When damp cold grips the whole body
A chill that strikes suddenly after an icy wind or a downpour, the urge to wrap up, a heavy head, a heavy, numb body, a feeling of being chilled right into the muscles… In TCM, these signs may be associated with Wind-Cold-Dampness affecting the surface of the body. According to tradition, Wind opens the way, Cold closes the surface and Dampness weighs things down: the Qi no longer flows freely in the outer layer of the body, the one that faces the weather.
Jing Fang Bai Du San was recorded around 1550, under the Ming, in the She Sheng Zhong Miao Fang (《摄生众妙方》) by Zhang Shiche (张时彻). Its story begins earlier, however: it derives from Ren Shen Bai Du San, a formula from the Song era, from which it removes the ginseng and puts schizonepeta and saposhnikovia in its place. It thereby gains a more decisive outward action, and tradition counts it among the reference formulas of the pungent, warm family that releases the surface.
Disperse outwards, move within
Almost all the herbs in the formula are pungent, the flavour that, according to tradition, opens and disperses. Schizonepeta and saposhnikovia lead the whole towards the surface, and pubescent angelica takes charge of the Dampness that weighs the body down. Within, bupleurum and Sichuan lovage set the Qi moving again, while platycodon and bitter orange form a classic pair: one raises the Qi, the other lowers it.
Expels Wind: Schizonepeta and saposhnikovia, the pair that opens the formula, disperse the Wind and Cold lodged at the surface. Saposhnikovia’s Chinese name, Fang Feng, in fact means “guarding against Wind”.
Helps transform Dampness: Pubescent angelica disperses the Dampness settled in the flesh, the kind that gives the body its feeling of heaviness; poria transforms it by another route, by supporting the Spleen.
Supports the flow of Qi: Bupleurum and Sichuan lovage move the Qi and the Blood, and the platycodon and bitter orange pair restores the rising and descending movement of the chest. Licorice, in a supporting role, harmonises the whole and spares the Stomach in the face of so many pungent herbs.
