| 中医 | Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) | The medical tradition of China, with about two millennia of written record. |
| 阴 | Yin | The cooler, quieter, interior, resting, material aspect of a phenomenon. |
| 阳 | Yang | The warmer, more active, exterior, moving, functional aspect. |
| 气 | Qi | Functional activity — the capacity to transform, move, warm, hold and protect. Not a measurable substance. |
| 血 | Blood (Xue) | The nourishing material aspect, paired with Qi as the moving aspect. |
| 津液 | Body fluids (Jin Ye) | Thin fluids that moisten, and thicker fluids that nourish joints and marrow. |
| 精 | Essence (Jing) | The constitutional, slow-changing aspect; what you were born with plus what you drew from food and rest. |
| 神 | Spirit (Shen) | Consciousness, awareness and emotional presence; read in the eyes as the key prognostic sign. |
| 脏 | Zang (organ systems) | Six functional systems (Heart, Liver, Spleen, Lung, Kidney, Pericardium) — not anatomical organs. |
| 腑 | Fu (hollow organs) | Six "hollow" systems associated with receiving, transforming and transmitting. |
| 脏腑 | Zang-Fu | The collective term for the TCM organ systems and their relationships. |
| 五行 | Five Phases (Wu Xing) | Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water as five patterns of change, with generating and controlling relations. |
| 卫气 | Defensive Qi (Wei Qi) | Qi described as circulating at the surface and resisting external influences. |
| 营气 | Nutritive Qi (Ying Qi) | Qi described as moving with the Blood and nourishing internally. |
| 元气 | Source Qi (Yuan Qi) | The root Qi associated with the Kidney system and with constitutional vitality. |
| 宗气 | Gathering Qi (Zong Qi) | Qi associated with breath, the chest and the heart. |
| 命门 | Gate of Life (Mingmen) | A concept and a point in the lower back, associated with the root of Yang. |
| 丹田 | Dantian | The region below the navel used as a focus of attention in practice. Not an organ or a standard point. |
| 经络 | Meridian (Jing-Luo) | The relational map of channels used to organise reasoning about the body. |
| 络脉 | Collaterals (Luo Mai) | The branching, finer level of the channel system. |
| 十二正经 | Twelve primary meridians | Six Yang and six Yin channels, each linked to a Zang or Fu system. |
| 奇经八脉 | Eight extraordinary vessels | Eight vessels outside the primary twelve, including the Governing and Conception Vessels. |
| 六淫 | Six influences (Liu Yin) | Wind, Cold, Summer-heat, Damp, Dryness and Fire — descriptions of external influences. |
| 风 | Wind | The most abstract of the six: signs that move around or come on suddenly. |
| 寒 | Cold | Describes contraction, slowing and a preference for warmth. |
| 暑 | Summer-heat | The influence associated with hot weather and heavy fluid loss. |
| 湿 | Damp | Describes heaviness, sluggishness and turbidity — a common pattern category. |
| 燥 | Dryness | Describes drying of skin, throat, stool and fluids. |
| 火 | Fire | The most active and "hot" of the six; also used for internal heat patterns. |
| 七情 | Seven emotions | Joy, anger, worry, pensiveness, grief, fear and fright — described as affecting the organ systems. |
| 痰 | Phlegm (as a pattern) | A pattern category describing turbidity, heaviness or mental clouding — not only literal mucus. |
| 瘀血 | Blood stasis | A pattern describing fixed, stabbing pain, dark complexion or masses. |
| 气滞 | Qi stagnation | A pattern describing distension, moving discomfort and emotionally-driven symptoms. |
| 虚 | Deficiency | One of the eight principles: insufficient reserve, describing weakness and depletion. |
| 实 | Excess | One of the eight principles: an overly strong presence of something, describing fullness. |
| 表 | Exterior | One of the eight principles: the locus is at the surface. |
| 里 | Interior | One of the eight principles: the locus is deeper inside. |
| 寒证 | Cold pattern | A pattern category describing cold signs and a preference for warmth. |
| 热证 | Heat pattern | A pattern category describing heat signs such as thirst, redness and restlessness. |
| 四诊 | Four examinations (Si Zhen) | Looking, listening/smelling, asking and palpating — combined into one pattern. |
| 望诊 | Inspection (Wang) | Reading complexion, bearing and above all the tongue. |
| 闻诊 | Listening and smelling (Wen) | Reading voice, breathing, cough and odour. |
| 问诊 | Inquiry (Wen) | A long structured history: sleep, appetite, digestion, temperature, pain, emotions. |
| 切诊 | Palpation (Qie) | Feeling the pulse at three positions on each wrist, plus the abdomen and channels. |
