Classic Famous Formula ⁽²⁰⁵⁾

Zixue Tang (Blood-Nourishing Decoction) comes from Yuyuan Yao Fang (Formulas from the Imperial Pharmacy). It consists of Renshen (Radix Ginseng), Huaishanyao (Rhizoma Dioscoreae), Zhi Huangqi (Radix Astragali Preparata), Fuling (Poria), Chuanxiong (Rhizoma Chuanxiong), Danggui (Radix Angelicae Sinensis), Baishao (Radix Paeoniae Alba), and Shudihuang (Radix Rehmanniae…

Spring is the high-incidence season for allergic skin diseases and for skin itching in cancer and chronic lung disease patients. TCM treatment of such pruritus has two classical experienced formulas: Xiao Feng San (Wind-Dispersing Powder) and Siwu Xiao Feng San (Four-Ingredient Wind-Dispersing Powder). Xiao Feng…

Shipu San comes from Yan's Jisheng Fang (Formulas to Aid the Living, Yan's Family). It mainly treats "yang-deficiency edema, with more severe swelling below the middle of the body, chest and abdominal fullness, or a large abdomen with heavy body, fatigue and poor appetite, cold…

The Ming-dynasty physician Zhang Jingyue recorded an empirical formula in volume 51 of his work Jingyue Quanshu (Complete Compendium of [Zhang] Jingyue). It consists of Dangguwei (tail of Angelica sinensis), Shanzha (Crataegus pinnatifida), Xiangfu (Cyperus rotundus), Wuyao (Lindera aggregata), Qingpi (unripe tangerine peel), Muxiang (Aucklandia…

Shixiao Powder comes from Taiping Huimin Hejiju Fang (Taiping Imperial Formulary). This formula is made from equal parts of Puhuang (Typhae Pollen) and Wulingzhi (Faeces Trogopterori), ground together into a fine powder. Each dose is 3 g, mixed with vinegar and taken twice daily. Shixiao…

Xiaobanxia Decoction comes from Jingui Yaolue (Essentials from the Golden Cabinet). It uses only two herbs: Banxia (Pinelliae Rhizoma) 1 sheng (modern use: 15 g), fresh ginger 0.5 jin (modern use: 24 g). These are boiled in 7 sheng of water down to 1.5 sheng,…

Banxia Baizhu Tianma Decoction comes from Volume 4 of Yixue Xinwu (Medical Heart Enlightenment), in the section on "vertigo." The author of that book, Cheng Guopeng, explained vertigo as: "Xuan means darkness before the eyes; yun means the head spinning; what the ancients called head-spinning…

Shenghua Tang (Generation-and-Transformation Decoction) is an empirical formula of the famous late Ming/early Qing physician Fu Qingzhu, recorded in Fu Qing Zhu Nü Ke (Fu Qingzhu's Gynecology). Fu Qingzhu was skilled in treating gynecological diseases and left behind many empirical gynecological formulas; Shenghua Tang is…

Dongdi Sanhuang Tang is recorded in Wenbing Tiaobian (Systematized Identification of Warm Diseases). It is composed of "Maimendong (Ophiopogonis Radix) 8 qian, Huanglian (Coptidis Rhizoma) 1 qian, Weigenzhi (fresh Phragmitis Rhizoma juice) half a wine cup (added), Yuanshen (Scrophulariae Radix) 4 qian, Huangbai (Phellodendri Cortex)…

Wen Qing San is from Wanbing Huichun (Recovery of All Diseases) by the Ming-dynasty physician Gong Tingxian. It is composed of Danggui (Angelica), Chuanxiong (Chuanxiong Rhizoma), Shudi (prepared Rehmannia), Baishao (Paeonia alba), Huanglian (Coptis), Huangqin (Scutellaria), Huangbo (Phellodendron), Zhizi (Gardenia), each one and a half…