Acupuncture in Gynecology and

Neuromuscular Pain
Transcript of the Seminar:
http://www.institutevannghi.net/tribute/seminar88.html
NGUYEN VAN NGHI, M.D.
TRAN VIET DZUNG, M.D.
PRESENTED 17-18 SEPTEMBER 1988
1990 Jung Tao Productions
"If you want to develop acupuncture, if you want to make it
grow and spread, you have to be very strict in the way that
you learn things, rigorous or strict in the way that we learn
the words. Because if we employ words which are not
accurate, we are not going to learn anything. Because in
chinese medicine, every single word has a deep meaning,
and if we don't use them correctly, we may end up making
errors. And if there are errors in comprehension we cannot
help our patients, we cannot get results. And a medical
science where there are no results is a science that has no
future. That is why we are very strict about the terminology.
"
-- Dr. Tran Viet Dzung
"There are three things that I am sure about that I would
like to explain to you in a very simple way: First of all, the
further I get into my studies of acupuncture the more I
realize how little I know, that I know nothing; Two: among
my patients there are lots of failures, I fail to cure a lot of
people. But there is one thing I am sure about: that if I
don't succeed in curing my patients, it is not the fault of
acupuncture: I haven't reached the height of my prowess, I
haven't reached the peak of my possibilities and
achievements. There is acupuncture and there are

acupuncturists. Thirdly, I notice that often when I fail to cure

someone, it's because I haven't properly grasped the
technique; that is, I use a technique, often, that I haven't
really understood. That's why I believe, that when you
puncture a point in acupuncture, you have to understand the
meaning of that action, you have to understand the meaning
of what we do. We have to understand the deeper meaning
of acupuncture. Because if you puncture a point, and you
don't understand why you're puncturing it, if you're just
doing it because the Chinese say you that have to do it, or
other people say you have to do it, if it's just a 'reflex' point,
without any proper interpretation or real understanding,
according to my experience, the results are not good. "
-- Dr. Tran Viet Dzung

FOREWORD
These transcripts represent, in the most accurate fashion
possible, the lectures of Drs. Van Nghi and Tran in,
Bloomington, Minnesota, the 17th and 18th of September,
1988. The Doctors presented two full days of lecture on
Chinese Medicine, discussing such essential topics as San
Jiao energetics, treatment of cephalgias and traumas, of
superficial perverse energy invasion, and, most especially,
the energetics of gynecologic functioning and the treatment
of gynecologic conditions.

ABOUT THE LECTURERS:

NGUYEN VAN NGHI, M.D. is a member of the Council of
Administration of the French Association of Acupuncture,
Technical Director of the National Institute of Acupuncture in
France, Director of Chinese Medicine in Lausanne, and
President of the World Association of Acupuncture. Originally

practicing both Western and Chinese medicines, in 1954 he

devoted his medical practice to acupuncture based on the
classic Chinese model. Dr. Van Nghi completed his medical
studies at Monpelier in France, and is a graduate of the
University of Marseilles. He has published Smiologie et
thrapeutique en mdecine nergtique orientale and
Pharmacologie en mdecine orientale. His most recent
efforts include a pediatric hospital in Marseilles and the
release of his edition of the chinese medical classics,
Maladies volutives des 3 Yin 3 Yang (Shang Han Lun de
Zhang Zhongjing) and Art et Pratique de l'Acupuncture et de
la Moxibustion (Zhen Jiu Da Cheng) (the latter in 2 vols.).
TRAN VIET DZUNG, M.D. has collaborated with Dr. Van Nghi
for fifteen years. Dr. Viet Dzung is a graduate of the Medical
Faculty of Paris, and is in charge of the course in
Acupuncture at the Faculty of Medicine in Marseilles, France.
Widely published in European and American journals, he is
Adjunct Editor-in-Chief of the revue franaise de mdicine
traditionnelle chinoise.
ABOUT JUNG TAO PUBLICATIONS:
Jung Tao Publications is dedicated to the global
dissemination of accurate study and application of classical
chinese medicine. A non-profit educational corporation, all
funds are devoted to further research in chinese medicine,
and towards making further important works in this field
available. We are committed to making accessible, in the
English language and to the North American practitioner,
much of what has heretofore been available only to the
European practitioner.

This is the entire transcript, it is quite long. Keep

scrolling.

Day One: Saturday, 17 September morning session

Dr. Sean Marshall:

Good morning. I'd like to thank you all for coming. I'm sure
we're all in for a treat here today. Our first speaker this
morning is Dr. Nguyen Van Nghi. Dr. Van Nghi is president of
the World Association of Acupuncture and a member of the
Council of Administration of the French Association of
Acupuncture. He has published over eighteen major
textbooks on Chinese Medicine, and lectures throughout the
world. We are very happy to have him with us today. And so,
without further delay, I would like to introduce my long-time
mentor and friend, Dr. Nguyen Van Nghi.

Dr. Nguyen Van Nghi

Thank you Dr. Marshall. Sixteen years ago I came and spoke
about acupuncture in this country. Today I am pleased and
honored to have been invited to come talk about
acupuncture again. You know that currently acupuncture is
becoming very important in the world. And the United States
really only began to learn about acupuncture fifteen years
ago. This is why we've been invited here to talk about
Chinese Medicine. This is a very heavy program. They have
asked me to talk about gynecology, and our colleague Dr.
Tran will be talking about the formation of the different types
of energy. You know that in Western Medicine it takes at
least five years to learn about gynecology, and here we're
going to try to do a synethesis in five hours. But this is not a
problem.

We're first going to talk about female physiology, that is

energetic physiology. This physiology includes the study of
channels [meridians]; there are many of these channels:
there are principal channels, secondary channels,... The
secondary channels which concern the genital area of the
woman are [of] the Ren Mai (Conception Vessel, CV), Chong
Mai [Penetrating Vessel], and the Du Mai (Governing Vessel,
GV); and in addition there are a couple of other channels
which deal with the external part of the genital area of the
woman. In order to study gynecology, therefore, we first
have to study the problems of the external area, then,
afterwards, the problems of the internal part. The channels
which deal with the external part of the genital apparatus of
the woman are the Tendinomuscular channels.
Of this group of three types of channels, it is the prinicipal
channels which are the most important: the channel of the
Liver and the Gall Bladder, the channel of the Spleen and
Stomach, and finally, the channel of the Kidney and Bladder.
This is why we have to do a synthesis of all the channels.
First we're going to talk about the Liver-Gall Bladder system.
You know that the Liver channel begins at Li-1. <This is the
female genital apparatus. This channel ascends towards the
abdomen, goes around the genital area, and terminates at
Li-14. From Li-14 a vessel goes towards the skull, to GV-20,
Baihui. The Gall Bladder channel, when it has arrived at GB21, that is above the shoulder, it descends to the axillary
region to GB-22, and from there it goes around the internal
surface of the thorax, and emerges at GB-23. From GB-23,
it descends to the iliac crest. Before arriving at the iliac
crest, it joins a point which we call GB-26, which is called
Dai Mai, the Belt channel. From this point, a vessel goes
around the center of the body. It then arrives at GB-29, GB29 is situated in front of and below the iliac crest, from there
it sends two vessels, one anterior and one posterior. The
anterior vessel goes around the genital area, and terminates

at the penis, and in the female at the clitoris. From there it

returns to GB-30. The posterior branch leaves GB-29,
arrives at the sacral area, and goes around the five sacral
foramina, arrives at GV-1, and then it rejoins GB-30, and
from GB-30 it descends to the leg. For we gynaecologists,
this whole area concerns us, this is very important. for
example, in a neuralgia or in an inflammation of the penis or
clitoris, you have to know where to puncture: you have to
puncture GB-29, 30, and a point which is at the level of the
foot, Li-3 and Li-5. Li-3 is the Yuan, or source, point. When
there is neuralgia that means there is a sensation of heat,
you have to suppress, to put out this heat. This Li-3 point is
the point which corresponds to Humidity. Therefore if you
tonify this point it builds up the earth and puts out the fire.
Li-5 is the Luo point of the Liver. This point has the property
of directly reaching the genital region. and it ends at the
glans itself, and from there it returns to the Liver organ. This
is why we have to tonify Li-5. You know that in Western
medicine, normally they do not treat pain in the penis or
clitoris. They give you tranquilizers and there is no cure. But
whereas we acupuncturists, we simply need to know the
physiology of the genital area to help western medicine to
treat certain diseases which they can't treat. I've just talked
to you about thte Liver-Gall Bladder system as it concerns
the genital area of the woman, of women.
Now we're going to talk about the Spleen and Stomach. You
know that the uterus is a so-called 'curious organ'. It's
curious, but it is not marvellous, or fantastic (because
western people translate it by 'extraordinary' or
'marvellous'). It's curious in that it is a system that absorbs,
which receives; afterwards it gives back, that is what fertility
is about, the fetus, for example. That is, the uterus receives
the male sperm, and then it releases the fetus; therefore it's
curious. also we have to understand what an organ, and
what a bowel is, in order to better understand the uterus.
The bowel is an organ of transit, the organ is a viscera which

receives energy. We're talking of Ying energy, which is

nutritive energy. And then this organ metabolizes this
energy into Jing, which can be translated by 'quintessence'.
Dr. Tran is going to explain much more on this subject,
because if I go into more detail, we will waste time. So you
see, the organ receives and metabolizes, the bowel plays a
role of transit. The uterus, that is the curious organ, plays a
double role, the role of receiving and the role of releasing, or
giving back, expelling. That's why it's curious. It plays the
role of both organ and bowel.
As far as the Spleen and Stomach is concerned, in Chinese
medicine it is a system of production and of transformation,
of mutation--energetic mutation. In other words, the Spleen
and Stomach constitute the system of the creation of human
energy from food. this is why the St and Sp meridans (--that
is the Stomach, that is the Spleen--), they pass through the
genital area; when they arrive at the area of St-30, they
send out many smalll vessels into the interior of the
organism to nourish and support the uterus. the Spleen goes
from down to up, when it reaches the area of the groin, to
Sp-12, Sp-12 is situated 3 cun from CV-2. When the Spleen
channel has reaches Sp-12, it sends a vessel towards CV-2,
to CV-3, and from there it penetrates deeply into the genital
apparatus, to bring a very special kind of energy to this
area, which we could describe as 'fertile energy', which is no
more than humidity, because the genital organ of the female
needs to be humid, needs to be moistened, to be fertile.
We're now talking in terms of space, the sky: the heavens
do not produce, they send heat. The earth is the element of
transmutation, thanks to the energy which comes from the
sky. This is why in Chinese medicine, when you have the
word 'earth' it means mutation or change, in other words,
you have to have humidity in order to create. We are on the
earth, we are created as a result of earth energy, the
plants,and animals have to go by the same conditions: in
other words, substances which are created by earth and

heaven energy are substances which are material, which you

can see. Here, the humidity of the spleen penetrates into the
uterus, which causes a kind of continuous transmutation,
transformation. This is why the energy of the spleen plays
an important part in the fertility of a woman.
Now we're going to talk about the Kidney channel, Kidney
and Bladder. It is necessary to know the Kidney channel in a
very detailed way because according to Chinese theory the
kidneys play a triple role : the first role is that of sexuality,
procreation. Those of you who are MD's here will be
surprised to hear that the Kidney plays a role in procreation.
I will give you an example: if it is the case of a person who
has a chronic nephritis, these are people who are always
impotent. There is a bad spermatogenesis, that is, a faulty
formation of sperm. Whereas normal people are capable of
producing; Whereas people who have an insufficiency of the
Kidneys always have a low sperm count, or not enough
sperm. So the Kidneys play a role in sexuality, procreation.
But in Chinese medicine the kidney also plays a very
important role in thermogenesis. So in western medicine we
would say that the kidney plays a great role in the
production and conservation of heat in the body. Organic
heat, because the term 'organic heat' is also mentioned in
western medicine. But they do not know where this organic
heat of the organism is produced. In Chinese Medicine they
have proved that the Ki is the source of organic heat. It also
plays an extremely important role in hydrogenesis, in other
words it produces organic water and organic cold. Organic
cold is also mentioned in western medicine To be more
specific about the terms thermogenesis and hydrogenesis,
the chinese speak of Kidney yang and Kidney yin, or if you
prefer, Kidney heat and Kidney cold, or, alternatively, the fire
of the Kidney and the water of the Kidney; all these terms
are the same. But the Kidney also plays another very
important role, which is in the formation of Jing, ie: the
quintessence. Roughly speaking, there are three types of

Jing: there is the Jing which supports and maintains the

external layers of the body, eg: the skin, the dermis, the
muscles, etc. The Jing also plays an important role
concerning the orifices of the body, such as the eyes, the
mouth, the ears, etc. It's thanks to this Jing that we can
see, hear, small and speak. In western medicine, they speak
of Ear Nose and Throat. Another type of Jing is the mental
Jing. The chinese speak of the Po, the Hun, the Zhi, the
Shen and the Yi, these are the seven sentiments or
emotions of man--all of this comes from the Kidneys. This is
why they give a special name to the Kidneys, they call the
Kidneys the organ which is the Source. Remember among
the five organs there is only one organ which has the name
of 'Source', which is the Kidneys. So the Kidney is very
important. I've already spoken to you about sexuality; when
we talk about sexuality it means that the Kidney plays an
important role in the formation of sperm, or in the woman of
ovules. This is why we have to go into some detail with
regard to the Kidney channel.
The Kidney channel begins at Ki 1, below the foot, on the
plantar surface of the foot. It ascends to Ki-10, from there it
penetrates into the anus<> and it follows the anterior
surface of the coccyx and the interior surface of the sacrum
and the interior surface of the Lumbar vertebrae. When it
reaches the area of the second Lumbar, it penetrates into
the Kidneys; from the Ki it goes to the Bladder to constitute
the system known as Yin-Yang, Ki-Bladder. When it has
reached the Bladder it reaches the internal surface of the
abdomen, <this represents the abdomen, the drawing, it is a
cross section>; when it reaches the peritoneum it makes a
point, and from there it continues up the internal surface of
the abdomen, reaching Ki-27, at that point. The whole
pathway of the Ki, therefore, is on the interior surface, and
not on the exterior part, because the Ki is a source, the
source of water is from the interior, not the exterior--water
comes from the interior, not from the exterior; (This

particular path still has to be explained by the chinese,

because that pathway of the Ki which is described by our
colleagues the chinese is the Chong Mai and not the Kidney.)
and then these points reach the exterior, because it's the
source--they represent the well, the hole from where the
water comes, it reaches the exterior. In another words, as a
result of this situation, we can understand exactly the
existence of the points.
To the occidental mind, the point of acupuncture is a point;
but to the oriental mind, the point is a canal, a channel, a
very small channel. Another example to prove that the point
is actually a small channel and not a point: <this is the
surface of the skin> below the skin you have the 24
meridians, and the principal meridians send a lot of small
vesssels, called secondary vessels. Secondary vessels don't
have points, they follow the points of the principal
meridians, but the principal meridians have points, and
these points emerge on the exterior, for example, Bl-12, or
whatever, SI-4. So the point is a channel and not only a
point on the surface. This is why when you needle, in order
to get good results in acupuncture, you have to penetrate
into this opening and you have to slide the needle into the
place where the point is on the interior. The chinese give [it]
a name--you have to wait for Deqi to arrive: this simply
means that you have to touch the point in the interior, and
not just the point on the exterior. I have visited many
different schools in the world; there are certain
acupuncturists who simply put the needle on the skin when
they treat, and the needle is hanging like that...in other
words they are not going to get any results. If you don't get
good results, it's not the fault of acupuncture, it's your fault.
I've been talking about the existence of the Kidney points in
the interior part of the abdomen. There, there is a channel
called Chong Mai: we're going to talk about that in a
moment. What does 'Chong" mean? 'Chong' means 'meeting

place', or 'crossroad', in another words, these are the roads,

this is a type of crossroads. So therefore the Chong Mai
reaches a point and it joins up with other points, in another
words with other crossroads or with other meeting places--in
another words the Chong Mai really means 'meeting place
on all the crossroads', but this way of thinking is too
chinese--we're americans, so we say, it is the meeting place
of the crossroads, the 'road to the crossroads'. To go from
one area to another, you have to go through these
crossroads. So we've just learned that from <here to here>
the Kidney channel is not really the Kidney channel, it's the
Chong Mai. I've been speaking about the Kidney channel; I
would ask you to try and understand very clearly this
particular area, because in the diagrams you're going to find
in Chinese editions it's somewhat vague. Because the Kidney
is so important in its role as source, or Spring ...<this is the
bladder, behind it is the uterus, and the fallopian tubes,
etc.>
The Kidney sends a vessel towards the uterus to support and
maintain the uterus, to control or commmand the uterus;
after it comes out at CV-1, which is situated between the
vagina and the anus, and from there it divides into two
branches: an anterior branch and a posterior branch. The
anterior branch is called the Ren Mai, the posterior branch is
called the Du Mai. (Yesterday I showed Dr. Van Nghi an
Outline of Acupuncture, the Essentials of Acupuncture) When
you talk of curious meridians, such as the Ren Mai and the
Du Mai, they [the Chinese] say that the Ren Mai and the Du
Mai start off at CV-1. We're Americans, we have to know:
where does this Conception vessel come from? Now we
know--it comes from the Kidneys. If not, otherwise the
physiology of the genital system is incomplete and not
completely known. Now you know the origin of the Du mai
and the Ren mai. But as I said the Kidney is the source, it
plays a lot of different functions. I just said a moment ago
that the Kidney plays an important role in thermogenesis;

