《仙传外科集验方》Vol. 4

Put three liang of sesame oil into a bowl and mix it well, then spread it around the inside of the bowl. Take a piece of prepared moxa about the size of an egg. Take soybean-sized amounts of each of the three powdered medicines—cinnabar, frankincense, and arsenic—and grind them finely. Wrap the powders in the moxa. Light the moxa and use its smoke to fumigate the medicine in the bowl until the moxa has burned away. Remove the medicine and grind it into a fine powder. Each time, take a tiny amount about the size of a millet grain and apply it to the eye.

Common Eye-Washing Medicine: Used for various conditions caused by wind-heat, heart-heat, and wind-toxin, including ulcerated eyelids, sticky eye discharge, red and irritated eyes, itching, pain, visual obstructions, and tearing. It is also used for various symptoms attributed to what women call “blood-wind.”

Galla chinensis, the fruit of the Chinese sumac tree, with ash and dust removed; Vitex fruit, with the white outer skin removed and washed in hot water.

Grind the ingredients into a fine powder. Each time, take two qian and put them in an earthenware pot with half a bowl of water and thirty to fifty copper coins. Seal the pot’s mouth with paper and heat it over a fire for a long time. The text first says to prick a small hole in the paper after heating, then later says to let the steam fumigate the eyes. When the temperature has fallen enough for the pot to be touched by hand, pour out the medicinal liquid and let it stand until clear, then wash the eyes with the warm liquid. Stop when it cools, then warm it again and continue washing.

Another Eye-Washing Medicine:

Half a liang of copper verdigris, one liang of white clay, and one and a half qian of Galla chinensis.

Grind the ingredients together into a fine powder and steep it in hot water. Close the eyes and wash the affected area with the hot liquid, taking care not to let it enter the eyes. Stop when it cools, then warm it again and continue washing. It may be used for ulcerated eyelids, sticky eye discharge, and similar conditions.

Tea-Mixed Powder: Used for various wind-related swellings, itching, and pain in men and women, as well as visual obstructions, ulceration, sticky eye discharge, tearing in the wind, and blurred vision.

One liang each of Sichuan lovage, fangfeng, and notopterygium; half a liang of licorice; and one liang each of horsetail, gypsum (fried), abalone shell (heated in embers), Vitex fruit, mint leaves, and chrysanthemum flowers.

Grind the ingredients into a fine powder. Each time, take two qian and mix it with clear tea before taking.

To treat various hot eye conditions, such as redness, swelling, and burning: First take four liang of Coptis root, chop it finely, and simmer it in water until it forms a paste. Then take a large sweet melon and cut off its top as a lid. Scoop out the flesh, lay down a layer of fresh mint, then a layer of crystallized sodium nitrate, a medicinal salt. Continue layering until the melon is full, then replace the lid and hang it in a well-ventilated place for three or four days. The salt will seep through the melon rind. Each day, gently sweep it off with a goose feather, mix it evenly with the Coptis paste, and store it in a clean container. Apply a small amount to the affected hot eye.

Application for red, hot eyes

Two liang of mulberry leaves, half a liang of schizonepeta, two liang of mirabilite, and half a liang of rhubarb. Grind the ingredients into a fine powder, mix with honey water, and apply it to both temples to reduce the heat and congestion in the eyes.

Purple Gold Pills, a secret formula for treating eye diseases

One and a half liang of Sichuan lovage root, one and a half liang of Chinese angelica, half a liang of paper mulberry fruit, half a liang of mint, six qian of trichosanthes root, two liang of Vitex fruit (roasted), one and a half liang of Sichuan pepper (dried by roasting and deseeded), three qian of dried chrysanthemum, three qian of butterfly bush flower, three qian of snake skin, three qian of schizonepeta spikes, and one liang of wolfberry root bark. The source says that four of the ingredients are to be soaked in licorice juice and then roasted dry, but does not clearly identify which four. Also use one and a half liang of puncture vine; remove its spines and soak it in water.

Grind the thirteen ingredients listed above into a fine powder and mix with refined honey to make pills, each weighing one qian. Choose a liquid to take with the pills according to the condition: for dim vision and a bluish haze over objects, take them with Angelica wine; for eye problems caused by Qi stagnation, take them with a decoction of Aucklandia; for women who feel dizzy because of blood deficiency or an upward surge of Qi and blood, take them with a decoction of Angelica and mint.

One person developed an eye disease after drinking hot wine and, for three years, could not even see the road clearly. The medicine began to help after twenty-five days. Another person had dim vision from an eye disease caused by Qi stagnation and could see no light for eight years. The medicine began to help after forty days, and vision became clear after sixty. A third person, overcome with grief after her mother’s death, had been blind for four years. The medicine began to help after fifty days, and her vision returned to normal.

Another prescription is said to work well for various eye diseases, as well as opacities in the eye and dim vision.

Chuanxiong, one and a half liang; Angelica, one and a half liang; trichosanthes root, six qian; raw Sichuan pepper, seven qian, with the seeds removed; paper mulberry fruit, half a liang, with the seeds removed and lightly toasted; licorice, three qian; chrysanthemum, one liang; snake slough, three qian; coptis, three qian; vitex seed, one liang; scouring rush, one liang, soaked overnight in a child’s urine and then dried over heat; mint, half a liang; Buddleja flower, one liang; goji root bark, one liang; notopterygium, one liang; angelica dahurica, one and a half liang; and schizonepeta, one liang.

Grind the ingredients into a fine powder and mix with refined honey to make pills, using ten pills for every liang of powder. Take them twice daily after meals. The text gives several options for taking the pills: the practitioner should choose according to the condition, using rice-washing water; for dim vision, use an Angelica decoction; for eye problems caused by Qi stagnation, use an Aucklandia decoction; and for blood-related dizziness in women, use a mint and Angelica decoction. While taking the medicine, avoid fish and other strong-smelling foods, alcohol, and foods made from damp dough. The book says this prescription has worked many times.

