Guiding fire back to its source, also known as Guiding fire back to its origin, as the name implies, means to guide the fire from its source to its origin and bring it back down to its origin. Since Zhang Jinyue of the Ming Dynasty clearly proposed the concept of drawing fire back to its source, many physicians have used this concept to explain human physiology and pathology and to guide clinical practice. However, to this day, the essence of returning the fire to its source has been widely discussed and even contradicted, so the author combines the relevant discussions of various schools of thought in the past generations and analyzes them as follows. Although Zhongjing did not establish this concept, his Four Reversal Soup and Four Reversal Soup, which were used to treat Yin in the internal and Yang in the external, were in fact the origin of the concept of drawing fire to the source. Tang? Wang Bing’s commentary on Suwen? The smallest disease is like a human fire, when it meets grass, it is burnt by wood, it can be wet, it can be extinguished by water, so it reverses its nature to break the attack. The disease is very large, as if the dragon fire, get wet and flames, meet water and burnt, do not know its nature, to water wet folded, enough to light flame at the sky, things poor party to stop. Those who know its nature, the perverse reason, with the fire to try it, then the burnt self-cancellation, fire extinguished.” The viewpoint of treating heat with heat and following its illusion is actually an extension of the Su Wen’s method of treating heat with the opposite of heat because of heat, which had some influence and inspiration on the formation of the theory of leading fire to its source by Ming and Qing medical practitioners. After the Ming Dynasty, with the deepening of the doctrine of destiny, medical doctors Xue has, Sun Yikui, Zhao Xian Ke, Zhang Jingyue and others have successively elaborated on this issue, among which Zhang Jingyue’s contribution is the greatest. Zhang Jingyue pointed out when discussing the role of cinnamon: “If the lower jiao is deficient in cold, the method should be to induce fire to return to the source, then this is the key medicine, not to be mistaken.” The concept of “inducing fire to return to the source” was explicitly proposed. Since then, the method of inducing fire to return to the source has been widely used and continuously developed. The fire is returned to the source of the kidney The fire that leads the fire to the source has been recognized differently by medical practitioners throughout the ages, and there are different expressions of false fire, yin fire, phase fire, rootless fire, dragon thunder fire, etc. Despite the different expressions, there is no doubt about the false fire. Source, some doctors refer to the life of the door, such as Zhang Jinyue cloud: if the mission door Yin Sheng, then the yuan Yang fear to avoid, and the dragon fire has no place to hide, so that the wandering does not return, and for the annoyance of heat G Yang and other diseases” (“Jing Yue Quanshu”). There are also doctors think is the kidney, such as Xu Da Chun said: “kidney yang failure, the fire is sent over the top, so it becomes the evidence of heat and cold, so it is appropriate to lead the fire back to the original method. …… sapodilla, cinnamon fire back to the Yang, specifically to lead the fire back to the original, and deficiency of Yang is not convergence in the kidney life, there is a Yang failure of the fire problem? This tonic kidney back to the Yang agent, for Yang deficiency fire hair of the special formula” (“medical strategy six books of miscellaneous disease evidence treatment”). Since the kidney is the organ of water and fire and contains true yin and true yang, it is a yang trapped in two yin, so it is more reasonable to attribute the source of fire to the kidney. The essence of the origin of fire has always been widely divergent, and the mainstream opinion has long been that yin is strong in the lower part of the body and yang in the upper part, that is, true cold and false heat. For example, Zhang Jinyue believes that “the standard of fire is on the top, while the origin of fire is on the bottom. And fire know on dry, the nature of extreme fear of cold, if the mission door Yin Sheng, then the yuan Yang fear to avoid, and the dragon fire no hiding place, so that the wandering does not return, and for the annoyance of heat G Yang and other diseases, who is good at treating this, but from its nature, but make the Yang and the gas directly into the Kan, according to its cave residence and recruit the inducement, then the phase seeks the same gas, and the false Yang does not return to the original carry on” (“Jing Yue Quan Shu”). The Qing dynasty Zhou Xuehai and Zhang Jinyue understanding is basically the same: “the fire of dragon thunder, submerged in water, get warm is hidden. When the water is cold, the fire rises, sore throat, cracked lips, thirst, and red face, throw in the gui-positive, warm its cave house and recruit it, the fire returns to its original position” (“Three Fingers”). Influenced by Jinyue’s words, later medical practitioners used the method of inducing fire to return to its source to save many critical patients, but there is also the drawback of using Gui and