that is Kidney yang. For we western people, we can compare

Kidney yang to the surrenal capsule [adrenal gland],
because all physical and mental activity depends on the
surrenal capsule; whereas the word 'kidney', just 'kidney', in
western medicine simply refers to an excretory organ. The
Kidney sends out another branch, also very important, which
follows the previous one; it follows the anterior branch up to
the point CV-4, which we call Guan Yuan, 'Gate of the
Source'; CV-4 is the place where the second vessel coming
from the Kidney arrives; this is why this place is called the
gate, or barrier, of the 'source'--'source' means Kidney. From
there it divides <this is CV-4, this is the Ren Mai or
Conception Vessel; here is the Chong Mai arriving to this
point, and it sends a branch to the exterior> A moment ago
I explained about the Kidney points which are located there,
but there is not a Kidney channel, there are points of the
Kidney channel. This channel goes towards the Kidney
channel and joins up all these points, until it reaches Ki-27;
that's what's called the Chong Mai. So now you understand
that the Chong Mai, the Ren Mai and the Du mai have a very
important role to play in the genital apparatus of the
woman, of women. But this is not enough. Because now
you're specialists in gynaecology, now we have to study it in
more detail.
<This is the Ren Mai, or the Conception Vessel, this is the
pubic bone.> Above the pubic bone is CV-2. Here is the
umbilicus, where the point CV-8 is found. The area between
these two points--CV-2 and CV-8--is very important: when
we speak about gynaecology we are talking about this zone,
which is given the name of Tan T'ien, which literally means
'the area of the productive rice paddy'. When you go to
China, for example, you see the rice fields, they are flooded
with water, and above is the sun, the sun is Yang, down here
is Yin. When there is a communication between Yang and Yin
there is production, transformation and creation. This is why
this particular area is called an area of procreation. It's a

very important area, [which can be] compared to the rice

fields which feed and nourish the people. But our french
friends translate it by 'Cinnabar', which doesn't make any
sense.
Now, how to find these points. You have to divide [this area]
into three parts. This is CV-4, Guanyuan; this is CV-6, with
the name Qihai, 'Sea of Energy'; then you divide each part
into two again, and you have CV-7, called Yinchiao; 'yin'
means high, 'chiao' means 'meeting', 'reunion', so: 'the
meeting point of water'. But the term 'yin' also refers to the
uterus, also means 'uterus'. This is why CV-7 is used to treat
sterility. Between CV-6 and -4 is CV-5, called 'Shimen',
which means 'stone gate'. This point is a direct link to the
Kidney. This is also the point where the San Jiao brings
water to the Kidneys. Dr. Tran will talk this afternoon about
the San Jiao, the 'Triple Heater'. Because in Chinese
Medicine, without the San Jiao there would be no energetic
system. Up until this moment, the San Jiao system has
hardly begun to be known in China. They just tell you that it
is the system which sends water into the different parts of
the system. But how? We're americans, we want to know
why, how. And our colleague Dr. Tran will explain that later.
After CV-4, there is CV-3. This is the front mu point of the
Bladder. CV-4 is the front mu point of the Small Intestine.
CV-5 is the front mu point of the lower Jiao. So you have to
know the point, the name of the point, the meaning of the
point and the function of the point. To study gynaecology
and to get good results, however, it's a little more difficult
than that. <Here is CV-3.> In all books, without exception,
when there is a diagram of the Conception Vessel, that's the
way it is; in another words, the diagrams which they present
you are synthetic, artificial. But since we're specialists, we
have to study it in detail. And to study them in detail we
have to look at the older, or antique books, ancient books:
for example in the Nei Ching Su Wen, in the Da Cheng--'Da
Cheng' means 'The Compendium of All Acupuncture
Techniques'. [According to] the Nei Ching Su Wen, the Ren
Mai arrives at CV-3, it penetrates deeply into the bladder

and the uterus; in other words, the point CV-3 is the front
mu point of the Bladder, as I already mentioned, and it also
brings water, or humidity, to the uterus. <This is the
Bladder, that is the front mu point of the Bladder> That is
why, in certain cases of uterine inflammation, [with]
sensations of heat and pain, to calm this pain, to stop this
pain, we puncture CV-3, tonifying it.
But now we're talking about physiology. We know that CV-3
sends vessels into the uterus, that is, internal vessels, which
we call small secondary vessels, which we also refer to as
'energetic capillaries', and you have to know all this.
Afterwards, it reaches CV-4, front mu of the Small Intestine.
We know that the Bladder and Small Intestine together are
known as the Tai Yang, so therefore that is the area, the
zone, of Tai Yang. Tai Yang means 'water' or 'cold'. That is
why, when the vessels from CV-3 arrive at Cv-4 they
immediately go internal and irradiate around the small
intestine. <This is the small intestine.> There is a sort of
mesentery system which goes to the Kidneys; in other
words, small vessels of the Small Intestine bring the water
from the Small Intestine toward the Kidney by means of the
mesenteric branch. And our colleague Dr. Tran will explain
that in detail to you later, whereas here, I am just talking to
you primarily about the importance of CV-4, because these
two points are specific points for gynaecology. From there,
the channel emerges at CV-5, CV-6, CV-7 and CV-8. That is,
from CV-7 to CV-3 there isn't a line or a channel, there are
only points, because the Ren Mai or Conception vessel
comes from the Kidneys, from the source. And these points
are situated on the interior, whereas the points that are on
the exterior are points which are emerging from the interior.
Now we are in the region of the abdominal wall. You can't
needle through the abdominal wall to find these points,
you'll bring about a peritonitis, so there's a special
technique. <This is the abdominal wall and the peritoneum;
here is the point, all of that is the point.> You put the needle

in, first of all, through the skin--you must not turn the
needle while it's still at the level of the skin; if you're still at
the level of the skin and you start turning the needle, it
causes extreme pain--you will lose your client. And our
profession involves keeping our clients. So you have to go
through the skin, and you begin to make rotating
movements, progressively, in and out movements, with very
light fingers. Do it gently, not brutally. You keep pushing the
needle in and suddenly you feel a slight resistance, this
means you're touching the peritoneum. But don't go through
it--you immediately pull back the needle, only about a
milimeter or so, and then you begin to manipulate the
needle, either to tonify or to disperse. Because in France, as
in the States, there are some unskilled acupuncturists,
clumsy acupuncturists, who go through the peritoneum and
cause a peritonitis, or go through the thorax and cause a
pleurisy, which is extremely serious. Naturally, in France
there are medical laws, these acupuncturists are barred
from practicing for life. I'm sure that it's the same in the
States. This is why we acupuncturists have to be very
careful--that can happen.
When you puncture points on the back or in the thorax you
[can] provoke lipothymia [faintness, syncope], there will be
loss of consciousness. The needle can also go through into
the thorax; we have to be extremely careful, both in the
United States and in Europe: you should never needle
people when they're sitting down, and never standing up.
The patient should always be lying down or partially lying
down. This is very important, because we're in the States,
not in China; if the patient becomes unconscious, loses
consciousness, you'll have to call the ambulance and the
police. It happens in Europe. I'm sure it will happen here
too. This is why: there are certain points which can very
easily cause a lipothymia, for example, GB-21. Dr. Tran is
going to talk to you about this. When you puncture it deeply
and you turn the needle, if you do a quick manipulation it

provokes abundant perspiration under the arm, subaxillary,

a lot of perspiration. And then the patient becomes
completely pale and falls over, and there is lipothymia.
Fortunately, we acupuncturists have points which can bring
the patient back to consciousness, reanimate the patient, we
call it reanimation method, reanimation technique. I'm just
doing some examples of points (if we went into a lot of
detail we wouldn't do any more gynaecology): GV-26, St-36,
and all the Jing-well points, the points situated on the
extremity of the [digits]. The Jing-well point really means
points which are at the ungual angle [i.e., corner of the nail]
of the digits. That is, the first Su-Antique point. <Here is the
finger, there is the nail. The Jing, or Well points are at this
position. And this point is a curious point, or extra point
called 'Shi Xuan'. This is the point at which we reestablish
the Yin-Yang polarity. Because if the patient becomes
unconscious it means that Yang cannot penetrate into Yin
and Yin is no longer penetrating into Yang, which means that
Yin and Yang are separated. This is why we have points of
reanimation, because they reestablish the circulation of Yin
and Yang.
I've just talked about the Kidneys, the area Dan Tien. Now
we're going to talk about the Bladder. <Here is the coccyx
and the sacrum, and here are the Lumbar vertebrae.> At
the level of the coccyx and the sacrum, exactly where the
sacral foramina are found <this is the sacrum and the
coccyx, and there are the sacral foramina>, each of these
holes has a point: Bl-31, Bl-32, -33, -34, and -35, and the
channel circulates <like this; and there are the points.> You
have to know these points by heart, they're very important
points in gynaecology, especially in gynaecological conditions
where there is extreme pain caused by serious conditions in
the uterus, or in less serious problems--because most of the
men here are not aware about painful periods. But for
women it is an important problem; because when they have
their periods they can get a lot of pain in the abdomen. In

that case, you should puncture these points; they're called

the sacral points. <Here is the point, the foramen.> The
energy of the Bladder reaches this point and sends small
branches inwards, towards the uterus, from the left to the
right. <This is the right hand side. Now the other side, the
left-hand side, same thing--there are the holes,> the energy
goes through these holes, there are branches toward the
right-hand side of the uterus. In other words, the uterus is
the point where energetic vessels cross, and what is
admirable about what western medicine says, the western
medicine speaks about the sacral plexus, and this plexus
innervates or irrigates the uterus--and in oriental medicine
it's the same thing--but when western medicine speaks
about the sacral plexus, it doesn't have a method of curing
the pain, whereas in our case as soon as you talk about the
theory we have a clinical example. That means that the
word 'theory' in occidental and oriental medicines has a
completely different meaning. In western medicine, theory
means something which you establish from something
unknown, and from there to clinical experimentation; and in
oriental medicine, theory is the opposite: the clinical results
are what makes the theory in oriental medicine, it has to
come from clinical results. This is why in western medicine
when you talk about medical theory, it changes every six
months, whereas in oriental medicine the theories stay the
same for thousands of years. I said two thousand years, but
actually [it is] since the creation of man.
I've been talking about the Bladder channel. In the case of
pain you have to puncture one of these points. It would be
better to puncture Bl-32 because the opening is larger than
that of the other points; however, here's an example: if you
meet a woman of 40 or 45, [and] she frequently presents
signs of rheumatism, and in western medicine there is a
phenomenon of 'sacralization', which means all these
openings [the sacral foramina] begin to close up; how can
you puncture them if they're closed up? <Here is the

opening.> When you have the phenomena of sacralization,

which means that there's a calcium deposit which is
deposited there. However, these openings are where the
nervous and vascular vessels enter and leave, and veins. So
only a small hole is left, a little hole, <like that>, or it might
be there, or there. So how can you puncture it? You have to
put in the needle, first straight, there's a sort of a , you'll
feel a resistance, but you'll feel a resistance when you reach
the calcium deposit, you have to turn, incline the needle and
you try to find the place where you can put your needle in
further. If you're dealing with a young girl of eighteen, for
example, with dysmenorrhea, which is pain during the
period, it's very simple, you would just needle straight.
When you put the needle in you have to put the needle right
into the interior, at least 2 cm, and you turn it. If you
manipulate your needle well, the patient will feel a sensation
of coolness or freshness in the affected area.
I've been trying to explain or to show you that chinese
medical theory is established from that which is known:
because the Bladder means the Tai Yang, which also means
'the channel which brings water'; Kidney corresponds to
water; the Bladder also corresponds to water. So you
manipulate the needle with the idea of bringing the water
from the Bladder channel into the affected area.
I've given you a broad description of the genitourinary
apparatus. But you know, women are not like men, they
have a lot of problems, especially psychological or mental
types of problems, family problems, problems with children,
their husbands, therefore there is often a lot of disturbance
or worry on a mental level. When there is a worry or
disturbance psychologically, energetic circulation is
frequently obstructed. In this case there is stagnation of
energy or blood at the level of the genital system, which is
where the pain and inflammation occur.

Food, or diet, plays a very important role. [I think] that in

the United States there is less dysmenorrhea than in Europe
because I see how the American people eat, I've noticed
that in the fifteen days since I've been here. They eat a lot
of salad, not much of meat, lot of tea, in other words, it's a
semi-vegetarian diet, almost. In Europe, there is a lot of salt
on the dishes, a lot of spices, the food is, the diet is
stronger, richer, the women of these countries have more
heat, heat that comes from the diet, which can reach the
genital area to cause genital problems.
But unfortunately, Americans like to exercise and do sport,
and they ignore, they don't pay attention to temperature. In
this case, if they do a lot of sports in damp weather, for
example, the humidity can penetrate into the genital area,
and it causes a syndrome known as damp-cold, or colddamp. And the prolonged stagnation of cold-damp in the
vagina transforms into damp heat. This damp heat can burn
the vaginal tissue and then you have salpingitis,
endometritis, cervicitis, etc. So you can see that the climate
also plays a very important role in female problems.
There are also women who overdo sexuality, too much sex.
In this case they have the result of an exhaustion of Kidney
energy, because I just showed you how the Kidney is the
Source of the genital area. When the Kidney is deficient,
energetically speaking, the Ren Mai and the Chong Mai don't
function properly, and then the Kidneys will cause problems
in the other organs, and this can provoke a syndrome called
a deficiency of blood and energy in the genital apparatus;
and this is when we find syndromes such as amenorrhea and
oligomenorrhea.
This damp heat of external origin can establish or localize

itself in the uterine wall and it will not, it may not transform
into heat, it transforms into phlegm (the word mucus in the
western sense of the word is something which is secreted by
the organs, whereas the word phlegm means that there is a
materialization of humidity). Cold-humidity, when it
stagnates for a long time, turns into drops of a substance;
this substance, when it is in the uterine muscle, develops,
gets bigger, increases in size and we call it fibroma. But
when we talk about fibroma in western medicine, there are
uterine fibromatosis and fibroma. In the case of fibromatosis
it also always entails metrorrhagia. In this case, the disease
is more serious, whereas in the case of small fibroma
acupuncture can treat this condition. But if the fibroma is
the size of a head, then you have to operate. We're not
going to exaggerate what we can do.
When there is too much heat in the uterus, this heat
damages or interferes with the blood; we say in western
medicine that the heat dilates the vessels and can burst
vessels, which is where hemorrhage comes from. In
gynaecology, when we use the word hemorrhage, we have
to be careful; women have periods which prolong for a long
time, they might last twenty days, every month she may be
unwell for twenty days. We call that prolonged periods. We
Americans have one word to describe this illness, we
describe this as a case of menometrorrhagia--and that we
can treat. In the case of real uterine hemorrhage, you
mustn't insist on treating it, you mustn't keep this client,
you must send her to a specialist, because this kind of
hemorrhage is often of cancer, origin of cancer, or it comes
from another very serious illness. Even in western medicine
there are limits, because now I am a western gynaecologist;
if this patient comes with a hemorrhage, I will examine, and
I will establish that there are some doubts, I won't keep this
patient, because this could be of a cancerous nature. I would
immediately send her to a surgeon specializing in obstetrics
to do a complete examination. This way of treating fits in

with the way of thinking of both types of medicine. Because

we are in the United States. Because we must always
consider the similarities of the two medicines, the
equivalences.
---morning break--

(Dr. Van Nghi continues)

Now that we have studied the pathology, we're going to start
with the easiest of the diseases--dysmenorrhea; and then I
will describe how a disease presents itself to you, because
often when you read the chinese texts it's confusing, it
seems that it's best to describe a disease often in the
western fashion. First, definition of the medical term, next
the physiopathogenesis, that is the study of the cause of the
disease, and then, of course a disease has one name but it
may have several forms. Western medicine nowadays seems
to treat the name and not the cause, which means they give
the same treatment, whether it's form A or form B. As an
example, if I had rheumatism, they give cortisone; in
Chinese Medicine you have to distinguish: which type of
rheumatism is it? This is very important. And then there is
the study of what is called nosology, which is the detailed
study of symptoms, because each form presents completely
different clinical symptoms. And we use the clinical
symptoms as the basis for choosing the points. And finally,
there is the application of therapeutics.
Now I'm going to give you a little example of the disease
known as dysmenorrhea. We have to define this term: it's a
painful state of the abdomen, before and during the
menstrual period. The intensity of the pain varies greatly
according to the individual; occasionally the pain forces the
woman to stay in bed, in another words she cannot carry out

her daily activities; that is the word dysmenorrhea. Now the

causes, the physiopathogenesis.
Study of the causes: roughly speaking, in Chinese Medicine
a disease may present itself in different forms, either excess
or deficiency. In case of an excess, it can be of exogenous
origin, for example being subject to a lot of external
climatological influences for a long time, which means that
the cosmic perverse energy can penetrate into the organism,
into the body, and cause disease, and this is what we
describe as an exogenous cause, coming from the exterior.
But dysmenorrhea can be caused by problems with the diet,
irregular diet. So excess is of exogenous origin--perverse
energy--or diet. Eating too much cold food can cause a
slowing down of the circulation of blood and energy in the
uterus, because cold slows down activity, and when there is
heat, there is greater activity. In these two cases, there is
stagnation of blood in the uterus, and this causes pain. The
excess condition can also be caused by psychological or
emotional disorders cause it. As I said this morning, family
problems, economical-financial problems, which cause
psychological distress can also cause a blockage of energy
and blood at the level of the uterus. These three phenomena
cause the phenomenon known as stagnation.
Now, deficiency: deficiency is often due to a deficiency of
blood and energy. For example, in the case of post-partum
hemorrhage, in the case of convalesence after a long,
serious illness, in both these cases there is always a
deficiency of blood and energy. The uterus is in an
undernourished condition. Repeated sexual activity may also
disturb the Kidneys, in other words also the uterus, and can
provoke signs of deficiency in the uterus, causing pain .
I've very roughly given you a way of distinguishing two
types of dysmenorrhea in Chinese Medicine: excess or
fullness, and also deficiency dysmenorrhea. In excess

dysmenorrhea, to treat it, you have to look for the cause.

