Formulas · Calm the Spirit 安神 · Donguibogam · Sin

Supplement the Heart Pill

Bosim-hwan

한글 보심환 · Pinyin Bu Xin Wan

補心丸

Pill formula, bulk amounts: powdered and bound with steamed cake into pills the size of mung beans, coated with 5 don of cinnabar; 70–80 pills swallowed on saliva, or with a ginger decoction. Note on modern practice: musk is a protected animal product, cinnabar is a mercury sulfide, and gold leaf is not used in contemporary practice; the formula is recorded as classical text. New or progressive tremor requires neurological evaluation.

Composition 構成

Sanjoin Suan Zao Ren
酸棗仁 산조인 · Sour Jujube Seed

120 g
Chief 君 dry-fried
Baekjain Bai Zi Ren
柏子仁 백자인 · Arborvitae Seed

120 g
Chief 君
Wonji Yuan Zhi
遠志 원지 · Polygala

100 g
Deputy 臣 ginger-juice-fried
Danggui Dang Gui
當歸 당귀 · Korean Angelica

60 g
Deputy 臣
Saengjihwang Sheng Di Huang
生地黃 생지황 · Raw Rehmannia

60 g
Deputy 臣 dried (生乾)
Insam Ren Shen
人蔘 인삼 · Ginseng

40 g
Assistant 佐
Boksin Fu Shen
茯神 복신 · Poria with hostwood

28 g
Assistant 佐
Seokchangpo Shi Chang Pu
石菖蒲 석창포 · Acorus

24 g
Assistant 佐
Namseong Tian Nan Xing
天南星 천남성 · Arisaema

20 g
Assistant 佐 ox-bile processed (牛膽南星)
Banha Ban Xia
半夏 반하 · Pinellia

20 g
Assistant 佐 leaven (麴)
Geumbak Jin Bo
金箔 금박 · Gold Leaf

20 g
Assistant 佐 20 leaves
Hobak Hu Po
琥珀 호박 · Amber

12 g
Assistant 佐
Cheongung Chuan Xiong
川芎 천궁 · Cnidium

4 g
Assistant 佐
Sahyang She Xiang
麝香 사향 · Musk

4 g
Assistant 佐
Gamcho Gan Cao
甘草 감초 · Licorice

60 g
Envoy 使

Total 692 g per packet (첩) · representative dosage — verify against source texts.

Received this formula from your practitioner? Amounts shown here are classical reference values — granule and prepared products differ. Always follow your prescribed dosage and directions.

Actions 效能

Steadies the hands that tremble from a vacuous Heart
Fills the Blood and settles the spirit on a fourteen-herb frame

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

Heart vacuity with trembling hands (心虛手振)
Tremor with anxiety and depletion
Long-course supplementing and settling

Biomedical correlates

Tremor with anxiety — historical management
Essential tremor presentations of the era
Anxiety with fine motor unsteadiness

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

治心虛手振. 酸棗仁(炒)ㆍ柏子仁各三兩, 遠志(薑汁炒) 二兩半, 當歸ㆍ生乾地黃ㆍ甘草各一兩半, 人參一兩, 茯神七錢, 石菖蒲六錢, 牛膽南星ㆍ半夏麴各五錢, 琥珀三錢, 川芎ㆍ麝香各一錢, 金箔二十片. 右爲末, 蒸餠和丸菉豆大, 朱砂五錢爲衣, 津嚥下七八十丸, 或薑湯下.

Translation

Treats Heart vacuity with trembling hands. Dry-fried sour jujube seed and arborvitae seed, 3 nyang each; ginger-juice-fried polygala 2 nyang 5 don; Korean angelica, dried raw rehmannia, and licorice, 1 nyang 5 don each; ginseng 1 nyang; hostwood poria 7 don; acorus 6 don; ox-bile-processed arisaema and pinellia leaven, 5 don each; amber 3 don; cnidium and musk, 1 don each; gold leaf 20 leaves. Powder the above and bind with steamed cake into pills the size of mung beans, coated with 5 don of cinnabar; swallow 70–80 pills on the saliva, or with a ginger decoction. — Donguibogam · Sin

Clinical commentary 臨床

A tremor formula, and its diagnosis is stated in three characters — 心虛手振, Heart vacuity with trembling hands. The construction follows from that: two seed medicinals at four ounces each to fill and settle, the Four-Substances core to rebuild the Blood, and only then the openers and the mineral anchors. The tradition read a tremor in an anxious, depleted patient as a spirit without enough substance to hold steady — which is not how a neurologist would put it, but describes something a clinician recognizes. — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.