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Treats wind-heat attacking upward, causing dizziness and pain in the head and eyes, stiffness and tension in the neck and back, nasal congestion, sneezing, and heavy voice; as well as stubborn numbness of the skin, urticaria with itching, and women's blood-wind (a condition caused by blood deficiency and wind invasion).

Formula composition: Jingjie (Schizonepetae Spica), Chenpi (Citri Reticulatae Pericarpium, white part removed), Houpo (Magnoliae Officinalis Cortex, stir-fried with ginger juice), Gancao (Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma, honey-fried. 5 qian), Fangfeng (Saposhnikoviae Radix), Qianghuo (Notopterygii Rhizoma et Radix), Huoxiang (Agastaches Herba), Jiangcan (Bombyx Batryticatus, washed).

This formula acts on the Foot-Taiyang Bladder Meridian and Hand-Taiyin Lung Meridian. The pungent and floating nature of Qianghuo, Fangfeng, Jingjie, and Chuanxiong treats wind in the head, eyes, neck, and back; the clear and ascending nature of Jiangcan and Chantui promotes the ascent of clear yang.

Qingkong Gao (Clear Sky Paste, by Li Dongyuan)
Treats frontal and lateral headaches that persist for years; as well as upper obstruction of the head, eyes, and brain by wind-damp-heat, causing unceasing severe pain. (Lateral headache belongs to Shaoyang Ministerial Fire.) Danxi stated: It is mostly due to phlegm; the left side relates to wind and fire, often accompanied by blood deficiency; the right side relates to phlegm and heat, often accompanied by qi deficiency. *Zhunsheng* states: Medical texts often categorize headache into...

Huangqin (Scutellariae Radix, wine-fried), Huanglian (Coptidis Rhizoma, wine-fried), Qianghuo, Fangfeng (1 liang), Chaihu (Bupleuri Radix, 7 qian), Chuanxiong (Ligustici Chuanxiong Rhizoma, 5 qian), Gancao (honey-fried.

Pulse is slow.
Use half the amount of Chuanxiong, add double the amount of Chaihu (to disperse Shaoyang Ministerial Fire); if there is spontaneous sweating, fever, aversion to heat, and thirst, this is Yangming headache, treat only with Baihu Tang (White Tiger Decoction) plus Baizhi (Angelicae Dahuricae Radix). (Li Dongyuan said: Taiyin headache must involve phlegm; Shaoyin headache involves cold feet and rebellious qi. Although the Taiyin and Shaoyin meridians do not ascend to the head, when phlegm and qi obstruct the diaphragm, the qi in the head cannot...)

This formula acts on the Foot-Taiyang and Shaoyang meridians. The head is the meeting place of the six Yang meridians, its image is Heaven, a position of clarity and emptiness. When invaded by wind, cold, damp, or heat, turbid yin ascends and obstructs, resulting in excess patterns. Qianghuo and Fangfeng enter the Taiyang meridian, Chaihu enters the Shaoyang meridian; all are pungent, light, ascending herbs that dispel wind and overcome dampness; Chuanxiong enters the Jueyin meridian, serving as a connector...

Thus, it can remove damp-heat from the high summit. (Huangqin and Huanglian are wine-fried not only to moderate their cold nature but to facilitate their ascending action. Danxi said: Li Dongyuan's Qingkong Gao treats various types of headache, except for blood-deficiency headache characterized by pain connecting from the fish-tail (outer canthus), which is incurable. He also stated: For treating Shaoyang headache, do not use it if the pain is in the Taiyang or Jueyin areas, referring to vertex headache. The difference in using Qianghuo, Fangfeng, Chaihu, Chuanxiong, Shengma, Xixin, and Gaoben lies in differentiating the meridians; the difference in using Huangqin, Huanglian, Huangbai, Zhimu, Shigypsum, and Shengdihuang lies in differentiating the zang organs for purging fire; using Fuling (Poria) and Zexie (Alismatis Rhizoma) is to guide out dampness; using Renshen (Ginseng Radix) is to tonify qi; using Chuanxiong and Danggui (Angelicae Sinensis Radix) is to nourish blood. Wang Haicang said: When heat is at the highest level, one should use light...