典藏书目

Treats conditions caused by cold pathogenic qi and cold food stagnating in the stomach, resulting in fullness and pain in the heart and abdomen, and constipation.

Formula: Rhizoma et Radix Rhei (Dahuang) 2 liang, Rhizoma Zingiberis Recens (Ganjiang) 2 liang, Semen Crotonis (Badou), peeled and ground into a paste, 1 liang. First pound Dahuang and Ganjiang into powder, add Badou and pound together for one thousand strokes. Mix with honey to make pills, size of beans. Store in a sealed container to prevent leakage of gas, ready for use. Take three or four pills each time, administered with warm water or wine. *Jinkui Yaolue* states this formula treats Zhong'e (sudden attack by noxious pathogens), characterized by abdominal distension and fullness, sudden pain like needle pricks, dyspnea, and trismus (lockjaw) resembling sudden death. In such cases, support the patient's head, pour the medicine down their throat; they should recover shortly. If not recovered, administer another three pills. The patient will hear borborygmus, followed by vomiting and diarrhea, leading to recovery. If the patient has trismus and cannot swallow, dissolve the pill and blow it into the nostril using a reed tube, allowing it to flow down to the pharynx.

[Collected Annotations] Ke Qin stated: Constipation should be differentiated into Yang Jie (Yang binding) and Yin Jie (Yin binding). For Yang Jie, there are Chengqi Tang (Coptis Decoction) and Gengyi Wan (Clothing Change Pill) as purgatives. For Yin Jie, there are Beiji Wan (Emergency-Ready Pill) and Baisan (White Powder). *Jinkui Yaolue* uses this formula for Zhong'e; one must know it is suitable for sudden invasion by cold pathogenic qi. If used for warm-summer heat pathogens, it would hasten death. This formula is indeed established for Yin Jie. Ganjiang disperses cold pathogenic qi in the Middle Jiao; Badou expels cold accumulation in the intestines and stomach; Dahuang unblocks the "Earthly Path" (intestines) and can also detoxify Badou. It is an army with restraint. However, Baisan treats cold binding in the chest/epigastrium, so it uses Jiegeng (Platycodon Root) to assist Badou, employing both emetic and purgative methods. This formula treats cold binding in the intestines and stomach, so it uses Dahuang to assist Ganjiang and Badou to directly attack the cold. People only know of warming and tonifying methods, but do not know of warming and purging methods. Thus, they only discuss cold deficiency patterns and do not discuss cold excess patterns.

[Commentary] The mindset of common people is that they fear poverty but do not fear disaster, leaving them vulnerable due to poverty. Patients' mindsets are often similar; they fear deficiency but do not fear disease, ignoring the disease due to their perceived weakness. Yet, deficiency is like poverty, and disease is like disaster. Being deficient yet diseased is like a poor person having a disaster; removing the disaster while remaining poor still allows for peace. Being excess yet diseased is like a rich person having a disaster; if the disaster is not removed, their wealth cannot be preserved. Most laughable are modern physicians who, when consulting patients, appear cautious externally but are indecisive internally. They claim that deficiency patterns cannot be attacked, arguing that even if the disease is removed, the Zheng Qi (Upright Qi) will be hard to restore. Patients, fearing this, naturally comply. Those with shallow disease may recover spontaneously; if not, another doctor is summoned. By the time the disease is deep and difficult to enter, and before the attacking medicine enters the mouth, public opinion clamors, causing enlightened doctors to leave in disgust, sitting and waiting for death, never realizing they were misled by incompetent practitioners. Physicians who have long specialized in certain techniques originally did so for self-preservation, shamelessly believing that nurturing illness is skill and attacking disease is clumsiness. Consequently, all patients in the world are ignorant of how to treat disease. I have examined Sun Simiao using Huanhun Tang (Resurrection Soul Decoction), composed of Mahuang (Ephedra Herb), Guizhi (Cinnamon Twig), Xingren (Apricot Seed), and Gancao (Licorice Root) from Zhang Zhongjing, to treat sudden collapse, coma, trismus, and clenched fists; and Li Gao using Beiji Wan from Zhang Zhongjing, composed of Badou, Dahuang, and Ganjiang, to treat sudden collapse, death, abdominal pain, fullness, and obstruction, which takes effect immediately upon swallowing. Did these two men not understand deficiency and excess? Truly, superior physicians, before diagnosing, hold no preconceived notions nor thoughts of self-preservation; they simply use the appropriate medicine for the disease. Ke Qin said: Beiji Wan treats cold binding in the intestines and stomach; Baisan treats cold binding in the chest. From this, we can also know that Huanhun Tang treats cold binding at the exterior of the chest, to dissipate formless pathogenic qi; Baisan treats cold binding at the interior of the chest, to attack有形 (form-shaped) phlegm-fluids; and Beiji Wan treats cold binding in the intestines and stomach, to attack undigested residue.