Treatments: The formula

Emperor, minister, assistant and envoy

A classical formula assigns roles. Knowing each herb's role is what lets you understand why a formula gets modified and what can be removed without breaking it.

Emperor

attacks the main problem

Minister

reinforces the emperor or treats the secondary issue

Assistant

moderates unwanted effects or helps from another angle

Envoy

directs the formula to its destination and harmonises

Common mistake: Removing the assistant because «it does nothing obvious». Very often it is what makes the emperor tolerable.

What role does each herb play within a formula?

• The one that treats the main pattern directlyEmperorMinisterAssistantEnvoy
• The one that reinforces that action and covers an accompanying symptomEmperorMinisterAssistantEnvoy
• The one that softens the main herb's harshnessEmperorMinisterAssistantEnvoy
• The one that carries the effect to where it is neededEmperorMinisterAssistantEnvoy
• The one that protects the stomach from a cold formulaEmperorMinisterAssistantEnvoy
• The one that treats the second pattern in a mixed pictureEmperorMinisterAssistantEnvoy

How a herb is described

Each herb is described by four data, and those four are enough to know whether it fits the principle before you know anything else about it.

Nature

cold, cool, neutral, warm or hot

Flavour

orients its action: pungent moves, sweet tonifies

Meridian it enters

where it goes

Direction

rises, descends, exits or enters

Common mistake: Choosing a herb from an indication list without checking its nature. A cold herb in a cold picture makes it worse.

A classical formula fits the pattern, but the patient also has a very delicate stomach. What do you do?

1. Change the formula entirely
2. Keep the emperor and adjust assistants and doses to protect the centre
3. Halve every herb equally

What practical difference is there between treating with needles and with herbs?

1. None: the principles are the same and it does not matter which you use
2. Herbs are always more powerful
3. The principles are the same, but needles regulate and mobilise very well while herbs supply and sustain what is missing better

Order how you read a formula you do not know.

1. Look at which pattern it is indicated for↑↓
2. Identify the emperor and what it does↑↓
3. See what the minister and assistants add↑↓
4. Check the overall nature: does it cool, warm, tonify, drain?↑↓
5. Decide whether it fits the principle you wrote↑↓