For example, if it's caused by perverse energy, you have to
destroy the perverse energy by applying sedation technique,
or dispersion technique. If it's of a dietary origin, you have
to regularize the Spleen and Stomach system. If it's
psychoaffective, in other words psychological-emotional
origin, you have to wake up the Shen, in other words
harmonize the mind and spirit.
In the case of deficiency, we are considering the case of
undernourishment of the uterus and you have to treat blood
and energy. To treat the blood, there are organs which
regulate and regularize the production of blood. The organs
which regularize and regulate the production of blood are
the following: the Liver--the Liver conserves the blood
volume; the Spleen spreads the blood; the Kidneys make
blood. The Chinese say that the three Yin produce,
circulate--produce the volume of blood and make it circulate,
and then keep it in balance. Among these organs the Spleen
plays a very important role. This morning I explained that
the Spleen corresponds to the Earth [phase], corresponds to
humidity, it's the place which is the source of all the
transformations of the body. And there are specific points
which you need to learn by heart. For example, Sp-10, Xue
Hai, 'Sea of Blood'; it's a classical point which everyone
knows. In the case of blood deficiency you should always
use this point. But in both ancient and modern texts they
propose that this point should always be associated with Bl17, which is the shu point of the diaphragm. I, myself, have
an American type of mind, and I have accepted that point
[Sp-10] because it has the name Xue Hai, whereas that
point [Bl-17] has no connection with the blood. You have to
prove this to me, if I have an American way of thinking. So
I'm going to demonstrate it to you. Once you've learned
about this point you will never forget it. Bl-17 is the shu
point of the diaphragm. <Here is a picture of the
diaphragm.> What is the diaphrgam? It's a muscle which

causes continuous movement. You know that in front of the

diaphragm there is descending energy and another energy
which ascends, in other words the energy of the Stomach
and of the Spleen. The movement of the diaphragm causes
the energy to descend and ascend. And in Chinese Medicine,
this is an innate movement. Dr. Tran will explain to you in
more detail the embrylogy of this movement. For the rest of
us, we all know that we have a diaphragm which never stays
still, it constantly moves up and down. This movement
regulates the circulation of the Spleen and the Stomach.
<Here is the Stomach, which contains three zones, which we
call the centers or the burners of the San Jiao, which Dr.
Tran will explain better.> This constant movement of the
diaphragm causes movement in this area, and we know that
the fundus, that is the center, one of the burners, the middle
burner, in occidental terminology it is the fundus; when food
arrives at the level of the fundus, the phenomenon of
digestion occurs, which is more exactly a phenomenon of
alimentary metabolism. This phenomenon of metabolism
gives off energy and blood.
This is why Bl-17 has the important property of accelerating
the movement of the stomach in order to accelerate the
production of blood and energy. In the case of a blood
deficiency, therefore, you have to needle Sp-10 and Bl-17.
Now you know why the ancient and modern texts talk about
Bl-17, but [they] didn't explain why--now you know why.
Since we're talking about the cause of the disease we have
to talk about symptomatology: in the case of a
dysmenorrhea of excess origin, the pain arrives before and
during the period, and this pain is exacerbated, made worse,
by palpation. On the other hand, in the case of deficiency,
the pain is improved by palpation. This is why in the case of
the woman you have to know how to palpate the abdomen.
And the reason for doing the palpation is to study deficiency
and excess. And I know that you're going to ask me, well

what about the pulse? The pulse represents the control of

clinical signs and also [of] what the patient tells you. For
example, supposing [she] came along with dysmenorrhea of
excess origin, because when [I palpate] the abdomen there
is pain, [I] would look at [her] complexion, and [I] would
notice that [her] complexion is nice and pink and normal,
she's slightly thirsty; [I look] at the tongue, it's slightly
yellowish, yellowish tongue is the sign of the presence of
heat. In this case you would expect there would be a rapid
pulse, and tense, tight. But in the case of deficiency, the
tongue is pale, there would be a whitish moss, the woman
feels quite good when you touch her stomach, it doesn't
cause her problems; in this case I would check my findings
according to the pulse--because in the case of deficiency the
pulse would be deficient. In other words, to treat the disease
it's fine to take the pulse, but you must first examine the
clinical symptoms: the complexion, the tongue, etc., the
pulse is actually secondary. Later on, when you've become a
great acupuncturist, you have to study the pulse, but for
now, with the clinical signs, and the examination of the
complexion, and abdominal palpation: that is actually
enough for gynaecology. And again, in the case of
dysmenorrhea from excess, the blood is red and there is a
possibility that there will be clots; and there is a sensation of
relief after these clots are evacuated from the uterus. These
are the signs of dysmenorrhea of excess origin.
Now dysmenorrhea from deficiency. The patient always
presents with signs of nausea and vomiting. In another
words, there is an enormous difference between deficiency
and excess: in the case of dysmenorrhea of excess origin,
[there is] no nausea or vomiting, whereas if the patient
presents with pain and nausea you know it's deficiency. The
blood is pale, there are no clots, and when you palpate the
abdomen the patient has no discomfort, and the pulse is
weak. You have to know how to distinguish the two types of
dysmenorrhea.
Now, how to treat it. In the case of the excess type, you
have to encourage the circulation of blood and energy. I

explained a moment ago that in the case of excess there is

the phenomenon of stagnation; where there is stagnation
there is pain. Our most important duty as doctors is to fight
the pain.
We're talking about the pain of gynaecology. This morning I
already told you a point, Bl-32--so you have to puncture this
point, it's very important. In dysmenorrhea, the specific
point is Bl-32, and this is the way that you make blood and
energy circulate. In the case of deficiency, should you
employ acupuncture or moxibustion? Personally, I would
propose moxibustion, but since we're in the United States, if
a woman comes to you to be needled, you use little needles
and you pretend to needle. And the real treatment, five or
ten minutes afterwards, is moxibustion. The chinese say that
in the case of deficiency you have to warm the point, warm
up the circulation of the Ren Mai and the Chong Mai, to
activate the production of blood and energy of the Kidneys.
A while ago I told you that the Kidney plays an important
role in the formation of blood. That's the Chinese term,
which means that the energy of the Kidneys can produce
blood. Now we're coming back to the United States--the
marrow produces blood. The Kidney rules the marrow: so
you see, the ideas are the same. In other words, western
medicine says that marrow produces blood, but they don't
know how to activate or tonify the marrow. But we know:
you have to tonify the Kidneys because the Kidney sends its
Jing to the marrow to support and nourish it. This is why in
my opinion the ideas of the two systems of medicine are
exactly the same. If you have a good grasp of western
medicine, you can prove all of the chinese ideas. Another
example: the chinese say 'the Liver is a general'. I'm an
american person--what are they talking about, 'the Liver is a
general'? ( i.e., the military officer ) What does that mean?
In western medicine, they say the Liver plays an important
role in the defense of the organism. For me, it's the same
thing. Because the one is a general of an army, and the
other is defense--it's the same thing: the chinese are talking

about one thing, the western medical people are talking

about another thing, but it's the same meaning.
Before treating dysmenorrhea, we have to choose specific
points, before treating the form, or the type, of the disease.
I told you before that the specific point is Bl-32, and I said
that you have to regulate the blood and energy, and in order
to regulate blood and energy you have to choose a point
whose branches go to the uterus. I explained that this
morning: this point, which is CV-3. Then, there is another
specific point, Sp-6, because the three Yin, as I said a
moment ago, produce blood. <Here is> the channel of the
Liver, the Kidney, the Spleen. They join at that point. If you
tonify this point, it's to harmonize and regulate the blood.
Sp-6 is a specific point in all gynaecological disorders. Bl-32
is a point to treat the pain of all gynaecological disorders.
And CV-3 means 'the uterus'. So these are the three points
you should use first.
In the case of stagnation--in the case of perverse energy, in
the case of dietary problems, and in the case of emotional
problems--you're obliged to dissolve this stagnation. In
oriental medicine we have specific points in each case where
there is a blockage or stagnation, which are the Xi-cleft
points. <Here is stagnation.> I have to puncture Sp-8; Sp-8
is a Xi-cleft point. I explained a moment ago that the Spleen
plays an important role in moisturizing the apparatus of the
woman and also in the mutation [transformations in the
organism]. If you puncture the Xi point, which is Sp-8, it's to
dissolve and unblock the stagnation. And then you have to
regularize the blood, which is [done by means of] Sp-10,
and to regulate the energy, which is [done by means of] CV6. These are the points you use, then, in the case of
perverse energy, or in the case of dietary dysfunction, or
psychoaffective disorders. You puncture those points first,

and in the case of stagnation you add the following three

points.
Now, in the case of deficiency, which is actually a lack of
blood, you have to activate the production of blood in the
uterus. The two classical points are CV-4 and St-36. St-36:
when you tonify this point you activate the production of
blood and energy in general. When you add the point CV-4,
what you're doing is taking this increased blood and energy
and making sure that it reaches the uterus. These are
classical formulas. In Chinese Medicine, a classical formula is
a type of formula reserved for students. But we
acupuncturists of a long time, we respect those three points
[ ] but we don't respect the other one [ ]. For example, in
the case of psychological-emotional disorders, we would also
have to add points having an anti-depressive effect, which
are: GV-20, Yintang (Curious point #3), CV-17, and He-7. If
the problem is of dietary origin I wouldn't use those points,
I'd use Bl-20, Sp-3, Bl-21, and St-42, which means that I
needle the Back-shu point of the Spleen, the Source [Yuan]
point of the Spleen, the Source [Yuan] point of theStomach,
[and] the Back Shu point of the Stomach, with the idea of
regulating the Spleen-Stomach system. In the case of a
deficiency of blood, I must always add CV-12, Li-13, and St36. These three points are enough to activate the formation
of blood and energy. This means that the formula in Chinese
Medicine is not rigid, everything depends on the knowledge
of each one of us. But the most important thing is to know
the specific points for each disease. For example: in
gynaecology, Sp-6; in opthalmology, GB-37; in central
nervous system diseases, GB-39, etc. This is very important.
This is where you add points to the classical formulas.
I've just dealt with dysmenorrhea. We have another halfhour, we can talk about another gynaecological disease.
We're going to talk about the easiest diseases: irregular

menstrual periods. You know that in the West, especially in

the United States, when we use the term 'irregular period'
we either mean a short cycle, a long cycle, or an irregular
cycle. Now in the case of a short cycle, there is bleeding
before there should be, the blood arrives before it should;
now we are traditional acupuncturists, we must of necessity
ask 'why?'. This is extremely important. We know that heat
accelerates the blood--in other words a short menstrual
cycle is caused by yang, by heat. Now the long cycle--we
have to ask: why does the blood arrive late, after when it
should arrive? Because the lady in question has a problem
with cold. And this cold or this heat is from the Kidneys,
caused by the Kidneys, from the Source. We know that cold
retards all human activities, and the cold contracts [while]
the heat dilates. And the blood vessels of the uterus contract
when the female patient has signs of cold. In western
medicine they're always talking about irregular cycles, we
also have to ask why is this, what is this about? This means
that in the body of this woman the cold and the heat are in a
state of disorder: now there is too much cold, now there is
too much heat. And all these signs are seen in the change of
character of this woman: she'll have good moods and bad
moods, she may be very nervous. In which case we have to
regulate her Yin and Yang. Where do we find her Yin and
Yang? In the Kidneys. But you have to know one or two
clinical signs. In the short menstrual cycle, she might have
her periods twice in one month, whereas in a long cycle the
menstrual periods arrive always between ten and twenty
days after the date when they're supposed to arrive. Since
we're gynaecologists, we have to ask her about this, what
the blood is like [in] color. In the case of a short cycle, the
periods are heavy, because there is heat, and the color is
red because there is fire; in the long cycle, the color of the
blood is pale pink. (In order to earn your forty dollars, or
twenty-five dollars, you should ask about the pulse, etc...,
and the color of the eyes.)

In the case of the short cycle, women often have bloodshot

eyes. <That's an eye. Here is the canthus of the eye; the
white of the eye the sclera; the iris; and the pupil. There is
the canthus, it is irrigated by the Heart; and the white of the
eye by the energy of the Lungs; the iris is irrigated by the
Liver energy, and the part in the middle by the Kidney, and
the superior part by the Spleen energy, and the part below
the eye by the Stomach. In the case of pathology, in the
case of short cycles which is caused by heat--heat means
fire--fire means the Heart--the part which is irrigated by the
Heart has little blood vessels. If it's dietary in origin there
are little blood vessels which ascend [like that]; you have to
open the eye to look at these vessels. This is very important.
When there are small vessels going from below to above, or
vice versa, this also always means that there are digestive
disturbances. And when the vessels irradiate from the
canthus, horizontally, this is also always a sign of a heat
syndrome or a psychological syndrome. For example, in the
case of a very angry person, who insults his father or
mother, who punches his friends, you look at his eyes, they
always have this type of irradiation of the vessels. And in the
other case, of dysmenorrhea of the short cycle, the woman
always presents with signs like that. In the case of
deficiency the eye is normal.
How to treat: how should we treat it? In the case of irregular
periods you have to look for specific points. In irregular
periods, you have to puncture Sp-6 because it governs the
blood fabricated, made, by the three Yin; [also] CV-6, Qihai.
You puncture these two points to harmonize Yin and Yang:
the Spleen is blood, Yin; CV-6, 'Sea of Energy', is Yang.
When you puncture these two points, you regulate the
circulatory system with fire. Because in the case of
dysmenorrhea, there is always more or less fire, more or
less Yang. So when you puncture these points it is to

regulate the circulatory system of blood and energy, of Yin

and Yang. Those are specific points that you have to know.
Now in the case of the short menstrual cycle, where there is
fire, you have to put out the fire. You must not put out the
fire of the body, because it is your essential energy. You
have to slow down the circulation or put it out. And we put it
out with Earth points, in other words, Li-3--the Liver governs
the genital system--the Yuan point of the Liver, in other
words the humidity of the Liver, the Earth point; you use it
in the case where there is too much Yang, too much fire.
The long cycle is called a cold cycle, energetically speaking.
In this case you have to heat up. Where should you heat up?
You heat the Yang Ming, in other words St-25 and St-29. St25 is the front mu point of the Large Intestine, of the Yang
Ming; St-29 has the name Guilai, which means 'making
things come back'. The Yang Ming corresponds to dryness; if
you puncture these points you cause a little fire, which
penetrates into the uterus to fight cold. This is the technique
you will find in all the chinese books. I don't use it like that.
But it does give just as good results. There are two ways to
do it: you know that the Liver controls or commands the
genital system, so we have to tonify the heat point, the fire
point of the Liver to combat the cold in the genital area; in
other words, Li-2. Why Li-2? Because it's the Yung [-spring]
point, which is the second antique point, corresponds to
heat. Li-2 is the sedation point; if I puncture this point and
sedate it what it means is that I remove the heat . For
example, in certain cases of hepatic diseases, such as viral
hepatitis, which causes fever, this fever is nothing more than
the exhalation of ministerial fire. This is why I have to
sedate Li-2: because there are microbes, and the heat is
caused by these microbes. But now if I want to produce this
heat I tonify Li-2. Because in the case of the long cycle there
is a lack of heat, I have to produce heat, and so I have to

