Natural Herb Library

Classic Chinese herbal formulas

Which Chinese herbal formula fits your pattern?

A formula is chosen for a picture, not a disease name. Find the picture that matches you on the patterns index, then open the formula built for it. Every page shows the herbs inside, what each one does, the signs it is given for, and the cautions.

55 formulas 17 categories View API data

Release the exterior

5 herbs Gui Zhi Tang 桂枝汤 Cinnamon Twig Decoction The first formula in the oldest formula book. For a cold with chills, a mild fever, a stiff neck, and sweating that does not make you feel better, in a person who dislikes wind. Five kitchen herbs that harmonize the body's defenses rather than forcing a sweat. Take it hot, then eat rice porridge and go under the blankets. For: Exterior Deficiency with Spontaneous Sweating · Lung Qi Deficiency 10 herbs Yin Qiao San 银翘散 Honeysuckle and Forsythia Powder The first-day formula for a hot cold. A sore throat, a fever with only slight chills, headache, thirst, and a cough, with a red tongue tip. Honeysuckle and forsythia cool and clear while the light herbs vent the heat out through the surface. Take it at the first scratch in the throat, not three days later. For: Wind-Heat

Clear heat

4 herbs Dao Chi San 导赤散 Guide Out the Red Powder Four gentle herbs that drain Heart fire out through the urine. For mouth and tongue ulcers that burn, irritability and thirst, and dark, scanty, burning urination, all at once. Written for children by the father of Chinese pediatrics, and still the mildest fire formula on the shelf. For: Heart Fire 4 herbs Huang Lian Jie Du Tang 黄连解毒汤 Coptis Decoction to Relieve Toxicity Four of the most bitter, cold herbs in the pharmacy, one for each level of the body. For fire everywhere: high fever, a red face, a bitter dry mouth, insomnia and agitation, hot sores and boils, bleeding from heat, and burning dysentery. A short, sharp course while the fire is put out. For: Stomach Fire · Liver Fire · Heart Fire · Damp Heat in the Lower Burner 10 herbs Long Dan Xie Gan Tang 龙胆泻肝汤 Gentian Decoction to Drain the Liver The formula for Liver fire and damp heat in the lower body. Fire going up: a splitting headache, red eyes, a bitter mouth, rage, ringing ears. Damp heat going down: burning urination, genital itch or swelling, yellow discharge, a rash in the groin. Bitter, cold, and fast, for a short course only. For: Liver Fire · Damp Heat in the Lower Burner · Liver and Gallbladder Damp Heat 5 herbs Qing Wei San 清胃散 Clear the Stomach Powder The classic formula for Stomach fire in the gums. For red, swollen gums that bleed when brushed, a throbbing toothache that prefers cold, bad breath, and a thirst for cold drinks. Five herbs, used for a short course while the fire is put out. For: Stomach Fire 5 herbs Yu Nu Jian 玉女煎 Jade Woman Decoction For toothache, loose teeth, and bleeding gums when Stomach heat sits on top of a dry, yin-deficient body. The person is thirsty and hot in the mouth but also tired and dry, with a red tongue that has lost its coat. It cools the Stomach and refills the yin in one formula. For: Stomach Fire · Kidney Yin Deficiency with Empty Heat · Stomach Yin Deficiency

Harmonize

10 herbs Jia Wei Xiao Yao San 加味逍遥散 Augmented Rambling Powder Xiao Yao San with two cooling herbs added. For Liver qi stagnation that has sat long enough to heat up: irritability tipping into anger, a red face, hot flashes, a dry bitter mouth, acne, restless sleep, and periods that come early or heavy. The go-to for stressed heat, including the menopausal kind. For: Liver Qi Stagnation Turning to Heat · Liver Qi Stagnation · Liver Overacting on the Spleen 4 herbs Si Ni San 四逆散 Frigid Extremities Powder Four herbs for cold fingers and toes on a warm body. The warmth is there, but stuck Liver qi stops it reaching the hands and feet. Also for tight ribs, a knotted stomach, and loose stools with cramping that follow stress. Small, old, and surprisingly broad. For: Liver Qi Stagnation · Liver Overacting on the Spleen 8 herbs Xiao Yao San 逍遥散 Rambling Powder The most used formula in the world for stress. For Liver qi stagnation sitting on a tired, blood-deficient body: tense and moody, tight under the ribs, sighing, bloated, tired, eating badly, with headaches, breast tenderness, and a cycle that is irregular or painful. It frees the Liver, feeds the Spleen, and builds blood in one. For: Liver Qi Stagnation · Liver Overacting on the Spleen · Liver Blood Deficiency