| 脉 | Pulse | Twenty-eight classical qualities read at three depths and three positions. |
| 寸口 | Cunkou (wrist pulse) | The radial pulse position, read in three sections: cun, guan and chi. |
| 舌诊 | Tongue diagnosis | Reading the tongue body and coating. Affected by light, medicine, coffee and smoking. |
| 舌质 | Tongue body | Colour, shape, moisture and movement — read as indicating deeper states. |
| 舌苔 | Tongue coating | Colour, thickness and distribution — read as reflecting recent digestive and fluid states. |
| 八纲 | Eight principles (Ba Gang) | Exterior/Interior, Cold/Heat, Deficiency/Excess, Yin/Yang — a sorting framework, not a diagnosis. |
| 证 | Pattern (Zheng) | The TCM unit of conclusion, derived from all four examinations together. |
| 辨证 | Pattern differentiation | The core reasoning step of TCM: turning findings into a pattern, then choosing a strategy. |
| 标本 | Root and branch (Biao Ben) | Distinguishing the underlying condition from its manifest expression, and the order of addressing them. |
| 腧穴 | Acupoint (Shuxue) | A defined location on the body; 361 are standardised by the WHO in the Western Pacific standard. |
| 寸 | Cun (body-inch) | A proportional unit for locating points, defined relative to the individual body. |
| 井穴 | Jing-well point | The most distal of the five transport points, at the tips of the fingers or toes. |
| 荥穴 | Ying-spring point | The second of the five transport points, just beyond the joint. |
| 输穴 | Shu-stream point | The third of the five transport points, often also the source point. |
| 经穴 | Jing-river point | The fourth of the five transport points, above the wrist or ankle. |
| 合穴 | He-sea point | The fifth of the five transport points, near the elbow or knee. |
| 郄穴 | Xi-cleft point | A cleft point, classically associated with acute presentations. |
| 八会穴 | Eight meeting points | Eight points described as the meeting places of Qi, Blood, vessels, sinews, bone, marrow, Zang and Fu. |
| 八脉交会穴 | Eight confluent points | Eight points paired with the extraordinary vessels, used in four classical combinations. |
| 阿是穴 | Ashi point | A tender spot used as a point without a fixed location or name. |
| 得气 | Needling sensation (Deqi) | The dull ache, heaviness or spreading warmth reported when a needle reaches the intended point. |
| 本草 | Materia medica (Bencao) | The Chinese pharmacopoeia tradition and the books that record it. |
| 四气 | Four natures (Si Qi) | Cold, cool, warm and hot — the thermal character assigned to a herb. |
| 五味 | Five flavours (Wu Wei) | Pungent, sweet, sour, bitter and salty — matched to the five phases. |
| 归经 | Meridian entry (Gui Jing) | The meridian system a herb is said to act upon. |
| 升降浮沉 | Directional tendency | Whether a herb action is described as rising, descending, floating outward or sinking inward. |
| 方剂 | Formula (Fang Ji) | A designed combination of herbs, not a single plant — the basic unit of prescribing. |
| 君药 | Chief herb (Jun) | The ingredient that addresses the principal aspect of the pattern. |
| 臣药 | Deputy herb (Chen) | The ingredient that supports the chief or addresses a secondary aspect. |
| 佐药 | Assistant herb (Zuo) | The ingredient that moderates side effects or adds a needed direction. |
| 使药 | Envoy herb (Shi) | The ingredient that harmonises the formula or directs it to a region. |
| 炮制 | Processing (Paozhi) | Preparing a herb by heating, soaking, steaming or honey-frying to reduce toxicity or alter action. |
| 汤剂 | Decoction (Tang Ji) | Several herbs boiled together and the liquid drunk. |
| 经方 | Classical formula (Jing Fang) | A formula recorded in the Han-dynasty classical texts, used as a standard. |
| 中成药 | Patent medicine (Zhong Cheng Yao) | A manufactured, standardised Chinese herbal product — pills, granules or capsules. |
| 针刺 | Acupuncture | Inserting fine sterile needles at selected points, usually retained 15-30 minutes. |
| 艾灸 | Moxibustion | Burning dried mugwort near or on a point to deliver gentle heat. |
| 拔罐 | Cupping | Cups held to the skin by suction, leaving marks that fade in days. |
| 刮痧 | Gua sha | Stroking the skin with a smooth tool to produce petechiae. |
| 推拿 | Tuina | A structured bodywork tradition using pressing, rolling and joint mobilisation. |
| 气功 | Qigong | Movement, breath and attention practised together. |
| 太极 | Taiji (Tai chi) | A moving practice and martial art, studied in English research mostly as gentle physical activity. |
