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Treats Pi Yue (Spleen Restraint), characterized by difficult defecation, frequent urination, and a floating and choppy pulse at the Guan position. This is the principal formula for moistening the intestines.
Hemp Seed (Cannabis Fructus, 2 Sheng)
Apricot Kernel (Armeniacae Semen Amarum, 1 Jin, remove skin and tips)
White Peony Root (Paeoniae Radix Alba, 0.5 Jin)
Rhubarb Root (Rhei Radix et Rhizoma, 1 Jin)
Magnolia Bark (Magnoliae Officinalis Cortex, 1 Chi, processed with heat)
Immature Bitter Orange (Aurantii Fructus Immaturus, 0.5 Jin)
Grind into fine powder, mix with refined honey to make pills the size of Chinese quince seeds. Take 10 pills with water, twice daily. Gradually increase the dose until bowel movement is unobstructed.

[Verse] Ma Ren Wan treats Pi Yue; Zhi Shi, Hou Po, Da Huang, Ma Ren, Xing Ren, Bai Shao. When earth is dry and fluids are depleted, causing difficult defecation, nourish fluids and open the orifices; take as honey pills chewed. (Pi Yue refers to excessive dryness of Spleen Earth and daily depletion of Stomach fluids. Therefore, Hemp Seed and Apricot Kernel moisten Spleen dryness, White Peony Root calms Spleen Yin, followed by the Cheng Qi method using Zhi Shi, Hou Po, and Da Huang to purge. Thus, purging does not deplete Yin. The use of pills and gradual dosage increase in this method indicates that Spleen dryness requires a slow approach: nourishing, softening, and moistening downward to accommodate the Spleen's desire, unlike Stomach excess which requires urgent purgation.)

Treats Xin Xia Pi (Epigastric fullness/oppression), where palpation reveals softness, hard stool, aversion to cold is absent but aversion to heat is present, and the pulse is rapid at the Guan position. It is also highly effective for excessive Heart Fire causing persistent hematemesis or epistaxis.
Rhubarb Root (2 Liang)
Coptis Rhizome (Coptidis Rhizoma, 1 Liang)
Steep in two Sheng of boiling water for a moment, strain to remove dregs, and take warm in divided doses. (This method is most unique,

Treats Epigastric oppression, hard stool, irritability and insomnia, accompanied by aversion to cold and sweating.
Rhubarb Root (2 Liang, soaked in wine)
Coptis Rhizome (stir-fried)
Scutellaria Root (Scutellariae Radix, each 1 Liang, stir-fried)
Aconite Root (Aconiti Lateralis Radix Praeparata, one piece, peeled and decocted separately to extract juice)
Steep the three yellow herbs (San Huang) in two Sheng of boiling water for a moment, strain to remove dregs, add the Aconite juice, and take warm in divided doses. (This method is even more exquisite. Aconite is decocted separately while the other three are steeped; supporting Yang requires its potency to be sustained,

Treats unilateral pain under the hypochondrium, wiry pulse, difficult defecation, fever, and aversion to cold.
Rhubarb Root (3 Liang)
Aconite Root (3 pieces)
Asarum Root (Asari Radix et Rhizoma, 2 Liang)
Add five Sheng of water, decoct to obtain two Sheng, and take warm in three divided doses.

