Too Weak to Recover? Doctor Zhang Jingyue’s “Tonifying Formation” — How a Soldier-Doctor Deployed Tonics Like Troops, Explained by Doctor Luo Dalun (Da Bu Yuan Jian · Zuo Gui & You Gui · Wu Fu Yin)

What people search for: how to choose the right tonic herbs / when to tonify yin and when to tonify yang / the best formula for severely damaged qi and blood / how to tonify kidney yin and kidney yang / Da Bu Yuan Jian / Zuo Gui Wan and You Gui Wan / Wu Fu Yin / why ginseng and prepared rehmannia are used together

Medical terms for this condition: qi deficiency (qi xu) · essence deficiency (jing xu) · yang deficiency (yang xu) · yin deficiency (yin xu) · ming men (life gate) fire · kidney essence (shen jing) · seeking yang within yin / seeking yin within yang · three tonics and three drains (san bu san xie)

Opening: this famous doctor really went to war

Doctor Zhang Jingyue (Zhang Jiebin, 1563–1640) came from Shaoxing in Zhejiang province during the Ming dynasty. He was the master of the warm-tonifying school (wen bu pai), and later generations respectfully called him “Zhang Shudi” — “Zhang the Prepared Rehmannia” — because he used prepared rehmannia (shu di huang) better than anyone. But many people do not know that this great physician was a soldier in his youth.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Zhang Jingyue is a fascinating character — he really served in the army. He crossed the Yalu River — yes, that’s right, he crossed the Yalu and went to fight abroad! At that time Japan invaded Korea, and Korea, as a tributary state of the Ming dynasty, begged the Ming court for help. The Ming sent troops into Korea to fight the Japanese and routed them completely. China fighting Japan — that campaign was fought most satisfyingly. Zhang Jingyue joined the campaign as a military staff officer with the army.

Zhang Jingyue had studied the art of war since childhood and had fought for real on the battlefield, which is why his way of prescribing is so distinctive — he called the formulas he created “New Formulas” (xin fang), to set them apart from the ancient ones. He laid out an “Eight Formations Chart” (ba zhen tu), exactly like commanding troops: he treated the formulas in his hand as battle formations, and sent one formation after another “out to fight.”

The Eight Formations of New Formulas: prescribing is deploying troops

The eight formations are tonify (bu), harmonize (he), attack (gong), disperse (san), cold (han), heat (re), secure (gu), and adapt (yin) — brought onto the field as circumstances demand. Today we talk about the first one — the tonifying formation (bu zhen) — with special attention to tonifying the kidney.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: “Lüe” means a strategic outline. Zhang Jingyue truly applied the art of war to seeing patients. Behind every one of his formulas trails a whole set of additions and subtractions (jia jian fa) — a formation is not sent out by rote, rigidly following the book, but “as the enemy changes, you change,” adjusting the strategy at any time. Treating illness and fighting a war are, at bottom, the same thing. Seen from this angle, I believe Zhang Jingyue saw this matter through to the very end — no doctor in history connected war and medicine as tightly as he did.

Tonifying Lesson One: when you’re deficient, first figure out where to tonify

What is the tonifying formation for? To produce tonifying formulas and fill deficiency. But “deficiency” comes in several kinds, and Zhang Jingyue sorted them out with total clarity:

Qi deficiency — tonify the upper: ginseng (ren shen), astragalus (huang qi) and the like
Essence deficiency — tonify the lower: prepared rehmannia (shu di), wolfberry (gou qi) and the like
Yang deficiency — tonify and warm at the same time: cinnamon (rou gui), aconite (fu zi), dried ginger (gan jiang) and the like (warming alone is not enough — it must be tonify-and-warm)
Yin deficiency — tonify and clear at the same time: ophiopogon (mai men dong), peony (shao yao), raw rehmannia (sheng di) and the like

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: I often use prepared rehmannia paired with wolfberry to tonify essence, tonify kidney essence, tonify the essence of the liver and kidney — this usage I learned from Zhang Jingyue; I was influenced by him. So everyone, do remember these methods well.