Dispel dampness

8 herbs Ba Zheng San 八正散 Eight-Herb Powder for Rectification The bladder formula. For burning, urgent, painful, frequent urination with dark cloudy urine, a dry mouth, and a full lower belly: damp heat in the bladder. Eight herbs that cool the heat and flush it out through the urine. Short, sharp, and for the acute picture. For: Damp Heat in the Lower Burner 6 herbs Ping Wei San 平胃散 Calm the Stomach Powder Four drying, moving herbs for a damp, stuffed stomach. Bloating and fullness, no appetite, nausea, belching, heavy limbs, loose stools, and a thick greasy white coat, in a person who is not weak so much as waterlogged. It dries the damp and gets the stomach moving. For: Dampness in the Spleen · Phlegm Damp 5 herbs Wu Ling San 五苓散 Five-Ingredient Powder with Poria Five herbs that move stuck water. For swelling, scanty urine, a thirst where water comes straight back up, watery diarrhea, dizziness, and a heavy waterlogged feeling, in a person who is not deeply cold. The everyday water formula, gentle enough for a child's diarrhea. For: Dampness in the Spleen · Kidney Yang Deficiency 3 herbs Yin Chen Hao Tang 茵陈蒿汤 Artemisia Yinchenhao Decoction Three herbs for damp-heat jaundice: bright yellow eyes and skin, dark tea-colored urine, nausea, a full belly, thirst, and constipation, with a yellow greasy coat. Capillaris is the jaundice herb, and this is the formula built around it. For: Liver and Gallbladder Damp Heat · Damp Heat in the Lower Burner

Warm the interior

4 herbs Li Zhong Wan 理中丸 Regulate the Middle Pill Four herbs that relight a cold stove. For Spleen yang deficiency: a cold belly that aches and likes a hot water bottle, watery stools, nausea, no thirst, cold hands, and tiredness. Si Jun Zi Tang's tonics with dried ginger in place of poria, which turns a tonic into a warmer. For: Spleen Yang Deficiency · Spleen and Kidney Yang Deficiency 5 herbs Zhen Wu Tang 真武汤 True Warrior Decoction Warms the Kidney and Spleen yang to move water that has pooled. For swelling in the legs and face, heavy limbs, scanty urine, watery stools, a cold belly that aches, dizziness, and palpitations, in a cold, pale, puffy person. Named for the warrior of the north, the water direction. For: Kidney Yang Deficiency · Spleen and Kidney Yang Deficiency