To treat hot-wind eye disease, take winter holly berries in any quantity, crush them and extract the juice, then boil it down to a paste. Filter it until completely clean, put it in a porcelain jar, and bury the jar underground for seven days to remove what was called “fire toxin.” Then apply it to the eyes.

Another prescription calls for four liang each of coptis and mirabilite. Boil them in water to make a paste, then apply it to the eyes to treat hot-wind eye disease.

Another formula: Take four liang each of coptis and mirabilite. Simmer them in clean water until they form a paste, then apply it to the feverish eyes.

Another formula: Warm and swallow carp bile, and apply some of it to the eyes.

This works very well for treating ulceration along the eyelid margins (lanxian feng). First, decoct Chinese gall and Vitex fruit in water and wash the eyes with it. Then take two liang of calamine, heat it over a fire, and repeatedly quench it seven or eight times in coptis juice and a child’s urine. Grind it into a fine powder, add five qian of copper verdigris, one qian of borax, a little musk, and half a qian of saltpeter. Grind everything finely and apply it along the eyelid margins.

To treat red eyes in children younger than one year old or just one year old:

Grind coptis into powder, mix it with tea, and apply it to the palms of the hands and soles of the feet. If the eyes are swollen and painful and difficult to open, add turmeric, Chinese honeylocust fruit, and mirabilite, grind them into a fine powder, and apply the mixture to the temples, palms, and soles. Adding crushed scallion to the application makes it more effective.

The Immortal (the original text here repeats the formula from the preceding entry):

Grind coptis into powder, mix it with tea, and apply it to the palms of the hands and soles of the feet. If the eyes are swollen and painful and difficult to open, add turmeric, Chinese honeylocust fruit, and mirabilite, grind them into a fine powder, and apply the mixture to the temples, palms, and soles. Adding crushed scallion to the application makes it more effective.

This concludes volume eleven of Secret Formulas of the Immortal Tradition for External Medicine.

Appendix: Words on Doing Good and Helping Others Whenever Possible

In this world, helping others is of the greatest importance. If you are able to do so, you should act; it is a pity to let an opportunity pass. The wealthy and powerful can readily affect the fortunes and misfortunes of others, so when something arises, they should make helping people their first concern. Showing others a little more forbearance gives them an additional benefit. One should also do good as fully as one can, and continue helping others in every way. To follow the sages’ aspiration to benefit all under Heaven is the greatest merit of all.

Selling grain at affordable prices is one of the most important ways to help people. Celestial Master Zu of the Han dynasty taught people to accumulate merit, placing practical efforts to rescue and aid others first. Those with financial means should also follow the sages’ aspiration to benefit all under Heaven and perform good deeds widely; no merit is greater than this.

Selling rice at an affordable price is a foremost act of kindness. The Celestial Master Han Zu taught people to build up merit and virtue, making aid for the people the highest priority. Those with means can buy grain in large quantities at harvest time, or store grain from their own fields. When food is scarce, they should sell it only at the original cost. This brings them no loss while greatly benefiting others. In the past, Huang Chengshi of Chengdu practiced kindness in this way and earned the respect of Zhang Shangshu, the Perfected Lord of the Purple Mansion. He was later entered in the registers of the immortals, and his family prospered for generations. Another good practice is to set prices below the current market rate so that everyone can afford to buy.

Caring for the sick is a great act of kindness. If one can devoutly prepare Lord Xu’s Ruyi Elixir—a medicine said to have been taught by Lord Xu—and give it to others, it can treat many illnesses and is especially effective against epidemics. Other medicines that can be given away are also valuable, as is printing and distributing proven remedies.

In summer, offer people cooling drinks; in winter, provide clothing for the elderly and sick. Care for widowers, widows, orphans, and those without support. Take in abandoned children. When someone dies and their family cannot afford a coffin, give them timber. When people face sudden hardship or find themselves in desperate circumstances, help them according to their needs.

Delivering the souls of the dead from the underworld requires little expense but brings great benefit. It was through such acts that Immortal Ge attained the Way and became an immortal. Perfected Sa, too, took in abandoned children, gave timber to those unable to afford coffins for their dead, and aided people facing sudden hardship and desperate circumstances. Immortal masters throughout the ages have valued these good deeds. Regularly performing jilian rites—Daoist ceremonies for making offerings and refining the souls of the dead—can extend blessings to the underworld. Even simply saving a portion of one’s food to give to the departed brings no small benefit. Practitioners with insight should investigate widely and seek to understand the principles behind the transformations of nature and life, as well as the methods of returning Water and Fire, a term in Daoist inner cultivation for harmonizing Yin-Yang and transforming Jing and Qi. One should transcend the mundane world while also delivering souls from the underworld and accumulating good deeds and merit. This is a place to begin. Cultivation also depends on instruction from a teacher; one must not betray the trust of those who teach.

Living beings suffer no less than humans do. Whenever it is possible to refrain from killing, one should make every effort to do so. Insects, birds, and beasts should all be treated alike. The teachings on fasting and releasing living creatures, as well as the Three Officials’ examination of merit and transgressions during the Three Primes, all name abstaining from killing as one of the purposes of fasting.

Building bridges, repairing roads, digging wells, and opening waterways; undertaking beneficial work and eliminating harmful practices; urging people toward goodness and resolving their doubts; and settling disputes are all practical ways to do good and accumulate De (Virtue/Power).

If people of wealth and status can undertake such work, many will benefit, and the blessings they receive will surely be abundant. Their good fortune and longevity may increase, and their families may inherit blessings for generations to come.

