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MENTAL MODEL · M0777

Guiding Fire Back to Source

Guiding Fire Back to Source
TechnicalHigh supportTraditional Chinese Medicine
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Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-30

CORE DEFINITION

When kidney water is extremely cold and deficient yang floats upward (true cold with false heat, such as a flushed face but cold feet), one should not clear heat but use warming herbs (Aconite, Cinnamon) to guide the floating fire back to the kidneys.

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

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Energy recovery. The fire above is escaped from below. Do not extinguish it (it is precious), but guide it back home like coaxing a child. This is the role of Cinnamon in Liuwei Dihuang Wan.

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Guiding fire back to source is a treatment for 'floating of deficient yang / stirring of ministerial fire' (upper heat and lower cold). It uses warming the kidney and absorbing qi to guide the floating fire back to the kidney and life gate, so that the floating fire is restrained. It is commonly seen in combinations like Cinnamon guiding fire downward.

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Source support: Explicit

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    baike.baidu.comhttps://baike.baidu.com/item/%E5%BC%95%E7%81%AB%E5%BD%92%E5%85%83/671281ZH · Explicit
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