| 导引 | Daoyin | The ancient forerunner of qigong — guiding and stretching the body and breath. |
| 食疗 | Dietary therapy | Using the thermal and flavour properties of ordinary foods in the same framework as herbs. |
| 养生 | Yangsheng (nourishing life) | The tradition of daily practices for maintaining health rather than treating illness. |
| 节气 | Solar terms | The twenty-four divisions of the agricultural year, used to time seasonal health advice. |
| 黄帝内经 | Huangdi Neijing | The Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor — the foundational text, compiled around the Han dynasty. |
| 素问 | Suwen | The first of the two parts of the Inner Canon, covering theory and its principles. |
| 灵枢 | Lingshu | The second part of the Inner Canon, with much of the material on needling. |
| 难经 | Nanjing | The Classic of Difficult Issues, which formalised the pulse and the five transport points. |
| 神农本草经 | Shennong Bencao Jing | The earliest Chinese materia medica, listing 365 substances in three grades. |
| 伤寒论 | Shanghan Lun | Treatise on Cold Damage — the source of the classical formula tradition. |
| 金匮要略 | Jingui Yaolue | Essentials of the Golden Cabinet, by the same author, covering internal and miscellaneous diseases. |
| 本草纲目 | Bencao Gangmu | The Great Compendium of Materia Medica, compiled in the sixteenth century with 1,892 substances. |
| 脉经 | Maijing | The Classic of the Pulse, which standardised twenty-four pulse qualities. |
| 华佗 | Hua Tuo | A Han-dynasty physician remembered for surgery and for the "five animal frolics" exercise set. |
| 张仲景 | Zhang Zhongjing | The Han-dynasty physician credited with the classical formula tradition. |
| 李时珍 | Li Shizhen | The Ming-dynasty author of the Great Compendium of Materia Medica. |
| 孙思邈 | Sun Simiao | The Tang-dynasty physician whose writings on medical ethics are still quoted. |
| 君臣佐使 | Chief, Deputy, Assistant, Envoy | How the roles inside a formula are described: one herb leads, others support it, moderate it, or guide it to where it is needed. |
| 表里 | Exterior and Interior | A pair describing how deep a pattern sits - at the surface of the body, or deeper inside. It is also used for the paired relationship between certain organs and meridians. |
| 寒热 | Cold and Heat | A pair describing the thermal tendency of a pattern, judged mainly from symptoms such as aversion to cold, thirst, colour and pulse, rather than by temperature alone. |
| 虚实 | Deficiency and Excess | Whether the body's own resources are short (deficiency) or something is in excess (excess). This pair decides the direction of treatment. |
| 正邪 | Upright and Pathogenic | Upright qi is the body's own capacity to resist and recover. Pathogenic qi is whatever challenges it. Illness is described as the contest between the two. |
| 气机 | Qi Movement | The direction and rhythm in which qi is described as moving - rising, descending, leaving and entering. Much of treatment aims at restoring this movement. |
| 温病 | Warm Disease | A later framework for acute febrile illness, developed mainly by Qing-era physicians as a complement to the cold-damage tradition. |
| 三焦 | Triple Burner | One of the six fu. It is described as a functional division of the torso into upper, middle and lower regions rather than as an organ with a clear anatomical counterpart. |
| 浮脉 | Floating Pulse | Felt with light pressure and weaker when pressed harder. Classically associated with the exterior. |
| 沉脉 | Deep Pulse | Felt only with heavier pressure. Classically associated with the interior. |
| 数脉 | Rapid Pulse | Faster than the normal rate - classically more than five beats per breath. Associated with heat. |
| 迟脉 | Slow Pulse | Slower than the normal rate - classically fewer than four beats per breath. Associated with cold. |
| 滑脉 | Slippery Pulse | Smooth and rounded, described in the classics as beads running over a plate. Traditionally seen with phlegm, food stagnation, and in pregnancy. |
| 弦脉 | Wiry Pulse | Taut, straight and springy, described as a plucked string. Traditionally linked to the Liver system and to pain. |
| 五输穴 | Five Shu Points | Points on each limb meridian below the elbow or knee, classified as Well, Spring, Stream, River and Sea. Each has a different classical emphasis. |
| 原穴 | Source Point | A point on each meridian where the source qi is said to pass and stay. Commonly used in classical practice. |
| 络穴 | Connecting Point | A point from which a connecting vessel is said to branch off, linking a paired interior-exterior meridians. |