Those who study the Dao (the Way) should practice goodness in this way, joining merit to spiritual cultivation. They will then naturally have the chance to meet a master, receive guidance, and form a bond with the Dao. For those from poor families, whose means are limited, such acts are especially difficult. The Perfected One Yangsu once said: “The ancients accumulated merit by doing good and relieving the hardship of people throughout the world. The wealthy can accumulate merit with ease, while the poor find it harder to make a difference. Yet precisely because the poor face such difficulties, the merit of their deeds may be ten or even a hundred times greater than that of the wealthy.”

New Guide to Preserving Life in Cold Damage, Febrile Illness, and New-Onset Convulsions

Composed by the Daoist of Preserving Nourishment at Ningchuan (the author’s self-designation)

After recovering from epidemics and other febrile illnesses, similar restrictions apply. The Huangdi Neijing says: “Why do cold damage and febrile illnesses sometimes return after they have been cured?” Qibo replied: “If a person eats meat after an illness, or eats too much, the illness may return. When the fever is still intense, forcing the patient to eat can leave residual heat in the body. The grain Qi produced as food is digested interacts with this residual heat; the two kinds of heat combine and cause the illness to return. This is called ‘food relapse’—a recurrence caused by improper eating after illness.” Wang Qixuan explains that the residual heat has not yet been fully dispelled, as if it remains scattered throughout the body. “Relapse” means becoming ill again.

Just after a febrile illness has been cured, Qi and blood have not yet returned to balance, and residual heat has not yet been dispelled. If a person resumes work too soon and the illness returns, this is called “relapse from exertion.” Zhang Changsha discusses “Yin-Yang exchange” in cold damage. In his commentary, Cheng Wuji explains: if a man has just recovered but has not yet regained his strength, and a woman has sexual intercourse with him, this is called “Yang exchange”; if a woman has just recovered but has not yet regained her strength, and a man has sexual intercourse with her, this is called “Yin exchange.” This happens because Yin and Yang respond to one another, and residual pathogenic influences pass between the two people, as though the illness had shifted from one to the other. “Sexual relapse” refers to a patient’s own indulgence in sexual desire; it is also called “relapse from sexual exertion.” Sexual intercourse depletes the body’s true Qi and stirs up the heat of external pathogens, weakening the body’s healthy Qi while allowing pathogenic Qi to grow stronger. The illness then becomes difficult to treat. In the past, Gu Zixian recovered from an illness but refused to believe Hua Fu’s diagnosis. As his death approached, he indeed developed the symptom of a tongue protruding several inches—a lesson worth remembering.

Relapse from exertion: recurrence caused by overexertion after illness

Combing the hair too soon after an illness can bring on head wind; washing the face too soon can cause heat and discomfort in the head; washing the feet too soon can make them numb; bathing too soon can cause fever and mental clouding. Restlessness and anger can lead to a condition of distension and oppression in the chest and abdomen. Traveling far can weaken the legs and may bring on a slowly developing wind illness. Physical activity can result in one-sided paralysis. Worry and excessive thought can deplete one’s strength. After an illness, one should not get up too soon or strain the mind and body. Violating these restrictions can cause the illness to return.

Food relapse: recurrence caused by diet

Eating lamb after an illness may bring back shortness of breath and chest tightness. After an illness, one should avoid long journeys, excessive activity, and overthinking, and should not get up too soon or strain the mind and body. Violating these restrictions can cause the illness to return.

After eating mutton, if the illness recurs, one may struggle to breathe, feel oppression in the chest, and even die. Eating sheep's heart or lungs is fatal once illness sets in, and eating sheep's blood or liver causes severe diarrhea. Eating beef during dysentery (lìjí) makes the illness hard to cure, and eating sheep or pig intestines leaves behind stubborn chronic disease. Eating horse meat is fatal, and eating poultry too early after an illness is also fatal. Eating beef liver causes unceasing bloody stools. Eating dog meat during illness brings on jaundice (huángdǎn) and may cause death, and eating grilled meat brings on wasting-thirst disease (xiāokě), a condition chiefly marked by thirst and excessive drinking. Drinking broth boiled from bones causes fever and gives rise to "bone steaming" (gǔzhēng), a condition of prolonged fever with a sensation of heat within the bones.

Eating rabbit meat triggers heart disease. Eating yellow ox meat causes lumps to accumulate that are difficult to digest, and eating chicken produces parasitic accumulation. Eating carp causes illness to recur, and eating eel causes vomiting and diarrhea. Eating fish zhǎ (preserved fish) brings on jaundice, and eating goose meat brings on huòluàn (sudden vomiting and purging, as the ancients termed it). Eating ark clams, a type of bivalve, is fatal. Eating damp wheat foods brings on low-grade fever. After an illness, eating cucumber or shāo gua (a kind of gourd) causes certain death if the illness recurs. Eating eggplant triggers malaria (nüèjí), eating white hyacinth beans causes cold qi to stagnate in the chest, and eating mallow damages the eyesight. Eating various raw vegetables triggers heart disease, which in severe cases proves fatal, and it also prevents the complexion from recovering.

Drinking alcohol too early causes madness and chest oppression, and drinking white liquor causes swelling. Patients with epidemic fever who drink cold water immediately after sweating and the fever breaking will injure the pericardium (xīnbāo), the viscera system that encloses and protects the heart in Chinese medicine. This weakens the body and delays recovery for a long time.

The prescriptions of Sun Zhenren (the Perfected Sun) state that after a fever has just healed or following a serious illness, eating pork, sheep's blood, fatty fish, or other greasy foods will certainly cause severe diarrhea. This may push the illness to a critical state that even physicians cannot save. Patients with epidemic fever who drink cold water right after sweating and the fever breaking will likewise injure the pericardium, leaving the body weakened and unable to recover.

