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Shang Han Lun · Treatise on Cold Damage
16. Indications for Sweating · Pulses, Signs and Treatment
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As a general rule, spring and summer are appropriate for inducing sweating.
Sweating should reach both hands and feet completely. An intermittent, gently moist appearance for about one shi is also good; do not let it stream like water. If the illness remains unresolved, sweating may need to be induced again. But excessive sweat must cause loss of yang: with yang deficiency, further sweating is forbidden.
When a decoction is taken to induce sweating, stop once it meets the illness. There is no need to finish the preparation.
Where sweating is permitted but no decoction is available, pills or powders may also be used. The essential criterion is resolution through sweat, although these are inferior to decoction. Match the presentation for good effect.
With a floating, large pulse, ask the patient about the illness; they may report only hard stool. If diarrhea is induced, it is a major contrary treatment. Hardness signifies repletion, and sweating brings resolution. Why? A floating pulse should be resolved by sweating.
After diarrhea, if bodily pain remains and bowel evacuation has regulated itself, urgently rescue the exterior. Guizhi Tang is appropriate for inducing sweating.
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