| 募穴 | Front-Mu Point | A point on the chest or abdomen where the qi of a given organ is said to gather. Used mainly for that organ's disorders. |
| 背俞穴 | Back-Shu Point | Points along the upper back, one for each major organ, described as that organ's access on the body surface. |
| 针灸 | Acupuncture and Moxibustion | The paired methods of needling and burning moxa at points. The classics usually discuss them together rather than as separate subjects. |
| 濡脉 | Soft (soggy) pulse | A pulse described as floating, thin and soft, likened to floating cotton; classical sources associate it with dampness or with deficiency. |
| 弱脉 | Weak pulse | Deep, thin and soft; classical sources associate it with deficiency of qi and Blood. |
| 结脉 | Knotted pulse | Slow, with irregular missed beats at intervals; classical sources associate it with cold or with stagnation of qi and Blood. |
| 代脉 | Intermittent pulse | Beats that pause at regular intervals; classical sources treat it as a sign of serious depletion, and modern practice would assess it as a possible arrhythmia. |
| 促脉 | Hurried pulse | Rapid, with irregular pauses; classical sources associate it with heat or with stagnation. |
| 芤脉 | Hollow pulse | Floating and large but empty in the middle, likened to pressing a spring onion stalk; classical sources associate it with sudden loss of Blood or fluids. |
| 加减 | Modification (adding and subtracting) | Adding or removing herbs from a classical formula so that it fits the individual presentation; the routine way a formula is adjusted in practice. |
| 煎服法 | Decoction method | The classical instructions for preparing and taking a decoction, covering soaking, timing, number of boils and whether it is taken warm. Amounts are not given on this site. |
| 引经 | Guiding action (channel entry) | The idea that certain herbs direct the action of a formula toward a particular meridian or region of the body. |
| 十二经别 | Divergent meridians | Twelve deeper branches of the main meridians said to run more internally; a classical scheme of description rather than a demonstrated anatomical structure. |
| 经筋 | Sinew meridians | Descriptions of muscular and tendinous pathways, used in classical texts for musculoskeletal reasoning and today in tuina teaching. |
| 皮部 | Skin regions | The division of the body surface into twelve regions corresponding to the meridians, used in classical writing to describe how exterior influences are said to enter. |
| 上盛下虚 | Upper excess, lower deficiency | A pattern description in which signs of excess appear in the upper body while deficiency signs appear below. |
| 木火刑金 | Wood fire scorching metal | A classical way of describing Liver fire affecting the Lung, giving a dry cough alongside irritability-type signs. |
| 肝阳上亢 | Liver yang ascending | A pattern of Liver yang rising, described with headache, dizziness, tinnitus and irritability. |
| 望神 | Observing the spirit | Reading a person's overall vitality and presence, especially the eyes, as part of the first examination. |
| 得神 | With spirit (good vitality) | A presentation in which the person looks alert with clear eyes, taken in classical practice as a favourable sign. |
| 失神 | Loss of spirit | A dull, withdrawn presentation with clouded eyes, taken in classical practice as an unfavourable sign. |
| 假神 | False spirit | A brief improvement in a severely ill person that classical texts describe as misleading; in modern terms it resembles what is sometimes called terminal lucidity. |
| 十八反 | Eighteen Incompatibilities | A classical list of eighteen herb pairs said to be mutually incompatible, so that they are not put together in one formula. The list comes from later materia medica tradition rather than from the earliest texts. |
| 十九畏 | Nineteen Antagonisms | A parallel classical list of nineteen herb pairs whose combination is traditionally avoided. It is a heritage rule of practice, and the modern evidence behind each pair varies widely. |
| 气街 | Qi Streets (Qi Jie) | Four classical regions where the qi of the channels is described as running in larger thoroughfares - the head, the chest, the abdomen and the lower leg. Used to explain why a local point and a distant point may be combined. |
| 苔色 | Coating Colour (Tai Se) | The colour of the film on the tongue surface, classically described as white, yellow, grey or black. It is judged together with thickness and moisture, never from the colour alone. |
| 反佐 | Counter-Assistant (Fan Zuo) | A classical composition technique in which a small quantity of a herb of the opposite nature is added to a formula, so that a strong action becomes more tolerable. |
