Chaihu Baihu Jian (Bupleurum–White Tiger Decoction) for Reducing Fever and Relieving Pain

In the Jingyue Quanshu (Complete Works of Zhang Jingyue) by the Ming-dynasty physician Zhang Jingyue, there is a prescription called Chaihu Baihu Jian, composed of: Radix Bupleuri (Chaihu) 2 qian (6 g), Gypsum (Shigao) 3 qian (9 g), Radix Scutellariae (Huangqin) 2 qian (6 g), Radix Ophiopogonis (Maidong) 2 qian (6 g), fine prepared Licorice 0.7 qian (2.1 g). Add 300 ml of water and 20 bamboo leaves, decoct to 150 ml, strain, and take warm, twice daily, one dose each time.

This formula releases the exterior and clears the interior; it is indicated for Yangming damp-heat with an unresolved exterior pathogen, presenting fever, aversion to cold, body pain, thirst, and polydipsia. It is named Chaihu Baihu Jian because it borrows the formulation logic of both Xiao Chaihu Tang (Minor Bupleurum Decoction) and Baihu Tang (White Tiger Decoction). Bupleurum and Scutellaria resolve the Shaoyang pathogen; Gypsum clears heat in the Yangming qi aspect; Ophiopogon, sweet and cold, engenders yin and relieves thirst by generating fluids; bamboo leaves clear heat and quench thirst; Licorice harmonizes the other herbs and protects the spleen and stomach. By this logic the formula is indicated for combined Shaoyang-Yangming disease, with both Shaoyang alternating chills and fever (fever at fixed times) and Yangming high fever with thirst.

These symptoms are mostly seen in the middle to late stages of various infectious diseases; cancer patients and diabetics also frequently present them. Following the TCM principle of “treating different diseases with the same method,” whenever the above conditions show these symptoms, this formula may be selected for symptomatic treatment.