And Zhang Jingyue does not stop there — he goes on to explain the principle of yin and yang generating each other, and every sentence is solid substance:

There is qi that is deficient because of essence deficiency (the essence is depleted, so the qi is weak) — in that case, tonify the essence to transform qi. The Daoists say “the Dao gives birth to one, one gives birth to two, two gives birth to three, three gives birth to the ten thousand things”: kidney essence transforms into kidney qi, and kidney qi then divides into kidney yin and kidney yang.
There is essence that is deficient because of qi deficiency — in that case, tonify the qi to generate essence.
There is yang that leaves yin and separates — yang departing from yin is like fire departing from water; if you do not tonify yin, it cannot work.
There is water that loses fire and fails — water that has lost the warming of fire is ruined water. Fire and water must stay together: if you do not tonify the fire, the yin can never be restored.

The saying every TCM student must memorize: the one skilled in tonifying yang must seek yang within yin

At this point Zhang Jingyue speaks the enormously important saying of Chinese medical history:

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Yin and yang are opposites, but they are also mutually rooted, mutually generating, and inseparable. If you recognize only yang and reject yin, that is “solitary yang,” and solitary yang brings bad luck; if you recognize only yin and reject yang, the person is finished too. Yin and yang must stay together; they must be balanced. You cannot say, “I’ll take this one thing, and throw away that other one” — that is wrong.

“Thus the one skilled in tonifying yang must seek yang within yin, so that yang, aided by yin, generates and transforms without end; the one skilled in tonifying yin must seek yin within yang, so that yin, raised by yang, has a spring that never runs dry.”

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: This is an extremely important saying in Chinese medicine — it guides the fundamental approach to tonifying yin and tonifying yang, and students at TCM colleges must memorize it rock-solid. Once you have reached this level of understanding, your means of tonifying yin and yang are lifted to a higher plane. Why did Zhang Jingyue see so deeply? Because his vision was excellent — he truly understood the principle of yin-yang transformation, so his starting point was already high.

The first general: Da Bu Yuan Jian — the “number-one formula for turning heaven back, assisting transformation, rescuing the root and cultivating the origin”

The first formula to come up in the tonifying formation is Da Bu Yuan Jian — the Great Tonify the Origin Decoction.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: This formula treats men and women whose qi and blood are greatly ruined (qi xue da huai) — qi and blood damaged through and through — with loss of spirit, fear and danger, severe insufficiency of upright qi. Zhang Jingyue rated it extremely highly, calling it “the number-one essential formula for turning heaven back, assisting transformation, rescuing the root and cultivating the origin” (hui tian zan hua, jiu ben pei yuan di yi yao fang) — “turning heaven back” means pulling the lost upright qi back, “assisting transformation” means helping the body’s creative processes, and “cultivating the origin” means securing the original qi.

Look at the proportions of the formula’s ingredients and it is already fascinating — ginseng and prepared rehmannia lead, one above and one below:

Ginseng (ren shen): chiefly tonifies qi and yang. Small dose: 1–2 qian (3–6 g); large dose: 1–2 liang (30–60 g)!
Prepared rehmannia (shu di huang): chiefly tonifies essence and yin. Small dose: 2–3 qian (6–9 g); large dose: 2–3 liang (60–90 g)
Chinese yam (shan yao): tonifies the spleen, the lung, and the kidney — all three organs
Eucommia (du zhong): tonifies the liver and kidney, strengthens the lower back and knees
Chinese angelica (dang gui): nourishes the blood
Cornel (shan zhu yu): tonifies the liver and kidney (if the patient has stomach acid or acid reflux, leave it out)
Wolfberry (gou qi zi): tonifies the liver and kidney, tonifies essence
Honey-fried licorice (zhi gan cao): harmonizes all the herbs

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Think about it — who today dares to start with 60 grams of ginseng? But Zhang Jingyue tells you this measure: when you are truly saving a life, when a person is really about to go, you brew the medicine and pour it into the mouth mouthful by mouthful, drinking it again and again. Ginseng and prepared rehmannia, one above and one below — above it tonifies qi, below it tonifies essence — so the formula is quite comprehensive. This plan genuinely works when the body is in very poor condition and the upright qi cannot recover on its own. Fill up the ginseng and rehmannia amounts to the full measure, add a little angelica and such, and the effect is excellent — it can lift a person’s constitution right up. This is the formula that fights the frontal battle in the tonifying formation — tonifying comprehensively.