Tonify qi

8 herbs Bu Zhong Yi Qi Tang 补中益气汤 Tonify the Middle and Augment the Qi Decoction The lifting formula. For Spleen qi so weak that things sag: exhaustion, a weak voice, shortness of breath, sweating on effort, a dragging feeling in the belly, prolapse, hemorrhoids, chronic diarrhea, and a low fever that comes with tiredness. It tonifies the qi and then two light herbs carry it upward. For: Sinking of Spleen Qi · Spleen Qi Deficiency · Lung Qi Deficiency 6 herbs Liu Jun Zi Tang 六君子汤 Six-Gentlemen Decoction Si Jun Zi Tang plus two herbs for phlegm and nausea. For the tired person with weak digestion who also feels queasy, has a full chest, brings up thin white phlegm, and shows a greasy white coat on the tongue. The everyday formula for a weak, damp stomach. For: Spleen Qi Deficiency · Phlegm Damp · Dampness in the Spleen 10 herbs Shen Ling Bai Zhu San 参苓白术散 Ginseng, Poria and Atractylodes Powder 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. For: Spleen Qi Deficiency · Dampness in the Spleen 3 herbs Sheng Mai San 生脉散 Generate the Pulse Powder Three herbs for qi and yin lost together. For the person who is short of breath, sweating, dry-mouthed, and worn out, with a thin weak pulse: after summer heat, a fever, a long cough, or a long illness. One herb restores the qi, one the fluid, and one holds both in. For: Lung Qi Deficiency · Lung Yin Deficiency · Heart Yin Deficiency 4 herbs Si Jun Zi Tang 四君子汤 Four-Gentlemen Decoction The base qi formula and the gentlest Spleen tonic. Four mild herbs for the person who is tired, pale, soft-voiced, eats little, and has loose stools. Nearly every digestion formula in Chinese medicine starts here. For: Spleen Qi Deficiency · Lung Qi Deficiency 9 herbs Xiang Sha Liu Jun Zi Tang 香砂六君子汤 Six-Gentlemen Decoction with Aucklandia and Amomum Liu Jun Zi Tang plus two aromatic herbs that move the stomach. For the tired, weak-digestion person who also bloats, belches, has a dull stomach ache, feels full after a few bites, and brings food back up. The formula for a Spleen that is both weak and stuck. For: Spleen Qi Deficiency · Dampness in the Spleen · Liver Overacting on the Spleen 3 herbs Yu Ping Feng San 玉屏风散 Jade Windscreen Powder Three herbs that build the body's outer screen. For the person who catches every cold, sweats for no reason, dislikes wind and drafts, and has allergies that flare in spring. It is taken when you are well, to stop the next cold, not during one. For: Exterior Deficiency with Spontaneous Sweating · Lung Qi Deficiency · Spleen Qi Deficiency

Tonify blood

2 herbs Dang Gui Bu Xue Tang 当归补血汤 Tangkuei Decoction to Tonify the Blood Two herbs, five parts astragalus to one part angelica, to rebuild blood fast after it has been lost. For the pale, tired, flushed, thirsty person after heavy bleeding, childbirth, or surgery, whose pulse feels large but empty. It builds blood from qi, which is the only fast way to build it. For: Blood Deficiency · Qi and Blood Deficiency 12 herbs Gui Pi Tang 归脾汤 Restore the Spleen Decoction The formula for Heart and Spleen deficiency: tired, worried, sleeping badly, forgetful, with a poor appetite and anything that bleeds oozing pale and slow. It feeds the kitchen and the lamp at the same time, building the blood the Heart needs to settle at night. For: Heart and Spleen Deficiency · Heart Blood Deficiency · Spleen Qi Deficiency 4 herbs Si Wu Tang 四物汤 Four-Substance Decoction The base blood formula of Chinese medicine. Four herbs for blood deficiency: a pale dull face, pale nails and lips, dizziness, blurry vision, palpitations, light sleep, and a scanty, late, or painful cycle. Two herbs build blood and two keep it moving. For: Blood Deficiency · Liver Blood Deficiency · Heart Blood Deficiency

Tonify qi and blood

10 herbs Ba Zhen Tang 八珍汤 Eight-Treasure Decoction The four qi herbs and the four blood herbs in one formula. For the person who is both weak and pale: tired, short of breath, dizzy, a sallow face, palpitations, poor appetite, and in women a light or late cycle. The standard rebuilding formula after illness, blood loss, surgery, or childbirth. For: Qi and Blood Deficiency · Heart and Spleen Deficiency · Blood Deficiency 10 herbs Shi Quan Da Bu Tang 十全大补汤 All-Inclusive Great Tonifying Decoction Ba Zhen Tang plus astragalus and cinnamon. For deep qi and blood deficiency with cold: exhausted, pale, cold hands and feet, sweating on effort, dizzy, with sores or wounds that will not heal and a long recovery after illness or treatment. The strongest general tonic in the family. For: Qi and Blood Deficiency · Spleen and Kidney Yang Deficiency

