Boosting the source of fire to disperse the shroud of yīn

A method of treatment involving supplementation of kidney yáng to treat cold patterns. This term is actually a comment by Wāng Bīng of the Táng dynasty on the line in Plain Questions (素问 sù wèn) that reads Wherever heat [is applied], but cold [remains], treat the yáng. The implication of this comment is that wherever the use of warm or hot medicinals to treat cold patterns produces no effect or makes the cold worse, the cold pattern is one of yáng vacuity with exuberant yáng, i.e., the condition is essentially one of yáng vacuity that is treated by supplementing kidney yáng (the true fire of the life gate). According to this principle, insufficiency of kidney yáng with aching lumbus and weak legs, cold sensation in the lower half of the body, impotence, and seminal cold is treated with Eight-Ingredient Rehmannia Pill (八味地黄丸 bā wèi dì huáng wán), which contains cooked rehmannia (Rehmanniae Radix Praeparata, 熟地黄 shú dì huáng), cornus (Corni Fructus, 山茱萸 shān zhū yú), dioscorea (Dioscoreae Rhizoma, 山药 shān yào), poria (Poria, 茯苓 fú líng), moutan (Moutan Cortex, 牡丹皮 mǔ dān pí), alisma (Alismatis Rhizoma, 泽泻 zé xiè), prepared cooked aconite (Aconiti Radix Lateralis Conquita, 熟附子 shú fù zǐ), and cinnamon bark (Cinnamomi Cortex, 肉桂 ròu guì). Boosting the source of fire to disperse the shroud of yīn is now often referred to as boosting fire to disperse yīn or supporting yáng to abate yīn.