Formulas · Invigorate Blood 活血祛瘀 · Manbyeong Hoechun (萬病回春)

Western Sage Re-Decocted Pill

Seoseongbokjeon-hwan

한글 서성복전환 · Pinyin Xi Sheng Fu Jian Wan

西聖復煎丸

The transcription writes 白麵 where the drug dictionary heads the entry 白麪; the transcription's form is printed. The wheat flour, honey, sesame oil and jujube flesh are the body of the pill rather than therapeutic drugs, but they are weighed in the leaf and are listed.

Composition 構成

Yuhyang Ru Xiang
乳香 유향 · Frankincense

40 g
Chief 君
Moryak Mo Yao
沒藥 몰약 · Myrrh

40 g
Chief 君
Tobongnyeong Tu Fu Ling
土茯苓 토복령 · Smilax

80 g
Deputy 臣

2 nyang to each dose, decocted with the pill as the vehicle
Haeacha Hai Er Cha
孩兒茶 해아차 · Catechu (black cutch)

40 g
Deputy 臣
Jeonghyang Ding Xiang
丁香 정향 · Clove

40 g
Deputy 臣
Baekhwasa Bai Hua She
白花蛇 백화사 · Pit Viper (CITES-listed)

16 g
Assistant 佐

pit viper; a protected animal material and not to be obtained
Awi A Wei
阿魏 아위 · Asafoetida

16 g
Assistant 佐
Hyeolgal Xue Jie
血竭 혈갈 · Dragon's Blood Resin

16 g
Assistant 佐
Baengmyeon Bai Mian
白麪 백면 · White Wheat Flour

640 g
Envoy 使

stir-fried (炒), 1 geun, as the body of the pill
Bongmil Feng Mi
蜂蜜 봉밀 · Honey

240 g
Envoy 使

6 nyang
Cheongyu Qing You
淸油 청유 · Clear Sesame Oil

160 g
Envoy 使

refined sesame oil (煉香油), 4 nyang, boiled with the honey
Daejo Da Zao
大棗 대조 · Jujube

—
Envoy 使

twenty jujubes, skins and stones removed

Total 1328 g per packet (첩) · representative dosage — verify against source texts. Excludes 1 ingredient 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 swollen lumps left after plum-blossom sores that have broken open and will not heal after years, when a hundred formulas have failed
One bullet-sized pill is re-decocted in a smilax decoction and the warm liquid drunk, dregs discarded

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

Blood stasis and toxin bound in old broken lumps
Chronic non-healing ulceration over bone

Biomedical correlates

Chronic syphilitic ulceration and gummata — historical treatment

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

治楊梅瘡後腫塊, 經年破而難愈, 百方不效, 用此如神. 乳香ㆍ沒藥ㆍ孩兒茶ㆍ丁香各一兩, 白花蛇ㆍ阿魏ㆍ血竭各四錢. 俱爲末. 白麵(炒) 一斤, 蜂蜜六兩, 煉香油四兩, 煎熟. 大棗二十枚(去皮核). 右和勻, 擣千杵, 丸如彈子大. 每一丸, 土茯苓二兩, 水二椀, 煎至一椀, 入藥丸, 再煎至半, 去渣溫服. 《回春》

Translation

Treats the swollen lumps left after plum-blossom sores which have broken open and will not heal after years, when a hundred formulas have had no effect; this works like a spirit. Frankincense, myrrh, gambir and clove, 1 nyang each; pit viper, asafoetida and dragon's blood, 4 don each. Powder them all together. Wheat flour (stir-fried) 1 geun, honey 6 nyang and refined sesame oil 4 nyang, boiled until done. Twenty jujubes, skins and stones removed. Mix the whole evenly, pound it a thousand strokes, and roll pills the size of a bullet. For each dose take one pill with smilax 2 nyang in two bowls of water, decoct down to one bowl, put the pill in, decoct again down to half, discard the dregs and take warm. — Hoechun 回春 (Donguibogam · Jechang)

Clinical commentary 臨床

The name says what is unusual about it: the pill is not swallowed but re-decocted. One bullet-sized pill goes into a smilax decoction already boiled down from two bowls to one, is boiled again to half, and the liquid alone is drunk. The pill is therefore a way of storing a resinous extract — frankincense, myrrh, gambir, dragon's blood, asafoetida and clove, all of them aromatic blood-movers and none of them water-soluble in any quantity — in a flour-and-honey body that will release them into hot smilax water months later. That is a sensible piece of pharmacy. What it is for is the worst end of the chapter: gummatous ulcers that have been open for years, down to the bone in places, after everything else has failed. The leaf's claim that it "works like a spirit" should be read against that. These lesions heal and reopen on their own over years, and a formula given at that stage inherits the credit. **Pit viper (白花蛇) is a protected animal material whose trade is restricted, and asafoetida and the resins are given here in quantity; neither the snake nor the resins has any action against the infection.** — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.