Formulas · Clear Heat 淸熱 · Manbyeong Hoechun (萬病回春)

Bupleurum Free the Channel Decoction

Sihotonggyeong-tang

한글 시호통경탕 · Pinyin Chai Hu Tong Jing Tang

柴胡通經湯

並 is left as the transcription prints it; the corpus does not normalize 並 and 幷. 並酒炒 is read as applying to the scutellaria and the coptis named immediately before it, and is entered on both. 鼠粘子 is registered under 牛蒡子, and 當歸尾, the tail of the root, under 當歸.

Composition 構成

Gilgyeong Jie Geng
桔梗 길경 · Platycodon

8 g
Chief 君
Siho Chai Hu
柴胡 시호 · Bupleurum

4 g
Chief 君
Yeongyo Lian Qiao
連翹 연교 · Forsythia

4 g
Deputy 臣
Danggwi Dang Gui
當歸 당귀 · Korean Angelica

4 g
Deputy 臣

當歸尾 — the tail of the root
Hwanggeum Huang Qin
黃芩 황금 · Scutellaria

4 g
Deputy 臣

wine-fried with the coptis (並酒炒)
Hwangnyeon Huang Lian
黃連 황련 · Coptis

4 g
Deputy 臣

wine-fried with the scutellaria (並酒炒)
Ubangja Niu Bang Zi
牛蒡子 우방자 · Burdock Seed

4 g
Assistant 佐

鼠粘子
Samneung San Leng
三稜 삼릉 · Sparganium

4 g
Assistant 佐
Honghwa Hong Hua
紅花 홍화 · Safflower

0.4 g
Assistant 佐
Gamcho Gan Cao
甘草 감초 · Licorice

4 g
Envoy 使

raw (生)

Total 40.4 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

Treats a node on the side of the neck in the Shaoyang division, hard and not breaking, called the 馬刀 sore
Frees the Shaoyang channel and scatters the node
Decocted as a single packet in water

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

少陽經分項側有核 — a node on the side of the neck in the Shaoyang division
堅而不潰 — hard and not breaking open

Biomedical correlates

Cervical lymphadenitis presenting as a firm, non-suppurating node
Tuberculous lymphadenitis before breakdown

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

治少陽經分項側有核, 堅而不潰, 名曰馬刀瘡. 桔梗二錢, 柴胡ㆍ連翹ㆍ當歸尾ㆍ黃芩ㆍ黃連(並酒炒)ㆍ鼠粘子ㆍ三稜ㆍ甘草(生) 各一錢, 紅花一分. 右剉, 作一貼, 水煎服. 《回春》

Translation

Treats a node on the side of the neck in the division of the Shaoyang channel, hard and not breaking open, which is called the 馬刀 sore. Platycodon 2 don; bupleurum, forsythia, the tail of Korean angelica root, scutellaria and coptis (both wine-fried), arctium, sparganium and licorice (raw) 1 don each; safflower 1 fun. Cut up, make one packet, decoct in water and take. — Hoechun 回春 (Donguibogam · Jechang)

Clinical commentary 臨床

Platycodon at two don leading nine other drugs at one don each, with a single fun of safflower at the end — a flat, almost even formula, which is unusual in this chapter. Platycodon in that position is a 舟楫 drug, the boat that carries the rest up to the neck, and bupleurum holds them on the Shaoyang line where the leaf locates the lesion. Forsythia and arctium scatter, the wine-fried bitter pair cools, sparganium breaks the hardness, and the angelica tail and the fun of safflower move the blood in a mass that has not yet softened. The indication is precise about stage: 堅而不潰, hard and not yet broken. This is the formula for the node before it suppurates, which is the only point at which an internal decoction had any plausible claim. Read as medicine, 馬刀瘡 here is cervical lymphadenitis, most often tuberculous in this chapter's setting, and a firm neck node that persists needs imaging and a biopsy rather than a course of herbs. — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.