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Bai Zhu (Atractylodis Rhizoma) has a warm nature and dense substance. Its taste is sweet and neutral, with a faint fragrance. It is an essential herb for the Spleen and Stomach, and also tonifies the Liver and Kidney. It treats various diseases, accounting for eight or nine-tenths of its efficacy. Materia Medica texts have long praised it for benefiting the Spleen, boosting Qi, treating the Five Wasting-Tremors (Wu Lao) and Seven Injuries (Qi Shang), resolving phlegm-dampness, relieving fullness and swelling, warming the Stomach to aid digestion, treating chronic tearing due to wind-deficiency, perennial malaria and dysentery, generating fluids, strengthening Kidney water, calming the fetus, and supporting the root. In the Blood level, it governs Blood; in the Qi level, it governs Qi. These aspects cannot be fully expounded.

Contemporary physicians often claim that Bai Zhu's nature is drying, so it is contraindicated for those with fluid deficiency and thirst. They also assert that it aids Qi, making it unsuitable for distension disorders. Others say that using Bai Zhu without indication can induce difficult-to-treat coughing. Still others argue it should only be used when dampness is present and avoided otherwise. Alas! Such mediocre practitioners seem to possess a different Materia Medica. Their errors are unbearable. The principles of nature are profound and subtle; it is truly hard to discuss them with such people.

Dai Yuanli, when treating distension, primarily prescribed Ren Shen (Ginseng Radix et Rhizoma) and Bai Zhu. Patients initially felt fuller upon first taking it, but recovered shortly after. Wu Hegao, in *Yi Fang Kao* (Examination of Medical Formulas), also used Si Jun Zi Tang (Four Gentlemen Decoction) to treat various conditions like drum-distension and epigastric fullness. These are all methods of treating the root. People believe that the Spleen and Stomach are central; when Spleen Qi is robust, it controls Water and generates Metal (Lung), regulating ascent and descent, transforming and transporting fluids, thus preventing thirst. Distension generally arises from Spleen-Stomach weakness, failing to transport and distribute essence, leading to indigestion and retention causing fullness. Some experience spontaneous fullness not caused by food intake.

Coughing mostly belongs to Mother-organ (Spleen) deficiency failing to nourish the Child-organ (Lung). Bai Zhu effectively stops coughing; since the Spleen is benefited, how could the Lung suffer? To claim that mild use of Bai Zhu induces coughing is highly illogical. While real-heat coughs may not require immediate use of Bai Zhu, one cannot generalize this to exclude cold-deficiency coughs. Dampness indeed requires drying herbs; using Bai Zhu aims to strengthen the Spleen. Once Spleen Qi is strong, can dampness remain? This is not merely drying dampness, but strengthening the Spleen. Although texts state "pregnancy favors excess/clearing," using Bai Zhu to calm the fetus does not violate the prohibition against "tonifying excess." There are no cases where Spleen-Stomach excess leads to fetal instability. People only know that Mai Ya (Hordei Fructus Germinatus) and Shen Qu (Massa Medicata Fermentata) resolve fullness, and Chen Pi (Citri Reticulatae Pericarpium) and Ban Xia (Pinelliae Rhizoma) benefit the Spleen-Stomach. These specifically treat有形 (formidable/existential) accumulations and mildly injured Spleens. If the distension is deficient, Ren Shen and Bai Zhu should be the primary treatment. Mixing in these digestive herbs secretly consumes True Qi and aggravates the condition. Generally, excess diseases are easy to treat; the difficulty lies in deficiency diseases.

Liu Wansu stated: Bai Zhu removes dampness, benefits dryness, harmonizes the middle, and boosts Qi. Its uses include: 1. Warming the interior; 2. Removing dampness from the Spleen and Stomach; 3. Clearing heat from the Stomach; 4. Strengthening the Spleen and Stomach and promoting appetite; 5. Harmonizing the Stomach and generating fluids; 6. Stopping muscle fever; 7. Treating limb fatigue, lethargy, inability to open eyes, and loss of appetite; 8. Stopping thirst; 9. Calming the fetus.

Wang Ji said: The Spleen dislikes dampness. When dampness prevails, Qi cannot transform, and how can fluids be generated? Thus, the Bladder is the mansion of fluids; only through Qi transformation can they be excreted. Using Bai Zhu to remove dampness allows Qi to circulate freely, and fluids generate spontaneously. Tao Jie'an also claimed Bai Zhu dries the Kidney and consolidates Qi. The Kidney governs Water and Earth; if deficient and uncontrolled, it leads to flooding. If Water overcomes Fire (Yuan Qi), and Earth is the Mother of Fire, when the Mother is weak, the Child tries to rescue it. By controlling Water to benefit Fire, Qi becomes solid and the Kidney stabilizes. These four masters truly understood the profound mysteries of Bai Zhu.