tonify. In conclusion, all acupuncture points can be tonified

or dispersed; everything depends on context, everything
depends on the clinical form; you mustn't think that a
tonification point always has to be tonified. When you talk
about tonification or sedation points, it is to remove or give
back energy at the level of the meridians. But perverse
energy: is it found in the principal meridians or elsewhere?
Now, because we are americans, we have to know exactly
what the answer is. In principal, if perverse energy is in the
principal meridians it automatically causes problems in the
organs and bowels and it means the disease is extremely
serious. Fortunately, we have the defensive energy, which
stops this aggression. Therefore in the majority of cases the
perverse energy is found in the secondary vessels. This is a
very important idea. If I have periostitis of the shoulder, for
example, I would say I have a pain here; you would say 'it is
your Large Intestine channel which is at fault'; no, it's not
that, it's the secondary channel of the Large Intestine. This
is very important. We use the technique of the
tendinomuscular meridians.
I've got five minutes left, I'm going to give you this
technique, and you'll be able to cure all diseases of external
origin. [Here is the shoulder. Here is the pain--ths patient
shows you that.] I have to sedate this painful point. I insert
the needle and disperse. How do I put it in? That's a secret-the Grand Masters know it but don't tell you. In order to
puncture these points in the shoulder you have to puncture
obliquely, in subcutaneous manner. And put it in at least 2 or
3 cm. In other words, subcutaneous needling. And then you
have to find which principal channel circulates through this
area. Suppose it's the Large Intestine: you have to tonify
the Large Intestine principal channel. In other words, you
puncture LI-11 and you reinforce the action of this point by
using LI-4, the Source point, Yuan point. It's enough to cure
the pain. But our chinese colleagues have not yet
determined the different systems of meridians. We have the

tendinomuscular system, the Luo system, Longitudinal Luo

system, curious meridians, distinct meridians: there are six
or seven groups of meridians that you have to know, and
they now evidently only teach you the principal meridians
and the points. This is only really a very small part of
acupuncture. In the end, you can't treat the pain. I've got a
toothache, I have to ask my teacher how to treat, we have
to open the book to find out how to do it. But there is a
technique. In all the cases of pain, you disperse the painful
point and tonify, not disperse, the principal channel. This is
extremely important, because our chinese colleagues don't
yet know this.
After lunch, Dr. Tran is going to talk about San Jiao
energetics and the formation of energy. If you leave me a
few minutes, I will finish what I was saying, because it's too
long.
(--Lunch break--)
Dr. Sean Marshall:
Our next speaker is Dr. Tran Viet Dzung, whom I recently
met this spring in Connecticut. He has been a long-time
collaborator with Dr. Van Nghi; in fact, he told me that he
met Dr. Van Nghi about fifteen years ago -- and he hasn't
slept since. Dr. Tran Viet Dzung...
Dr. Tran Viet Dzung
Hello. Thank you for coming. We're going to begin first of all
straight away with the formation of energy. You know that
acupuncture is a technique of oriental medicine. And you
know that oriental medicine is a medicine of energy. And
everyone knows that. We have had the occasion to not only
visit the United States but also other countries of the world
quite often, and we have established the following: that lots
of acupuncturists know that they have to practice a medicine

of energy. But when you talk about what energy, they're not
exactly sure. When you talk about the formation of energy,
they can't tell you exactly how this energy is formed. This is
why what I'm going to tell you is important as a basis of
acupuncture. And in talking about the formation of the
different types of energy I have to talk to you about the San
Jiao.
You know that the San Jiao is something extremely
important. It's so important that I'm going to tell you a
story: you know that in the eleventh century in China, there
was an emperor; you know that at that time chinese
emperors were well known for being very erudite, not only in
poetry and music but also medicine. One day he heard talk
of a chinese doctor who only treated people by means of the
San Jiao. He sent for this doctor to come to his court, and he
asked him: 'Why --in the human organism, you have the
meridians, you've got the muscles, the bones, the organs
and bowels--how can you say that you treat everything by
means of the San Jiao?' The doctor answered him: 'This is
such a difficult and important subject that I can only tell
somebody who has sufficient knowledge of the subject.' The
emperor, crazy with rage, had him beheaded. And since this,
the generations of the doctors who came afterwards always
get together to study the idea of the San Jiao.
Everything I'm going to tell you is found in the Nei Ching,
especially in the Da Cheng ("Art and Practice of
Acupuncture"). But as you already know, in the ancient
texts, whether it is the Nei Ching or the Da
Cheng,when they talk about ideas, they talk about one idea
in book one, another one in book five, and then the third
one they come back to in book three. So they never give
you a synthesized, or global, idea of the whole thing. I'm
going to try to do a synthesis of all these ancient books and
to try to give you a complete idea of the San Jiao.

You've noticed that I've been using the word 'San Jiao'.
You've never heard me speak of the 'Triple Heater'. Because
for us this word means nothing. 'San ' means 'three'. 'Jiao'
means 'metabolism'. In other words, the function of the San
Jiao is the function of the division into three metabolisms.
These three metabolisms are: metabolism of energy,
metabolism of blood, and metabolism of organic liquid.
Today we're going to speak about energy. I'm going to
present several ideas: I'm going to talk about the formation
of Ying energy. As you know it's also called Nutritive, or
nourishing, energy. I'm going to talk about the formation of
Jing energy, which you know is the energetic quintessence.
I'm going to also talk about Wei energy, which is very
important here in the United States because it concerns
allergy a lot; it's the defensive energy of the body. And then
I'm going to talk of the energy Tong Qi, which we could
regard as Ancestral energy. And then to conclude
everything, I'm going to explain how to treat by using the
San Jiao.
First, Ying energy. <This is the Stomach: the cardia, the
fundus, and the pylorus.> This is the anatomy described in
western medical terminology. As you know, in Chinese
Medicine the cardia is the upper Jiao, the fundus is the
middle Jiao, and the pylorus is the lower Jiao. And the three
'burners' together make the San Jiao. We prefer to use the
term San Jiao, and if you really want to use the term in a
western way, it would be better to call it 'triple metabolism',
for the reasons I described earlier. And since in the west,
whether it is in Europe or in the States, we have the habit of
calling it the 'triple heater', [I'm] going to continue to use
that term, but you should understand that that is a term
which has been badly translated. Why? Because all the ideas
about the San Jiao show that it is concerned with the
metabolism of water; when you talk about 'triple heater' it
has an idea of heat, or Yang, which doesn't mean anything.

You know that man is between Heaven and Earth. We're only
alive because of the food we eat and the air we breathe.
<Here is >the food, it comes into the digestive tube and
reaches the fundus. When it reaches the fundus, what arises
is a phenomenon of metabolism. This gives off an energy, as
a result of this metabolism, which in western medicine we
call calories, but which we call the energy of the cereals,
energy of the grains, because it comes from food, and the
food comes from cereals, cereals come from the earth. This
energy which is produced from the cereals--where does it
go? It goes to the Spleen. Why to the Spleen? Because you
know that the Spleen and Stomach are the Yin-Yang system.
So this energy of the cereals goes to the Spleen. Once it has
arrived at the Spleen, the Spleen send this energy to the
Lungs. Why? Because the Spleen and the Lung are in a
mother-son relationship [Earth creates Metal]. <Here is the
Spleen, here are the Lungs.> The Lungs are the child of the
Spleen. So the energy of the cereals which reaches the
Spleen reaches the Lungs. Also the energy of the Spleen and
the Lungs together is Tai Yin; they both have the same
energetic level: the Spleen is the Tai Yin of the foot, and the
Lungs are the Tai Yin of the hand. When this energy of the
cereals, or if you prefer, energy of the Earth, reaches the
Lungs, the Lungs have two roles: the first role is the
absorption of the Earth energy coming from the Spleen, and
the other role is the absorption of the Celestial energy
coming from the heavens, or the sky; in other words,
oxygen. <This is oxygen from celestial energy.> The energy
of the sky is Yang, whereas the energy of the Earth is Yin.
When, in the Lungs, Yin and Yang meet, the Ying energy is
formed. It's Nutritive Energy. This energy goes to the
superior part of the thorax, and emerges at the point which
you all know, which is Lu-1. Then it goes into the Lung
channel, Large Intestine, Stomach, Spleen, etc., as far as
the Liver channel, at which point it returns to the Lung. This
is following the cycle known as the circadian cycle of 24
hours. That is, that the energy circulates in the Lungs from 3

to 5 am, 5 to 7 in the Large Intestine, etc., and returns to

the Lungs from 3 to 5 am once more. This is the circulation
of the Ying energy, Nutritive energy. This is why--open any
book of acupuncture, in any country, you will see that they
always teach you first about the channel of the Lungs, and
then this pathway, always finishing by the Liver. This is in
agreement with the circadian cycle of Ying energy. That's
roughly what you need to know about the formation and
circulation of Ying energy.
We're now going to discuss Jing energy. As I said, Ying
energy circulates in the principal meridians and it then goes
into the organs, and then it comes back into the meridians,
then it reaches one of the bowels, then it goes into a
channel, into an organ, etc. <--illus.--> This is the
circulation of the Ying energy. First it goes to the organ of
the Lungs, then into the Large Intestine, then Stomach
(following the cycle of Ying energy which we just talked
about), then into the Spleen organ, then into the Heart-we're continuing according to the circulation of the Ying
energy--then into Small Intestine, Bladder, and it reaches
the Kidneys, then it reaches the Pericardium, then the San
Jiao, Gall Bladder, and terminates at the Liver. You know that
Dr. Van Nghi this morning told you that as far as the bowels
are concerned, they form a function of transit, that is, Ying
energy arrives and then leaves. But what is extremely
important is what happens in the organs. Because what
happens in the organs is a phenomenon of metabolism-metabolism of what? There is metabolism of Ying, that is
Nutritive, energy which is transformed into an even more
pure form known as Jing. You may have heard several times
that the Lung rules the nose, for example. What is it about
the Lung, what does the Lung have to rule the nose? What
energy? It's not the Ying energy, it's Jing, Jing which is
formed in the Lungs as a result of the metabolism of Ying
energy; in other words, the Ying energy arrives in the Lung
organ, when it arrives in the Lung, if the Lung is in a period

of normal activity, when it's functioning normally, not

hypoactive, what is its role? It is to metabolize the Ying
energy into Jing, Jing of the Lungs. And it is this Jing of the
Lungs which goes to govern the skin and the body hair. It is
this Jing of the Lungs which governs the nose, and it is this
Jing of the Lungs which allows us to have a sense of smell.
This means that when you have a problem with your sense
of smell, when you have a problem in the skin, you have to
tonify the Lung energy-- but the Jing energy of the Lung.
So the Ying energy arrives at the Lungs, is transformed and
metabolized into Jing, it governs these functions, and then it
continues: it passes by the Stomach, and arrives at the
Spleen, which is an organ. Since it's an organ it's going to
metabolize the Ying, into a more pure substance, which we
call the Jing of the Spleen . And it's the Jing of the Spleen
which rules the dermis (don't forget that the Jing of the
Lungs rules the epidermis); it governs the lips, and the
sense of taste. That is why you often have patients who
come to see you with problems of anosmia, which means
they are unable to smell different odors; but often there are
patients who come to see us with both a loss of the sense of
smell and loss of the sense of taste. So often it is very hard
to treat these patients. But if you don't even know where to
treat them you are never going to be able to completely cure
them. This is why you have to treat the Jing of the Spleen-not the Ying of the Spleen. I'm going to tell you how to do
these treatments, but for the moment we're just talking
about physiology.
We're going to continue. The Ying energy arrives at the
Heart organ. The Heart is an organ; its function is to
metabolize the Ying energy into Jing, the Jing of the Heart.
And it's the Jing of the Heart which rules the blood vessels,
the tongue, and speech. This is why often you have patients
who come with speech problems; here again you have to
treat the Jing of the Heart, if you really want the result to
last. The Ying energy continues, and it goes past the Small

Intestine, past the Bladder, because these are bowels not

organs, and it reaches the Kidney organ. Again, in the
Kidney organ there is metabolism of the Ying energy,
transformed into Kidney Jing, which governs the bones, the
marrow, and the brain. And it's the Jing of the Kidneys which
governs the ears and hearing. This is why if you have a
problem of deafness you have to treat the Jing of the
Kidneys.
The Pericardium is the same as the Heart. So the Ying
energy continues and it passes by the San Jiao, and the Gall
Bladder, and arrives at the Liver: once again there is a
transformation, into Jing of the Liver, and it is the Jing of the
Liver which governs the neuromuscular system; it's the Jing
of the Liver which rules the eyes; and it's the Jing of the
Liver which enables us to see, vision. So when you have an
eye problem, a problem with vision, eyesight: for example
when someone comes to you with the problem like a
cataract, you know that all cataracts are often operated on,
but you know that cataracts, if they haven't reached the
point where they absolutely have to be operated on, you can
get excellent results with acupuncture. You will not only help
the patients avoid surgical intervention, but you will also
help to put the disease into reverse. So now you know a
little about how Ying energy is turned into Jing energy, and
how the Jing rules the different systems.
Where do we treat this Jing? <Here is the Bladder channel of
Tai Yang.> You know that the Bladder channel has two
branches: a medial branch and a lateral branch. On the
medial branch you have all the shu points of all the different
organs on the back, and on the lateral branch you have the
points of concentration of the different types of Jing I am
describing. For example, we were talking about the Jing of
the Lungs. You know that on the medial branch of the
Bladder there is a point Bl-13, which is the shu point of the

Lung; on the same horizontal line, laterally, you have the

point which is correspondent to the Jing of the Lungs, which
is Bl-42. So that when you want to treat the Jing of the
Lungs, this is where you have to work. We will continue with
the Spleen: you know that the back shu point of the Spleen
is Bl-20; on the same horizontal line but on the lateral
branch [is the point of concentration of the Spleen Jing], Bl49. We come to the Jing of the Heart: where do we treat it?
The back shu point of the Heart is Bl-15; and the point of
concentration of Heart Jing is on the same horizontal line as
Bl-15, but on the lateral branch: Bl-44. We continue some
more and we reach the Jing of the Kidneys: and as you
know, the point of concentration of the Kidney Jing is on the
same horizontal line as the back shu point of the Kidneys
(which is Bl-23): Bl-52. In the case of the Liver, the back
shu point is Bl-18, and the point for treating the Jing of the
Liver is Bl-47. Each time that you want to treat the Jing of
an organ you have to treat at these points which are on the
lateral branch of the Bladder. This is very important, because
in the West, especially here in the States, you have a lot of
deficiencies, you have a lot of diseases such as diabetes,
obesity, and you know that acupuncture can help these, or
cure these types of illnesses. You have to treat the Jing.
But we're not finished yet. I've been talking to you about
Jing. And I'm still talking about Jing. But what I've been
describing is the material Jing, the Jing which governs the
different parts of the body: the epidermis, the dermis, etc.
But there is also a non-material part: you know that when
you talk about the mental, you might say 'shen'. This is
another term we don't like very much. I've been working
with Dr. Van Nghi for at least fifteen years and you know
that he can share his knowledge with you--his mission is to
develop oriental medicine, and to help the advancement of
this science, and he has always said this to me: if you want
to develop acupuncture, if you want to make it grow and
spread, you have to be very strict in the way that you learn

things, rigorous or strict in the way that we learn the words.