Tonify yin

4 herbs Da Bu Yin Wan 大补阴丸 Great Tonify the Yin Pill Four herbs for yin deficiency with strong empty heat: a deep steaming heat in the bones, night sweats that soak the sheets, hot flashes, coughing blood, nocturnal emissions, and sore knees. Heavier than Zhi Bai Di Huang Wan on both sides: more yin, more cooling. For: Kidney Yin Deficiency with Empty Heat · Lung Yin Deficiency 2 herbs Er Zhi Wan 二至丸 Two-Ultimate Pill Two gentle herbs for Liver and Kidney yin deficiency: early grey hair, dizziness, blurry or dry eyes, dream-filled sleep, a dry mouth, and a sore back, in a mild form. Light enough to take for a long time and to add alongside a rehmannia formula. For: Liver and Kidney Yin Deficiency · Kidney Yin Deficiency · Liver Yin Deficiency 6 herbs Liu Wei Di Huang Wan 六味地黄丸 Six-Ingredient Pill with Rehmannia The base formula for Kidney yin deficiency and the most widely sold Chinese patent formula in the world. For the person who is dry, warm, and worn down: sore low back, dry mouth at night, ringing ears, dizziness, and a tiredness that sleep does not fix. For: Kidney Yin Deficiency · Kidney Essence Deficiency · Liver and Kidney Yin Deficiency 8 herbs Mai Wei Di Huang Wan 麦味地黄丸 Ophiopogon, Schisandra and Rehmannia Pill Liu Wei Di Huang Wan with ophiopogon and schisandra for the lungs. For Lung and Kidney yin deficiency: a dry cough that drags on, a dry throat, wheezing on effort, night sweats, and the usual sore back and dry mouth underneath. Also sold as the Eight Immortals pill. For: Lung Yin Deficiency · Kidney Yin Deficiency 8 herbs Qi Ju Di Huang Wan 杞菊地黄丸 Lycium, Chrysanthemum and Rehmannia Pill Liu Wei Di Huang Wan with goji and chrysanthemum for the eyes. For Liver and Kidney yin deficiency that shows in the eyes first: dry, tired, blurry eyes, floaters, light sensitivity, and tearing in wind, with the usual dry mouth and sore back underneath. For: Liver and Kidney Yin Deficiency · Kidney Yin Deficiency · Liver Yin Deficiency 6 herbs Yi Guan Jian 一贯煎 Linking Decoction The formula for a dry, stuck Liver. A dull ache or tightness under the ribs, acid or a sour taste, a dry mouth and throat, and a red tongue with little coat, in a person who is both yin-deficient and tense. It nourishes the Liver and Kidney and gently moves the Liver qi at the same time. For: Liver Yin Deficiency · Liver and Kidney Yin Deficiency · Stomach Yin Deficiency 5 herbs Yi Wei Tang 益胃汤 Benefit the Stomach Decoction Five ingredients that put the moisture back into a Stomach that heat has dried out. For the dry mouth that does not want to drink, the missing appetite, the dry retching, and the dry stools that follow a fever or years of Stomach heat, with a tongue peeled bare in the middle. For: Stomach Yin Deficiency 8 herbs Zhi Bai Di Huang Wan 知柏地黄丸 Anemarrhena, Phellodendron and Rehmannia Pill Liu Wei Di Huang Wan with two cooling herbs added. For Kidney yin deficiency that has started to run hot: night sweats, hot palms and soles, a dry mouth that wakes you, loose teeth with gums that bleed a little, and red cheeks in the afternoon. For: Kidney Yin Deficiency with Empty Heat · Kidney Yin Deficiency 8 herbs Zuo Gui Wan 左归丸 Restore the Left Kidney Pill A pure, rich Kidney yin and essence tonic with no draining herbs. For the deeper, older deficiency that Liu Wei is too light for: weak bones, loose teeth, dizziness, night sweats, dry mouth, and a worn-out feeling that is years old. Zhang Jie-bin wrote it for the person whose yin is truly spent. For: Kidney Essence Deficiency · Kidney Yin Deficiency

