Method for Refining the Ling Sha Dan，From *Collected Medical Formulas* (Vol. 149), citing *Simple Formulas*.，For deficiency of true essence and exhaustion, depletion of the viscera, alternating chills and fever, bone-steaming fever and night sweats, restlessness of the mind, confusion and occasional startles, coughing and shortness of breath, vomiting of cold phlegm, reduced appetite and loss of taste, frequent and watery urination with occasional white turbidity, emaciation, stroke with phlegm-induced syncope, chronic spleen-related diarrhea, and all manner of deficiencies and debility.
Method for Refining the Ling Sha Dan
Formulas Name : Method for Refining the Ling Sha Dan
Chinese Name : 法炼灵砂丹
Drug Formulation
3 liang of high-quality sulfur and 9 liang of mercury.
Source
From *Collected Medical Formulas* (Vol. 149), citing *Simple Formulas*.
Processing
Select a day of the “Heavenly Physician” zodiac sign and a “Yellow Path” fire day at noon. First, grind the sulfur into a fine powder. Use a common household iron pot filled with bran charcoal fire to slowly melt it into a liquid. Remove from the heat, then gradually add the mercury to the pot, using an iron spoon to mix the two ingredients together three times, slowly refining them into a blue-black sand.Allow it to cool and dry, then remove it and grind it into a fine powder. Next, use a high-quality crucible. Place a medium-sized Jian ware bowl—preferably one that has been fire-calcined—on top of the crucible. Secure it firmly with iron wire crisscrossed in two directions. Then, mix vinegar with cinnabar powder to form a paste and use it to tightly seal the seams of the bowl. Additionally, use vinegar mixed with cinnabar paste to coat the seams around the rim of the crucible, and let it dry in the sun.Once the seams of the Jian ware bowl are dry, use the cinnabar paste again, applying it several times with a bamboo comb. Next, select a day of the “Heavenly Physician” and the “Yellow Path Fire” at noon. First, place 1 jin of bran charcoal upright in the furnace, then securely position the crucible. Fill the Jian ware bowl with 9 fen of water; as it evaporates, gradually add more water,Calcine until the Wei hour, then place 1 jin of charcoal against the side of the crucible, approximately 1 cun away. At the Shen hour, add 2 jin of charcoal to the side of the crucible, approximately 2 cun away. At the Hai hour, add 1 jin of charcoal to the side of the crucible, approximately 3 cun away. At the Zi hour, remove the fire from beneath the furnace, pour out the liquid from the cup, and refill it with 9 fen of well water. At the Yin hour, remove the cinnabar and grind it into a fine powder.Use glutinous rice flour to form cakes or pills the size of small sesame seeds; the smaller ones should be like millet grains. Once all the pills are formed, place them in a tray lined with paper ash. Remove them after two days and pound them with a cloth bag or cover them with a bowl or cup, pounding until they become smooth and lustrous.
Benefits
For deficiency of true essence and exhaustion, depletion of the viscera, alternating chills and fever, bone-steaming fever and night sweats, restlessness of the mind, confusion and occasional startles, coughing and shortness of breath, vomiting of cold phlegm, reduced appetite and loss of taste, frequent and watery urination with occasional white turbidity, emaciation, stroke with phlegm-induced syncope, chronic spleen-related diarrhea, and all manner of deficiencies and debility.