Because if we employ words which are not accurate, we are
not going to learn anything. Because in Chinese Medicine,
every single word has a deep meaning, and if we don't use
them correctly, we may end up making errors. And if there
are errors in comprehension we cannot help our patients, we
cannot get results. And a medical science where there are
no results is a science that has no future. That is why we are
very strict about the terminology. Take the example of the
term 'Shen': ask any Vietnamese, Chinese or Asian person,
they very rarely use the word Shen, they say 'Chen' in
Vietnamese; in chinese they say 'Jing-shen', which means
'the quintessence of Shen'. So when we speak about Shen
we're talking about the quintessence--this is why I'm going
to talk about 'Jing-Shen'. So now I'm going to talk about the
immaterial, non-material part of Jing, because man does not
only consist of anatomy, but we also have a non-material
part, which is extremely important. So important that
everywhere we go now people talk only of psychological,
mental and psychosomatic diseases.
I would now like to present an idea which is not known very
well by many doctors of acupuncture--you've often heard
the saying that too much anger injures the Liver; they say
too much grief or sadness injures the Lungs; they say too
much fear injures the Kidneys; they say that too much
thought injures the Spleen; and that too much joy injures
the Heart. This is not correct. How can we understand this?
<Here is the law of the Five Phases. Here is the Liver, the
Heart, the Spleen, the Lungs and the Kidney.> I have told
you that in each organ there is metabolism of Ying energy,
and transformation into Jing, and we see that this Jing can
be material, but it can also be immaterial. What is
immaterial? This means that the Ying energy is going to
transform into a Jing-shen, which is specific to each organ:
in the Lungs there will be the immaterial Jing of the Lungs,
which we call 'Po'; at the Spleen there is material Jing of the

Spleen but also immaterial Jing of the Spleen, which we call

'Yi'; in the Heart it's the same: there is transformation into
immaterial Jing, which we call 'Shen'; and in the Kidneys the
immaterial Jing we call 'Zhi'; in the Liver it's the same
procedure, we will have the Jing-Shen of the Liver, which we
call the 'Hun'. All of these are the quintessence of immaterial
energy which is contained in the organs, the Jing-Shen of
the organs. Example: here is the Liver. I told you that in the
Liver, the Liver keeps or conserves the Hun; the Hun in the
west can be translated as 'soul', the 'vegetative soul', in
other words, which means the possibility of creation'. In
other words, the Hun of an architect is more developed than
ours because he has a creative mind. The vegetative soul is
creative.
<This is Shen.> The Shen is the mental (Heart); in the
Spleen there's the Yi, which you can translate by 'Thought'
or 'Reflection', which means that the Spleen conserves the
Yi, therefore it conserves the thoughts and reflections; in the
Lungs there is conservation of the Po. What is the Po? It's
the sensitive soul, which means that when you're faced with
an occurrence you may be more or less sensitive than
another person, according to the Po which is contained in
your Lungs. In the Kidneys is the Zhi, the Will. Among the
immaterial parts of the Jing of the Kidneys is the Will. So
when you want to increase willpower you have to tonify the
Kidneys.
Everything I've just told you, whether it's the Hun or the
Shen or the Yi or the Po or the Zhi, are normal feelings
which exist in our organism, in our body. These are all things
which exist in the normal state of our bodies, which we don't
feel--why don't we feel them? Because there is a harmony
between these different categories of psychic or mental
activity within us. We only recognize them when there is a
pathological phenomenon. But in the normal physiological

state--as I speak to you and you answer me--we are not

aware of all these elements, because everything is in
harmony. But if there is a dysharmony, this is when we
feel--what are we going to feel? If I walked up to you and
gave you a kick in the shins, what are you going to do? I
would disturb your Hun. And this would provoke anger, you
would feel angry. It's because I disturbed this person's Hun
that there is anger. But it's not because there's too much
anger that it damages the Liver. Does everybody grasp the
nuance there? Anger is pathological , Hun is physiological.
And the reason there is anger is because we have disturbed
the Hun. But the Liver is not going to be hurt by anger.
Same here: when the Shen is disturbed, you will have joy,
but excessive joy. You will have problems with patients who
laugh without knowing why, you will have emotion, and all of
this is because you are disturbing the Shen. And it's the
same for the Yi, thought and reflection--when you disturb
the Yi, that is when you disturb the thought and reflection,
what do you have? You have worry and anguish, anxiety.
This [the Lung] is the same. When you disturb the normal
physiological element, the Po, you will have sadness, You will
find patients who are always sad and are always
complaining. Why? because Lungs correspond to Metal, and
Metal is the voice--so they complain all the time. <This is
the Zhi, the Will.> The Will is a normal physiological
component of our organism. When this Zhi is disturbed you
get fear, extreme fear, paranoia even. And tears. In other
words they are patients who are afraid and they cry all the
time.
These are what we call the seven psychological entities:
anger, joy, worry, sadness, and fear; these are five. So why
did I say seven? Because there is complaining or
lamentation, and tears. And that's why they are described as
the seven psychological elements. This a problem of JingShen, regarded from the oriental medical perspective.
To treat it: in the Nei Ching they say that you have to use

the laws of the Five Phases (Wu Xing), according to the law
of inhibition (Ko cycle). Occasionally you have patients who
come to see you in your office, for whatever, but if they got
stuck in a traffic jam on the way to your office they'll arrive
in a state of anger. With the use of one single point you can
treat their anger. So for whatever reason they're coming to
see you, if they come presenting one of these emotions--joy,
or fear, or whatever--you can treat them with one single
point; and then at the end of the treatment you can ask
them, 'well, what about your sadness or fear?' And they'll
say, 'it's completely disappeared'.
The Nei Ching talks about the cycle of inhibition. Here is the
law of Five Phases: the Liver, Heart, Spleen, Lung and
Kidney. I already explained to you that the Liver is
associated with anger; and the Heart, joy; and the Spleen,
worry or anxiety; and the Lung sadness; and the Kidney,
fear. For example, if I want to treat anger, here is the law of
inhibition: you know that this is Wood, this is Fire, this is
Earth, this is Metal, this is Water. You know that Wood
controls or inhibits Earth, Earth inhibits Water, Water inhibits
Fire, Fire inhibits Metal, and Metal inhibits Wood. Anger is an
abnormal feeling corresponding to Wood. If I want to
diminish the anger I have to increase Metal, because Metal
destroys Wood. So I have to find a point corresponding to
Metal. Here is the principal channel. I gave you the example
of anger, which also corresponds to Wood and to the Liver.
So I'm going to use a point found on the Liver principal
channel. Here is the principal channel of the Liver. You know
that the principal channel of the Liver is Yin. And you know
that from <here to here> are the Su-Antique points: the
Jing-well, Yung, Yu, Jing-river and Ho points. The Jing-well
point of a Yin channel corresponds to Wood; the Yung point
corresponds to Fire; the Yu point to Earth; the Jing-river
point to Metal; and the Ho point to Water. I've just
explained, I'm going to treat anger. I have to treat a point
on the Liver channel, and on this Liver channel I have to

treat a point corresponding to Metal. So which point will I

choose? The Jing-river point, since that is the one that
corresponds to Metal, and Metal controls Wood; and the
Jing-river point of the Liver channel is Li-4. So in order to
bring down a person's anger I would needle Li-4.
We're going to take the example of joy. Joy is very nice; but
excessive joy is a bit too much. So we're going to try to
diminish it somewhat. How should we do this? What point
would you puncture? <Here is the principal channel of the
Heart: here is the Jing-well point, Yung point, Yu, Jing-river
and Ho: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water.> To diminish
joy, which point would you puncture? Water--the Ho point,
He-3.
Taking the example of anxiety or worry, which point? I
explained that when you treat anxiety it's Earth, the Spleen.
So you have to choose a point on the Spleen channel. Which
point on the Spleen? The Jing-well point, Sp-1. Why?
Because Sp-1 corresponds to Wood, and Wood controls
Earth.
Another example: sadness. What point? Lu-10. Because it's
the Yung point, which is Fire. And Fire controls Metal.
Fear: which point? Ki-3, because Ki-3 corresponds to Earth;
we tonify the Earth to control the Water, the fear.
Everything I've just told you is not just theory, not just
'blah-blah-blah'. Because we have used these techniques
many, many times on our patients. But you have to be
careful: what I've just told you here are little techniques, to
treat minor psychological disturbances. I took the example
earlier of somebody who comes to your office who is late;
why? because they were stuck in a traffic jam; she comes to
see you very excited and angry because she is late; you
would puncture Li-4 in order to diminish this anger so that
you can get on with your regular treatment. But in real,
serious problems of psychological disturbance, such as those

you find very frequently in the west, such as nervous

breakdown and depression, we have to develop this
reasoning a little further and treat the Shao Yin axis: the
Kidneys and Heart. Because it is frequrently a problem of
the separation of the Heart and Kidneys, separation between
the Will power and the Mental, between Water and Fire. And
you have to do the deepest type of treatment. But
everything I've just described to you is excellent for treating
minor psychological disturbances. Try it, and next time I
come you'll be able to tell me your results.

Saturday, 17 September afternoon session

Now we're going to attack something of great importance,

Wei energy. I was talking about Ying energy, and I talked
about Jing: material Jing and immaterial Jing, in another
words Jing-Shen. Now we're going to talk about Wei energy,
which as you know is an energy of defense, or defensive
energy. I'm first going to talk to you about the formation of
Wei energy, and then I'm going to talk to you about the
circulation of Wei energy.
Formation of Wei energy [in English!]: Are you ready? Let's
go!
<This> is the Stomach, the Upper Jiao, Middle Jiao, and
Lower Jiao. <This> is the cardia, here is the fundus, here is
the pylorus. I told you a moment ago that food arrives at
the fundus, and here there is the phenomenon of
metabolism, and production or giving off of the energy of
the cereals or the grains (Ge Qi), the terrestrial energy,
which goes to the Lungs, where it combines with the energy
of the air (Da Qi), which is celestial energy, and it forms Ying
energy. But what remains here from food metabolism, where

does it go? It goes to the pylorus <Here is the pylorus>, and

here something happens which is called a phenomenon of
decantation. What remains from the metabolisation of food,
there is material and liquid; at this point there is a
separation into material and liquid, <Here is the material,
and here is liquid.> and that is what we refer to as
decantation. So at this level [the pylorus] there is the first
decantation, the separation of the material and liquid for the
first time. Where does it go? It goes to the Small Intestine:
you have the pylorus [1st decantation] and the Small
Intestine [2nd decantation]. At the Small Intestine, the
same phenomenon: <Here is the Small Intestine> you have
material element on one side and liquid on the other. But
here you have more liquid than material, because it's the
second decantation. And at the same time as this second
decantation there is the first purification, of the liquid part:
so there is a purer part of the liquid and an impure part.
Where does the pure part go? It goes to the Kidneys. <Here
is the Kidney.> Why does it go to the Kidney? Because there
are mesentery vessels which join the digestive tract to the
Kidneys: it is called the mesentery system. And the impure
part goes to the Large Intestine <Here is the Large
Intestine.>; and here in the Large Intestine there is a third
decantation: here there is the impure part which has come
from the Small Intestine. And at the same time as the third
decantation there is a second purification [ie, of the liquid
portion]; at this point there is already the liquid part, which
is again going to be separated into pure and impure. Where
does the pure part go? Again, the pure part goes to the
Kidneys, following the mesenteric system, and the impure
part which results from the second purification rejoins the
material part which remains here and is eliminated by the
anus as stool, feces.
That's it for decantations: the first decantation, the second
decantation, the third decantation; but the purification goes
on. In the Small Intestine we have the first purification; in

the Large Intestine we have the second purification; the

pure part goes to the Kidneys and the impure part follows
the rest of the material part, and is eliminated in the stool.
At the Kidney, the third purification: the pure part goes to
the Liver <this is the Liver>. Why does it go to the Liver?
Because the Liver is the son of the Kidney. <Here is the
Kidney, here is the Liver.> The Kidney is the mother of the
Liver. So the pure part goes to the Liver. The impure part
goes to the Bladder, because the Kidneys and Bladder form a
Yin-Yang system [of Water]; at the Bladder there is a fourth
purification: the pure part goes to the Gall Bladder, because
the Gall Bladder is the son of the Bladder, and the impure
part is eliminated as urine. This is why at the Bladder there
is a separation between what is pure and what is impure.
It's the last stage of separation into pure and impure. That's
why when you read in the ancient texts about the Bladder
they always say that the Bladder is the 'customs official', the
one who guards the frontier; because it keeps what is pure,
and let's go through what is impure.
At the Liver there is a fifth purification: the impure elements
go to the Gall Bladder and associate with the pure part
coming from the Bladder, forming bile; and since the Liver
corresponds to the color green, you often see that bile is
green. Once the bile has been formed, from the impure part
coming from the Liver, and the pure part coming from the
Bladder, where does it go? It rejoins the digestive tract at
the Small Intestine, via the choliduct, to humidify or moisten
the intestinal mucosa, of the Small and Large Intestines,
with the aim of preventing constipation. This is why western
medical doctors frequently prescribe bile pills to treat
constipation. But they don't know why. And the energetic
physiology of oriental medicine gives the reason why. At the
Liver there is the fifth purification, as I said: the impure part
goes to the Gall Bladder; where does the pure part go?
When you prepare a medicine you make it go through
several levels of tubing, and you heat it in one area [ie,

process of distillation]; and at the end you obtain a product

which is volatile, the active principle, which is very volatile:
these are the phases of distillation. In the human organism
you have the first stage of purification [at the Small
Intestine], second stage of purification [at the Large
Intestine], third stage of purification [at the Kidneys], and
fourth stage [at the Bladder], fifth stage of purification [at
the Liver]: it's exactly the same as if you were preparing a
medicine: when it arrives at that point [ie, at the Liver] it's a
vapor, it's vaporized, volatile. That's what happens here in
the Liver. The impure part goes to the Gall Bladder, but the
pure part is given off in the form of a vapor, which is the Wei
Qi. This is why Wei energy is a very mobile energy: it's
mobile because it's volatile. Why is it volatile and mobile? So
that it can reach all the areas of the body quickly to defend
the organism against external attacks or agression. This is
why we call Wei Qi the defensive energy. And since Wei
energy is formed in the Liver, as Dr. Van Nghi told you this
morning, every time that you learn about the Liver they tell
you it's a General; because that is where the defensive, Wei,
energy is formed. It's like a general who leads his troops
into combat; and even in western medicine they say about
the Liver that it has the role of the defense of the organism.
But western medicine only makes that statement, it doesn't
explain why that is; whereas in Chinese Medicine they know
it is because that is where the Wei Qi is formed, and that's
why the Liver is called a general.
I've just told you about the formation of Wei energy. Now
we're going to talk about the circulation of Wei energy. I told
you a while ago that Ying energy goes to the Lung, Large
Intestine, Stomach, etc., arrives at the Liver, and starts the
cycle all over again at the Lung, following a twenty-four hour
cycle, the circadian cycle. The circulation of Wei energy is
completely different: it follows a day-night cycle; Iwill
explain: <here is the vapor which is given off, the Wei
energy which is being produced; here is the Liver, and here
is the Wei energy> it follows the Liver channel and arrives at

Li-14; from Li-14 it ascend towards the upper areas,

crossing the neck and face, and arrives at the eye: <here is
an eye> to be precise, it arrives at the point GB-1. Let's
think about the area of GB-1: here is the area of Tai Yang;
this is GB-1, and the area of the Shao Yang, and below we
have the area of Yang Ming. GB-1 is at the level of the Shao
Yang; <here is the Tai Yang, the Shao Yang, Yang Ming> so
the Wei energy, once it arrives at GB-1, in other words at
the level of the Shao Yang, has a circulation which looks like
this; in other words, it reaches the whole of the Yang area of
the body. In the morning when you get up, as soon as you
begin the movement of your eyelids, blinking, you
immediately begin to make the Wei energy circulate, and it
immediately answers and goes to the Yang areas of the
body, the posterior parts, lateral, and then it reaches the Yin
areas. That is how Wei energy circulates during the day.
During the night the Wei energy concentrates itself at the
Jing-well point of the Yin meridians; for example, Sp-1, Li-1,
Ki-1. Then it goes up to Sp-6, it then follows the principal
channel of the Liver <and here is the principal channel of the
Liver> and penetrates into the Liver; and there it stays
during the night; during the day the cycle recommences. So
you see that the circulation of Wei energy is a circulation
according to night and day--different from the cycle of Ying
energy, which is a circadian cycle of 24 hours. That's roughly
what you need to know in regards to Wei Qi. I would like to
draw your attention to this: up 'til now, when we talk about
Wei energy, they often say that you have to treat the Lower
Jiao, and they give you points to use, e.g.: CV-5, to treat
the lower Jiao in order to augment the energetic potential of
the Wei energy. But now that you know the different stages
of the formation of the Wei energy, and if you want to have
broader action than this, why wouldn't you stimulate at each
stage of the formation of Wei Qi--that is to say, stimulate at
the level of the Small Intestine, Large Intestine, Kidney,
Liver, Bladder.

I've spoken about Ying Qi, Jing, Wei; <here is the cardia, the
fundus, and the pylorus.> We spoke about the Middle Jiao,
we talked about the Lower Jiao, and you will tell me of
course that I haven't yet spoken of the Upper Jiao: we're
going to talk about it now. The upper Jiao is where the Dong
Qi exists; if you translate, 'Qi' is 'energy', 'Dong' could be
translated as 'innate' or 'hereditary', or 'ancestral'. The
chinese colleagues in Shanghai translate this term 'Dong Qi'
as 'the energy of the thorax', 'thoracic Qi'. This is accurate,
but not completely accurate, it is only part; I will explain to
you in a minute why. Doctor Van Nghi preferes to translate
this term by 'creative energy', and we will understand that in
a moment, why he uses that term. The Dong Qi is found at
this level, at the cardia. In order to understand Dong Qi we
have to understand energetic embryology.
We're going to digress for just a moment to discuss
energetic embryology now: when there is copulation
between male and female, Yang and Yin join, combine; and
from here immediately you have a movement. There is a
type of center, a core, here, which is constantly moving;
because there is yin and yang there is constant movement.
Are there any gynecologists or obstetricians here? Is there
anyone here who has done lots of births? Is there anyone
here who has done a lot of deliberate abortions? Has anyone
done curettage here? But: if you do a curettage--in other
words, if you cause an abortion on a woman who is pregnant
approximately 28 to 21 days (now they use aspiration, so
they don't examine the product which is taken from the
uterus); in the earlier times, such as the time of Doctor Van
Nghi, they always used to examine what was removed, so
they were told always to look for this small core, which had
to be moving, and if there was no movement that meant
that the abortion was incomplete and there was still a
pregnancy.
This center, or this concentration, is at the level of the
cardia. Since there is movement, there is yin and yang, so

there is procreation and transformation, mutation or change.

