shēng tiě luò
Also rendered: Iron filings (this site; 洛 taken as the falling of the forge) · Iron scale (the rendering used where the substance is named by what it is rather than by how it comes off)
Reviewed · 2026-09-30
At a glance
The scale that falls from iron in the forge, given as a drink. Chapter 46 prescribes it for yang inversion — the rage and mania born of yang qi that has been abruptly checked — and the reason it gives is the property later books repeat: iron is heavy, and it carries qi downward fast. It belongs to the mineral drugs, a class the site has met before in 石藥.
Passages where the term does real work, with the original, pinyin and English on the same line.
Every rendering below is a decision about which reader is being addressed. There is no neutral option.
| This site | iron filings | 生鐵洛 rendered as the iron that falls from the forge, i.e. filings or scale |
| Unschuld | iron filings | he translates the substance |
| Wiseman | iron drop | a literal rendering that keeps the 落 image |
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