Formulas · External Application 外用 · Uigam (醫鑑)

Divine Sage Ward Off Pestilence Elixir

Sinseongbyeogon-dan

한글 신성벽온단 · Pinyin Shen Sheng Bi Wen Dan

神聖辟瘟丹

赤箭 is registered under 天麻, of which it is the red-stalked form. The transcription prints 麫 for the flour paste, given above as 麵; 晒 is left as transcribed, the corpus printing both 晒 and 曬.

Composition 構成

Changchul Cang Zhu
蒼朮 창출 · Atractylodes Lancea

80 g
Chief 君
Ganghwal Qiang Huo
羌活 강활 · Notopterygium

40 g
Deputy 臣
Dokhwal Du Huo
獨活 독활 · Aralia

40 g
Deputy 臣
Baekji Bai Zhi
白芷 백지 · Dahurian Angelica

40 g
Assistant 佐
Hyangbuja Xiang Fu
香附子 향부자 · Cyperus

40 g
Assistant 佐
Daehwang Da Huang
大黃 대황 · Rhubarb

40 g
Assistant 佐
Gamsong Gan Song
甘松 감송향 · Nardostachys

40 g
Assistant 佐
Sannae Shan Nai
山柰 산내 · Sand Ginger

40 g
Assistant 佐

as 三乃子
Cheonma Tian Ma
天麻 천마 · Gastrodia

40 g
Assistant 佐

as 赤箭
Unghwang Xiong Huang
雄黃 웅황 · Realgar

40 g
Assistant 佐

realgar — arsenic sulfide, toxic
Baengmyeon Bai Mian
白麪 백면 · White Wheat Flour

—
Envoy 使

wheat-flour paste, as the binder
Hwangdan Huang Dan
黃丹 황단 · Red Lead (toxic)

—
Envoy 使

red lead, as the coating — lead, toxic

Total 440 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

One stick burnt as incense on New Year morning, for peace through the four seasons
Fumigates the house against pestilence

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

Pestilence (瘟疫) to be kept off for the year
The four seasons to be kept safe from epidemic illness

Biomedical correlates

Prevention of epidemic illness — historical incense fumigation

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

歌曰, 神聖辟瘟丹, 留傳在世間, 正元焚一炷, 四季保平安. ○蒼朮二兩, 羌活ㆍ獨活ㆍ白芷ㆍ香附子ㆍ大黃ㆍ甘松ㆍ三乃子ㆍ赤箭ㆍ雄黃各一兩. 右爲末, 麵糊和丸彈子大, 黃丹爲衣, 晒乾, 正朝早晨, 焚一炷. 《醫鑑》

Translation

The verse runs: the Divine Sage Ward Off Pestilence Elixir has been handed down and remains in the world; burn one stick of it at the New Year and the four seasons are kept at peace. ○ Atractylodes lancea 2 nyang; notopterygium, pubescent angelica, angelica dahurica, cyperus, rhubarb, nardostachys, sand ginger, red-arrow gastrodia and realgar 1 nyang each. Powder the above, bind with wheat-flour paste into pills the size of a bullet, coat them with red lead and dry them in the sun. On New Year morning burn one stick. — Uigam 醫鑑 (Donguibogam · On)

Clinical commentary 臨床

A shortened version of the aromatic fumigant above it: atractylodes lancea at the head, then notopterygium, pubescent angelica, angelica dahurica, cyperus, nardostachys and sand ginger, with rhubarb and realgar added and gastrodia in its red-arrow form. Bound with flour paste, rolled into bullet-sized pills and coated with red lead, which is what gives the burnt pill its colour as much as anything else. It arrives as a verse rather than a prescription, four lines promising that one stick burnt at the New Year keeps the four seasons at peace, and the Bogam prints the verse first and the drugs after it. The occasion is the same as that of the other New Year prescriptions in this section, and the method is the same as the Hoechun fumigant: the medicine is the smoke. **Contains realgar, which is arsenic sulfide, and is coated with red lead, which is a lead oxide. Burning them indoors puts arsenic and lead into the air of the room, and this must not be prepared.** — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.