Coming from this movement there are lateral movements:
try to imagine this small concentration which is still beating,
still moving, at the level of the cardia. From this movement
you try to imagine the phenomenon of creation, of
transformation of the movement. First there is the formation
of two lateral masses, which form a type of umbrella, which
is none other, in fact, than the diaphragm. And the lateral
mass which is formed from the concentration of energy,
from this area, which is moving, moves up and down.
Therefore the movement of the diaphragm is an innate or
hereditary movement. That's why this morning when we
talked about Bl-17 we told you it was the shu point of the
diaphragm and we said it was a reunion point for blood;
why? It is as the result of the up-and-down movement of the
diaphragm that the energy of Yang Ming can descend and
the Tai Yin can ascend, and it results from this descending of
Yang Ming and ascending of Tai Yin that there is the
formation of blood. This is why the point Bl-17, which
commands the movement of the diaphragm, is also a
meeting point of the blood. So the diaphragm: the first point
is that the formation is very important. So first we have the
lateral movements from the concentration of the Dong Qi;
now there is a movement going downwards, which forms the
center of the Middle Jiao. That means that everything I told
you earlier about the formation of the Ying Qi, etc., cannot
exist without this point of concentration. Then there is
movement towards the Lower Jiao; this means that from this
point of Dong Qi there is movement which forms another
point of concentration in the lower Jiao, and thanks to that
there is the formation of Wei Qi, which we just discussed.
There is also a movement downwards to form the Kidneys;
and once the Kidneys have been formed, there is the
formation of the osteomedullary system. There is also a
movement downwards to form the Liver; once the Liver has
been formed, the neuromuscular system is formed.

So, to recap: first there is lateral movement; secondly,

movement downward; and, thirdly, there is movement
upward; why? To form the Lungs and their respiratory
movement. There is a movement ascending to the Heart,
forming the Heart and its cardiac movement. So, therefore,
you can see how, starting with Dong Qi, you have the
formation of all the elements which I've just described.
Coming back to this term, 'thoracic energy', which was
translated by our Chinese colleagues in Shanghai, I told you
it was correct but it wasn't enough; because 'thoracic' really
only applies to this part, but it doesn't include all this other
part; and the term 'creative energy', which Dr. Van Nghi
prefers, simply refers to the fact that from Dong Qi, all the
rest is created. And this is the Dong Qi, the ancestral or
hereditary energy. So now I've talked to you about the
different types of energy; now we're going to talk about
treatment.
When you talk about treatment, and you talk about the San
Jiao, they all talk about three points: the three mu points of
the San Jiao; they say that the mu point of the upper Jiao is
CV-17; of the middle Jiao is CV-12; and of the lower Jiao is
CV-5. I would also like to point out that the upper Jiao, as
you know, governs the Lungs and the Heart; the middle Jiao
governs the Spleen and Stomach; and the lower Jiao
governs the Liver and the Kidneys. Normally to treat the
upper Jiao--you should only treat the upper Jiao when both
of the two organs are being attacked, because if only the
Lungs are being attacked then you only use Lung points, and
again, if it's only the Heart you use Heart points--but when
you have, for example, a cardiopulmonary condition, where
both organs are involved, then you would use the point of
the upper Jiao; and it's the same for the middle Jiao and,
again, for the lower Jiao; only when both organs are
attacked [do you use the mu point for that Jiao]. So let's go
back to this: you know that all the organs and bowels have
only one mu point but you see that the San Jiao has three

mu points; this is already very important. But in 1982, when

Dr. Van Nghi put out the book, The Art and Practice of
Acupuncture, which is a translation of commentary on the
Da Cheng, we noticed that there were not, in fact, three mu
points of the San Jiao, ther are seven mu points for the San
Jiao. We're going to try now to understand why. We noticed
that when we translated and did the commentary on this
book, the Da Cheng, we learned about the famous doctor of
ancient times in China, his name was Pienn Tsio; he lived
200 years before Christ, and he said the following: "I agree
with this point [CV-17]; and also this point [CV-12]; but I
don't agree about that point [CV-5]." Why not? The reasons
that the doctor gave were: he said that the mu point of the
lower Jiao was not CV-5 but CV-7. Why? To understand that,
we first have to know the name of the point, and we have to
understand the idea that we talked about this morning, of
the Dantien. <Here is the pubis, and the umbilicus.> At this
level you have CV-2; between CV-2 and CV-8 you can divide
[this area] into three parts; <here is CV-4, here is CV-6>
between CV-2 and CV-4 you have CV-3. We'll consider that
all in a moment. We're now going to talk about CV-7: it's
called Yinchiao: 'yin' means 'liquid', 'chiao' means 'reunion'
or 'meeting', which means 'the reunion, or meeting, of
liquids'. When I talked about Wei Qi a moment ago, I talked
about the lower Jiao; you saw that from the pylorus right up
until the final phase of the formation of Wei Qi you only see
water; therefore the lower Jiao really is the metabolism of
Water. And the point CV-7, Yinchiao, 'meeting point of
liquids, for this doctor was a Water point which governed the
lower Jiao.
Now at the level of CV-3, we know that it's the front mu
point of the Bladder; CV-4 is the front mu point of the Small
Intestine; and the Small Intestine and Bladder together
constitute the Tai Yang: Tai Yang equals Water. At this level
it's considered to be the Dantien, we talked about this
morning, the rice field; when you travel in asian countries
you see that there are many rice fields, and you see them

always full of water; this corresponds to this part. And you

will see, of course, for the rice to grow there has to be sun;
and here there is CV-6, which is 'Qihai', 'Sea of Energy'.
Energy is Yang; Yang is heat, sunshine; so this point
represents the sun. To help the water at those points, to
help with the creation. This is why the Dantien region is
extremely important in women, to the point where, when
you go to asian countries you frequently see statues of the
Buddha, and you see the Buddha putting his hand in this
position; this is because he is hiding this region, because it
is a sacred region, and it is an area of procreation for the
reasons which I described. And the point Yinchiao, which is
<here>, is a point which helps procreation, because it leads
water to the uterus. Because the uterus, in order to be
fertile, has to be moistened or humidified. This is why, for
Pienn Tsio, CV-7 is a point which commands or rules the
lower Jiao; and it's a wonderful point to treat for sterility.
But for the modern [choice], the point CV-5, they're also
correct about it. Why? Because it's called 'Shihmen'; 'Shih'
means 'stone', and 'men' is 'gate': 'Gate of Stone'. And what
is stone? It is bones. And bones are what? they are the
Kidney; because the Kidney governs the bones. And you
know that the lower Jiao is the Kidney. So therefore CV-5
can also be a mu point of the lower Jiao. So in the lower Jiao
you have: CV-5 and CV-7. So we've already got four [mu]
points [for the San Jiao].
The following generations of doctors said that they agreed
about CV-17, and CV-5 and CV-7, but not about CV-12;
because, as far as they were concerned, the point for them
which governed the middle Jiao was St-25; but similarly for
the moderns as for the ancients, CV-12 could also be the
front mu point of the middle Jiao. Why? Because CV-12 is
also the front mu point of the Stomach; St-25 is the front
mu point of the Large Intestine. And you see that Stomach
and Large Intestine form the Yang Ming. So you could use
both St-25 and CV-12 equally well. So now we've got five
points.

In the Stomach there are points which govern or command

the centers: the center of the upper Jiao, of the middle Jiao,
and of the lower Jiao. The point which commands the center
of the upper Jiao is CV-13; it's the point which you use to
treat hiatus hernia. And for the middle Jiao you have CV-12,
to treat stomach ulcers. And the point of the lower Jiao is
CV-10, which can be used to treat duodenal ulcers. So,
finally, we have: <count them> CV-17, CV-12, CV-5, CV-7,
CV-13, CV-10 and St-25. So: seven mu points of the San
Jiao, and not three. And to respond to all of these seven
points of the San Jiao, you have the back shu point of the
San Jiao, which is Bl-22; so when you want to act on this
point you need to use moxibustion. And that's what I wanted
to say, pretty much, about the San Jiao. I haven't had a lot
of time, and I've tried to do a synthesis; I hope that you've
understood. Thank you.
Question: Can you tell us something about the point Bl-39?
Answer: It's a special Ho point of the San Jiao, which you
use to treat certain pathologies but not specifically of the
San Jiao. There are three points: ST-37 which corresponds
to Large Intestine, St-39 which corresponds to the Small
Intestine, and Bl-39 which corresponds to San Jiao. But
that's another problem. Thank you.

Dr. Nguyen Van Nghi--clinique demonstration

When did you have the accident, to get that scar? 11 years
ago. So we're talking about a chronic problem; and you can
see that he has muscular atrophy. So we can tell that there
are nerves which have been attacked. But what is
remarkable is that he can still move his arm quite freely,
which is already a considerable advantage; because in
principle, once there's muscular atrophy, the atrophy can
spread to other muscles and the patient cannot lift his arm.
In other words, at the same time as having muscular
atrophy, he has muscular laxity. So if the patient had not
had an accident, and if he did not have pain like now; if a
patient came presenting these signs of atrophy in these
muscles, without having had an accident, this patient would
be presenting with very serious signs and symptoms; we
would say that the patient had multiple sclerosis.
The pulses are normal--he's had acupuncture treatment-since we're here, we'll talk generally about the pulses: in
women, the right pulses are stronger; in men, the left-hand
pulses are stronger. Why? Because often at the beginning,
the French say, the right hand belongs to women, that we
put it there out of politeness. Now we know that in this part
is the pulse of the Lung, in other words, energy. And that
the energy of the Lungs is the master of all the energy. The
woman has more energy than a man. Look: we are two
human beings; but she loses blood every month, so the
woman only has energy; whereas the man has his energy
and blood; this is why they say women have more energy
than men, and that the man has more blood than the
woman. This is proved by the Ren Mai and the Chong Mai:
these come from the lower abdomen, in other words the
region back there we were talking about, which is the area
where the blood and energy arrive. In the man, these
meridians originating in the Dan Tien ascend to the face,
and that's why he has a beard and moustache. Woman has
no blood at the time of her menstrual period, and the Ren
Mai and Chong Mai are at that time in a state of deficiency of

blood and energy--which is why women do not have beards

and moustaches.
But to come back to our patient, our president has asked us
to relieve his pain and help his headaches. This morning I
told you that in order to treat pain you have to look for the A
Shi points, and to tonify the points of the corresponding
channel. We can apply this theory to this patient. So now
I'm looking for the painful points. Here's one--the pain is
deep, so we would put the needle in obliquely and deeply,
always not intending to go through the Lung. I'm looking for
the most significant point--which is GB-21. So we have to
puncture this point. Remember I
mentioned this morning that when puncturing this point you
can easily cause lipothymia in the patient. So its a point
reserved for boxers: You've often seen on the television, the
Japanese people are very small and American people are
very tall, and they box on TV; the Japanese aim for this
point. It's a very important point, and it's painful, so we
have to treat this point.
Our patient has explained to us the path of the pain; he has
told us it's on the posterolateral portion of his arm, and it
goes down as far as LI-11; we can also find pain on the
posteromedial part of the arm, and he's indicated a point
which corresponds to the Small Intestine channel; on the
shoulder he has also indicated a point corresponding to the
Small Intestine; and here there is a very important point:
SI-10--and it hurts. In my opinion, all the three Yang of the
arm are under attack.
Now, how shall I treat him?--this whole area, not [just] the
occipital headaches. I will puncture the painful points; I have
established that the points situated on the three Yang are
painful, so I will disperse these points, and then tonify the
corresponding principle meridians. For example: here is the
Small Intestine channel, so I would puncture SI-3, which is
the tonification point; but to puncture it, you have to

puncture it properly: this point is deep, you have to push it

in so that it touches He-8, because the Heart and the Small
Intestine constitute a Yin-Yang energetic system. After the
Tai Yang, the Shao Yang: the San Jiao has a tonification
point at SJ-3; I also have to tonify it. And the last Yang is
the Yang Ming: which also has a point of tonification, LI-11.
What I am about to tell you is applicable in all cases of pain:
lumbalgia, tennis elbow, all kinds of pain. <This is the skin;
here is the principle channel; and here we have the
secondary meridians.> Under normal circumstances, there is
no perverse energy in the system, there have been no
traumatic shocks, and as a result the blood and energy are
circulating normally. But if there is infiltration of perverse
energy, which localizes itself at <this point>, the perverse
energy is still foreign in relation to our organism, therefore
this foreign body causes pain. This is penetration of perverse
energy.
Now we're going to talk about the case of this patient. This
is the case of a traumatic shock. There has been a rupture
or break of the vessels at this level--there's been a break of
the blood vessels, nerves and energetic vessels. This is why
the blood can no longer circulate properly towards the end of
the arm. The blood and energy can no longer nourish the
muscles and tendons. This is why there is muscular
hypotonia. And over the long term, this causes muscular
atrophy. So there is a blockage of blood here. It can't go in
these directions. So now we have to unblock this. In other
words, in the case of this patient, you have to not only tonify
the principle channel, as we said this morning, we have to
disperse not only the pain, but we also have to unblock this
stagnation. And this morning I told you we have to use the
xi-cleft points. So therefore you have to learn and
understand the classification and the use of these points.
There are about ten of these points, which you have to learn
by heart. And if you don't know these points, you've turned
into an acupuncturist who needles and doesn't understand

anything. And we know the name of the group of points and

their function.
Now I'm going to give you the classification:
First, Ah Shi points;
Second, the Luo;
Thirdly, the Wu Shu (the Five Su-Antique) points;
--this is a very important group. If you know about this
group you can vary the energetic potential of the human
being. For example: if I'm cold, I'm shivering, you can look
for a point and manipulate it, and you will change my state,
and bring me some heat, warm me up; and on the other
hand, with these points I can manipulate so that my energy
corresponds to the cosmic energy. For example: now we're
in Summer, my pulse is tight, it's abnormal, because the
wiry pulse is a pulse which corresponds to Springtime; so if
we're in Summer, the wiry pulse is abnormal. So if I go to
your office, you will puncture the point corresponding to
Summer, and tonify it, and you will help Springtime become
Summer--which means that the wiry pulse of Spring will
change into a full pulse of Summer. This group of points is
extremely important--it is the basis of all practice of Chinese
Medicine. I'm the first person in the world to describe the
action of these points. Now the Chinese are speaking about
them, but they still haven't demonstrated the certain way of
practicing.
Fourth, we have a group of points called Hui points--the
Reunion, or Meeting points.
--For example: in the case of this patient you have to tonify
not only the muscles and tendons, but also the marrow; so
we have a point for marrow--on the arm this is SI-16; on
the lower part of the body the marrow point is GB-39. You
have to know these points in order to treat the afflictions of
the marrow and brain. And now I'll give you another
example: Bl-11, which is located here; I touched it a

moment ago and it was painful. Bl-11 governs the whole

skeletal system of Man; he's already told us that this point is
painful, which means that his skeletal or articulatory system
at this level is disturbed.
Fifth, the opening point of the Curious Vessels;
--you should know these, because a good acupuncturist,
after having punctured the point of the principle meridians,
always opens the corresponding Curious Vessel, in order to
reinforce or activate further the points of the principle
meridians.
Sixth, the Mu points and the Shu points (Front-Mu and BackShu);
--both of these types of points are extremely important; if
you've seen on American television, certain acupuncturists
have said acupuncture treats pain; but if you don't know
about this technique, you're not going to succeed, because
you are cheating--because at the same time you are
prescribing medicine. So the Shu and the Mu points treat the
organs and bowels. And this is very important. This means
that Chinese Medicine, like Western Medicine, can treat any
affliction. The results depend on the knowledge of the
doctor--exactly the same as in Western Medicine. It's not
because everybody's an M.D. that they can cure disease.
There are M.D.'s and there are M.D.'s. There are
acupuncturists and there are acupuncturists. Since this is
the first time we've met, I'm going to give you an idea, to
show you how important acupuncture is. The Mu point and
the Shu point are the points with which we treat diseases of
the organs and bowels.
When there is deficiency in an organ, without a penetration
of perverse energy--for example, if we have cardiac
insufficiency, or hepatic deficiency, or renal insufficiency-these are terms which are often used in Western Medicine;
but they don't know how to treat them. We acupuncturists
have a very precise technique for dealing with these

