5.3 :

The Minor and Major Formulas of the Six Spirits

201 Translator’s Note :

The first four of these six spirits, namely the Green-Blue Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Dark Warrior, represent the tra- ditional Chinese guardian spirits of the four directions (east, west, south, and north, respectively) as well as groupings of stars in the four quadrants of the sky. The resonance of these spirits, their direc- tions and colors, and the movements of their associated stars in the sky, with the four zàng organs is obvious. The one common thread running through these formulas, besides their classical composition and the almost universal overlap with formulas from the Shānghánlùn that are much more widely known, is that each of them begins the list of indications with the phrase 天行 tiānxíng. Once again, rather than translating it here as “epidemic,” as most modern translators of TCM literature would do and as may be appropriate for most contexts in medical literature from the Sòng period on, I have chosen a literal reading here as “celestial move- ments” because it would be ahistorical to read the later technical meaning back into this early occurrence: The Chinese characters simply mean actions, activity, or movements, in or of the sky (as a location) or Heaven (in the context of Heaven and Earth, as the com- plementary duality that constitutes the macrocosm, with Humanity in the middle). I invite the reader to make up their own mind on the specific meaning of this phrase in the formulas below, but I see it here used in the sense of occurrences in the sky in the narrow sense, and in nature in general in the broader sense, since anything that happens on earth is of course due to resonance with change happening above. As such, the phrase refers to the human body failing to be in right relationship with the natural movements in the sky so that these are experienced as pathogenic as opposed to beneficial. While this could refer to weather patterns, it is also entirely appropriate to consider any other

202 Celestial Secrets influence from the sky, most notably the movements of the stars and constellations, which the patient is not aligned with and therefore responds to by falling ill. After all, this can be the root cause of illness, just like unseasonable and pathological weather events, epidemics, or other external factors. This connection is particularly important in the following section since the titles of the formulas directly point toward the resonance between guardian spirits of the four directions, constellations of stars in the four quadrants of the sky, and the inter- nal organs and their associated pathologies in the human body. It is important to note again here that the phrase itself is not found in any medical texts from the classical period. In other words, it does not occur in the Nèijīng, Nànjīng, or Zhāng Zhòngjǐng’s writ- ings, or in the Mǎwángduī medical manuscripts, but only shows up with increasing frequency several centuries later. Initially used in the context of “seasonal Qì” (時氣 shíqì) or in a sense similar to Zhāng Zhòngjǐng’s use of the phrase “cold damage” (傷寒 shānghán), it even- tually becomes more and more strongly associated with terms like 瘟 疫 wényì, where it really does mean “epidemic.”

Section Five 203 小青龍湯

治天行發熱惡寒，汗不出而喘，身疼痛，脈緊者方：

麻黃 三兩 杏仁（熬，打） 半升 桂枝 三兩 甘草（炙） 一兩半

上方四味，以水七升，先煮麻黃，減二升，掠去上沫，納諸藥， 煮取三升，去滓。溫服八合，必令汗出徹身，不然恐邪不盡 散也。

204 Celestial Secrets Xiǎo Qīng Lóng Tāng (Minor Green-Blue Dragon Decoction)

A formula to treat heat effusion and aversion to cold due to celestial movements, with sweat failing to emerge and panting, generalized soreness and pain, and a tight pulse:

máhuáng 3 liǎng

xìngrén (slowly toasted and broken into pieces) 0.5 shēng

guìzhī 3 liǎng

gāncǎo (mix-fried) 1.5 liǎng

Of the four ingredients from the formula above, first decoct the máhuáng in 7 shēng of water until decreased by 2 shēng. Scoop the foam off the top, add all the other medicinals, decoct until reduced to 3 shēng, and remove the dregs. Take 8 gě per dose warm. You must cause sweat to emerge all over the body, otherwise I fear that the evil is not dispersed entirely.

Translator’s Note :

As anybody familiar with the Shānghánlùn will recognize, the present formula for Xiǎo Qīng Lóng Tāng is identical with Máhuáng Tāng from that text. The indications in that text are:

太「 陽 病，頭 痛 發 熱，身 疼 腰 痛，骨 節 疼 痛，惡 風，

無汗而喘者，麻黃湯主之。」

Section Five 205 “ For Tàiyáng disease with headache and heat effusion, generalized soreness and lumbar pain, pain in the bones and joints, aversion to

wind, absence of sweating, and panting, Máhuáng Tāng rules.”

