Ma huang xing ren gan cao shi gao tang also known as ma xing shi gan tang
ma huang 12 xing ren 9 shi gao 24 zhi gan cao 6
When there is sweating and panting, without great fever, one can give ma huang xing ren gan cao shi gao tang.
In water disease, when the pulse is deep and small, it belongs to shao yin, floating is wind, if there is no water and only deficiency distension it is qi, for water. Just promote sweating and it will be cured. For a deep pulse ma huang fu zi tang is indicated. For a floating pulse xing zi tang is indicated, or possibly ma xing shi gan tang.
It treats hot air in lungs that causes panting. The tai yang wind cold pattern is becoming a yang ming pattern and the heat is affecting the tai tyin lung.
This is a modification of ma huang tang. Gui zhi is replaced with shi gao. Now the pattern is turning into yang ming heat and shi gao will greatly cool yang ming and so prevent more loss of yang due to sweating. Shi gao clears yang ming channel heat which in Fire school terms is the qi layer. In zang fu terms is lung and stomach. Heat in the lung is causing panting.
Ma huang, Ephedrae herba is bitter descending of the lung. It is pungent dispersing of the imperial and ministerial fire. It enters the lung and bladder channel, it opens the surface, and dispels the cold on the surface. Further it dissipates lung qi and pacifies panting through opening the closed lung qi.
Ma huang is often used together with shi gao to disperses the tai yang and yang ming channels on the surface of cold and heat. They are both pungent, ma huang is warm and shi gao is cold.
Xing ren, Armeniacae semen is bitter descending of Metal. Xing ren descends lung qi, which stands into the interior exterior relation to the large intestine, allowing for a heavy Metal downward pressure on the stomach and large intestine.
Descends and smoothes the flow of lung qi, and combined with ma huang it embodies the combination of dispersing and descending. Xing ren assists ma huang in arresting panting.
Shi gao, Gypsum is pungent dispersing of heat in the stomach domain and lung. It is sweet nourishing of the stomach, spleen, and lung. It is pungent cold dispersing of the yang channels: tai yang, yang ming, shao yang. It saves yin and blood by clearing heat.
Very cold pungent and sweet shi gao clears the qi layer heat, clears internal heat in the shao yang and yang ming channels. Purges excess yang ming or qi layer channel fire with pungent dispersing and cools heat with cool sweetness.
Clears yang ming channel heat which in Fire school terms is the qi layer. In zang fu terms is lung and stomach.
Zhi gan cao, Glycyrrhizae radix prep is sweet tonifying and nourishing of all organs but especially the heart.
Zhi gan cao is sweet and mildly warm tonifying and nourishing of yin fluids. It nourishes yin fluids in the tai yin and shao yin. It calms wind in the jue yin.
Regulates the qi descending of ma huang and xing ren and further buffers the fierce nature of the ma huang and shi gao preventing the sweating from causing too great damage to the true qi.