Master Sun said: For a person who has just recovered from a fever, or is only beginning to regain health after a serious illness, eating pork, sheep's blood, or rich fatty fish may cause severe diarrhea that endangers life, and even physicians may find it difficult to save such a patient. If one eats cakes, glutinous millet, raw fish (kuai), roast meat, molasses, crabs, dried meat, or fruits and nuts such as dates, chestnuts, peaches, apricots, plums, and damsons, or any other hard and hard-to-digest foods, the stomach qi is still too weak to digest them, and the result may be violent diarrhea that cannot be stopped. If it is not treated promptly, it is life-threatening, and purgative medicines may only make the condition more critical, so that it is often beyond rescue.

For less than one hundred days after recovery, while the strength has not yet returned, one should not engage in sexual activity; even a person of robust constitution should abstain for at least sixty days. After illness, one should eat only well-cooked, soft porridge, and it is better to eat too little, leaving the stomach slightly hungry, than to eat to fullness. Other foods should not be given, and even if the patient craves them, they should not be allowed.

If thirst arises after recovery, one may take Tianshui San (Powder of Heavenly Water), a formula used to clear heat. Watermelon and Asian pear also quench thirst and help clear residual heat.

I practiced medicine for more than forty years and saw many patients. Whenever I cured someone of a febrile illness, I would always write down this rule of abstinence for them, to prevent a relapse after recovery. Some people today, poorly informed and confident in their usual good health, or because their illness was mild, happen not to relapse and take this as the norm. They also believe what others say. They do not understand that people’s constitutions vary in strength and illness varies in severity, yet they make sweeping judgments. The deaths this has caused are beyond counting.

Some mothers dote on their children, and some wives on their husbands. When they see a sick person wanting food, they secretly give it to them. They fail to put life and safety first, caring only to satisfy a momentary appetite, and thereby cause harm. Alas, these words can be spoken only to those who understand reason; they are hard to explain to ordinary people. A junzi must therefore be vigilant. I have excerpted passages from the writings of sages and worthies and compiled them into these rules of abstinence, giving the work the title Mirror for Preserving Life.

Ten categories of prohibitions during a child’s smallpox rash: these should also be observed during the silkworm-rearing season.

Avoid the following odors: the rank smell of underarm body odor; the foul stench of ditches; the odor of sexual activity in a room—that is, the lingering smell after recent intercourse; the smell of women during menstruation and all kinds of blood stench; and the odor of drunkenness and meat. The author holds that smelling alcohol on a drunk person, or a child drinking alcohol, can cause the smallpox toxin to sink inward. Also avoid the smell of sulfur, mosquito repellent, and other poisons; odors associated with people suffering from conjunctivitis, which the author holds can make eye pain difficult to cure; the acrid, potent odor of musk, which the author holds can cause the smallpox toxin to sink inward; the odor of sweat evaporating from people with epidemic diseases; and the smell of coriander used to induce sweating, which is often present around the patient. Avoid the smell of accidentally burned hair; fish bones and other fishy or foul odors, as well as wood smoke; the smell of scallions, garlic, and Chinese chives entering the mouth or nose; and the odor of fatty foods being cooked.

These prohibitions come from the Complete Collection for Children and must not be violated; otherwise, the illness may change in course. This is based on the author’s own experience. Some say that country children are left to nature and rarely suffer a change in their illness even when they break these prohibitions. The author believes this is because people differ in wealth and in their innate constitutions.

The Hu methods recorded in the Complete Collection for Infants (Quanying ji)—methods for caring for children with smallpox—must not be violated, or complications may occur. This is something I have experienced firsthand. Some say that country children fare naturally, and that violating these methods causes no complications. This is probably because people differ in wealth and in their natural endowments.

Coriander Wine: Used when a child’s smallpox is about to erupt. Chop three liang of coriander (cilantro), simmer it in two large cups of wine until boiling, then pour the wine over the coriander and immediately cover the vessel tightly to keep the aroma from escaping. Once it has cooled, strain out the herbs. Lightly sprinkle the liquid over the child, from the back of the neck down the back, chest, abdomen, and legs, so that it reaches all these areas; do not apply it to the head or face. Put the strained herbs in a bag and hang it inside the bed canopy. The wet nurse should drink any remaining liquid.

The Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji) describes six circumstances in which illness is difficult to treat: first, arrogance and self-indulgence, with no regard for reason; second, disregarding life while valuing money; third, inability to regulate food, drink, and daily routines; fourth, disharmony of Yin-Yang and insufficiency of Qi in the organs; fifth, a frail body unable to take medicine; and sixth, belief in sorcery and distrust of physicians.

Liu Hejian’s “Poem on Nursing Infants”

Care for young children attentively, but do not indulge them without restraint or control them excessively. Too much nursing will eventually harm the stomach; food stagnation harms the spleen. Covering a child too heavily brings no benefit; appropriately light clothing is better. When there is no wind, let the child see the sunlight regularly. Adjust to seasonal changes in cold and heat.

Prescriptions for Eye Diseases

General Formula for Dispersing Pathogens in Deficiency or Excess: Used for dispersing treatment and suitable for both deficiency and excess patterns. To resolve toxicity, add two liang each of mulberry and Chinese cimicifuga, three liang of red peony root, two liang of Sichuan lovage rhizome, three liang of bupleurum root (remove the rootlets), three liang of kudzu root, one liang of scrophularia root, one liang of chuanxiong after removing the gall, half a liang of baical skullcap root, half a liang of schizonepeta, one liang of licorice root, half a liang of white atractylodes, half a liang of gardenia, one liang of red poria, and a small amount of sickle senna seed. Decoction in clear water and take.

Notopterygium Powder: Used to treat heat patterns.

This is a group of oral prescriptions used mainly to clear accumulated heat, ease swelling and pain, and treat eye conditions such as corneal opacities, redness, and pterygium growing over the cornea.