Pao to induce fire to return to its source without distinguishing between yin and yang deficiency and reality, which led to many cases of failure to treat and mis-treatment, so many medical practitioners criticized this. Qin Jingming of the Ming Dynasty pointed out that “the use of Gui to draw fire back to its source is a cure for the true Yang deficiency, the rootless fire, which is forced by the Yin evil and loses its guard on the inflammation, as in the case of Daiyang Yin mania, not the Dragon Thunder” (“The Cause of the Disease”). The Qing dynasty He Mengyao also deplored the abuse of the draw fire to the source: “Gui, attached to draw fire to the source, this is for the lower cold on the hot people said. If the water is dry and fire is hot, the upper and lower are hot, the treatment should be such as six flavors, replenish the water to control the fire, today’s doctors move to use Gui, and the herb, move the cloud to lead the fire, do not know where to lead to return, kill people like sack, can be sigh also” (“medical whatsay”). The most important thing is that it is not only the most important thing, but also the most important thing. If the warm tonic medicine for the introduction of fire, it is a big mistake. Cover Yang for the fire, Yin for the water, water failure Yang no attachment, and floating on the upper, it is appropriate to nourish the true Yin, the lonely Yang down attached. If the available heat medicine, is Dai Yang, Geyang two evidence, is the real cold and outside the false heat, Yin is like Yang, is still cold evidence, so the use of heat medicine, here must be understood.” It can be seen from this that Ye Tianshi’s so-called inducing fire to return to the source is actually for the deficiency of kidney water, false fire on the hyperactivity of the administration, changing the previous situation that only the use of Gui and Pei is inducing fire to return to the source, is an important supplement and development of the theory of inducing fire to return to the source. Wang Mengying further elaborated on this basis: “Geyang, Dai Yang, are deficient Yang outside, the so-called real cold inside and outside the false heat, so you can use Gui, attached to lead within the submerged, can not be said that the fire of dragon thunder on inflammation. The spring equinox dragon to see the thunder is vocal, the autumn equinox dragon stings and thunder with the closing sound, is the fire of dragon thunder, must be inflamed in the Yang Sheng time. The human body a small world, liver for the corner of wood, Zhen for the thunder, the fire of dragon thunder that liver fire, must be kidney Yin deficiency, liver Yang began to blaze, resulting in the birth of dragon thunder on the inflammation of the evidence, the treatment should be strong water control fire, set ignorant of this meaning, and delusion invoking the fire to Yuan said, is just holding the salary to put out the fire. The ancient books are not clearly identified, the misunderstanding is not shallow” (“Return to the ink stone record”). Up to this point, the theory of invoking fire to the source is basically perfect. Therefore, the former is a real cold and false heat, Yang in the upper; the latter is a Yin deficiency and Yang hyperactivity, due to the lack of real water, the phase of fire, the two are like the clouds, the treatment method is also completely opposite, critical, if a slight misjudgment, the danger is immediately seen. The basic principle of inducing fire to return to the source should follow Wang Bing’s instruction: to strengthen the main body of water to control sunlight, and to benefit the source of fire to eliminate shade. The formula is “the right medicine to cure the deficiency cold of the kidney’s vital gate, and a wonderful method to guide the dragon to the sea” (Treatise on Medical Formulas), and Zhao Xian Ke has discussed: “But the Eight Flavors Pill, Gui and Pao are in the same breath as the phase fire, and go straight into the kidney, according to its cave and recruit it, the same breath seeks each other, the phase fire can be The same qi is sought, the phase fire can not be drawn back to the source” (“Medical Guan”). In serious cases, we can use a large dose of Bai Tong Tang or Si Wei Tang, decocted and taken cold to prevent refusal. If the true water is insufficient and the phase fire is superior due to yin deficiency and yang hyperactivity, decoction can be made with less hot herbs in nourishing yin and diarrhea of fire, so as to take it from its nature and guide the heat downward. This medicine is pungent, sweet and hot, enters the lung, spleen, heart, kidney and stomach meridians, is thick and subdued, guards but does not go away, and is biased toward the lower jiao, “supplementing the deficiency of the vital gate of yuan yang, such as the evidence of geyang daiyang, and can lead the fire back to the original” (Ben Cao Po Yi). Qing? Zang Da De said: “Cinnamon is hot, the same as fire, mixed in the lower jiao strong water medicine, can lead rootless false fire down and return to the meridian” (Cusanji). In terms of usage, inducing fire to return to the source actually belongs to the category of counter-adjuvant pairing in nourishing Yin and clearing heat medicine, the amount should not be large, usually only a few grams can be used.