Formulas · Purge Downward 瀉下 · Guhyeon (鉤玄)

Complete Truth Pill

Jeonjin-hwan

한글 전진환 · Pinyin Quan Zhen Wan

全眞丸

頭末 is the fine powder that comes off first when the seed is pounded and sifted; it carries the drug's action and the coarse residue is discarded. Nearly every formula in this section specifies it.

Composition 構成

Heukchuk Hei Chou
黑丑 흑축 · Black Morning Glory Seed

160 g
Chief 君

4 nyang stir-fried and 4 nyang raw
Daehwang Da Huang
大黃 대황 · Rhubarb

80 g
Deputy 臣
Jogak Zao Jiao
皂角 조각 · Gleditsia Pod

80 g
Assistant 佐

strings and seeds removed
Nabok Luo Bo
蘿蔔 나복 · Radish

40 g
Assistant 佐

boiled with the gleditsia water

Total 360 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

Frees congestion and stagnation of the three burners
Opens stool and urine that will not pass

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

The three burners congested and stagnant
stool and urine not passing
with puffy swelling and distension

Biomedical correlates

Ascites with constipation and oliguria

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

治三焦壅滯, 大小便不通, 浮腫脹滿. 黑牽牛子炒四兩生四兩, 同硏取頭末 四兩, 大黃泔浸三日, 逐日換泔, 取出切焙爲末 二兩. 右皂角二兩去皮弦子, 水一大椀浸一宿, 入蘿葍一兩切片, 同熬至半椀. 去滓, 再熬至二盞, 和丸梧子大. 每服二三十丸, 米飮下, 不時以利爲度. 一名保安丸. 《鉤玄》一方, 黑牽牛半生半炒, 取頭末ㆍ大黃ㆍ枳殼ㆍ檳榔各五錢. 水丸梧子大, 亦名全眞丸. 《丹心》

Translation

Treats the three burners congested and stagnant, stool and urine not passing, with puffy swelling and distension. Black morning glory seed 4 nyang stir-fried and 4 nyang raw, ground together and the first powder taken 4 nyang; rhubarb steeped three days in rice-washing water, the water changed daily, then taken out, sliced, dry-roasted and powdered 2 nyang. Take gleditsia 2 nyang skin, strings and seeds removed, steep overnight in one large bowl of water, add radish 1 nyang sliced, and boil down together to half a bowl. Strain off the dregs and reduce again to 2 jan, and make pills the size of a firmiana seed. Take twenty or thirty at a dose down with rice broth, at any hour, taking purging as the measure. It is also called Protect Peace Pill. Another formula: black morning glory seed half raw and half stir-fried, the first powder taken, rhubarb, bitter orange and areca 5 don each, made into water pills the size of a firmiana seed, also called Complete Truth Pill. — Guhyeon 鉤玄 (Donguibogam · Ha)

Clinical commentary 臨床

The section's opening formula, and it sets the pattern for everything after it: black morning glory seed as chief, rhubarb as deputy, and the dose taken to the point of purging. 半生半炒 — half raw and half stir-fried — is the standard preparation for this seed and appears throughout the chapter. Raw it is harsher and acts faster; fried it is moderated, and using both gives a purge that begins promptly and continues. 以利爲度, taking purging as the measure, is the chapter's constant instruction. The dose is not fixed but titrated to effect, which is the only safe way to give a medicine of this force. **A drastic purgative. Contraindicated in pregnancy and in the depleted. Not suitable for self-administration.** — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.