Traditional & Alternative Medicine

The term “ministerial fi re” originates from Neijing Suwan where it was used in the context of climatology. It became widely used in Zangfu theories in later eras, but with no consensus on its defi nition. Jing-Yuan master Zhu Danxi was the only one in TCM history who had presented a complete, systematic, and well-founded theory on ministerial fi re. Zhu’s theory, as recorded in his text Gezhiyulun can be summarized as follows. First, ministerial fi re is the “fi re of thunder and dragon”. Since “thunder “and “dragon” are related to two diff erent symbols of the Bagua (eight trigrams) which correspond to wood and water respectively, ministerial fi re is the fi re of liver and kidney. Zhu also theorized that there is ministerial fi re in the gall bladder, urinary bladder, pericardium, and San Jiao because of their pairing relationships to the liver and kidney. Second, Zhu described the ministerial fi re as the “fi re of heaven”, as compared to sovereign fi re being the “fi re of human”. It indicates the prenatal nature of the ministerial fi re verses the postnatal nature of the sovereign fi re. Th ird, ministerial fi re is both a physiological and pathological fi re; it turns from normal to pathological aft er being stirred up by Jue Yang Fire and as a result, depletes yin. Forth, the aberrant movement of the ministerial fi re is mainly caused by overindulgences in sexual activities and eating which lead to yin depletion and therefore, self-restraint is recommended. In terms of clinical applications, Zhu Danxi’s most signifi cant treatment principle “nourish yin to sedate fi re” led to the development of Da Bu Yin Wan, which is regarded by many as a stronger formula than Lui Wei Di Huang Wan in treating yin defi ciency with defi ciency heat. Today, according to many clinical studies in China, Da Bu Yin Wan is proven to be eff ective in treating conditions such as hyperthyroidism, diabetes, tuberculosis, urinary tract infection, nephritis, impotence, and menopause symptoms.