Formulas · Warm the Interior 溫裏 · Taepyeong Hyeminhwajebang (太平惠民和劑局方)

Four Pillars Powder

Saju-san

한글 사주산 · Pinyin Si Zhu San

四柱散

Composition 構成

Mokhyang Mu Xiang
木香 목향 · Costus Root

5 g
Chief 君
Buja Fu Zi
附子 부자 · Prepared Aconite

5 g
Chief 君

blast-fried
Baekbokryeong Fu Ling
白茯苓 백복령 · Poria (white)

5 g
Deputy 臣
Insam Ren Shen
人蔘 인삼 · Ginseng

5 g
Deputy 臣
Saenggang Sheng Jiang
生薑 생강 · Fresh Ginger

—
Envoy 使

three slices
Daejo Da Zao
大棗 대조 · Jujube

—
Envoy 使

two fruits

Total 20 g per packet (첩) · representative dosage — verify against source texts. Excludes 2 ingredients measured by count or used as a vehicle, shown as —.

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

Treats the original viscus vacuous and cold with cold pain around the navel
Treats a slippery stool with ringing in the ears and dizziness of the head

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

Kidney and spleen yang vacuity with a slippery stool
Original qi vacuous and cold

Biomedical correlates

Chronic diarrhoea in the elderly
Hypothyroid constipation-diarrhoea alternation

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

治元藏虛冷, 臍腹冷痛, 大便滑泄, 耳鳴頭暈. 木香ㆍ白茯苓ㆍ人參ㆍ附子(炮) 各一錢二分半. 右剉, 作一貼, 入薑三片, 棗二枚, 鹽少許, 水煎, 空心溫服. 《局方》

Translation

Treats the original viscus vacuous and cold, with cold pain around the navel, a slippery stool, ringing in the ears and dizziness of the head. Costus root, white poria, ginseng and blast-fried aconite, 1 don 2 fun 5 ri each. Cut up, make one packet, add three slices of ginger, two jujubes and a little salt, decoct in water and take warm on an empty stomach. — Gukbang 局方 (Donguibogam · Daebyeon)

Clinical commentary 臨床

Four drugs in equal weight — the four pillars — and the name is the formula's argument: aconite for the fire, ginseng for the qi, poria for the water, costus for the movement, each holding up one corner. The indications reach past the bowel to tinnitus and dizziness, which is how the tradition marks a diarrhoea as belonging to the kidney rather than the gut. The next entry adds two binders to the same four and is used when the stool will not stop at all. — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.