The formula also carries a set of additions and subtractions: if there is cold, add aconite, cinnamon, and baked ginger; if qi deficiency, add astragalus and atractylodes; if blood stasis, add chuanxiong and remove the cornel; if chronic diarrhea, add schisandra, psoralea, and the like.

Zuo Gui and You Gui: the two keys to tonifying kidney yin and kidney yang

Next down the tonifying formation come Zuo Gui Yin (Left-Returning Drink), You Gui Yin (Right-Returning Drink), Zuo Gui Wan (Left-Returning Pill), and You Gui Wan (Right-Returning Pill) — which specifically tonify kidney yin and kidney yang, and which many people are familiar with.

Why are they called “left-returning” and “right-returning”? The ancients held that the right kidney belongs to yang and is the ming men (life gate), while the left kidney belongs to yin — so Zuo Gui tonifies kidney yin, and You Gui tonifies kidney yang.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Where do Zuo Gui and You Gui come from? Their foundation is Liu Wei Di Huang Wan (Six-Ingredient Rehmannia Pill) and Jin Gui Shen Qi Wan (Kidney Qi Pill from the Golden Cabinet). Liu Wei Di Huang is “three tonics and three drains” (prepared rehmannia, Chinese yam, and cornel tonify; moutan bark, alisma, and poria drain), and Jin Gui Shen Qi adds aconite and cinnamon on top of the six ingredients. But Zhang Jingyue’s view was: some people are so deficient that tonifying and draining at the same time simply does not work well — he spoke of his own cases: when he used the draining herbs the effect was poor, but once he stopped the draining and tonified alone, the patient’s qi filled up at once and the person recovered. So he removed some of the draining herbs from the formula and devoted himself purely to tonifying.

Zuo Gui Yin (tonify kidney yin — the formula that “strengthens water”): its base is the six-ingredient rehmannia — prepared rehmannia (2–3 qian, or increased up to 1–2 liang), Chinese yam, cornel, wolfberry (paired with the rehmannia to tonify liver-kidney yin), honey-fried licorice, plus a little poria (to drain spleen dampness — very little draining). In effect, it removes moutan bark (which drains liver fire) and alisma (which drains kidney water) from the six-ingredient formula — it mainly tonifies and nourishes yin, gentler in force than Liu Wei Di Huang, with a larger dose of yin-tonifying power.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Do you see it? The famous Republican-era doctor Zhang Xichun, when he gave tonics, used prepared rehmannia, Chinese yam, and cornel — that path comes down in direct lineage from Zhang Jingyue.

Zuo Gui Wan (made into pills for long-term use, treats true yin kidney-water insufficiency): the body cannot nourish the nutritive and defensive qi (ying wei) and gradually weakens; or deficiency-heat alternates with chills, spontaneous sweating and night sweats, the spirit not dwelling in its house, blood not returning to its origin, deficiency damage harming yin, dribbling discharges that never stop; or qi deficiency with dizziness and fainting, blurred vision, tinnitus and deafness; or dry mouth and parched tongue, sore weak lower back and knees, essence and marrow depleted within, body fluids dried up — all are signs of kidney-yin insufficiency. Composition: large prepared rehmannia 8 liang, Chinese yam 4 liang, wolfberry 4 liang, cornel 4 liang, plus chuan niu xi (strengthens the lower back and knees; the herb’s action moves downward), tu si zi 4 liang (tonifies yang), deer antler glue (tonifies yang), and tortoise shell glue (nourishes yin).

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Tortoise shell glue nourishes yin, deer antler glue tonifies yang — the two together make the famous Gui Lu Er Xian Jiao (Tortoise-and-Deer Two Immortals Glue). I have even seen advertisements for it on Taiwanese television — the glue is made into all kinds of nourishing products for people to drink, and it is extremely common. Taiwan does support Chinese medicine quite a bit; you can buy this kind of thing as health products or even drinks, and they are all food-grade. But on our side it is a medicine, and licensing a medicine is very hard, so it is not so widespread. Why does the formula include glues? When you make the pills, a little glue helps the powder bind into round pills — it works beautifully.

