Formulas · Clear Heat 淸熱 · Junggyeong (仲景)

Three Yellows Heart-Draining Decoction

Samhwangsasim-tang

한글 삼황사심탕 · Pinyin San Huang Xie Xin Tang

三黃瀉心湯

麻沸湯 is water brought to a rolling boil so that the surface froths; the drugs are steeped in it and never decocted.

Composition 構成

Daehwang Da Huang
大黃 대황 · Rhubarb

8 g
Chief 君

steeped, not decocted
Hwangnyeon Huang Lian
黃連 황련 · Coptis

8 g
Chief 君

steeped, not decocted
Hwanggeum Huang Qin
黃芩 황금 · Scutellaria

4 g
Deputy 臣

steeped, not decocted

Total 20 g per packet (첩) · representative dosage — verify against source texts.

Received this formula from your practitioner? Amounts shown here are classical reference values — granule and prepared products differ. Always follow your prescribed dosage and directions.

Actions 效能

Drains heat bound below the heart
Clears fire without purging the bowel

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

Epigastric stuffiness from heat alone
Fire bound below the heart with a flushed face and restlessness

Biomedical correlates

Gastritis with epigastric burning
Hypertensive flushing with agitation

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

大黃ㆍ黃連各二錢, 黃芩一錢. 右剉, 作一貼, 以麻沸湯一盞漬之, 良久, 絞去滓, 分溫再服. 《仲景》

Translation

Rhubarb and coptis, 2 don each; scutellaria, 1 don. Cut up, make one packet, steep in a cup of water boiled to a froth; after a good while wring it out and discard the dregs, and take warm in two divided doses. — Junggyeong 仲景 (Donguibogam · Han, lower)

Clinical commentary 臨床

The preparation is the formula, and it is the reason this is not a purgative. Rhubarb steeped in just-boiled water and strained gives up its bitter, heat-clearing fraction but not the anthraquinones that open the bowel — those need a real decoction. So the stuffiness below the heart is cleared without the patient being purged, which is exactly the point when there is heat but no stool to move. Decoct this formula instead of steeping it and you have made a different medicine. — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.