| 正治与反治 | Routine and Paradoxical Treatment (Zheng Zhi / Fan Zhi) | A classical distinction between meeting a pattern directly with what opposes it, and treating it paradoxically by appearing to follow it. It is a reasoning principle, not something to attempt personally. |
| 三因制宜 | Three Considerations (San Yin Zhi Yi) | The classical principle that approach should be adapted to the season, the locality and the individual. It is part of why two people with a similar presentation may be handled differently. |
| 温病条辨 | Wenbing Tiaobian (Systematized Analysis of Warm Diseases) | A Qing-dynasty text on warm diseases (acute febrile illness) by Wu Tang, who wrote under the name Wu Jutang, completed in 1798. It is the book most often named for the three-jiao framework, which sorts the course of a febrile illness into upper, middle and lower stages. Because it is set out as numbered items of analysis rather than as a continuous treatise, it reads more like a working manual, and several of its formula names are still in circulation. Cited here as a classical source: it tells you what the tradition recorded, not what has been shown. |
| 针灸甲乙经 | Zhenjiu Jiayi Jing (Systematic Classic of Acupuncture and Moxibustion) | Compiled by Huangfu Mi in the Western Jin and conventionally dated to around 259 CE, it is generally described as the earliest extant Chinese book devoted to acupuncture and moxibustion. It gathers and reorganises earlier material — above all from the Huangdi Neijing — on channels, points, needling method and contraindications, and it is one of the reasons point names and locations survive in a form that can be compared across periods. Its own arrangement is not the same as modern point numbering, so its counts should not be expected to match a modern chart. |
| 景岳全书 | Jingyue Quanshu (Complete Works of Zhang Jingyue) | A Ming-dynasty compendium by Zhang Jiebin, better known by his courtesy name Zhang Jingyue, usually dated to 1624 and set out in sixty-four juan. It covers theory, examination, patterns and formulas, and it is the work most often quoted for his new formulas and for his emphasis on the kidney and on what he called genuine yin and genuine yang. It is one physician's systematised life practice rather than an official school text. A citation here records what the book says, not what has been demonstrated. |
| 医宗金鉴 | Yizong Jinjian (Golden Mirror of the Medical Tradition) | An official Qing-dynasty compilation, completed in 1742 by Wu Qian and others at the Imperial Academy of Medicine, in ninety juan. It was written to serve as a standard teaching text, and that is the best way to read it: not as a place where new doctrine was proposed, but as the version of the tradition a physician was expected to know in the eighteenth century. Its sections on bone-setting, on smallpox and on the pulse are often cited on their own. |
| 太平惠民和剂局方 | Taiping Huimin Hejiju Fang (Formulas of the Taiping Benevolent Dispensary) | A Song-dynasty official formulary, named for the government dispensary that issued it. The text grew over time: it began as a formulary of the Imperial Medical Office in the late eleventh century and reached its best-known form in the twelfth, so no single date of composition can honestly be given. Its importance lies in being an early example of standardised ready-made formulas rather than formulas written for one patient at one time; several of its formula names remain familiar. |
| 小儿药证直诀 | Xiaoer Yaozheng Zhijue (Key to the Patterns and Treatment of Children's Illness) | A text on children's illness usually dated to 1119, drawn from the practice of the Song physician Qian Yi and arranged by his followers after his death. It is regularly described as one of the earliest Chinese books devoted to paediatrics, and it is among the places where the view is set out that a child's condition is harder to read than an adult's and can change quickly. Several of its formula names remain in use. As with every classical source in this library, it records what was written, not what has been established. |
| 丹溪心法 | Danxi Xinfa (Essential Teachings of Zhu Danxi) | A collection of the teachings of the Yuan physician Zhu Zhenheng, who practised under the name Danxi, gathered by his students and edited later; the best-known edition is usually dated to 1481. It is the text most often quoted for his view that the body's yin is readily depleted and should be conserved. Because it was assembled by several hands over a long period, not every section can be attributed to Zhu himself, and a reader should not treat the whole book as his own writing. |
