Introduction
"Formulas to Aid the Living"
This page is cultural documentation, not medical advice.
A 13th-century Southern Song formula collection by Yan Yonghe, 10 volumes. Best known as the source of Gui Pi Wan (归脾汤), the canonical "heart-spleen tonifying" formula.
Yan Yonghe (严用和, c. 1200–1267) compiled this 10-volume collection of formulas as a practical guide for clinicians. Gui Pi Tang (归脾汤) — later known as Gui Pi Wan in pill form — is the most famous formula originating in this text, and remains one of the most prescribed "tonifying" formulas in modern Chinese medicine for fatigue combined with sleeplessness or overthinking.
Historical background
Ji Sheng Fang (also known as Yan Shi Ji Sheng Fang) was compiled by the Southern Song physician Yan Yonghe in 1253, after decades of clinical practice in Jiangxi. The 10-volume collection was conceived as a practical manual for working clinicians, organized by disease category with concise theoretical introductions and formula notes. It was popular in Yuan and Ming medical circles and was reprinted multiple times. The text suffered significant loss during the Ming dynasty; later Ming works, including portions of Pu Ji Fang, drew directly on the missing material.…
Formulas recorded in this text· 2
Formula · Rén Shēn Guī Pí Wán
Ginseng Spleen-Returning
人参归脾丸
A "yi-qi bu-xue, jian-pi yang-xin" (augment qi, tonify blood, strengthen the spleen, nourish the heart) formula from Yan Yonghe's "Formulary to Aid the Living" (1253), the ginseng-substituted, stronger form of the classical Gui Pi Tang.
Formula · Guī Pí Wán
Spleen-Restoring
归脾丸
A "heart-and-spleen tonifying" formula with a strong reputation in Chinese households for two connected complaints: difficulty falling asleep due to overthinking, and the kind of tiredness that comes from working or worrying too hard.