Tonify yang

6 herbs Er Xian Tang 二仙汤 Two-Immortal Decoction The modern menopause formula for the mixed picture: hot flashes and night sweats on top, cold feet and a cold aching back underneath, with tiredness, irritability, and sometimes high blood pressure. Kidney yin and yang are both low and the fire is flaring. It warms, cools, and nourishes at the same time. For: Kidney Yang Deficiency · Kidney Yin Deficiency with Empty Heat 8 herbs Jin Gui Shen Qi Wan 金匮肾气丸 Kidney Qi Pill from the Golden Cabinet The warming cousin of Liu Wei Di Huang Wan and the base formula for Kidney yang deficiency. For the person who runs cold: a cold aching low back, cold knees and feet, frequent clear urine and trips to the bathroom at night, low drive, and an exhaustion that is worse in winter. For: Kidney Yang Deficiency · Kidney Essence Deficiency 10 herbs You Gui Wan 右归丸 Restore the Right Kidney Pill The deep yang tonic, the mirror of Zuo Gui Wan. For the person whose Kidney fire has been low for years: exhausted, always cold, a cold weak back, loose teeth and thinning bones, low fertility, loose stools, and a pale puffy face. Richer and warmer than Jin Gui Shen Qi Wan, with no draining herbs. For: Kidney Yang Deficiency · Kidney Essence Deficiency · Spleen and Kidney Yang Deficiency

Regulate qi

5 herbs Ban Xia Hou Po Tang 半夏厚朴汤 Pinellia and Magnolia Bark Decoction The formula for plum-pit throat: the feeling of a lump in the throat that you can neither swallow nor cough up, with chest tightness and sometimes nausea or a cough. Stuck qi and phlegm have knotted together, usually from stress. Five herbs that untie the knot. For: Liver Qi Stagnation · Phlegm Damp 7 herbs Chai Hu Shu Gan San 柴胡疏肝散 Bupleurum Powder to Spread the Liver Pure qi moving for a stuck Liver when pain is the main complaint. Tightness and pain under the ribs or across the chest, belching, sighing, a bloated stomach, and a short temper, in a person who is not tired or pale. Where Xiao Yao San supports and soothes, this one simply opens. For: Liver Qi Stagnation

Invigorate blood

6 herbs Tao Hong Si Wu Tang 桃红四物汤 Four-Substance Decoction with Safflower and Peach Pit Si Wu Tang plus two blood movers. For blood deficiency with stasis: periods that are painful and dark with clots, that come late or irregularly, a dull or purple complexion, fixed stabbing pain, and a dusky tongue. It builds the blood and gets it moving in the same dose. For: Blood Stasis · Blood Deficiency 11 herbs Xue Fu Zhu Yu Tang 血府逐瘀汤 Drive Out Stasis in the Mansion of Blood Decoction The most used blood-stasis formula. For stuck blood in the chest: fixed stabbing chest pain, a headache that stays in one spot, chronic insomnia and restlessness, palpitations, a dark complexion and lips, and a purple tongue. Si Wu Tang's blood herbs with peach kernel, safflower, and the qi movers that open the chest. For: Blood Stasis · Liver Qi Stagnation

Calm the spirit

3 herbs Gan Mai Da Zao Tang 甘麦大枣汤 Licorice, Wheat and Jujube Decoction Three kitchen ingredients for a dry, upset Heart. For the person who cries easily, feels sad and restless for no reason, cannot settle, sleeps badly, and yawns and sighs through the day. The old texts called it restless organ disorder. It is as gentle as a formula can be. For: Heart Yin Deficiency · Heart Blood Deficiency 2 herbs Jiao Tai Wan 交泰丸 Grand Communication Pill Two herbs, ten parts coptis to one part cinnamon, to make the Heart and Kidney meet again. For insomnia with a hot restless mind above and a cold or empty Kidney below: palpitations, irritability, a dry mouth, and a back or feet that run cold. The smallest formula in the sleep family. For: Heart and Kidney Not Communicating · Heart Fire 5 herbs Suan Zao Ren Tang 酸枣仁汤 Sour Jujube Decoction Five herbs for the sleep problem of Liver blood deficiency: you lie down tired and cannot switch off, you wake easily, your mouth is dry, your mind is a little irritable, and your heart flutters. The old, simple sleep formula for the person who is worn down rather than wound up. For: Heart Blood Deficiency · Liver Blood Deficiency · Heart and Spleen Deficiency 13 herbs Tian Wang Bu Xin Dan 天王补心丹 Emperor of Heaven's Special Pill to Tonify the Heart The classic formula for insomnia with heat in a dry person. Hard to fall asleep, restless and dream-filled when you do, palpitations, forgetfulness, a dry mouth, mouth ulcers, night sweats, and dry stools. Heart and Kidney yin are low, so the Heart fire has nothing to cool it. For: Heart and Kidney Not Communicating · Heart Yin Deficiency · Heart Blood Deficiency