You Gui Yin (tonify kidney yang): the same prepared rehmannia base (can go up to 1–2 liang) — notice that whether tonifying kidney yin or kidney yang, prepared rehmannia is always the base. Why? Kidney essence transforms into kidney qi, and kidney qi divides into kidney yin and kidney yang — the root of both is kidney essence, so rehmannia tonifies that root, with other herbs added around it. Add Chinese yam and cornel (the six-ingredient base), add wolfberry, add eucommia (stir-fried with ginger juice, strengthens the lower back and knees), add cinnamon and aconite — and the formula turns toward tonifying yang. He even removes the poria — no need to drain water-dampness; tonify directly.

You Gui Wan (treats insufficiency of original yang, yuan yang): from congenital weakness, or from exhaustion and overwork, to the point where the ming men fire declines and can no longer generate earth — the spleen and stomach turn deficient and cold, appetite diminishes; or vomiting, bloating, and fan wei ye ge (reversed stomach, blocked swallowing — food pushed back up, turned over); or fear of cold and shrinking from cold, pain in the navel and abdomen, unformed stools, frequent diarrhea and dysentery, urinary incontinence, deficiency-cold hernia, arthralgia and numbness of the limbs and joints, cold in the lower burner with watery diarrhea and edema… in a word, people with insufficient true yang have weary spirit and timid qi, a restless heart, limbs that will not gather strength, blurred vision, or yang decline with no children. Composition: large prepared rehmannia 8 liang, Chinese yam 4 liang, cornel 3 liang, wolfberry 4 liang, deer antler glue (pearl-fried), tu si zi 4 liang, eucommia (stir-fried in ginger water), angelica (omit the angelica if the stools are unformed), cinnamon 2 liang (can be increased to 4 liang), prepared aconite 2 liang (can be increased to 5–6 liang) — a hefty dose of yang-tonifying herbs! This formula is sold in pharmacies as a ready-made medicine.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: You Gui Wan removed all the draining herbs from Jin Gui Shen Qi Wan — moutan bark drains liver fire, alisma drains kidney water, poria drains spleen dampness — all of them gone, and some yang-tonifying herbs added in: pure tonification with no draining, with stronger warming power. The amounts of cinnamon and aconite can even be varied — that is rather remarkable, and everyone can master it gradually.

Wu Fu Yin: count the herbs one by one — all five organs covered

There is another especially classic formula in the tonifying formation — Wu Fu Yin, the Five Blessings Drink. It treats depletion of qi and blood in all five organs and can treat them all at once. It is the top weapon of the “kingly way” (wang dao) philosophy of slow, steady tonification.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Master the thinking of Wu Fu Yin, and you should be very good at regulating your body from then on — the logic is extremely clear.

Wu Fu Yin = ginseng + prepared rehmannia + angelica + atractylodes + licorice — just five herbs:

Ginseng: tonifies the qi of the heart and lung — tonifies the upper part
Prepared rehmannia: tonifies the essence of the liver and kidney — tonifies the lower part
Angelica: nourishes the blood (blood returns to the liver, so it also nourishes the liver)
Atractylodes: strengthens the spleen (spleen earth generates lung metal, so it also tonifies the lung)
Honey-fried licorice: sweet, harmonizes the middle, tonifies the spleen

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Zhang Jingyue explains it himself: ginseng tonifies the heart, prepared rehmannia tonifies the kidney, angelica nourishes the blood — and since blood returns to the liver, it nourishes the liver — atractylodes strengthens the spleen — and since spleen earth generates lung metal, it tonifies the lung — and honey-fried licorice harmonizes the middle and tonifies the spleen — heart, liver, spleen, lung, kidney: all five organs are covered! To be perfectly honest, I think one qian of honey-fried licorice is not enough to tonify the spleen; atractylodes strengthens the spleen fine, but the power to tonify the spleen and lung is a little weak. My suggestion is to add one herb — Chinese yam (which also tonifies the spleen and lung) — and make it a “Six Blessings Drink” (Liu Fu Yin). He never created a Six Blessings Drink himself, but I think it is more fitting. At home, take a little ginseng, prepared rehmannia, huai yam (the authentic Chinese yam from Henan), and atractylodes, add some honey-fried licorice, simmer it and drink slowly — you don’t need large amounts each time, and the five organs will gradually be filled up. If you want to add some wolfberry to help the angelica nourish liver blood, so much the better.

