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Six-to-One Powder

六一散 〔六一散〕liù yī sǎn

Source: Shāng Hán Biāo Běn 伤寒标本

Ingredients:

Action: Clears summerheat and disinhibits dampness.

Indication: Damp-heat pouring down into the lower burner with difficult voidings of reddish urine; or contraction of summerheat-damp with heat effusion, heart vexation, thirst, and short voidings of reddish urine.

Category: Summerheat-dispelling formulas / Summerheat-dispelling dampness-disinhibiting formulas

Method: Grind to a powder. Nowadays prepared as a decoction.

Dosage: 9–18g with warm water and a little honey or decoct in a cloth bag.

Warnings: Do not use this formula to treat summerheat disease without dampness or yīn vacuity without damp-heat since its dampness-percolating properties can cause damage to yīn.

Rationale: Huá shí is sweet and bland in flavor, cold in nature, and heavy and slippery in substance (the Chinese huá shí literally means slippery stone). Being bland, it percolates dampness. Being cold it clears heat. Being heavy it bears downward, while being slippery it can disinhibit the orifices. For this reason, it clears heat and resolves summerheat, as well as disinhibiting water and freeing strangury. The Gān cǎo is added to balance the cold and slipperiness of the Huá shí. The two agents together act to cause summerheat-damp or damp-heat out through the lower burner.

Variations:

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