Qing Luo Yin
Clear the Collaterals Decoction
- Category
- Formulas that Clear Heat
- Subcategory
- Formulas that Relieve Summerheat
- Ingredients
- 6 herbs
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What does Qing Luo Yin do?
Qing Luo Yin (Clear the Collaterals Decoction) gently clears lingering summerheat from the Lung collaterals (luo) at the qi level. It is built from six light, sweet, cooling herbs — several used fresh — that "float" upward to the Lung and head rather than purging heat forcefully, suited to a mild residual pattern rather than acute, severe summerheat.
The six ingredients divide by role:
- Chief: Jin Yin Hua (fresh honeysuckle flower) and Bian Dou Hua (fresh hyacinth-bean flower) are sweet and cooling, gently clearing residual summerheat toxin without the harshness of bitter, cold herbs. This site’s own herb record for this ingredient is the generic "Bai Bian Dou" (hyacinth-bean seed), but its own the composition record note reads "Fresh Flower Used" — confirming the substance actually used is the flower (Bian Dou Hua), not the seed.
- Deputies: Xi Gua (watermelon rind) and Si Gua Luo (dried luffa vascular skeleton) clear residual heat, generate fluids, and unblock the Lung's collateral pathways. This site’s own amount record for Xi Gua reads "(Frost Used)"; classical sources use Xi Gua Cui Yi (the thin, frost-dusted green rind layer, not the fruit flesh), which this note most likely denotes.
- Assistants: He Ye (fresh lotus leaf) lifts clear yang to the head, relieving the head distension and blurred vision that mark this pattern; Dan Zhu Ye (fresh lophatherum/bamboo leaf) clears residual heat, calms mild restlessness, and drains heat gently through urination.
- No dedicated envoy herb; the formula's six light, fresh, similarly cooling ingredients are combined in a single brief decoction rather than built around a harmonizing envoy.
Source: this site’s own composition record (chief/deputy/assistant flags unset on all 6 rows) + Bensky & Barolet, Formulas & Strategies convention for fresh-herb summerheat-collateral formulas, cross-referenced against multiple online sources for the role breakdown. Traditional-use framing; not medical advice.
Indications
What is Qing Luo Yin used for?
Qing Luo Yin treats a mild, residual summerheat pattern lodged in the Lung collaterals — classically the case where sweating therapy has already resolved the main fever of a summerheat or warm-disease episode, but a light lingering heat leaves the head feeling distended and the vision unclear. It is a follow-up, "mopping up" formula rather than one for acute, severe heat.
Its classic clinical presentation:
- Residual heat signs: low-grade fever, mild thirst, and slight restlessness.
- Head/eye signs distinguishing this pattern: a sensation of head distension or heaviness, blurred or unclear vision, and lightheadedness — from residual heat obstructing the collaterals rather than heat still active at a deeper level.
Tongue and pulse: this site’s own record records a pink tongue with a thin white coat; cross-checked formula compendia describe the pulse as soft, or soft and slightly rapid, consistent with a mild residual pattern rather than vigorous heat.
Source: this site’s own pattern/tongue record + Bensky & Barolet, Formulas & Strategies, cross-referenced against multiple online sources (pulse, which this site’s own record leaves blank; original indication, paraphrased). Traditional-use framing; not medical advice.
Western Uses:
What is Qing Luo Yin used for in modern practice?
In modern practice this formula is referenced for mild heat-related discomfort in warm weather — low fever, head heaviness, and blurred vision following heat exposure, or lingering low-grade symptoms after a feverish illness has largely resolved — contexts where Western medicine recognizes mild heat exhaustion or post-febrile malaise. Some formula compendia also list it as a light preventive tea during hot weather.
These biomedical correlates are offered as a reference to the formula's traditional use, not as a claim that it treats any disease. It is explicitly a mild formula (see cautions) and is not a substitute for emergency care in true heat stroke. Any use for a diagnosed condition belongs with a qualified practitioner and appropriate medical care.
Source: traditional-use correlates summarized from Bensky & Barolet, Formulas & Strategies, and multiple online sources; reference only, not a treatment claim.
Ingredients
6 substances in Qing Luo Yin — each links to its full herb monograph.
Bai Bian Dou6 gFresh Flower UsedClear and Relieve Summerheat
Jin Yin Hua6 gFresh UsedClear Heat and Eliminate Toxins
Si Gua Luo6 gInvigorate Blood and Remove StagnationNo specimen photographXi Gua6 gFrost UsedClear and Relieve Summerheat
Dan Zhu Ye6 gFresh UsedDrain Fire
He Ye6 gFresh UsedClear and Relieve SummerheatPreparation & dosage
How is Qing Luo Yin prepared?
Qing Luo Yin is taken as a brief, light water decoction. Several ingredients are traditionally used fresh (Jin Yin Hua, Bian Dou Hua, He Ye, Dan Zhu Ye) rather than dried, and the whole formula is simmered only briefly to preserve the light, aromatic, cooling qualities of the herbs rather than boiled hard like a heavier tonic decoction. It can also be prepared as a light steeped tea for mild preventive use in hot weather.