Qi Fu Yin, the Seven Blessings Drink: it is Wu Fu Yin plus sour jujube seed (suan zao ren) and polygala (yuan zhi) — people with heart-spleen deficiency can add more sour jujube seed and polygala.

Yi Yin Jian and tomorrow: the follow-up troops for nourishing yin

On the yin-nourishing side, Zhang Jingyue also created Yi Yin Jian, the One Yin Decoction — a purely yin-nourishing formula: raw rehmannia, prepared rehmannia, peony, ophiopogon, plus licorice, achyranthes (niu xi), and salvia (dan shen) — combined to nourish yin and clear deficiency fire.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Many of today’s yin-nourishing approaches come from right here — sheng di, shu di, shao yao, mai dong — that is exactly this pairing. After Yi Yin Jian there is the Modified One Yin Decoction (Jia Jian Yi Yin Jian), and further down there are the Two Yin, Three Yin, Four Yin, and Five Yin Decoctions, running on and on with continuous additions and subtractions. I won’t expand on them today — there are too many points and you won’t remember them all. Tomorrow we’ll continue with Zhang Jingyue’s kidney tonification.

Closing: the true skill of the tonification school

Zhang Jingyue’s core lies in the tonifying formation, the cold formation, and the heat formation — he is a tonification-school master, especially gifted at tonification. Once you grasp his tonifying formulas, they will definitely benefit your health maintenance and body regulation.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: To be frank, I have benefited greatly from them myself, which is why I talk about them more and keep working through them — I help you analyze them. I hope what I share can inspire you a little, and help you understand better how Chinese medicine regulates the body. Tomorrow at the same time, we continue with Zhang Jingyue’s experience. See you tomorrow!

What to take away:

Zhang Jingyue was a soldier-doctor. He crossed the Yalu River into Korea as a military staff officer, and he named his formulas the “New Formulas,” laid out in an Eight Formations Chart — tonify, harmonize, attack, disperse, cold, heat, secure, adapt. Prescribing was, for him, deploying troops, with additions and subtractions adjusted to the enemy.
Four deficiencies, four directions. Qi deficiency → tonify the upper (ginseng, astragalus); essence deficiency → tonify the lower (prepared rehmannia, wolfberry); yang deficiency → tonify and warm (cinnamon, aconite, dried ginger); yin deficiency → tonify and clear (ophiopogon, peony, raw rehmannia).
Seek yang within yin, and yin within yang. Yin and yang are mutually rooted and inseparable — tonify qi to generate essence when essence fails because of qi; tonify essence to transform qi when qi fails because of essence. This is the famous saying every TCM student memorizes.
Da Bu Yuan Jian is the emergency formula. For severely damaged qi and blood with spirit loss, use ginseng and prepared rehmannia in large doses — ginseng up to 30–60 g, rehmannia up to 60–90 g — one above tonifying qi, one below tonifying essence, sipped mouthful by mouthful when life is at stake.
Zuo Gui for yin, You Gui for yang. Both descend from the six-ingredient rehmannia base; Zhang Jingyue simply removed the draining herbs and tonified purely — for the very deficient, tonifying-and-draining at once is often less effective than pure tonification.
Wu Fu Yin covers all five organs with five herbs. Ginseng (heart), prepared rehmannia (kidney), angelica (liver via blood), atractylodes (lung via spleen earth generating metal), licorice (spleen). Doctor Luo’s personal upgrade: add Chinese yam for a “Six Blessings Drink.”
When choosing tonics, look at what is actually deficient — and at the root. Kidney essence is the mother of both kidney yin and kidney yang, which is why prepared rehmannia anchors formulas in both directions. That is the essence of the Ming-dynasty tonification school’s real skill.

Compiled from Doctor Luo Dalun’s lecture on Doctor Zhang Jingyue’s herbal strategies (medication insights).