Instructions for Use
Take 5–10 pills per dose, increasing to 30 pills if necessary, and swallow with Ginseng and Jujube Decoction. For regular use, swallow with warm wine or salted water. For various deficiencies and insufficiencies, failure of qi to rise and fall, bladder hernia, dribbling urination, seminal emission, and leukorrhea: decoct roasted fennel and rock salt in wine, then let it cool to a warm temperature before swallowing;For depleted original qi, emaciation, weakness, and loss of appetite, take with warm wine or salted broth; for consumptive disease with shortness of breath, coughing, and restlessness, take with a decoction of opium poppy, black plum, and ginger, followed by a light meal; for heat-type consumptive disease with dry mouth, intermittent fever, emaciation, and anorexia, take with a decoction of Fritillaria and Bupleurum; for cold-type consumptive disease with tremors due to deficiency and weakness in the hands and feet, take with a mixture of ginger, aconite, and musk in wine;For night sweats, night sweats from yin deficiency, frequent urination, and cloudy, white urine: take oyster shell (calcined, in large quantity), raw sulfur (in small quantity), and salt—these three ingredients—finely ground and taken with cold wine; for all cases of consumptive disease in young men, including the leakage of essence and blood, progressive wasting, sallow complexion, loss of appetite, timidity, weakness, and critical condition: take the decoction of ginseng, Bupleurum (in large quantity), and Pinellia (in small quantity).Women, the elderly, and children—all cases of deficiency syndrome may take this formula, but the dosage should be adjusted according to the severity of the condition and the patient’s age.For men and women afflicted by pathogenic factors, dissolve the mixture in musk wine or well water; externally, place 7 grains of musk and a 7-cun peach branch in a crimson pouch and hang it before the patient’s chest to ward off the evil. For men and women invaded by pathogenic factors with persistent intermittent malaria, take it with Peach and Willow Decoction; for malaria with alternating chills and fever, take it with Amomum and Ginger Decoction; for abdominal distension, body pain, and lower back pain, take it with Curcuma Decoction.In cases of severe spleen-stomach deficiency where qi fails to rise and fall properly, resulting in vomiting, regurgitation, and severe abdominal pain, chew 2 cloves, 5 grains of black pepper, and half a cun of licorice together, then swallow 10 pills with hot soup; for severe spleen-stomach deficiency with depletion of body fluids and loss of appetite, administer with ginseng decoction or rice water; for cold distension and cramping pain in the chest and abdomen, as well as pain in the upper and lower abdomen, administer with aniseed decoction;For abdominal pain caused by cold qi attacking the stomach, take with Mu Xiang Decoction; for heart pain, take with Dried Ginger and Liangjiang Decoction. For men and women experiencing restlessness, mental agitation, and delusional visions resembling possession, take with Agarwood and Lampwick Decoction; for nocturnal emissions, take with White Poria Powder Decoction; for cold-induced diarrhea, take with either Dried Ginger Decoction or rice water; for bloody dysentery, take with Licorice Decoction;For white dysentery, take with Dried Ginger Decoction; for red-and-white dysentery, take with Licorice and Dried Ginger Decoction; for loose stools due to lumbar weakness and slippery intestines, take with a decoction of Cardamom, Millet Husks, Dried Tangerine Peel, Fresh Ginger, Aged Rice, and Northern Jujubes; if the patient is gravely ill and unable to eat, use the aforementioned decoction to take orally—this can lead to a complete recovery, restore appetite, and even bring the patient back from the brink of death; for intestinal wind with bloody diarrhea, take with Sophora Flower and Cypress Leaf Decoction;For all wind-related disorders in men and women, including body aches and soreness, take with pine-knot wine; for paralysis with inability to lift the limbs, take with a decoction of ginseng and aconite; for stroke-induced aphasia, take with a decoction of wood fragrant and aconite; for wandering wind causing widespread pain, chew raw green onions and take with wine; for stroke-induced phlegm-induced syncope, cholera with muscle spasms, or gastric inversion with vomiting, take with a clove decoction;For lower back and leg pain in both men and women, take with salted wood apple wine or salted water; for lower back and foot pain, take with a decoction of wood apple and sweet peach; for dry or damp beriberi causing pain and inability to walk, take with wood apple wine; for testicular or kidney torsion, with shortness of breath, pain, and swelling, take with a decoction of roasted fennel, Sanleng, and jujubes; for blood-related disorders—including blood poisoning, menorrhagia, and blood stasis—take with a decoction of Angelica sinensis and Paeonia lactiflora;For postpartum stroke with opisthotonos and loss of consciousness, take a decoction of Schizonepeta in wine; once consciousness is regained, administer the pill with this same wine; for postpartum heat invading the blood chamber, causing mental confusion and incoherent speech resembling a malevolent spirit possession, take the formula with raw Rehmannia in wine; for infantile convulsions, take the formula with gold, silver, and mint in decoction; for chronic infantile convulsions, take the formula with ginseng and aconite in decoction.For children with spleen and stomach deficiency, mental confusion bordering on collapse, and critical condition, administer the decoction of Agarwood, Clove, and Aconite; for children with alternating chills and fever, abdominal pain caused by parasites, distended abdomen with visible blue veins, aversion to breast milk, and emaciation, administer the decoction of Evodia and Jujube. For children with intermittent episodes of deficiency-heat, twitching of the hands and feet, and startle reactions upon falling asleep, administer the decoction of Gold, Silver, and Peppermint.
Method for Refining the Ling Sha Dan,For deficiency of true essence and exhaustion, depletion of the viscera, alternating chills and fever, bone-steaming fever and night sweats, restlessness of the mind, confusion and occasional startles, coughing and shortness of breath, vomiting of cold phlegm, reduced appetite and loss of taste, frequent and watery urination with occasional white turbidity, emaciation, stroke with phlegm-induced syncope, chronic spleen-related diarrhea, and all manner of deficiencies and debility.