When I take the train from my home area to New York City, I like to sit by the window and watch the changing scenery.  Along the way, there are large tracts of the marshland filled with all manner of birds.  Much of this marsh is made up of phragmites reeds.  The way the bend in the wind is oceanic and beautiful.  These reeds and their rhizomes are a medicinal herb.  The part of the reed growing out of the water is called Wei Jing and the rhizome is called Lu Gen.  Since Wei Jing is meant to be used fresh, often the dried rhizome is used in its place.  Zhang Zhong-Jing named a formula after this herb called Wei Jing Tang.  Today, I will be giving a free lecture on this potentially life-saving formula, that has even more relevance during the time of the coronavirus.

Wei Jing Tang was originally written down by Sun Si-Miao in his Bei Ji Qian Jin Yao Fang,  Essential Formulas Worth a Thousand Pieces of Gold.  It is now in the Song Dynasty Compilation of the Jin Gui Yao Lue, Chapter 7, Lung Wilt, Lung Welling Abscess, Cough, and Ascending Qi.  It is in the Lung Welling Abscess section of Chapter 7.

What is a “welling abscess?”  How do you diagnose it?  Why does it occur?  Looking at the pathomechanism behind the Wei Jing Tang pattern in detail gives us a chance to see how blood stasis is often involved with serious lung illnesses.  For those practitioners working with coronavirus, this is an essential component.  It works quickly and effectively.  The use of it stretches beyond just lung abscess.  I hope you can make it!