problems. <This is an organ, a living organ. Therefore it's

functioning, it has a function. When there is a function, there
is a movement, so there's also always Yin and Yang; <here
is the back, the spine, and the channel of the Bladder; the
Bladder channel represents Water and the Yang part of the
organ is Fire. This Fire continually communicates with water
at the level of the Bladder channel. The reunion point, the
point where the Fire of the organ meets the Water of the
Bladder, is the Back Shu point. Shu simply means
'movement'. If this is the Liver, we have Bl-18 here, this is
the Back Shu point of the Liver. Under normal
circumstances, there is an automatic autoregulation. In my
case, for example: if I have a Liver which has too much Fire,
this Back Shu point will regulate this because it will bring in
Water. The Fire part is also known as the Yang part; Yang
means activity. As a result, when there is hypofunction, we
have to warm up this point; this means that you have to use
moxa. You introduce the heat of the moxa into an area
where there is not enough Yang. This is why, in the Nei
Ching, they say: you should never puncture the Back Shu
points of the organs and bowels more than five times. We
have to know why that is. Because, in fact, the word
'acupuncture' in Chinese Medicine does not exist. We always
say 'Acupuncture and Moxibustion': Jin Jhiu. For us,
acupuncture is Yang; moxibustion is Yin. So when you use
needles, you must manipulate or activate the action; and
action is Yang. Whereas moxibustion is very calm--it just
burns in one place, without movement. But the idea of Yin
and Yang is much more complicated than that; there is
never only Yang or only Yin. there is always Yin within Yang,
and Yang within Yin. This means that acupuncture is to
disperse, and moxibustion serves to tonify. And since here
the Yang is lacking, we tonify.
A moment ago, I said that in the case of perverse energy I
have to disperse. But of course, within Yang there is Yin;
which means that acupuncture uses not only dispersion but
also tonification; in using moxa one can also use techniques

of tonification and dispersion. And this is why, to be a good

acupuncturist, you have to understand the nuances in the
terms used. And now--where does the Yin part go? Most of it
goes to the Yin of the anterior part of the body; in other
words, the thoracoabdominal region. You know that in this
area there are only Yin meridians that ascend, and you know
that the Yin meridians travel in the Yin areas of the body. If
we call a channel Yin, it means that it travels in the Yin part
of the body; but in reality, it brings Yang into the Yin. And
here, and the Bladder channel, for example, it is a Yang
channel, because it travels in the Yang part of the body; but,
in reality, it brings Water--if you don't understand the idea of
Yin and Yang, when you're talking about points and
meridians, how do you dare to do scientific experiments?
That's why I've already said that all the scientific
experiments of our time could be destroyed by me or you.
What I mean is they don't understand Water-Fire, Yin-Yang,
and they're just experimenting.
So the front is the part where the Yin meridians bring Fire.
<this is Yin; this means Water, Cold. This Water, when it is in
abundance, is automatically neutralized at the point of
meeting of <this vessel and this vessel, which is the Mu
point. In the case of an acute illness, there is always
hypofunction; because the organ is in deficiency, it allows
this penetration of perverse energy. A perverse energy
enters at the Mu point to penetrate into the organ. So the
Mu point is a point which allows penetration of perverse
energy into the organ. But it never comes in at the Back Shu
point; this is why, for example in the case of hepatitis, you
disperse the perverse energy in the Liver by
using Li-14--because Li-14 is the Front Mu point of the Liver.
So therefore it's in your own interest to learn very carefully
the Mu and Shu points. In other words, we acupuncturists
can treat any diseases of the organs and bowels, all types of
pathology.

Seventh: there are the Xi points, of which I already spoke to

you.
Eighth: the lower Ho points; our president asked us another
friendly question; there are only three points: St-37, ST-39,
and Bl-39.
--Bl-39 is the Lower Ho point of the San Jiao; it treats all
instances of problems of the Bladder, all cases of edema of
the lower limbs (but edema which originates in the organs
and bowels, because there is also edema with its origin in
the Central Nervous System).
There is another group of points: the Jing points, Points of
Passage.
--I translate this term by 'Meeting and Reunion points'. For
example: there are no vessels which penetrate the jaw. The
Chinese say that St-6 is a point which governs the lower
jaw, but they haven't been able to show us the vessel which
penetrates the lower jaw. This point is the meeting point of
the San Jiao; the San Jiao and Gall Bladder meet at this
point, and the vessel penetrates deeply into the maxillary
area to govern the gums. In other words at St-6, there are
other vessels which penetrate there, and it's called the point
of meeting and reunion. In all, there are 198 of these
meeting and reunion points. You have to have a lot of
patience to learn all of this group.
I will use the same technique: I will disperse the painful
points. Here we're not talking exactly about the hemicrania,
because hemicrania often begins in anterior and goes
posterior. But this pain is caused by trauma; and we can
relieve the pain, but we can't talk about hemicrania or
cephalgia. To treat this patient I have to have him lie down.
Now because of the AIDS problem needles have to be
sterilized, and these needles are presterilized. But now we're
going to question, 'are these needles which claim to be
sterilized--are they really sterilized?'--I doubt it, because

I've done a lot of sterilization of needles at the time of

surgical operation; you need at least 180 degrees, exactly
the same as the surgical instruments; and these Japanese
needles are mixed with silver, and if you put real silver in a
sterilizer it will melt. So the fact that they say they are
sterilized is just to calm the patient down.
Normally, with this type of problem, you would disperse with
electrical apparatus, because you have to have a continuous
dispersion. Our colleague, Dr. Youcha, has already done
dispersion; [however] it wasn't in a continuous fashion, it
was broken up into different treatments, that's why the
results were not completely satisfactory. Notice my
technique of dispersion; I turn the needle very quickly. If I
want to tonify, I turn very slowly.
------I'm touching GV-14. No, it's not painful. I'm touching
Bl-10 now, and he says its painful. So I'm going to disperse
Bl-10. Now I'm touching GV-16; it's not painful. I'm touching
GB-20, and he says its painful, so I'm sedating it--dispersing
it. As he said, the pain ascends up the lateral part of the
head. I'm looking for the painful points. Here there is a very
important point, which is GB-8. It's not painful, so we won't
puncture it. This is SI-10; look. I'm just touching the skin;
now I'm going through the skin; and only now do I begin to
turn the needle. If you just begin to break the skin with the
needle and you begin to turn it, it causes a lot of pain.
Watch how I puncture SI-3; you will notice the skin changes
color just here; you see the 'head' line of the hand, you see
the change of color at this point; this point is found at the
distal extremity, it's situated below the metacarpophalangeal
joint. I've just gone through the skin; I'm going to push it
through right up to He-8. I'm tonifying, because I turn it
slowly. But it's very deep. Small Intestine, San Jiao; and
here I'm going to tonify the San Jiao. It's at the angle
formed by the fifth and the fourth metacarpal bones. Now,
there is a theory; everytime there is a disease in the upper
part of the body, in other words in the skull or the neck, you
have to tonify LI-4. I'll tell you why in just a moment. Here

is LI-4; this is about right, I'm tonifying the three Yin. Now
the disease is external, because if it had really affected the
marrow, especially in that part, all of the area from here
down to his feet would have been paralyzed, so we know
that the problem is external, as the marrow has not been
affected. This is why I have to puncture a point to provide
this induction, to reestablish the connection between the
external areas.
Wai guan means 'external barrier'. It is located between the
two bones, and I'm pumcturing it very deeply. And I am
using the associated technique, which means that
sometimes I tonify ,and then I sedate. I'm needling in the
direction of GV-6. Now I want to reinforce the action of
these points. I have to use the Curious Vessels. Now I have
to look: have I used any points of the Curious Vessels?
Notice that SI-3 is the tonification point of the Small
Intestine, but actually it is also the opening point of the
Governing Vessel. But the Governing Vessel is also
associated with the Yang Qiao.
Which means that I have to puncture Bl-62, in the foot. Here
I punctured SJ-5, which is the opening point of the Yang
Wei. The Yang Wei is associated with the Dai Mai, which
means that I also have to puncture GB-41. Here I punctured
LI-4, so automatically I have to puncture St-36, because LI4 and St-36 are important points of the Yang Ming; this
would mean that the points are correct. Why have I said
now that this acupuncture treatment is correct? You know
that the hands belong to the sky, and the legs, the feet
correspond to the earth, belong to the earth. And Man has to
respond to both heaven and earth. Man breathes in order to
live; and eats the products of the earth in order to live. Now,
man's body is ill--I've punctured all the effective points; and
I've regulated his body with energy of the sky and earth. It's
a very important theory in Chinese Medicine. We Americans,
of course, are going to simplify everything: what does that
mean--sky, earth? It shocks us a little bit. So we say, in

order to treat an illness, first of all you treat the local points,
the points corresponding to the illness, and regulate these
points with distal points. What are distal points? They are
the Su-Antique points. If you look at these points, they are
all Su-Antique points. SI-3 is the Yu point; this is the Yu
point; this is the Yuan point; that's the Luo point. So all the
points from the fingers to the elbows, and from the knees to
the feet, are Su-Antique points. This is the Ho point of the
Large Intestine.
Now I'm going to propose to our president: this is a
demonstration. In order to really cure this patient, one
would have to manipulate the needle in a continuous
manner. In other words, you would have to stay with the
patient and continue to turn the needles--which is not
possible, because we have other patients to see as well.
And, in America, time equals money. So we have a piece of
electrical equiptment. You have to have at least two painful
points, because the electrical apparatus has two leads, or it
has one circuit with two clips. So here you have six points,
so I would use three circuits. Following the technique of
dispersion, you look at each unit and it has a light, the light
blinks on and off like that. When you see that it's going very
quickly, it means that it's dispersion; if it goes very slowly,
it's tonification. And with this patient you would have to use
a dispersion technique, and it would have to remain in place
for fifteen to twenty minutes. Then you would take the
needles out, and then the patient will feel a lot better than if
you had done this by hand; no--because we can't stay there
and do this by hand, it takes too long. But, anyway, in a
while he will definitely feel a bit better. In other words, he
would be having about the same reaction as he did in the
treatment by hand. But if we're using the electical
equiptment, he would be radiant at the end of the
treatment, he would feel very much better.

Question: What areas would you treat with electrical

equipment--that is, where would you put the positive and
the negative leads?
Answer: In all electrical stimulators they show it
scientifically, they always use different colors to show
positive and negative; but this electricity is separated into
different wires. In other words they only act on movement.
It makes no difference where you put positive or negative.
The electric stimiulators were invented by the Chinese to
replace the human hand, that's all.
Question: Does it make any difference if you use copper, or
gold, or silver wires?
Answer: Makes no difference. It's the same question as: is
there a difference if you use gold or silver needles--because
in France, a long time ago, they used to use a lot of gold or
silver needles. I have always fought against this. You simply
need something that's hard, with which to puncture: for
example, a toothpick--you would get the same reaction. In
ancient times, they used to use fishbones; and even further
back in time, they used to use jade needles--but these hurt,
because they couldn't get them very pointed.
Question: Is there a preferred direction, or plane, for the
insertion ?
Answer: In principle, you follow the direction of the pain.
You pursue the direction the pain is traveling in. <Here is
the Bladder channel.> I feel that the pain will reach the
lumbar region, and this is why I stop it at this point. Then I
continue to disperse at this level. Any more questions?

Question: What about the use of acupuncture staples?

Answer: That's the same as needles that stay in for a long

time, intradermal needles. Because we're in America,.... I'm
against that method. Because if they stay a long time in the
tissue, for example in the case of auriculotherapy, when they
leave a needle in the ear, it's very serious because it actually
causes a necrosis of the cartilage. And we're in the States.
In China it doesn't matter, but in the United States this is
important. We mustn't do that.
As a result, in the case of chronic pain we have methods;
why don't you use them? In all cases of chronic pain you
have to use a technique known as 'heated needle': <here is
a needle, here is the painful area> insert it deeply, and
disperse it with your hand, and then you put moxa here and
burn it. This is what we call the technique of the heated
needle. The heat of the moxa follows the needle and reaches
the deep and chronic painful area. Whatever is chronic there
is always the phenomenon of what we call the
transformation into phlegm. Here there is chronic phlegm,
so you put heat on it and it disappears. And that cures the
pain in coxatrosis--arthrosis of the coccyx. You have to use
the heated needle technique. because in the case of pain in
this area there is always a pinching between the cartilage.
So you have to use this technique. But the Chinese are very
Chinese: the ancient Chinese said: if you want to have a
good result, when you use the heated needle technique you
have to use it according to the lunar cycle. For example: the
Chinese month has thirty days; on the fifteenth day of the
month the moon is always full; and then the moon wanes; if
your patient arrives on the fifteenth day of the month you
have to do it fifteen times the same day, and if he came on
the twenty-eighth day, you only do it twice. But all this is
Chinese; I just do it once. Just to show you that Chinese
Medicine is complicated.
So tomorrow morning we'll be talking about the treatment of
pain; and in the afternoon we'll be talking about
craniopuncture; and then we'll either finish up with pain or

do an examination of a patient. Pain is a very vague topic; I

will be more precise. We're going to give as examples facial
neuralgia, lumbalgia, sciatica, heaadache, rheumatic pain;
all types of pain. And our colleague will also discuss
neurological problems and how to treat them; for example:
paraesthesia, multiple sclerosis, etc. To show you that
acupuncture can treat all illnesses. You just have to know
what they are.

Day Two: Sunday, 18 September 1988 morning session

Dr. Nguyen Van Nghi:
I know that in the United States, as in Europe, there are
problems in acupuncture which have to be resolved. Soon
Europe will be unified: countries like Germany, Italy and the
United Kingdom, etc, will have acupuncture studies which
are very different from those now; for example: in Italy it
takes two years, three years in France, three years in
Germany, five months in Spain. It's impossible to make a
united Europe with regards to practicing acupuncture this
way. I am president of the European Commission, which is in
the process of organizing a common program; in other
words, three years of study in acupuncture for doctors; and
these studies will either be at a private school or at the
University. But for people who are not doctors, they will be
obliged to do two years of western medical sciences,
anatomy and physiology, either at a private university or at
the university of their choice, before learning acupuncture.
In other words, we are trying to resolve this problem. In the
United States, as in Europe, acupuncture remains something
of a vague subject; whereas in France, the government is
beginning to deal with the situation. At the present time
there are twelve universities officially teaching acupuncture,

not including the considerable number of private institutions;

whereas in Germany, for example, there are acupuncture
services, which have faculty professors who are in charge of
them; and in Italy there are official acupuncture services
recognized by the Council of Europe--Italy is rather special,
because in that country there is a lot of drug abuse, there
are lots of handicapped people, there are lots of mental
problems, psychological problems, and that's why they are
the only country at the moment to have acupuncture
treatment paid for by the state. I've roughly described the
situation with acupuncture; and the Council of Europe is
going to meet at least five times to resolve this problem.
The first meeting was in June; the second is going to be in
December of this year. This is why I'm in the process of
inviting certain american doctors to come to the Council of
Europe in the faculty as observers, with the idea of
eventually establishing a program in the whole of the West.
Because acupuncture as practiced in China cannot really be
applied in the West; the way of practicing; because in the
West there are lots of problems: for example, the problem of
hygiene, scientific problems, and especially anatomical
problems. It's completely impossible that an acupuncturist
goes into the body of a patient. I'm confident that eventually
the United States will adapt a similar program to that which
is being recommended by the Council of Europe.
Now we're going to talk about pain. You know that pain is a
very current problem, not only for we acupuncturists, but
also for the M.D.'s; also for the scientists at the universities.
The problem of pain, at this time, has not really been
resolved. As far as Chinese Medicine is concerned, we
distinguish several different types of pain: emotional pain
(eg: if you lose your mother), physical pain, and traumatic
pain.
Now we're going to talk about pain of external origin, due to
perverse energy. Yesterday I told you that when there is a
penetration of your body by a foreign object it causes pain.