The medicines listed at the beginning include fangfeng, qianghuo, red peony root, baizhi, Sichuan lovage root, bupleurum, alisma, fangji, licorice, jingjie, poria, chrysanthemum, asarum, and white atractylodes. “Remove the leaves” means that the leaves of asarum should be removed before use.

The “Purgative Formula” consists of equal parts red peony root, baical skullcap root, bitter orange, and jingjie, among other ingredients. Once the decoction is prepared, rhubarb and mirabilite are soaked in the liquid. It is taken at the fifth watch, just before dawn, to relieve swelling and pain caused by accumulated heat. Here, rhubarb and mirabilite act as purgatives, using downward evacuation to expel accumulated heat from the body.

The text says the “Danggui Powder” is suitable for older people and children, as well as for people who are frail or robust. The formula contains two liang of Chinese angelica root, soaked in wine and then washed clean, along with Sichuan lovage root, red peony root, prepared rehmannia root, jingjie, licorice, fangfeng, baizhi, and other ingredients. It is decocted in water and taken as a drink. The original repeats and scrambles the formula name and the list of ingredients; this account follows the wording that survives.

The “Tribulus Pill” is used to remove various corneal opacities that obstruct vision. Its listed ingredients include stone abalone shell, Sichuan lovage root, baizhi, fangfeng, horsetail, gypsum, raspberry fruit, paper mulberry fruit, cicada slough, dodder seed, plantain seed, asarum, chrysanthemum, inula flower, buddleja flower, and Chinese gentian root. They are ground in equal parts into powder and made into pills with refined honey. Different decoctions are used to take the pills for different patterns: for deficiency, they are taken with the corresponding decoction; for excess, with a decoction of cogongrass root and sugarcane. The text also records separate methods of taking the pills for eye conditions called “missing pearl” and “hanging curtain opacity.” For more severe cases, white persimmon, mulberry root bark, cogongrass root, and sugarcane may be added to the decoction.

The “Miraculous Returning Light Powder” is used for corneal opacities, red eyes, and pterygium growing over the cornea. Its ingredients include horsetail, baizhi, licorice, cassia seed, paper mulberry fruit, qianghuo, stone abalone shell, Sichuan aconite, and cicada slough. The ingredients are ground into a fine powder. A dose of one qian is mixed with tea and taken after meals; it may also be mixed with wine.

Grind equal amounts of white tribulus, horsetail, Alisma rhizome, clematis root, cicada slough, chrysanthemum, abalone shell, sickle senna seed, Sichuan lovage rhizome, notopterygium root, Celosia seed, Buddleja flower, and paper mulberry fruit into a powder. Use refined honey to form pills.

When the eyes are blurred and vision is unclear, add raw sesame oil, mint, schizonepeta, and forsythia to the Four Substances Decoction. Simmer in water and take after meals.

For bruising and swelling of the eyelid: Grind rhubarb, turmeric, coptis rhizome, Phellodendron bark, Chinese angelica root, Dahurian angelica root, white hyacinth bean, Chinese sumac gall, schizonepeta, mirabilite, and mint into a fine powder. Mix it with fresh rehmannia juice, place it on paper, and apply it to the affected area.

For an eye injury with bleeding inside the eye: Pound peach branches, willow branches, and fresh rehmannia together with pork, then apply the mixture over the eye socket.

For accumulated heat in the heart, with red vessels appearing in the eye and spreading toward the pupil: Grind an appropriate amount of Scrophularia root into powder. Cook pork liver in rice-washing water, sprinkle the powder over it, chew it thoroughly, and swallow the broth.

For cold tears running from the eyes: If the condition is due to Liver deficiency, use the Four Substances Decoction with added horsetail, Alisma rhizome, and Saposhnikovia root. For an excess pattern, grind horsetail, Atractylodes rhizome, white tribulus, Saposhnikovia root, notopterygium root, Sichuan lovage rhizome, and licorice into powder, then take it mixed with rice-washing water.

For eye pain and redness of the blood vessels in the eye: Decoction gentian root, asarum, gardenia fruit, rhubarb, licorice, and black beans in water, and drink it to clear and drain Heart Fire.

For redness spreading across the whites of the eyes: Take Liver-Draining Drink, made by decocting peeled apricot kernels, knotgrass, and mulberry root bark. Drink it while hot.

Kidney-Clearing Powder is used when the kidneys are affected by wind pathogens and the pathogenic influence rises to attack the eyes. Grind white tribulus flowers, Saposhnikovia root, notopterygium root, and Phellodendron bark into powder, then take it mixed with warm wine.

For redness of both the blood vessels and the watery layer of the eye: Take Kidney-Tonifying Rehmannia Pills, Red Clematis Pills, or Fennel Pills; knotgrass and mulberry root bark may also be decocted and taken. Kidney-Clearing Powder is also used when the kidneys are affected by wind pathogens and the pathogenic influence rises to attack the eyes. Grind white tribulus flowers, Saposhnikovia root, notopterygium root, and Phellodendron bark into powder, then take it mixed with warm wine.

Take the powdered medicine above with warm wine.

To treat an eye condition in which both the “blood wheel” and the “water wheel” are red, combine the pills known as Kidney-Tonifying Rehmannia Pill, Red Alum Pill, and Fennel Pill to make twenty pills. Take them with salt water or salt wine. The Rehmannia Pill is made by drying fresh rehmannia root over low heat, then grinding it with scutellaria root and roasted sickle-pod seeds into a powder. Form the powder into pills with refined honey.

To treat “xiangyan,” combine Wind-Expelling Powder and Black Spirit Powder, and take them mixed with clear tea.

