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Of the five 泻心汤s…

（A）2 decoctions are used to treat 热痞证：

For 大黄黄连泻心汤：

“上二味，以麻沸汤二升，渍(zi4)之须臾(xu1yu2)，绞去滓(zi3)，分温再服。”

• this means that you bring to boil 200ml of water, soak the herbs in this teeny volume of water for a bit, ’strangle’ off the dregs, and then drink a portion of it warm.

For 附子泻心汤：

“上四味，切三味， 以麻沸汤二升渍(zi4)之，须臾(xu1yu2)，绞去滓(zi3)，内附子汁，分温再服。”

•  same as above, just that you pre-prepare fuzi by boiling it separately (to get the juice aka 汁). and then you mix the 附子汁 with the 大黄黄连黄芩汁 and drink in portions, warm.

What is the rationale this 麻沸汤 method? Most textbooks explain that it is to “取其气，薄其味”. This means that we want the 寒 (cold) property of these herbs, but don’t want the 苦 (bitter) property. Cold is for clearing the heat in the 心下 area, so as to get rid of the glomus (痞). The bitter is a property which induces precipitation e.g. in 承气汤, which we don’t need here.
（B）3 decoctions are used to treat 寒热错杂痞证：

For 半夏泻心汤 (7 herbs)、生姜泻心汤 (8 herbs)、甘草泻心汤 (6 herbs)：

“上___味，以水一斗，煮取六升，去滓，再煮取三升，温服一升，日三服。”

• this is similar to 小柴胡汤, which uses the “去滓再煎” method of preparation.
• remember that this method is to “和合”, although these days people will think of it just as 浓缩, since by getting rid of the dregs, you’re not letting it absorb any more goodness. Rather, you’re making the decoction even more concentrated.