{
    "slug": "shen-ling-bai-zhu-san",
    "names": {
        "pinyin": "Shen Ling Bai Zhu San",
        "chinese": "参苓白术散",
        "english": "Ginseng, Poria and Atractylodes Powder",
        "alternate": [
            "Shen Ling Bai Zhu Wan",
            "Ginseng and Atractylodes Formula"
        ]
    },
    "category": "tonify-qi",
    "source": {
        "text": "Tai Ping Hui Min He Ji Ju Fang (Imperial Grace Formulary of the Tai Ping Era)",
        "author": "Imperial Medical Bureau",
        "dynasty": "Song",
        "year": "1078"
    },
    "summary": "The formula for chronic loose stools from a weak, damp Spleen. For the person who is tired and pale, eats little, bloats, has loose stools or diarrhea that drags on for months, and slowly loses weight. Gentle enough for children and the elderly, with food-grade herbs doing most of the work.",
    "picture": "A weak Spleen is a sponge that cannot wring itself out, so everything runs through wet. This formula strengthens the sponge and adds the herbs that soak up the water on the way out.",
    "patterns": [
        {
            "slug": "spleen-qi-deficiency",
            "role": "with loose stools",
            "_links": {
                "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/pattern/spleen-qi-deficiency",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/pattern/spleen-qi-deficiency"
            }
        },
        {
            "slug": "spleen-dampness",
            "role": "primary",
            "_links": {
                "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/pattern/spleen-dampness",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/pattern/spleen-dampness"
            }
        }
    ],
    "indications": [
        "Chronic loose stools or diarrhea",
        "Poor appetite with tiredness and pallor",
        "Bloating after meals",
        "Weak limbs, weight loss",
        "Chronic diarrhea in a child",
        "A cough with thin phlegm in a weak person, since the Spleen feeds the Lung",
        "Recovery from a long gut illness"
    ],
    "signs": {
        "tongue": "Pale with a white coat, possibly greasy.",
        "pulse": "Thin, soft, and weak."
    },
    "ingredients": [
        {
            "pinyin": "Dang Shen",
            "grams": "9",
            "role": "chief",
            "job": "Codonopsis, or ginseng in the classic, restores the qi.",
            "herb_slug": "root-pilose-asiabell",
            "english": "Dang Shen Root",
            "chinese": "党参",
            "latin": "Radix Codonopsis Pilosulae",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/root-pilose-asiabell",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/root-pilose-asiabell"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Bai Zhu",
            "grams": "9",
            "role": "chief",
            "job": "Atractylodes strengthens the Spleen and dries damp.",
            "herb_slug": "rhizome-of-largehead-atractylodes",
            "english": "Rhizome of Largehead Atractylodes",
            "chinese": "",
            "latin": "Rhizoma Atractylodis Macrocephalae",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/rhizome-of-largehead-atractylodes",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/rhizome-of-largehead-atractylodes"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Fu Ling",
            "grams": "9",
            "role": "chief",
            "job": "Poria drains damp and firms the stool.",
            "herb_slug": "indian-bread",
            "english": "Poria",
            "chinese": "茯苓",
            "latin": "Poria",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/indian-bread",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/indian-bread"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Shan Yao",
            "grams": "9",
            "role": "deputy",
            "job": "Chinese yam tonifies the Spleen and holds the stool.",
            "herb_slug": "common-yam-rhizome",
            "english": "Chinese Yam Rhizome",
            "chinese": "山药",
            "latin": "Rhizoma Dioscoreae",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/common-yam-rhizome",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/common-yam-rhizome"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Bai Bian Dou",
            "grams": "9",
            "role": "deputy",
            "job": "Hyacinth bean strengthens the Spleen and leaches damp.",
            "herb_slug": "white-hyacinth-bean",
            "english": "White Hyacinth Bean",
            "chinese": "白扁豆",
            "latin": "Semen Lablab Album",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/white-hyacinth-bean",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/white-hyacinth-bean"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Lian Zi",
            "grams": "9",
            "role": "deputy",
            "job": "Lotus seed tonifies the Spleen and stops diarrhea.",
            "herb_slug": "lotus-seed",
            "english": "Lotus Seed",
            "chinese": "莲子",
            "latin": "Semen Nelumbinis",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/lotus-seed",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/lotus-seed"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Yi Yi Ren",
            "grams": "9",
            "role": "assistant",
            "job": "Job's tears leach damp and firm the stool.",