To treat rotten-edge wind, an eye disease involving ulceration and inflammation along the eyelid margins, take an appropriate amount of calamine, heat it until red-hot, and quench it seven times in a child’s urine. Grind it to a milky consistency, then refine it by levigation to remove earth and stone particles. Boil coptis root, Chinese angelica, peony, schizonepeta, siler root, mint, and asarum into a thick extract. Add the insects found in Chinese gallnuts, and grind them thoroughly with the extract in a mortar until the liquid has dried. Then repeatedly add more extract and grind until the powder is extremely fine. Store it in a porcelain bottle. Before use, wash the eyes with hot tea, then apply the medicine; it is said to work quickly.

The eye-drop formula includes red peony root, cattail pollen, “yuruo furong,” and other ingredients. Grind them into a fine powder, mix well, and blend with ginger juice. If eye pain has persisted for a long time and often returns, mix the medicine with clear tea alone. For severe pain, add angelica dahurica, arisaema, nameless mineral, “white yuanchou,” and other ingredients. If the condition still does not clear after prolonged treatment, add raw Sichuan aconite.

This formula is used to grind away nebulae and obstructions in the eye, and is suitable for older people who are physically weak.

Ingredients: cicada slough and Sichuan lovage rhizome, two qian each; antelope horn, half a liang; tribulus fruit, with the spines removed and roasted, two qian; licorice root, half a qian; roasted Chinese angelica, two qian; prepared rehmannia root, half a qian; scouring rush, with the nodes removed, one qian; self-heal, half a qian; abalone shell, two qian; calcined gypsum, one qian; calcined scrophularia, half a qian; and celosia seeds, one qian.

Grind the ingredients into a fine powder and form it with refined honey into pills the size of a marble. Take one pill at a time after meals, chewing it with scallion tea.

Wind-Expelling Powder is used when wind-toxin invades the eyes, causing the eyelashes to fall out and the eyes to swell and hurt.

Ingredients: siler root, chrysanthemum flowers, coptis root, sickle-pod seeds, scutellaria root, licorice root, rhubarb, red peony root, and akebia stem.

Roughly chop the ingredients. For each dose, decoct them in one cup of water.

Poria Powder is used to treat persistent redness of the eyes in older people.

Take one liang each of Poria, ginseng, red peony root, gardenia, licorice, perilla, dwarf lilyturf, and Chinese pink; and two liang of forsythia. Grind the ingredients coarsely. Decoction in water and take.

This formula is used to treat headaches in women attributed to “blood wind.” In ancient medical texts, “blood wind” was a term for disorders associated with imbalances in the blood aspect.

Grind aconite root and gardenia into a fine powder. Mix with the natural juice of scallions and apply to both temples and above the eyebrows. Take care to keep it out of the eyes. After applying, avoid exposure to wind, and apply only to the painful area of the head.

Liver-Nourishing and Vision-Clarifying Pill

Take one liang each of antelope horn, fresh rehmannia root, prepared rehmannia root, cistanche, goji berries, saposhnikovia, and sickle senna seed; half a liang of paper mulberry fruit; and one liang each of chrysanthemum, notopterygium, and Chinese angelica. Use four liang of sheep’s liver, boiled until cooked and then dried by roasting.

Grind the ingredients into a fine powder and mix with honey to make pills the size of parasol tree seeds. Take thirty pills at a time. The ancients held that the liver governs the eyes, and that clear vision depends on sufficient liver blood. When blood is deficient, liver Qi is no longer properly nourished; a lack of liver Qi can in turn affect the distribution of bile. This may cause dim or blurred vision, weakened eyesight, and difficulty seeing clearly. The formula is used to replenish liver blood, nourish bile, and lessen dimness of vision.

Take with salted water on an empty stomach in the morning, with the intention of guiding the medicine’s effect downward; take with clear tea at midday, with the intention of refreshing the head and eyes; and take with wine before bed, with the intention of nourishing liver blood. Those who do not drink alcohol may instead take the pills with a decoction of ginseng and Chinese angelica. Prolonged use is said to be very effective.

This topical plaster is used for various forms of eye redness, including redness caused by head wind, with swelling so severe that the eyes are difficult to open. It is also well suited for pain at both temples following a blow.

Chinese honey locust thorn, phellodendron bark, turmeric, Arisaema, aconite root, and coptis.

Grind the medicinal ingredients into a fine powder and mix them with the juice that flows naturally from fresh ginger. Apply the mixture to the temples once or twice, and the pain will stop. It may also be applied for red eye opacity. If the eye has been injured by a blow and is so swollen and red that it cannot be opened, add cotton rose and bean flour to the mixture. Applying crushed scallion is also very effective.

Wash for Various Eye Conditions

Coptis root, Chinese angelica, red peony root, and talc.

Grind the ingredients into a fine powder and steep them in boiling water. Once the powder has settled, use the clear liquid to wash the eyes. This may be used for various opacities that obstruct vision. To treat opacities, add gypsum, frankincense, and ash bark. To treat ulceration or itching of the eyelids, add Vitex fruit and Chinese gallnuts with their shells removed.

Applying crushed Rehmannia Pill is also effective.

Wash for Various Eye Conditions

Coptis root, Chinese angelica, red peony root, and talc.

Grind the ingredients into a fine powder and steep them in boiling water. Once the powder has settled, use the clear liquid to wash the eyes. This may be used for various opacities that obstruct vision. To treat opacities, add gypsum, frankincense, and ash bark. To treat ulceration or itching of the eyelids, add Vitex fruit and Chinese gallnuts with their shells removed.

Rehmannia Pill

Chrysanthemum flowers and scouring rush, half a liang each; Atractylodes, one liang; Rehmannia and Chinese wolfberry; and Japanese catnip (Schizonepeta), three qian.

Mix the ingredients with refined honey and form them into pills. Take twenty pills after meals with tea. This formula dispels wind and brightens the eyes, and is said to be suitable for all kinds of eye ailments.

Cuscuta Pill

This formula calms the mind and spirit and improves vision. It may be taken by those with weak eyes.