Thus, you can see how these formulas are virtually identical, even to the point of removing the foam from the decoction half-way through the cooking process, with only minor deviations in the wording.

206 Celestial Secrets

大青龍湯

治天行，表不解，心下有水氣，乾嘔，發熱而喘咳不已者。

麻黃（去節） 細辛 芍藥 甘草（炙） 桂枝 各三兩 五味子 半升 半夏 半升 乾薑 三兩

上方八味，以水一斗，先煮麻黃，減二升，掠去上沫，內諸藥， 煮取三升，去滓。溫服一升。一方無乾薑，作七味，當從。

208 Celestial Secrets Dà Qīng Lóng Tāng (Major Green-Blue Dragon Decoction)

A treatment for [diseases due to] celestial movements, when the exterior fails to resolve and there is water Qì present below the heart, with dry retching, heat effusion, and panting and cough that will not stop:

máhuáng (nodes removed)

xìxīn

sháoyào

gāncǎo (mix-fried)

guìzhī 3 liǎng each

wǔwèizǐ 0.5 shēng

bànxià 0.5 shēng

gānjiāng 3 liǎng

Of the eight ingredients in the formula above, first decoct the máhuáng in 1 dǒu of water until decreased by 2 shēng. Scoop the foam off the top, add all the other medicinals, decoct until reduced to 3 shēng, and get rid of the dregs. Take 1 shēng per dose warm. An [alternate version of this] formula does not include gānjiāng and only has a total of seven ingredients. Follow that.

Translator’s Note :

Even more so than in the previous formula, the present formula for Dà Qīng Lóng Tāng is almost literally identical with Xiǎo Qīng Lóng

Section Five 209 Tāng from the Shānghánlùn, except for the difference in name. The indications there are:

傷寒表不解，心下有水氣，乾嘔，發熱而欬，或「 渴，或 利，或 噎 ，或小便不利，少腹滿，或喘

者，小青龍湯主之。」

“ For cold damage when the exterior fails to resolve, with presence of water Qì below the heart, dry retching, heat effusion and cough, pos- sibly thirst or diarrhea or hiccup or inhibited urination and fullness in

the lower abdomen, or panting, Xiǎo Qīng Lóng Tāng rules.”

On the other hand, it is interesting that the name Dà Qīng Lóng Tāng in the Shānghánlùn is used for a similar formula.

Commentary by Sharon Weizenbaum

Qīng Lóng 青龍 Green-Blue Dragon – Bringing life force Yang up and out through the east.

210 Celestial Secrets The Green-Blue Dragon is the spirit guardian of the east. Alignment with this quadrant generates our life-force Yáng rising toward the upper body, lungs and heart, and the body's surface. If a person's life-force is going too slow relative to the movement of the celestial bodies in this quadrant, its warmth does not fully reach completion in these locations. The Green-Blue Dragon Decoction (青龍湯 Qīng Lóng Tāng) formulas re-establish the right relationship with the east, which means that the formulas speed up the east to encourage the body to ascend with the eastern quadrant's timing. The Fǔxíngjué describes Xiǎo Qīng Lóng Tāng (Minor Green-Blue Dragon Decoction) as "A formula to treat heat effusion and aversion to cold due to celes- tial movements, with sweat failing to emerge and panting, general- ized soreness and pain, and a tight pulse." The life-force Yáng's failure to ascend and reach the body's surface leaves the surface cold and blocked, resulting in these symptoms. The formula to speed up the body's eastern ascension is Xiǎo Qīng Lóng Tāng, which is identical to Máhuáng Tāng 麻黃湯 (Ephedra Decoction) from the Shānghán- lùn. This formula uses the light and warm máhuáng to support the eastern function of the body's life-force. The Fǔxíngjué's Dà Qīng Lóng Tāng (Major Green-Blue Dragon Decoction) is almost identical to the Shānghánlùn's Xiǎo Qīng Lóng Tāng. This formula has the same ascending and warming action as the previous formula. However, its rising action starts more deeply in the middle of the body using gānjiāng and involves pungently warming the lungs to clear cold fluids. This intensely warm and pungent method matches the body's pattern of being even slower in the east, causing it to be unable to bring warmth to the south, in this case, the upper body lungs and the surface. The Fǔxíngjué says that this formula is a "treatment for [diseases due to] celestial movements, when the exterior fails to resolve and there is water Qì present below the heart, with dry retching, heat effusion, and panting and cough that will not stop."

Section Five 211