            "herb_slug": "seed-of-jobstears",
            "english": "Job's Tears Seed",
            "chinese": "薏苡仁",
            "latin": "Semen Coicis",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/seed-of-jobstears",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/seed-of-jobstears"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Sha Ren",
            "grams": "6",
            "role": "assistant",
            "job": "Amomum wakes the Spleen and stops bloating.",
            "herb_slug": "villous-amomum-fruit",
            "english": "Villous Amomum Fruit",
            "chinese": "砂仁",
            "latin": "Fructus Amomi",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/villous-amomum-fruit",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/villous-amomum-fruit"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Jie Geng",
            "grams": "6",
            "role": "envoy",
            "job": "Platycodon carries the formula up to the Lung and lifts the qi.",
            "herb_slug": "platycodon-root",
            "english": "Platycodon Root",
            "chinese": "桔梗",
            "latin": "Radix Platycodi",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/platycodon-root",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/platycodon-root"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Zhi Gan Cao",
            "grams": "6",
            "role": "envoy",
            "job": "Honey-fried licorice harmonizes.",
            "herb_slug": "prepared-liauorice-root",
            "english": "Honey-Fried Licorice Root",
            "chinese": "炙甘草",
            "latin": "Radix Glycyrrhizae Praeparata",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/prepared-liauorice-root",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/prepared-liauorice-root"
            }
        }
    ],
    "actions": [
        "Tonifies the qi and strengthens the Spleen",
        "Leaches dampness and stops diarrhea",
        "Supports the Lung through the Spleen"
    ],
    "how_it_works": "The four gentlemen rebuild the Spleen. Yam, hyacinth bean, lotus seed, and Job's tears are all foods as much as herbs, and each one both tonifies and soaks up water, which is why the stool firms without the harshness of an astringent. Platycodon lifts the recovered qi to the Lung, which is why it also helps a weak person's phlegmy cough.",
    "modifications": [
        {
            "for": "Watery diarrhea with cold",
            "add": [
                "Gan Jiang",
                "Rou Dou Kou"
            ],
            "note": "Warming and binding herbs."
        },
        {
            "for": "Diarrhea with food sitting undigested",
            "add": [
                "Shan Zha",
                "Shen Qu"
            ],
            "note": "Digestive herbs."
        },
        {
            "for": "Prolapse with the diarrhea",
            "add": [
                "Huang Qi",
                "Sheng Ma"
            ],
            "note": "Toward Bu Zhong Yi Qi Tang."
        }
    ],
    "cautions": [
        "Not for diarrhea with heat: burning, urgency, a yellow coat, fever. That is damp heat and needs clearing.",
        "Not for acute food poisoning or a fresh infection.",
        "Pause during a cold or flu."
    ],
    "forms": [
        "teapills",
        "concentrated tablets",
        "granules",
        "powder",
        "decoction"
    ],
    "typical_dose": {
        "teapills": "8 pills, three times a day with warm water, the usual label dose",
        "powder": "6 grams twice a day stirred into warm water or congee, the classic way",
        "course": "One to three months."
    },
    "cousins": [
        {
            "slug": "si-jun-zi-tang",
            "difference": "The plain base without the damp-leaching food herbs."
        },
        {
            "slug": "bu-zhong-yi-qi-tang",
            "difference": "For diarrhea with exhaustion and sagging; lifts rather than leaches."
        },
        {
            "slug": "liu-jun-zi-tang",
            "difference": "For nausea and phlegm rather than loose stools."
        }
    ],
    "commerce": {
        "store": "supplementsapothecary.com",
        "store_name": "Supplements Apothecary",
        "store_slug": "shen-ling-bai-zhu-san",
        "store_url": "https://www.supplementsapothecary.com/supplement/shen-ling-bai-zhu-san",
        "status": "planned",
        "label_check": "The box reads Shen Ling Bai Zhu San or Wan with the characters 参苓白术. Ten ingredients including Lotus seed, Hyacinth bean, Chinese yam, and Job's tears."
    },
    "conditions": [
        "diarrhea",
        "digestive-weakness",
        "poor-appetite",
        "fatigue",
        "abdominal-distension",
        "productive-cough"
    ],
    "sources": [
        {
            "title": "Bensky, Scheid, Ellis and Barolet, Chinese Herbal Medicine: Formulas and Strategies, 2nd edition",
            "note": "Composition, actions, indications, and modifications."
        }
    ],
    "meta": {
        "status": "published",
        "last_updated": "2026-10-12",
        "reviewed_by": null
    },
    "_links": {
        "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/formula/shen-ling-bai-zhu-san",
        "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/formula/shen-ling-bai-zhu-san",
        "index": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/formulas"
    }
}