Prepared green tangerine peel, plantain seeds, Morinda root with the core removed, Eucommia bark honey-roasted and stir-fried until its fibers disappear, Clematis root soaked in wine, Polygala root with the core removed, Achyranthes root soaked in wine, cistanche soaked in wine, and prepared Rehmannia, one liang each; Cuscuta seeds, two liang.

First soak the ingredients in wine, then use wine-cooked flour paste to form them into pills. Take thirty pills on an empty stomach with salted wine broth.

Three-Yellow Decoction

Used to treat sudden redness, swelling, and burning of the eyes, as well as heat toxins.

Coptis root, half a liang; Poria, half a liang; and rhubarb, two liang, toasted. Also use powdered licorice and mirabilite. Take after meals with an Ophiopogon decoction.

Asarum Powder

Used for injuries to the eyes from an impact, including injury to the pupil, with pain in the eyeball or bleeding.

Schizonepeta flower spikes, plantain seeds, Poria, Asarum, and Chinese wolfberry root bark, three qian each; a little myrrh.

Take on an empty stomach with warm wine.

Black Spirit Powder: Said to disperse blood stasis and dispel Wind. It is used for dizziness and vertigo caused by an imbalance in the blood, irregular or unbearably painful menstruation after childbirth, and blood stasis rising after an injury and affecting the pupils. Pregnant women must not take it.

White atractylodes, poria, licorice, fennel, cinnamon, Corydalis (Yanhusuo), rehmannia root, Sichuan lovage, peony, cattail pollen, costus root, dahurian angelica, and Chinese angelica.

Grind the ingredients into a fine powder and take it mixed with wine.

To treat pterygium, a fleshy growth on the surface of the eye: Take the gallbladder of a male pig slaughtered in the twelfth lunar month and fill it with crystallized sodium nitrate. Hang it in a breezy place to dry, then grind it into a fine powder and add borneol and musk. Apply it to the eye.

When applying it to the eye, mix it with wine.

To treat pterygium: Fill the gallbladder of a male pig slaughtered in the twelfth lunar month with crystallized sodium nitrate. Hang it in a breezy place to dry, then grind it into a powder and add borneol and musk. Apply it to the eye.

To prepare Xuanming Powder, a processed form of mirabilite, for treating heat, redness, and swelling in the eyes: Take one gallbladder from a yellow ox and fill it with two qian of purified mirabilite and one qian of coptis. Hang it in a well-ventilated place. Each day, gently brush off the salt crystals that form on the outside of the gallbladder with a duck feather, until no more crystals form. Store them in an earthenware jar; apply to the eye in the usual way.

When children develop pox, do not use purgatives to expel supposed residual toxins. Instead, add mung bean skins and povertyweed to their medicine. Avoid all kinds of food; eating river snails regularly is recommended.

When pox in children affects the eyes, they may take white persimmon.

To treat childhood rashes and pox that affect the eyes and cause a nebula to form:

Four qian each of cassia seed, trichosanthes root, licorice, and red peony root.

Grind the ingredients into a fine powder. Take half a qian at a time, mixed with warm water.

To treat an eye obstruction, a nebula inside or on the surface of the eye that blocks vision:

Half a qian each of trichosanthes root, licorice, cassia herb, and red peony root.

Take mixed with honey water.

Cooling Gan Pill: Treats red, swollen, and ulcerated eyes caused by childhood malnutrition.

Four qian each of cassia herb, trichosanthes root, licorice, and red peony root.

Grind the ingredients into a fine powder, then mix with pig bile and form pills about the size of mung beans. Take with tea.

To treat a film that appears over the eyes after a measles-like rash has passed.

Take fifty seeds of white wuwei, twenty peeled seeds of ruiren, and three qian each of peeled lu hui and bear bile. Grind the four ingredients together into a fine powder, then mix evenly with three liang of raw sesame oil and spread it in a bowl. Next, take a piece of moxa about the size of an egg, and three ingredients—sha, frankincense, and arsenic—each about the size of a soybean. Grind them finely and wrap them in the moxa. Light the moxa and let its smoke pass over the medicine in the bowl until the moxa has burned away. Remove the powder and grind it finely once more. Each time, take an amount the size of a millet grain and place it in the eye.

A commonly used eye wash for eye disorders caused by wind-heat or heart-heat, as well as for wind-toxin-related ulceration of the eyelids, inflammation at the corners of the eyes, redness, dryness, itching, pain, visual obstructions, and tearing. It is also used for various conditions caused by blood-wind in women.

Remove the dust from Chinese gallnuts. Remove the white skin from manjingzi and wash them in hot water.

Grind the ingredients above into powder. Each time, take two qian and put them in an earthenware pot. Add half a zhan of water and thirty to fifty copper coins. Seal the pot’s mouth with paper and heat it over a fire for a while. When a small hole steams through the paper, use the steam to fumigate the eyes. Once the liquid has cooled enough to touch, pour off the clear liquid. Open the eyes and wash them with the hot liquid; stop when it cools. Then warm the liquid again and continue washing.

Another eye wash:

Half a liang of copper green, one liang of white clay, and one and a half qian of Chinese gallnuts.

Grind the three ingredients into powder and steep them in hot water. Close the eyes and wash the corners of the eyes with the warm liquid, taking care not to let it enter the eyes. Stop when the liquid cools, then warm it again and continue washing. It can be used for all kinds of ulceration at the corners of the eyes.

Tea-Mixed Powder, for treating various forms of wind-related swelling, itching, pain, visual obstructions, ulceration at the corners of the eyes, and eye disorders caused by pathogenic wind in both men and women, as well as tearing and blurred vision due to an imbalance of Qi and blood.

One liang each of Sichuan lovage, fangfeng, and qianghuo; half a liang of licorice; and one liang each of horsetail, gypsum (stir-fried), baked abalone shell, manjingzi, mint leaves, and wild chrysanthemum flowers.

