with Bob Flaws. Apparently, not only did Flaws neglect to pay him any royalties for the book, he neglected to even tell him that he was publishing his own translated version. Needless to say, Deqian thought pretty poorly of Bob Flaws. and after being plaguerized many times myself, I don't have a lot of respect for anyone who might be stealing from our elder Shaolin masters.

Shi De Qian is currently working on a new book and he is also working on a translated in English version. He began working on it last year 2004. I was helping him to translate a few of teh forms from chinese to english.

In addition there is a liniment that is widly used in all academies here in Deng Feng it is pretty standard here in China and is used for any one wanting to rid themselves of muscle pain or swelling from injury. It is called Hong Hua Yue. Translated it is red flower oil. There are good and soso versions. If you buy the right one it will be a red liquid that you apply to the effected area and you rub it into the skin. Do not get it in the eyes or open cuts and wounds and by all means do not get it near the groin. It has deep penetraing effects when the skin has open pours. It smells a great deal like bengay.
Peace