[Verse] Da Huang Huang Lian Xie Xin Tang is suitable for epigastric oppression with aversion to heat. (If there is epigastric oppression with aversion to cold, the exterior syndrome has not resolved; do not attack the oppression, first resolve the exterior. Only after the exterior is resolved can the oppression be attacked.) Palpable softness indicates empty oppression; rapid pulse at the Guan position signifies strong Ministerial/Heart Fire. Clearing fire and unblocking Yin resolves the oppression spontaneously. (Oppression does not always result from mistaken purgation. Rapid pulse at the Guan indicates excessive Heart Fire failing to descend and interact with Yin, scorching the Middle Jiao, leading to loss of Qi ascending and descending, forming oppression. Softness upon palpation indicates it is formless; thus, bitter-cold herbs alone can drain it. For example, Rhubarb drains Ying-level heat, Coptis drains Qi-level heat. Moreover, Rhubarb has the ability to break hardness and knots; its function in resolving oppression is inherent in its heat-draining property. Steeping in boiling water and extracting the juice utilizes their light aroma rather than heavy taste, treating empty oppression without damaging healthy Qi.) It is best for hematemesis and epistaxis caused by flaming fire. (Note: For hematemesis and epistaxis, physicians usually use cold-cooling hemostatics, unaware that blood congeals when exposed to cold. After bleeding stops, blood stasis may remain in the stomach collaterals, causing chest/hypochondriac pain or lingering low-grade fever at night, resulting in many residual cases. If confirmed as real fire forcing blood to move recklessly, it is better to use this formula directly to clear fire, unblock Yin, move stasis, and stop bleeding, achieving perfection.) Add Scutellaria and Aconite, revealing the method of Fu Zi Xie Xin Tang. Aversion to cold and sweating are signs of Yang collapse (thus use Aconite); hard stool and irritability are consequences of oppression-heat (thus use the Three Yellows). Oppression caused by heat pathogens is treated with cold medicines. (In Shang Han, fullness/oppression moves from exterior to interior, located in the chest not the Stomach, mostly due to heat pathogens, so bitter-cold purgation is appropriate; for miscellaneous disease oppression moving from interior to exterior, acrid-dispersing methods are appropriate.) Adding Aconite matches Yang deficiency. (Aconite is not a primary herb for Xie Xin Tang. Epigastric oppression with aversion to cold and sweating indicates external withdrawal of Yang. If only bitter-cold herbs are used to drain oppression, sudden collapse of deficiency-cold is feared. Thus, the Three Yellows withdraw heat from the San Jiao, while Aconite warms the meridians throughout the body. Steeping the Three Yellows in boiling water and decocting Aconite separately takes advantage of the light Qi of the former and the heavy power of the latter; the intent remains rescuing collapsing Yang.) The intention aligns with Da Huang Fu Zi Tang; the wonder of using warm medicines to purge is extraordinary. It mainly treats hypochondriac pain with wiry-tight pulse; difficult defecation with alternating chills and fever requires careful analysis. (According to "Jin Gui Yao Lue · Abdominal Fullness, Cold Cramps, and Retained Food Chapter": "Unilateral pain under the hypochondrium with fever and tight-wiry pulse indicates cold; treat with warm purgatives, Da Huang Fu Zi Tang is indicated." Also: "Fu Yang pulse slightly wiry suggests abdominal fullness; if no fullness, there must be difficult defecation and bilateral hypochondriac pain, indicating deficiency-cold rising from below; treat with warm medicines." Also: "Wiry pulse at Cun position indicates constrained and painful hypochondrium with aversion to cold." Observing these three clauses together: unilateral hypochondriac pain with tight-wiry pulse indicates Yin-cold accumulation; difficult defecation with fever and aversion to cold indicates Yang Qi being depressed. Thus, Aconite breaks Yin-cold, Asarum disperses floating heat, and Rhubarb relieves difficult defecation, jointly achieving warm purgation. Fu Zi Xie Xin Tang uses Scutellaria and Coptis to assist Rhubarb in dispelling upper diaphragm heat-oppression, combined with Aconite's warmth to disperse it; Da Huang Fu Zi Tang uses Asarum to assist Aconite in attacking lower hypochondriac cold-stagnation, combined with Rhubarb's coldness to guide downward.) Cold accumulation should be warmed and purged; later generations' emulation warrants discussion. (Xu Xueshi's Wen Pi Tang, treating cold accumulation abdominal pain and diarrhea, effectively follows Zhong Jing's method of warm purgation.)