Grind the ingredients into powder. Each time, take two qian and mix with clear tea to drink.

For various kinds of heat-related eye disorders: First, take four liang of cut coptis and simmer it with water into a paste. Then take a fairly large sweet melon and cut off its top…

Grind the medicinal ingredients above into a fine powder. Take two qian per dose, mixed with light tea.

For various kinds of inflamed eyes: First take four liang of Coptis, chop it, and simmer it in water until it forms a paste. Then take one large, sweet melon, cut off the top to make a lid, and scoop out the flesh. Line the inside with a layer of fresh mint, then add a layer of yányāoxiāo (a kind of mirabilite). Continue layering until the melon is full, then replace the lid. Hang the melon in a well-ventilated place for three or four days. The mirabilite will naturally crystallize on the outside of the rind. Each day, use a goose feather to sweep off the crystals and mix them evenly with the Coptis paste. Store the mixture in a clean white container and apply it to inflamed eyes.

For applying to red or inflamed eyes: Take two liang of mulberry leaves, half a liang of schizonepeta, two liang of mirabilite, and half a liang of rhubarb. Grind the ingredients into a fine powder and mix with honey water. Apply it to both temples to reduce fever and disperse the excess blood heat around the eyes.

Purple Gold Pills, a secret remedy for the eyes: Take one and a half liang of Sichuan lovage rhizome, one and a half liang of Chinese angelica, half a liang of paper mulberry fruit, half a liang of mint, six qian of trichosanthes root, two liang of vitex seeds (roasted), one and a half liang of Sichuan pepper (dried by roasting and deseeded), three qian each of chrysanthemum, buddleja flower, snake skin, and schizonepeta spikes (soaked), and one liang of lycium root bark. Soak four of these ingredients in licorice juice, then roast them dry. Also take one and a half liang of white tribulus, remove the tips, and soak it. Grind all thirteen ingredients together into a fine powder. Use refined honey to form pills, each weighing one qian. Take them with different accompanying liquids according to the condition: for dim vision with a bluish haze, take with angelica wine; for a qi obstruction that clouds the vision and makes objects unclear, take with Aucklandia decoction; for women’s blood-related dizziness, take with angelica and mint decoction.

Someone developed an eye illness after drinking hot wine and could not see the road clearly for three years. After taking this medicine for twenty-five days, they improved. Someone with an eye illness attributed to stagnant qi had dim vision and had seen no light for eight years; after taking the medicine for forty days, they improved, and after sixty days their sight became clear again. Another person lost their sight for four years after their mother died; after taking the medicine for fifty days, they improved and their vision returned to normal.

Another prescription: This is said to be highly effective for various eye diseases, nebulae that obstruct sight, and dim vision.

Take one and a half liang each of Chuanxiong and Chinese angelica; six qian of trichosanthes root; seven qian of fresh Sichuan pepper; half a liang of paper mulberry fruit, seeds removed and lightly stir-fried; three qian each of licorice, snake slough, and coptis; one liang each of chrysanthemum, vitex fruit, field horsetail (soaked overnight in a child’s urine, then dried by heating), butterfly mint, Buddleja flower, lycium root bark, and notopterygium; and one and a half liang of dahurian angelica; and one liang of schizonepeta—for a total of sixteen ingredients. Grind them into a fine powder and form pills with refined honey. Make ten pills from each liang of powder, and take them twice a day after meals.

For eye disease, take the pills with rice-washing water; for dim vision, take them with an angelica decoction; for obstruction caused by Qi, take them with a costus-root decoction; and for women experiencing blood-related dizziness, take them with a decoction of butterfly mint and angelica. Avoid fishy foods, alcohol, and damp wheat-flour foods. The text says this prescription has repeatedly proved effective.

To treat eyes inflamed by pathogenic heat and wind, take any amount of Chinese holly fruit, crush it and squeeze out the juice, then simmer it into a paste. Strain it thoroughly, place it in a porcelain jar, and bury the jar underground for seven days to remove its fire toxicity. After retrieving it, apply the paste to the eyes.

Another prescription: simmer four liang each of coptis and mirabilite in clean water until they form a paste, then apply it to the eyes.

Another method: take the bile of a carp, warm it, and apply it to the eyes.

This treatment is said to work very well for sores along the edges of the eyelids. First, wash the eyes with a decoction of Chinese sumac gall and vitex fruit. Then take two liang of calamine, calcine it over a fire, and repeatedly quench it seven or eight times in coptis juice and a child’s urine. Grind it finely and add five qian of verdigris, one qian of borax, a little musk, and half a qian of saltpeter. Grind everything into a fine powder and apply it along the edges of the eyelids.

To treat red eyes in infants under one year old, grind coptis into a fine powder, mix it with tea, and apply it to the palms of the hands and soles of the feet. The text says this will bring a cure. If the eyes are swollen and painful and difficult to open, add turmeric, Chinese honey locust, and mirabilite and grind them together into a powder. Apply it to the temples, palms, and soles of the feet. Adding crushed scallion and applying it as well is said to make the treatment more complete.

Grind huanglian into a fine powder, mix it evenly with tea, and apply it to the palms of the hands and soles of the feet; the illness will be cured. If the swelling and pain are severe, making it difficult even to open the eyes, grind jianghuang, zaojiao, and poxiao into a fine powder and apply the mixture to the temples, palms, and soles of the feet. Adding scallions and pounding them together before applying the mixture makes it more effective.

End of Volume Eleven of Secret Prescriptions for External Medicine from the Transmitted Immortals.

Notes: The character transcribed as “bo” may be a copying error for “mian.” The text originally has “ban,” but this has been emended to “ban” based on the meaning. The manuscript has “hai” where the text reads “jiu.” There may be an omission after “ge.” The character transcribed as “yi” may be a copying error for “yi.”