Carbonized Chinese Ink — Classic Formulas
Mo Tan · Carbonized Chinese Ink
Primary Actions
- Stops bleeding in diverse hemorrhagic presentations - classical summary sources apply Mo Tan to hematemesis, epistaxis, uterine bleeding, postpartum bleeding, and bloody stool when a prepared carbonized adjunct is used to help secure the blood.
- Stops bleeding while reducing swelling and moving residual stasis - unlike a purely plugging astringent, Mo Tan is remembered in traditional notes for helping bleeding lesions that are also swollen, congealed, or painful.
- Promotes skin regeneration in ulcerative or suppurative lesions - external use traditions extend Mo Tan to boils, ulcerated sores, and damaged skin that need both contraction and surface repair.
- Transforms phlegm-stasis swellings in external-surgery formulas - it appears in classical pill traditions for hard deep-rooted nodules, scrofula, mammary swellings, and yin-type abscess patterns where cold-damp, phlegm, and Blood stasis knot together.
Classic Formulas
- Shi Hui San (十灰散) - TCM Wiki notes that the powdered formula is traditionally taken with lotus-rhizome juice or carrot juice containing ground Chinese ink, using the ink as a hemostatic adjunct in heat-bleeding patterns.
- Xiao Jin Dan (小金丹) - external-surgery pill tradition in which Mo Tan helps reduce swelling and transform Blood stasis within cold-damp phlegm nodules and deep-rooted sores.
Classical Text References
- The Iatrism materia medica entry for Mo Tan describes it as acrid, bitter, and neutral, entering the Heart, Liver, and Kidney channels, with uses in vomiting blood, nosebleed, abnormal uterine bleeding, blood in stool, postpartum bleeding, suppurative skin disease, and swelling.
- Modern explanatory summaries of older practice describe medicinal Mo Tan as prepared from aged pine-soot ink blocks kneaded with glue and then carbonized, underscoring that it is not interchangeable with ordinary commercial liquid ink.
- American Dragon's Xiao Jin Dan monograph specifically assigns Mo Tan the role of dispersing swelling and transforming stasis, which helps explain why this carbonized hemostatic also appears in external-surgery traditions.