Formulas · Tonify Qi & Blood 氣血雙補 · Dansim (丹心)

Supreme Primordial Unity Elixir

Taesanghonwon-dan

한글 태상혼원단 · Pinyin Tai Shang Hun Yuan Dan

太上混元丹

The placenta is washed clean in east-flowing water, 1 don of musk sewn inside it, and the whole simmered in five doe of wine in a sand crock until it becomes a paste; the powdered herbs are worked into that paste and pounded a thousand strokes into pills the size of parasol-tree seeds; 70–90 pills with warm wine. **Note on modern practice: human placenta is not used in contemporary practice in the United States for regulatory and safety reasons; musk is a protected animal product and cinnabar a mercury sulfide. Recorded for textual and historical completeness only.**

Composition 構成

Jahageo Zi He Che
紫河車 자하거 · Placenta (historical)

200 g
Chief 君 one placenta, washed and cooked down to a paste in wine
Insam Ren Shen
人蔘 인삼 · Ginseng

80 g
Deputy 臣
Yukjongyong Rou Cong Rong
肉蓯蓉 육종용 · Cistanche

80 g
Deputy 臣
Ansikhyang An Xi Xiang
安息香 안식향 · Benzoin Resin

80 g
Assistant 佐 wine-boiled, dregs removed
Baekbokryeong Fu Ling
白茯苓 백복령 · Poria (white)

80 g
Assistant 佐
Chimhyang Chen Xiang
沈香 침향 · Agarwood

40 g
Assistant 佐
Yuhyang Ru Xiang
乳香 유향 · Frankincense

40 g
Assistant 佐
Jusa Zhu Sha
朱砂 주사 · Cinnabar (toxic)

40 g
Assistant 佐 water-levigated

Total 640 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

Repairs the five viscera damaged by taxation
Supplements the true Qi on a placenta base cooked down to a paste

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

Taxation damage to the five viscera (勞損五藏)
Supplementing the true Qi (補眞氣)
Deep constitutional depletion

Biomedical correlates

Severe chronic depletion — historical management
Constitutional restoration
Convalescence from prolonged illness

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

治勞損五藏, 補眞氣. 紫河車一具(東流水洗淨, 入麝香一錢在內縫定, 於砂罐內以酒五升熬成膏), 人參ㆍ肉蓯蓉ㆍ安息香(酒煮去滓)ㆍ白茯苓各二兩, 沈香ㆍ乳香ㆍ朱砂(水飛) 各一兩. 右爲末, 入河車膏內擣千下, 丸如梧子大. 溫酒下七九十丸. 《丹心》

Translation

Treats taxation damage to the five viscera; supplements the true Qi. One placenta, washed clean in east-flowing water, with 1 don of musk sewn inside it, simmered in a sand crock with five doe of wine until it forms a paste; ginseng, cistanche, wine-boiled benzoin with the dregs removed, and white poria, 2 nyang each; aquilaria, frankincense, and water-levigated cinnabar, 1 nyang each. Powder the above, work into the placenta paste, pound a thousand strokes, and form pills the size of parasol-tree seeds; take 70–90 pills with warm wine. — Dansim 丹心 (Donguibogam · Heoro)

Clinical commentary 臨床

The chapter's most elaborate restorative, and its title claims a great deal — the primordial unity before differentiation, invoked for a body whose five viscera have all been worn down together. The method is the placenta paste doing the work of a decoction base, with benzoin and aquilaria as aromatics and a thousand strokes of pounding specified. Preserved here as the record shows it; the materia medica it rests on is not one contemporary practice can reopen. — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.