Zhi Shi Li Zhong Tang 枳實理中湯(集)

A Cold, Stalled Middle — Warmed and Set Moving

Zhi Shi Li Zhong Tang is Si Jin Bao’s proprietary extension of the classical Li Zhong Tang — built to warm and rectify the Middle Jiao, expel Cold, and move the Qi that has stalled in the digestive center.

When the Middle Jiao turns cold and weak, digestion slows, food and Qi stop moving, and the body’s warmth no longer reaches the limbs. This formula restores the Spleen and Stomach’s warming, transforming function — and adds Zhi Shi to break the accumulation and send rebellious Qi downward. A cold, stalled middle is both warmed and set moving again.

Built on Li Zhong Tang

Li Zhong Tang — the “Regulate the Middle Decoction” — is one of the foundational warming formulas of the classical canon, recorded in Zhang Zhongjing’s Shāng Hán Lùn for Cold from deficiency of the Middle Jiao. Its four herbs — Ren Shen, Gan Jiang, Bai Zhu, and Zhi Gan Cao — warm the center and rebuild Spleen and Stomach Qi.

This proprietary formula builds on that frame. It adds Zhi Fu Zi to deepen the Yang-restoring, Cold-dispelling action — the move that classically defines Fu Zi Li Zhong Tang — and Zhi Shi to break accumulation and descend rebellious Qi. The result extends the classical formula to patterns where Cold deficiency and Qi stagnation present together.

Cold in the Middle Jiao with Qi Stagnation · 中焦虛寒氣滯

The pattern this formula answers is Cold from deficiency of the Middle Jiao with concurrent Qi stagnation — digestive weakness, abdominal fullness, and cold extremities presenting together. The center is too cold to transform food and too stalled to move it, and the cold reaches outward to the limbs.

Six Herbs: Warm, Tonify, Move

Gān Jiāng and Zhì Fù Zǐ carry the warming work. Gan Jiang warms the Middle Jiao and expels Cold at the formula’s center; Zhi Fu Zi restores Yang and drives Cold from the interior, reaching the cold extremities the center can no longer warm.

Rén Shēn, Bái Zhú, and Zhì Gān Cǎo rebuild — the classical Li Zhong core. They tonify Spleen and Stomach Qi and replenish the original Qi, while Bai Zhu dries the Damp that pools in a cold, weak middle and Zhi Gan Cao harmonizes the whole.

Zhǐ Shí moves. It breaks the accumulation and descends rebellious Qi — resolving the fullness, distension, and counterflow (reflux, hiccups, nausea) that warming and tonifying alone would leave behind. Warm the cold, rebuild the weak, move the stalled.

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