Library

Salt (Burnt) (2 liang), Warm Water (2 sheng)
Take to induce vomiting.
The Classics state: Ascending, descending, exiting, and entering are present in every organ. Therefore, if there is no ascending, there can be no descending, and the Dao of organs would cease. Thus, observing a water-filled bottle, if the upper orifice is open, the lower orifice will naturally allow flow. This illustrates the rationale for using emesis!

In the late Song Dynasty, a physician named Xiong Yancheng from Hangzhou, aged fifty-five, suffered from inability to urinate or defecate for five days, with his abdomen distended like a drum; his colleagues watched helplessly, unable to exert any effort. He was on good terms with Huiyue, a monk at Miaoguo Temple in West Lake, and sent a messenger to invite him for a final farewell. Huiyue rushed over in alarm and met an unusual guest on Diaqiao Bridge who rowed his boat and asked, "Reverend, why do you hurry so frantically?" Huiyue replied, "A good friend has been critically ill with severe constipation for a long time, and I urgently wish to visit him." The guest said, "This is an easy matter; let me offer a remedy." He immediately took off his boot, reached into the water, and pulled out a large snail, saying, "The task is accomplished!" Upon arriving home, he took half a spoonful of salt, crushed it raw together with the snail shell, applied the mixture to the area one cun three fen below the patient's umbilicus, tied it tightly with a wide cloth strip, and prepared a urinal to await its effect. Huiyue initially did not believe in this method but politely declined. Upon reaching Xiong's house, Yancheng was unconscious, surrounded by weeping family members. Knowing there were no other options, the physicians reluctantly allowed the trial. Before he could even sit down, the patient suddenly had a massive bowel movement. The physicians, ashamed and amazed, dispersed. Huiyue returned to seek the strange man but found no trace of him. Xiong Yancheng lived for another sixteen years before passing away. Kun believes that the inability to urinate or defecate constitutes Heat Constipation (Re Mi). The large snail is cold in nature and excels at clarifying turbidity; thus, in muddy water, the introduction of a single snail makes it clear. Salt is added to the formula for its moistening properties.

Preface states: Proper urination indicates harmonious form and Qi. Incontinence indicates pathology of form and Qi. Mild cases involve Bi Qi (obstructive Qi) in the bladder; severe cases involve deficiency and exhaustion of the Great Qi. Differentiation requires combining these signs with other symptoms. Here, methods from various regions are recorded to preserve the great principles.

Wuyao (Linderae Radix), Yizhiren (Alpiniae Oxyphyllae Fructus) (Equal parts)
Grind into powder, make pills with Chinese Yam paste, sized like wutong seeds. Take seventy pills per dose, administered on an empty stomach with salty water.
This formula is indicated for Bladder Qi Deficiency-Cold presenting as frequent urination and continuous enuresis.
Bladder Qi refers to the Qi transformation of the Foot-Taiyang Bladder Meridian. The Qi of the Bladder values balance and harmony. If pathogenic Heat affects it, urination becomes difficult; if Pathogenic Excess affects it, urination is retained. If Cold affects the Healthy Qi, enuresis occurs; if Healthy Qi is deficient, incontinence results. In this formula, Wuyao is acrid-warm and heavy in texture; heaviness descends, so it treats Cold Qi in the Kidney region. Yizhiren is acrid-hot and white in color; white enters the Qi level, so it strengthens the Bladder Qi of the Lower Jiao. Once Bladder Qi recovers its natural state, its controlling function returns to normal.