Expel wind

11 herbs Tian Ma Gou Teng Yin 天麻钩藤饮 Gastrodia and Uncaria Decoction The modern formula for Liver yang rising and the high blood pressure that goes with it. A pounding headache, dizziness, ringing ears, a red face, insomnia, and numb or trembling limbs, in a person whose Liver and Kidney yin can no longer hold the yang down. It calms the wind above and feeds the root below. For: Liver Yang Rising · Liver and Kidney Yin Deficiency

Treat dryness

10 herbs Bai He Gu Jin Tang 百合固金汤 Lily Bulb Decoction to Preserve the Metal For the long dry cough of Lung and Kidney yin deficiency with heat: a dry sore throat, sticky or blood-streaked phlegm, wheezing, hot palms and soles, and night sweats. Metal is the Lung. The formula preserves it by refilling the Kidney that waters it. For: Lung Yin Deficiency · Kidney Yin Deficiency with Empty Heat 7 herbs Sha Shen Mai Dong Tang 沙参麦冬汤 Glehnia and Ophiopogon Decoction A light, moistening formula for dryness in the Lung and Stomach: a dry tickly cough with little phlegm, a dry throat, thirst, and a dry mouth, usually after a fever or in a dry autumn. Gentle enough for a child and short enough to take for a week or two. For: Lung Yin Deficiency · Stomach Yin Deficiency 8 herbs Yang Yin Qing Fei Tang 养阴清肺汤 Nourish the Yin and Clear the Lungs Decoction For a dry, burning sore throat in a dry person: a throat that is red, raw, and swollen, with hoarseness, a dry cough, and a dry mouth, where the trouble is heat on a yin-deficient base rather than a fresh cold. Written for diphtheria; now the throat formula for heat and dryness. For: Lung Yin Deficiency

Expel phlegm

6 herbs Er Chen Tang 二陈汤 Two-Cured Decoction The base phlegm formula. For a wet cough with lots of white phlegm, a full chest, nausea, a heavy head, dizziness, and a greasy white tongue coat. Four herbs that dry damp and move the phlegm out, named for the two that improve with age: tangerine peel and pinellia. For: Phlegm Damp · Dampness in the Spleen 8 herbs Wen Dan Tang 温胆汤 Warm the Gallbladder Decoction Er Chen Tang with bamboo shavings and bitter orange added. For phlegm heat unsettling the Gallbladder and Stomach: nausea, a bitter taste, dizziness, palpitations, anxiety, timidity, and insomnia with a greasy yellow coat. The formula for the queasy, jumpy, sleepless person with too much phlegm. For: Phlegm Heat · Phlegm Damp

Reduce food stagnation

7 herbs Bao He Wan 保和丸 Preserve Harmony Pill The formula for a stuffed stomach. For food that sits after overeating: fullness and bloating, sour belching, acid, nausea, no wish to eat, and loose stools or constipation, with a thick greasy coat. Seven herbs that digest the backlog and move it along. The day-after-the-feast formula. For: Food Stagnation · Dampness in the Spleen

How to use the formula index

Start from your signs, not from a formula name you heard. The patterns index sorts the common pictures by what is low, stuck, hot, cold, or damp. Each pattern names the formulas chosen for it. Each formula links every herb to its monograph, so you can check safety and interactions before you buy.