Zhu Ling Tang: A Simple Guide to a Classic Water-Balancing Herbal Formula
- Hongji Medical
- Jan 30
- 5 min read
Updated: Jun 3
Zhu Ling Tang, or "Polyporus Decoction," is a traditional Chinese herbal formula from Treatise on Febrile Diseases, written by Zhang Zhongjing, a renowned doctor from the late Eastern Han Dynasty. Known as the "Medical Saint," Zhang’s work shaped Chinese medicine for centuries.
Zhu Ling Tang was designed to treat conditions involving fluid imbalances and excess heat, particularly in Shaoyin and Yangming diseases, helping the body clear blockages and restore balance.
What’s in Zhu Ling Tang?
Zhu Ling Tang combines five ingredients, each with a specific role:
Polyporus (Zhu Ling): The star herb, polyporus promotes urination and clears excess water, especially helpful for kidney and bladder issues.
Poria (Fu Ling): This gentle herb supports polyporus by boosting fluid drainage and easing water retention.
Water Plantain (Ze Xie): Water plantain enhances drainage while cooling the body, reducing internal heat.
Talc (Hua Shi): Cool and mild, talc clears bladder heat and keeps water channels open, amplifying the formula’s heat-clearing and diuretic effects.
Donkey-Hide Gelatin (E Jiao): This nourishes the body’s yin fluids, preventing dehydration from excessive water loss. It’s melted into the decoction to ensure gentle hydration.
These ingredients are typically boiled into a tea, with donkey-hide gelatin added after melting in hot water to preserve its nourishing properties.
How Zhu Ling Tang Works
Zhu Ling Tang excels at three things: promoting urination, clearing heat, and nourishing yin. It’s ideal for symptoms like:
Thirst and difficulty urinating
Fever or irritability
Insomnia or restlessness
Cough, vomiting, or diarrhea
These issues often stem from "water-heat syndrome," where excess water and heat get trapped in the body, disrupting fluid metabolism.
Zhu Ling Tang clears this blockage by draining water, cooling heat, and protecting the body’s fluids with gelatin, restoring balance and easing discomfort.
Modern Uses
In modern medicine, Zhu Ling Tang is widely used for:
Urinary Issues: Nephritis, cystitis, or urethritis, where it helps reduce inflammation and improve urination.
Other Conditions: Gastrointestinal bloating, swollen limbs, coughing, or vomiting caused by fluid imbalances.
Research shows its ingredients have anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties, making it effective for infections like urinary tract infections, enteritis, or even pneumonia. Its versatility makes it a valuable tool for various health issues.
How It Targets the Problem
When water metabolism falters—often due to external pathogens or internal imbalances—fluids and heat build up, causing symptoms like urinary problems, fever, or irritability.
Water stagnation can also trigger coughing, vomiting, or diarrhea as fluids disrupt other systems. Zhu Ling Tang restores order by:
Draining excess water through polyps (polyporus, poria, water plantain, talc).
Clearing heat to reduce fever and irritability (water plantain, talc).
Nourishing yin to prevent dehydration (donkey-hide gelatin).
This balanced approach relieves symptoms and supports long-term health.
Zhu Ling Tang vs. Wu Ling San
Zhu Ling Tang is often compared to Wu Ling San, another diuretic formula, but they differ:
Zhu Ling Tang: Cooling, it targets water-heat syndromes with symptoms like fever and thirst. It includes donkey-hide gelatin for yin nourishment.
Wu Ling San: Warming, it treats cold-damp conditions with herbs like atractylodes and cinnamon twig to strengthen the spleen and dispel surface cold.
Choosing between them depends on whether the body shows heat (Zhu Ling Tang) or cold-dampness (Wu Ling San), so consulting a practitioner is key.
Things to Keep in Mind
Zhu Ling Tang is effective but requires caution:
Avoid in Certain Cases:
Not for those with severe yin deficiency or excessive internal heat, as its diuretic effect could worsen dehydration.
Avoid if you’re sweating heavily and thirsty, as it may dry out the stomach further.
Don’t use for dampness without yin deficiency, as gelatin’s richness could worsen dampness.
Consult a Professional: A practitioner can ensure the formula matches your symptoms and constitution.
Preparation: Boil the herbs, then melt gelatin into the decoction to preserve its benefits.
Why Zhu Ling Tang Matters
Zhu Ling Tang’s blend of diuretic, cooling, and nourishing herbs makes it a powerful remedy for fluid imbalances and heat-related issues. From ancient texts to modern clinics, it helps with urinary problems, infections, and more, offering a natural way to restore balance. With proper guidance, Zhu Ling Tang can be a safe, effective tool for better health, backed by centuries of wisdom and modern research.
Chinese Name | 豬苓湯 |
Phonetic | Zhu Ling Tang |
English Name | Polyporus Decoction |
Classification | Dampclearing formulas |
Source | 《Treatise on Cold Damage》Shang Han Lun《傷寒論》 |
Combination | Polyporus (Zhu Ling) 1 liang (10g), Poria (Fu Ling) 1 liang (10g), Alismatis Rhizoma (Ze Xie) 1 liang (10g), Asini Corii Colla (E Jiao) 1 liang (10g), Talcum (Hua Shi) 1 liang (10g) |
Method | Prepare it as a decoction. Divide e jiao into 2 slices and melt them into the decoction. |
Action | Promotes urination, nourishes yin, and clears heat. |
Indication | Zhu Ling Tang is indicated for patterns of binding water and heat. The symptoms are dysuria, fever, thirst with a desire to drink, vexation, insomnia, coughing, vomiting, nausea, and diarrhea. The tongue is red with a white or slightly yellow coating and the pulse is thready and rapid. It is also indicated for blood strangury marked by difficult, painful urination as well as pain and distension of the abdomen. |
Pathogenesis | When external cold invasion reaches the interior, it may transform into heat and damage water. The result is the pattern of binding water and heat, which is associated with consumption of yin fluids. The binding of water and heat leads to the disorder of qi transformation and consumption of yin fluids. In this situation they may not ascend and thereby cause dysuria, fever, and thirst with a desire to drink. Yin deficiency with internal heat disturbs the heart and mind to cause vexation and insomnia. If water rushes up to hamper the lung qi and its ability to disperse and descend, cough will manifest. When water accumulates in the stomach, vomiting and nausea will manifest. When water pours into the large intestine, diarrhea will manifest. The red tongue with a white or slightly yellow coating and a thready and rapid pulse are all signs of yin deficiency with internal heat. The therapeutic methods are to promote urination, clear heat, and nourish yin. For patients with dysuria due to blood strangury, the therapeutic principles are to promote urination and relieve strangury, clear heat, and stanch bleeding. |
Application | 1. Essential pattern differentiation Zhu Ling Tang is used for the pattern of binding of water and heat with yin deficiency. This clinical pattern is marked by dysuria, thirst, fever, red tongue, thready and rapid pulse. 2. Modern applications This formula may be used in the following biomedically defined disorders when the patient shows signs of binding of water and heat with yin deficiency: urinary infection, nephritis, cystitis, and postpartum urinary retention. 3. Cautions and contraindications This formula is a water-draining and percolating formula. It is not applicable for patients with excessive internal heat, marked by severe sweating with thirst. |