| 类经 | Lei Jing (Classified Classic) | A Ming-dynasty rearrangement of the Huangdi Neijing by Zhang Jiebin (Zhang Jingyue), usually dated to 1624 and set out in thirty-two juan. It adds no new doctrine: it takes the existing text apart and regroups it by subject — channels, points, patterns, needling — so that material scattered through different chapters can be read together. It is a study tool, and that is its use here: it lets you see where a statement sits in the tradition without having to accept the compiler's framing as authority. |
| 医林改错 | Yilin Gaicuo (Corrections Within the Forest of Physicians) | A short and unusual Qing book by Wang Qingren, published in 1830. The author states that he inspected the organs of the dead — including bodies at execution grounds and unclaimed bodies in burial grounds — and of animals, and that on that basis he found the received descriptions wrong; he reassigned the names of several organs and proposed formulas from his reading of blood stasis. It is worth knowing for two reasons: it is a rare case of a Chinese physician of the period arguing from what he had seen dissected, and readers since have disagreed sharply about how far his corrections actually hold. |
| 傅青主女科 | Fu Qingzhu Nüke (Fu Qingzhu's Gynaecology) | A Qing-dynasty book on women's disorders attributed to Fu Shan, a figure far better remembered as a calligrapher and as a loyalist of the fallen Ming than as a physician. It first appeared in print in 1827, more than a century after his death, and the attribution to him has been questioned. Whatever its origin, it became one of the most widely read gynaecology texts in the tradition and its formulas are still taught. Both the authorship and any reported effect should be read here as matters of record, not of proof. |
| 电针 | Electroacupuncture | A modern technique in which pairs of inserted needles are connected to a device that passes a small continuous electric current between them, replacing or supplementing hand manipulation. The intensity is kept within the range the person finds comfortable. Because it is easier to standardise than manual needling, it is the form most often used in research as well as in clinics. Published trials cover post-operative nausea and vomiting, several pain conditions and other outcomes; the overall picture is that findings are inconsistent and that many studies are small or at high risk of bias, so for most indications it has not been established. Cautions listed in standard acupuncture texts: not applied across the chest or along the spine in people with a cardiac pacemaker or other implanted electronic device, avoided in people with a seizure disorder, and avoided over the trunk during pregnancy. |
| 穴位贴敷 | Point Herbal Plaster | A herbal paste, a powder mixed with a liquid, or a ready-made patch applied to an acupuncture point and left in place for hours, sometimes covered. It is used as an alternative to needling, especially for children and people who dislike needles, and it is the form used in the seasonal 'summer plaster' (三伏贴) campaigns run by hospitals in China. Because the preparation stays against the skin for hours, the problems reported are mostly local: redness, itching, contact dermatitis, and — with the irritant formulas that are meant to blister — burns, blisters and marks that last. Whether choosing a named point makes any difference to the outcome, compared with applying the same preparation elsewhere, has not been established. |
| 中药足浴 | Herbal Foot Bath | Soaking the feet and lower legs in warm water — plain, or with a herbal decoction or granules added — usually before sleep. In China this is much more a home practice than a clinic procedure. The honest summary: the benefits people report (sleep, cold feet, general comfort) are largely subjective, and controlled evidence for foot bathing beyond the effect of simple warming is limited, so it has not been established. The risks are ordinary but worth saying plainly. Immersion burns happen to people who cannot feel heat well — diabetic or other peripheral neuropathy — and water that feels merely warm to a hand can scald a numb foot. Soaking is also a bad idea when there are open sores or an active skin infection, and when deep vein thrombosis is suspected in that leg. Anyone with diabetes, peripheral arterial disease or reduced sensation should test the temperature with something other than the foot itself. |
