Formulas · Calm the Spirit 安神 · Mangye (回春)

Amber Settle the Will Pill

Hobakjeongji-hwan

한글 호박정지환  ·  Pinyin Hu Po Ding Zhi Wan

琥珀定志丸

The arisaema preparation is the most elaborate in the chapter: a pit is dug and eighteen geun of charcoal burned in it until red, the ash cleared away, and ten-odd geun of good wine poured in; an earthen bowl holding the arisaema is set within, covered, and banked with charcoal so that no vapor escapes — the next day it is taken out and powdered. Human milk with ginger juice is used in processing. Powdered and bound with honey into pills the size of parasol-tree seeds; 50–70 pills with a ginger decoction at bedtime. **Note on modern practice: cinnabar is a mercury sulfide, and human milk and animal bile as processing media are not used in contemporary practice; recorded as text.**

Composition 構成

Total 960 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

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

  • Spirit and ethereal soul startled and trembling (神魂驚戰)
  • Weakness with the Qi run short (虛弱氣乏)
  • Timidity with startle response on a depleted ground

Biomedical correlates

  • Anxiety with startle response and fatigue
  • Trembling with depletion
  • Long-course settling therapy

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

補心生血, 安魂定魄, 扶肝壯膽. 管轄神魂驚戰, 虛弱氣乏之疾. 天南星 八兩(先掘地作坑, 置炭十八斤燒紅, 去灰淨, 好酒十餘斤傾坑內, 瓦盆盛南星安其中, 盖覆, 以炭火擁定, 勿令泄氣, 次日取出爲末), 人乳(薑汁製)ㆍ人參ㆍ白茯苓ㆍ白茯神 各三兩, 大朱砂(公猪心割開入內, 線縛懸胎, 酒二椀煮)ㆍ石菖蒲(猪膽汁炒)ㆍ遠志(取肉, 猪膽煮乾, 再用薑汁製) 各二兩, 眞琥珀 一兩. 右爲末, 蜜丸梧子大, 夜臥時, 薑湯下五七十丸. 《回春》

Translation

Supplements the Heart and engenders Blood, quiets the ethereal soul and settles the corporeal soul, strengthens the Liver and fortifies the Gallbladder. It governs illnesses of spirit and ethereal soul startled and trembling, with weakness and the Qi run short. Arisaema 8 nyang — first dig a pit and place eighteen geun of charcoal in it, burn until red and clear away the ash; pour ten-odd geun of good wine into the pit, set an earthen bowl holding the arisaema within, cover it, and bank it with charcoal so that no vapor escapes; the next day take it out and powder it. Human milk processed with ginger juice, ginseng, white poria, and hostwood poria, 3 nyang each; large cinnabar — sewn inside a boar's heart, bound with thread and suspended, boiled in two bowls of wine — pig-bile-fried acorus, and polygala (the flesh taken, boiled dry in pig bile, then processed with ginger juice), 2 nyang each; true amber 1 nyang. Powder the above and bind with honey into pills the size of parasol-tree seeds; take 50–70 pills with a ginger decoction at bedtime. — Hoechun 回春 (Donguibogam · Sin)

Clinical commentary 臨床

The stated aim is broader than most: supplement the Heart so Blood is engendered, settle both souls, and *strengthen Liver and Gallbladder* — the organs this tradition assigns courage and decision. Hence the indication, a spirit that startles and trembles in someone already weak. What makes the entry memorable is the arisaema: a charcoal pit, ten geun of wine, and a sealed bowl overnight. Nothing else in this chapter is prepared with that much trouble, which is the formulary's way of saying where it thought the power lay. — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.

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