Da qing long tang
ma huang 18 xing ren 6 shi gao 45 gui zhi 6 sheng jiang 9 da zao 6 zhi gan cao 6
For severe wind cold with a closed surface and absence of sweating, body aches, high fever with thirst, counter flow lung qi.
When in tai yang wind strike the pulse is floating and tight and there is heat effusion, aversion to cold, generalized pain, absence of sweating, and vexation and agitation da qing long tang governs. If the pulse is faint and weak and there is sweating and aversion to wind the person cannot take the formula.
For the disease of overflow rheum, sweat should be promoted, and da qing long tang governs. Xiao qing long tang also governs.
The dragon is the symbolic governor of water. Nature’s water metabolism is key to health and prosperity in agricultural societies. The large dragon, da qing long tang, can dance in the clouds and entice rain if there is not enough water. Da qing long tang is used to open the surface and disperse cold and heat.
This formula is based on gui zhi tang but now the bai shao has been removed because there is an excess of dampness and bai shao would make this worse. Da zao has been left in to moderate the pungent herbs. This formula uses ma huang tang.
Ma huang, Ephedrae herba is bitter descending of the lung. It is pungent dispersing of the imperial and ministerial fire. It enters the lung and bladder channel, it opens the surface, and dispels the cold on the surface. Further it dissipates lung qi and pacifies panting through opening the closed lung qi.
Ma huang is not enough to clear the cold on the surface and is therefore used with gui zhi to free the congested nutritive and the flow of yang as wei qi. It opens the pores of the surface that were congealed by external cold, and promotes the excretion of stagnant fluids by promoting the dispersion of tai yang.
Ma huang and shi gao worh together to disperse the surface to open it and clear cold and heat.
Xing ren, Armeniacae semen is bitter descending of Metal. Xing ren descends lung qi, which stands into the interior exterior relation to the large intestine, allowing for a heavy Metal downward pressure on the stomach and large intestine.
Xing ren descends and promotes the flow of lung qi, and combined with ma huang it embodies the combination of dispersing and descending. Xing ren assists ma huang in arresting panting.
Shi gao, Gypsum is pungent dispersing of heat in the stomach domain and lung. It is sweet nourishing of the stomach, spleen, and lung. It is pungent cold dispersing of the yang channels: tai yang, yang ming, shao yang. It saves yin and blood by clearing heat.
Shi gao clears yang ming channel heat which in Fire school terms is the qi layer. In zang fu terms this is the lungs and stomach.
Gui zhi, Cinnamomi cassiae ramulus is pungent sweet and warm dispersing of the imperial and ministerial fire. It warms and tonifies the shao yin and jue yin. In doing so it warms and tonifies the whole body.
Sheng jiang, Zingiberis rhizoma recens is pungent dispersing of the liver and pericardium blood and the ministerial fire in the san jiao. Sheng jiang is pungent dispersing of dampness and cold in the stomach domain, spleen and lung. Sheng jiang is pungent connecting of the tai yin with the tai yang. It supports raising of the clear qi to the chest and the 100 vessels.
Da zao, Jujubae fructus is sweet tonifying and moderating. It tonifies and nourishes the stomach domain, spleen, lungs, and heart. It directly nourishes the shao yin heart.
Da zao harmonizes the formula and the middle burner while enhancing the tonifying and warming aspects of the formula. Together with zhi gan cao they tonify qi and yin and harmonize the main herbs.
Zhi gan cao, Glycyrrhizae radix prep is sweet tonifying and nourishing of all organs but especially the heart.
Zhi gan cao is sweet and mildly warm tonifying and nourishing of yin fluids. It nourishes yin fluids in the tai yin and shao yin. It calms wind in the jue yin.
The sweet taste of zhi gan cao moderates and so adds balance to other herbs such as pungent gui zhi by anchoring its dispersing nature.
Regulates the qi descending of ma huang and xing ren and further buffers the fierce nature of the ma huang and gui zhi preventing the sweating from causing too much damage to true qi.