| 耳穴埋豆 | Auricular Seed Pressing | Small seeds — traditionally vaccaria (王不留行) seeds, in clinics often metal or magnetic beads — taped to points on the outer ear and left for a few days, with the person pressing them several times a day. The ear is used both because its surface is richly innervated and easy to reach, and because a separate auricular microsystem maps the whole body onto it. Evidence for auricular pressing is dominated by small trials with high risk of bias; it has not been established. The cautions are specific. Adhesive tape commonly causes contact dermatitis; skin under a pressed bead can break down; and the ear is cartilage, so an infection that reaches the perichondrium (auricular perichondritis) is hard to treat and can permanently deform the ear. Auricular texts also list pregnancy among the cautions for some points. Anything left taped on should come off at the first sign of increasing pain, spreading redness or swelling. |
| 梅花针 | Plum Blossom Needle | A short-handled, hammer-like instrument whose head holds five or seven fine needles clustered together; the practitioner taps the skin lightly and quickly to produce redness or pin-point bleeding without deep puncture. It is also called a cutaneous needle or seven-star needle (皮肤针 / 七星针), and the technique is called 叩刺. Because it breaks the skin — even if only at the level of capillaries — infection control is not optional: the needle head should be single-use and disposable, and shared cluster needles are a documented route for blood-borne virus transmission. It is avoided in people with bleeding disorders or on anticoagulants, over varicose veins, moles, broken or infected skin, and on the face. Its most-studied uses are in skin and hair conditions; the evidence is preliminary and has not been established. |
| 隔物灸 | Indirect Moxibustion | Moxibustion in which the heat source does not touch the skin: a slice of fresh ginger, a slice of garlic, a layer of salt or a herbal cake is placed between the burning moxa and the point. Ginger is the commonest interposed material (隔姜灸); each material is traditionally chosen for a different purpose. Putting something between the moxa and the skin slows and spreads the heat, but it does not prevent burns — the interposed material dries out, and burns from indirect moxibustion are regularly reported in the medical literature, including full-thickness burns and burns that people with reduced sensation did not feel happening. Thin or scarred skin needs particular care, and the smoke exposure is the same as for any moxa. |
| 天灸 | Blistering Moxibustion | Also called 药物灸 or 发泡灸: an irritant herbal paste — traditionally mustard seed (白芥子), garlic, and in older formulas cantharides (斑蝥) — is applied to a point and left long enough to raise a blister. No moxa is burned. The blister is the intended effect, so the technique should be described plainly: it is a deliberately produced chemical burn of the skin. Reported outcomes include second-degree burns, secondary infection, keloid or hypertrophic scarring, and patches of hypopigmentation or hyperpigmentation that can outlast any benefit. Cantharides (Spanish fly, 斑蝥) is poisonous if swallowed and has caused fatal poisoning; this library records its historical use and offers no advice on using it. Because what is produced is an open wound, aftercare is not optional. Reported benefits rest largely on uncontrolled observation and have not been established. |
| 艾条灸 | Moxa Stick Moxibustion | The most common modern moxibustion technique: a cigar-shaped stick of compressed mugwort (艾, Artemisia argyi) is lit at one end and held a few centimetres above the point, or moved in small circles, until the skin is warm and pink. Because distance and time are under the operator's control, two hazards are predictable: a burn from holding it too close or letting ash drop, and fire — a moxa stick smoulders rather than flames and stays hot a long time, and discarded ends have started fires. Smoke is the third: moxa smoke contains fine particulate matter, carbon monoxide and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, indoor air quality in moxibustion clinics has been measured as poor, and ventilation matters. Anyone with asthma, or with an allergy to mugwort or the Asteraceae family, is at particular risk — mugwort pollen is itself a major seasonal allergen, and contact dermatitis to the plant is described. |