Source: this site’s own preparation record + Bensky & Barolet, Formulas & Strategies, cross-referenced against multiple online sources for the fresh-herb/brief-decoction convention.
Decoction, brief simmer. Reference relative amounts (per this site’s own record, cross-checked against externally published versions): Jin Yin Hua, Bian Dou Hua (fresh flower), Xi Gua (rind), Si Gua Luo, He Ye, and Dan Zhu Ye 6 g each. Several ingredients are traditionally used fresh; dried substitutes are commonly used when fresh is unavailable, generally at similar weight but considered milder. Reference only.
Safety — read before use
What are the cautions for Qing Luo Yin?
Qing Luo Yin is a mild, light formula and is explicitly insufficient for severe summerheat or heat stroke, which is a medical emergency requiring immediate professional care, not a self-treated condition. Its cooling, dispersing herbs are also not suited to cold-type presentations.
- Not for severe or acute summerheat/heat stroke: its six light, fresh herbs are meant for a mild, lingering residual pattern, not vigorous heat or heat-stroke emergencies.
- Avoid in wind-cold or other cold-type exterior patterns without heat signs, and use cautiously in patients with a cold constitution or loose stools from Spleen-Stomach qi deficiency, since the formula leans cooling and dispersing.
- Fresh herbs are traditional for several ingredients (Jin Yin Hua, Bian Dou Hua, He Ye, Dan Zhu Ye); dried substitutes are commonly used when fresh is unavailable but are generally considered milder.
Source: Bensky & Barolet, Formulas & Strategies (cautions for mild summerheat-collateral formulas), cross-referenced against multiple online sources. Traditional-use framing; not medical advice.
Originally Appeared In:
- Systematic Differentiation of Warm Diseases (Wen Bing Tiao Bian)
Notes:
How does Qing Luo Yin compare to other summerheat formulas?
Qing Luo Yin is the mildest of the classic summerheat formulas, reserved for a light residual pattern in the Lung collaterals after the main heat has already been cleared. Other formulas that relieve summerheat are chosen when the pattern is heavier or complicated by dampness, cold, or deficiency.
- vs Qing Shu Yi Qi Tang: choose Qing Shu Yi Qi Tang when summerheat has gone on to injure qi and fluids — fatigue, profuse sweating, thirst for cold drinks, a dry red tongue, and a deficient rapid pulse — a heavier, more depleted presentation than Qing Luo Yin's mild head distension and blurred vision.
- vs Xin Jia Xiang Ru Yin: choose Xin Jia Xiang Ru Yin when summerheat is complicated by exterior cold-damp ("cold-trapped" summerheat) with chills, body aches, and a greasy tongue coating — a pattern Qing Luo Yin's purely cooling herbs are not designed to release.
- vs Liu Yi San: choose Liu Yi San when damp-heat with urinary signs (scanty dark urine, generalized heaviness) predominates over head/eye symptoms.
Source: Bensky & Barolet, Formulas & Strategies (formulas that relieve summerheat, compared by severity/complication) + this site's own Qing Shu Yi Qi Tang record, cross-referenced against multiple online sources.
Clinical Studies & Research:
Is there modern research on Qing Luo Yin?
No dedicated modern clinical or pharmacological research on this specific six-herb, Wen Bing Tiao Bian summerheat formula was found. It is a minor, mild classical formula and has not been the subject of trials or lab studies located via PubMed/PMC search.
Name-collision caution: a separate, unrelated formula also called "Qing-Luo-Yin" (清络饮) appears in the network-pharmacology literature for rheumatoid arthritis — it is a completely different 4-herb composition (Ku Shen/Sophora flavescens, Qing Feng Teng/Sinomenium acutum, Huang Bai/Phellodendron chinensis, Bi Xie/Dioscorea collettii; PMID 23653662, Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2013). It shares no ingredients with this site's Qing Luo Yin (Jin Yin Hua, Bian Dou Hua, Xi Gua, Si Gua Luo, He Ye, Dan Zhu Ye) and should not be cited as research on this formula.
Sources: PubMed/PMC search (no formula-specific studies found for the classical 6-herb summerheat formula); PubMed 23653662 flagged only as a same-named, unrelated formula. Research context, not a therapeutic claim.
Sources & References
Compiled and edited by Thomas Dehli, Founder & Editor, Sacred Lotus Updated
The information here is referenced from numerous sources — teachers, practitioners, class notes from Five Branches University, the books below, and the published research literature, with citations given as resolvable PubMed identifiers. Where sources disagree, I have flagged the discrepancies directly. If facts couldn't be verified, I have left them out. How we source our content.
Reference information for students and practitioners — not medical advice. Consult a qualified practitioner. Terms of use.
Chinese Formulas Books & References
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