Jinshui Liujun Jian: A Famous Lung Formula
Jinshui Liujun Jian (Metal-Water Six-Gentlemen Decoction) comes from Zhang Jingyue's Jingyue Quanshu of the Ming dynasty. Its composition: Chinese angelica (danggui) 2 qian (6g), prepared rehmannia (shudihuang) 3–5 qian (9–15g), tangerine peel (chenpi) 1.5 qian (4.5g), pinellia (banxia) 2 qian (6g), honey-fried licorice (zhigancao) 1 qian (3g). Boil the herbs in one bowl of water (about 400ml) with 5 slices of fresh ginger down to seven-tenths of a bowl (280ml), and strain. Take warm on an empty stomach, twice daily.
If the patient has loose but difficult stool, remove angelica and add Chinese yam (shanyao) and cistanche (roucongrong); if phlegm is exuberant with qi stagnation and discomfort in the chest and rib-side, add white mustard seed (baijiezi) 1 qian (3g); if yin deficiency with exuberant cold causes a cough that will not resolve, add Asarum (xixin) 1.5–2.1g; if there is also exterior evil with alternating chills and fever, add bupleurum (chaihu) 1–2 qian (3–6g).
According to traditional TCM theory, Jinshui Liujun Jian nourishes yin and resolves phlegm. It is indicated for lung-kidney yin deficiency with internal exuberance of damp-phlegm: cough with nausea and vomiting, rapid panting, and profuse sputum. Today it is often used for acute exacerbations of chronic bronchitis, emphysema, senile lung disease, and allergic rhinitis. Some scholars use Jinshui Liujun Jian as a base, adding gambir vine (gouteng), abalone shell (shijueming), and astragalus to treat vertigo due to Ménière's disease, with some effect.
Jinshui Liujun Jian has a simple composition: prepared rehmannia and Chinese angelica nourish yin and blood; tangerine peel and pinellia resolve phlegm, stop cough, and calm panting; honey-fried licorice both harmonizes the other herbs and stops cough and wheezing. Overall it combines supplementation of deficiency with expulsion of phlegm, fitting the TCM principle of simultaneously supporting the righteous and expelling evil.
Modern pharmacology shows the formula has good antitussive, expectorant, and anti-asthmatic actions. Animal experiments show that Jinshui Liujun Jian raises the number of binding sites for pulmonary glucocorticoid receptors and the content of pulmonary surfactant in rats with chronic bronchitis; it raises serum superoxide dismutase activity, lowers malondialdehyde content, inhibits phenol red secretion from tracheal segments, reduces sputum production, increases ciliary beating, and promotes sputum expectoration. Its antitussive and anti-asthmatic effects are thus scientifically verified. In addition, modern experiments show Jinshui Liujun Jian also has antioxidant, anti-stress, immune-enhancing, and anti-inflammatory effects, confirming that it indeed supports the righteous and secures the root.
Jinshui Liujun Jian is suitable for frail elderly patients and those with chronic disease. Its nature is mild and it has almost no adverse reactions. Because its indications mainly are weak patients—who may also suffer "deficiency unable to receive supplementation" or "deficiency unable to tolerate attack"—the dose should not be too large.