But when there's a deficiency of blood and energy in one

part of our body, it can also cause pain. But if there is pain
there has to be an obstruction of some type in the Luo
vessels. <Here is the skin; here are the secondary vessels;
here is the TM channel, and below it the PM.> In Chinese
Medicine we first distinguish the Jing, or channel; the word
'channel' has been very translated: 'Jing' really means 'way'
or 'path', 'pathway'--a pathway we can walk along, a route
we can take. Whereas the word channel is more abstract, as
the meridians of the sky--abstract. The first Jesuits who
went into China translated it as meridian, and we've been
folowing them ever since. So if we're using the term
meridian, but we really mean channels which are material,
concrete--not abstract. It's because of this term, 'meridian',
that the professors at the universities are refusing to accept
acupuncture: and now they're beginning to understand,
however, that the word 'meridian' is a poor translation, and
that we're really talking about an energetic pathway, which
they have to find. So we're going to translate it as principle
'pathway'.
And after the 'freeway', there are secondary 'roads', which
we call Luo; 'Luo' means 'secondary way'; in fact, there are
freeways, and national roads, and county roads. The Chinese
call it Sun Luo, or county roads. We, because we are
acupuncturists because we are doctors, we translate it as
'capillaries'; it's exactly like an artery < here's an artery>;
there are, first of all, branches of the artery, and then there
are small vessels [arterioles], and then there are capillaries.
So the Jing and the Luo and the Sun Luo are exactly like a
major thoroughfare, major freeway, which has branches and
then smaller branches. So energetic physiology is esactly
like anatomic physiology of Western Medicine.
<Here are the capillaries arriving at this level.> The
capillaries, for example, may be attacked by Cold Wind; this
causes stagnation, which causes pain. This is the first cause
of pain. But perverse energy can also cause pain <there, in

this part> --and this part is normally irrigated by blood and

energy, by Ying energy and Wei energy. And then it is
protected by the energy of the Lungs, because the Lung
rules the skin and the body hair. If there is a deficiency of
blood and energy it causes a type of algoparaesthesia:
'algo-' means 'pain'; it causes a type of paraesthesis, a
numbness; this is very important. When there is
algoparaestheia, that is to say, pain with numbness, which
means that you can't feel anything anymore, it's always
because of the blood and energy. This pain is depressive in
nature; whereas this pain, where there is perverse energy,
or caused by stagnation of blood and energy, is a burning
type of a pain. And this pain can also present in another
form, which is the type of pain like a fist hitting you, or a
prickling type of a pain, a stabbing or a pricking pain, or a
cutting pain, as if you're being cut.
So I've talked to you about two types of pain: a pain like a
burning feeling, which is the excess type of pain, and the
deficiency type of pain. Apart from these two types of pain
we also have a traumatic type pain; in this case there is
obstruction, if there is a blow or a shock to the skin there.
Blood and energy can no longer circulate, and this causes
pain. But certain types of traumatic pain are of purely
material origin. For example: the ligaments, which join the
joints together, when the joint is separated for some reason,
also cause pain, that is when there is tearing of the
ligament. This type of pain is included in the traumatic pain.
The last type of pain is the emotional pain, which we also
call psychological pain. If we lose a close friend, it causes a
pain which is more a psychological pain. This type of pain is
just as difficult to treat as physical pain. You know that Man
has many different feelings: I'm now talking about mental
pain. You've just learned about traumatic pain. The word
'emotional', or 'psychoaffective' has not been very well
defined in the West. Roughly speaking, I am in harmony, in

balance: you don't see my psychological faults; but when

I'm sick, you can see that I may be an angry type of person,
a sad type of person, etc.
I am now going to define for you the feelings of a healthy
normal person. In Man, there are seven emotions or
feelings. I'm going to show you this according to the Law of
Five Phases. The Law of Five Phases concerns the five
organs: the Liver, the Heart, the Spleen, the Lungs, and the
Kidneys. Under normal conditions the Liver has an emotion,
a feeling. Yesterday Dr. Tran explained to us that the Liver
absorbs Ying energy and gives off its Jing, transforms it into
Jing. He talked about mental Jing, and Jing which governs
different parts of the body, to be specific, different layers,
such as the flesh (dermis), the muscle, etc. And then there
is a Jing which rules the seven orifices, in other words: eye,
ear, nose and throat, etc. Now I'm going to talk about
mental Jing, psychological Jing, which is very important. The
Liver has its normal Jing, which is given the name Hun.
'Hun', as we said yesterday, means 'vegetative', or 'material'
soul. This means that all of us, in normal times, is capable of
the feeling of creativity, of creating something. Fortunately,
however, there are people who create very well and others
who create very badly; for example, Picasso had the feeling
or emotion or creativity to produce beautiful pictures. We
wuld say that his Hun was extremely powerful. Whereas I
am completely incapable of drawing the body of a woman,
for example; in which case I would of course say that my
Hun is deficient. And I'm often angry, because I am not able
to do what I would like to do, and when I'm incapable of
doing what I want to, this vegetative or material soul turns
into anger. So the Hun is the normal state; it's the mental
physiology of the human being. Anger is pathology, from the
point of view of emotional feeling.
On the opposite end of anger we also have a normal

emotion connected with the Lung, which is called Po, could

be translated by 'sensitive soul', which means that every one
of us has feelings of sensitivity. For example, Mrs. Reagan
has a very sensitive soul; every Sunday she goes to poor
peoples' houses and helps them. During the day she can't go
there, she writes a little letter: "I'm very sad that I can't
go." So in abnormal states, the sensitivity transforms into
sadness.
The Heart: the normal feeling or emotion is Shen; Shen
means the 'mental', but the French translate it by 'mind' or
'spirit', and I am against this term. A person who has a
mind, for example --'sense of humor' is another way to
translate it. For example: a person like myself, I give little
examples from time to time to make people laugh; so it's
said I have a sense of humor. Whereas 'mental' means
something else. What they mean by mental is a noble
feeling, which dominates the other feelings or emotions.
When the 'mental' cannot act appropriately, it causes
emotion, either an excess of joy...; so emotion and excess of
joy are pathological signs of the Shen.
Opposite the Shen we have the Zhi; this means Will, Will
Power. This means that the Will is an extremely important
emotion or feeling, which has its home in the Kidneys. In
practice, a man without any Will is a lost man. The Chinese
don't say it that way; they say that when the Shao Yin axis
is broken, man finds himself in a depressive situation. In
other words, it causes madness. And what is remarkable is
that Western psychiatrists, when they're describing a patient
with mental disturbances, they say there is a separation of
the Will and the mental aspect. This is why modern
psychiatry, I think, is the same as Oriental psychiatry.
Now, how should we treat this? This is what we should be
interested in, because we are practitioners. If I am angry, I

go to see you, you have to treat according to the cycle of

inhibition (Ko cycle); in other words, with a person who is
angry, you would increase sadness: for example, if I'm
exhibiting a lot of anger among my friends and so on, you
would come to see me and you would say, "Dr. Van Nghi,
your son has just broken his leg". Now I'm talking about
psychology, because psychology is very important in
psychiatric treatment. We're acupuncturists, however, not
psychologists, so we have to find a point on the patient's
body with which to treat his anger. So our patient arrives
angry; you know that anger corresponds to the Liver. You
consider the Liver channel. You look for, among the Antique
points, the point corresponding to the Lungs; you have to
puncture this point: Jing-well, Yung, Yu/Yuan, Jing-river,
Ho...The Jing-well point corresponds to Wood; the Yung
point corresponds to Summertime; the Yu point corresponds
to the Late Summer, end of Summer--Summer means the
Heart, Late Summer means the Spleen; after the Spleen,
are the Lungs for the Autumn: you have to open your book,
you look for the point on the Liver channel corresponding to
the Lungs--which is Li-4. so you puncture Li-4 to treat anger.
So now I've talked to you about how to treat psychological
pain. So now, imagine a lady patient arrives who has no
Will; how would we treat her? Same principle. You have to
know the Law of Five Phases. You know that the Spleen
controls the Kidneys; the Kidney channel corresponds to the
Will; I would have to puncture the point corresponding to
the Spleen on the Kidney channel: the Spleen corresponds
to Late Summer, so it's Ki-3. So you open your book, and
you notice that the Yu point for the Kidney is Ki-3. This is
why I told you yesterday that you have to know the Antique
points by heart. Because if you know them you can treat all
illnesses.
If a young girl comes to you in a very emotional state, you'd
say: 'what emotion is it, what organ does it correspond to?'

Supposing it was the Heart; <here is the Heart> it goes

from up to down. You have to use the cycle of inhibition, so
you have to use the Kidney point of the Heart [channel]; so
again you use the technique of the Antique points. Jing-well
points, Yung, Yu, Jing-river, Ho: Kidney corresponds to
Winter, so you need to puncture the Ho point of the Heart;
you open your book and you find that it's He-3. So, He-3
treats an excessively emotional state--because there are
people who are much too emotional; they can't be in front of
the director of a company, or someone important, or even in
front of their friends--they're always withdrawn, they've lost
their joie de vivre, joy of life. You have to puncture He-3,
tonify it. So again I've talked to you about how to treat
psychological pain.
Let's take the case of nervous breakdown, nervous
depression. In this case the patient is often extremely
anxious, and he presents other signs, for example:
insomnia, bulemia or maybe anorexia; you have to add
additional points in your treatment. But Chinese Medicine
does not talk about five emotions but rather seven:
sadness--if the Pro, that is the Lungs, is under attack, this
sadness is always followed by lamenting or complaining;
when the emotional aspect of the Kidneys is attacked, there
is always fear, and this fear is always followed by tears,
weeping; So we can count seven emotions altogether.
I forgot to talk about the Spleen: the emotional aspect of
the Spleen is the Y: the thought process, thinking, or
reflection. When there is no reflection or thought, the patient
is always preoccupied, worried, we talk about worry. So
there are seven altogether. So I've talked to you about the
seven psychological entities of Chinese Medicine and how to
treat them. Now we're going to talk about how, in general
terms, we will treat physical pain. Imagine you have a
sprain, in other words a tear of the ligament. Let's talk about

something very common, which is the sprain of the ankle:

<here is the external malleolus, and the calcaneus. Here is
the ligament. It's a tear in this ligament that causes pain.
How would we treat this? We would puncture the painful
point, so we search for the Ah Shi point, and in front of the
joint there is an area where GB-40 can be located; imagine
that there is a ligament tear right here, this pain stops a
person from walking. What you have to do is look for
another pain point; normally it is the part which is in front of
the external malleolus which is painful. So GB-40 will be
very painful; you have to puncture it. Now, since there is a
tear, we have to mend it--you have to give it moisture,
water. How do we do this? <Here is the foot, here is the
point. This is Bl-60, the Jing-river point, which corresponds
to Fire: you have to needle this point, you cause an
evaporation of Water. <Here is the channel of the Bladder;
within it there is Water; if you warm up this point it causes
heat, and this warmth accelerates the circulation of Water.
In other words, to treat a sprain, use the Ah shi point, GB40, Bl-60, and you have to tonify this channel. This is the
tendinomuscular technique. You open your book, and you
look for the tonification point, and you will see it is the Jingwell point, Bl-67. You obviously see that the Su-Antique
points are very important. And you always have to use
them.
As I told you yesterday, to disperse a point you have to
manipulate rapidly. We don't have the time to stay there and
manipulate, we only have about twenty minutes; there are
lots of patients in other rooms who are waiting for us. So we
will join the Ah Shi point [using the stim. machine] and, for
example, GB-40, so there will be a quicker manipulation.
And then we will go off and take care of other patients. For
example, if there's a lumbar pain, you would deal with it and
then go to see another patient. So you'd do it in such a way
that in four hours of work you'd work continuously and your
secretary or nurse would come and take out the needles. In

other words, in one day, if you work eight or ten hours a

day, you can treat from eighty to one hundred people every
day, as I did when I used to practice. But I wouldn't advise
you to work too hard. Why not? Because in France, they
have to pay 60-80% of their earnings to the government, so
it's not worth it. For example, my children only work two
days a week now; so in a day they see eighty people, that's
enough. Just two days. And you can play tennis the other
days. So now I've told you how to treat a purely external
pain of traumatic origin.
Now we're going to talk about the pain following penetration
of Perverse energy. I told you yesterday how to do it. I'm
just going to remind you: <here is the skin, and the
secondary vessels, and here it the penetration of Perverse
energy, which causes pain. Below this is the principal
channel, and these little vessels join up with the
tendinomuscular meridians. Here the penetration causes
pain, in other words it causes an excess condition. So below,
there is automatically deficiency. Because we're going to
reason this out according to Yin/Yang principles. When Yang
is in excess, the Yin is automatically deficient. So we would
disperse painful points, and tonify the principle channel. For
example: this is an example of an area corresponding to the
Large Intestine. We would puncture the Ah shi points; since
it is an area corresponding to the Large Intestine we would
puncture LI-4 and LI-11. Why LI-11? Because it is the
tonification point. Why LI-4? Because it is the Yuan-Source
point, and when you puncture the Source point it aids the
tonification point of the channel. In principle, what I've told
you can cure any pain. I've told you how to puncture the
painful point: for example, the shoulder, you mustn't push
the needle up into the bone, you follow the direction of the
pain, and you slide the needle under the skin in a
subcutaneous puncture. You should always treat two points.
Why? Because we're going to join these two points up with
an electrical stimulator. Because I can't stay there and

manipulate by hand. Since we're coming into the twentyfirst century, we have all kinds of technology that we can
take advantage of. And you will have 100% recovery with
this technique. We're going to leave tomorrow; but I'm sure
some of you will begin practicing this technique, and you will
be extremely happy; you will even be delighted and amazed.
I also talked a moment ago about pain caused by a
deficiency of Blood and energy. For example: in the case of
facial neuralgia, in Western Medicine they always talk about
neuralgia of the Trigeminal Nerve--and they don't cure it,
they never cure it. Whereas Chinese Medicine is very
precise; when we talk about facial neuralgia, we have to
look for the cause: is it the Cold, is it Blood stagnation, is it
psychological, or is it because of a deficiency of Blood and
energy? When it's a pain caused by a lack of Blood and
energy, we first puncture the painful points. Then we tonify
Blood and energy. <Here, I will disperse the painful points.
Where would be dispersed? You have to disperse on the
opposite side. Suppose I have a neuralgia here, caused by a
lack of Blood and energy: there is no blood or energy, so if
you put in a needle to disperse it you're just going to cause
pain. you have to puncture the opposite side. Here the term
dispersion really means to eliminate, to move the Blood and
energy from one side to the other side, to cause a circulation
of Blood and energy from the side which is not under attack
to the side which is attacked. This is why the terms
'tonification' and 'dispersion' in the West are always badly
understood. 'Tonify' can also mean 'regulate' and
'harmonize'. So everything really depends on your
knowledge of Chinese Medicine.
Now, how do we tonify Blood? You have to know that there
are three organs governing Blood: the Liver, the Spleen and
the Kidneys. Here, however, in this case, we're just talking
about a local deficiency. In the case of leukemia, for
example, or anemia, you would have to use points on these
three organs' channels. We know that there is a point which
joins the energy of these three meridians--which is Sp-6.

And now we've activated the source for the production of

energy. And St-36. A conclusion: in minor illnesses, little
illnesses, when we talk of a deficiency of Blood and energy
you only have to regulate on the exterior, a bit, on the
channels of the Spleen and Stomach. It's enough to
puncture St-36 and Sp-6.
Question: Are you always going to do the contralateral side?
Answer: Not in that case; on the face, when I talk about
dispersion you have to disperse the opposite side. But in this
case we're talking about blood; we're trying to activate the
circulation of Blood from the interior to the exterior. So this
will be bilateral.
Here I've been talking about neuralgia; this means you have
to use a specific point to treat all problems of the upper
part. I said that you could apply it to all illnesses. If there is
anosmia, gingivitis, headache, anything you want, you
always use LI-4, automatically. And, below, you would use
St-36. Because when there is a pain, or some type of
problem in the upper part of the body, the head, there is
always a deficiency or disturbance of essential energy, vital
energy, tthat is, the energy of the Spleen and Stomach. This
is a theory that you're not going to see--I don't accept this, I
just state the theory because, as I said, in Western Medicine
theories only last six months and then they change. Now we
say: I can't change it; I will have to explain it to you. <Here
is the face; you know that the Yang Ming of the Hand (LI)
follows this pathway, up to LI-20; then there is a little vessel
which goes to the internal corner of the eye, where Bl-1 is
located; from there, the same vessel goes around the
inferior orbit of the eye, and here there is a suborbital
depression where the Facial Nerve passes; then from there
is descends to the lower jaw, and it ascends to the top of the
skull. <Here is St-8; here is St-5. And from St-5, the
pathway descends. Here is St-8, and on the other side. So
the Tendinomuscular channel of the Large Intestine, <here is
the Large Intestine on both sides>, reaches this point and
then it's the same thing, exactly like the other side.

However, the Tendinomuscular channel, from LI-1, there are

many little vessels which in a general sort of way ascend to
the face, and arrive at St-8; and from St-8, there are, again,
a whole lot of little vessels which go across the forehead and
reach <here>; and from there, they go down on the
opposite side and they spread into the cervical region of that
side. And on this side, the same thing; it goes up, it turns
around and it descends <like that>. And it terminates on the
opposite side. This is why, when you have a problem at the
level of the head or the face, you always have to puncture
LI-4 in order to free up these small vessels. <Here is the
head; and the vessels which follow this pathway. This means
that the whole face, all the vessels have a pathway which
makes it look like you're wearing a scarf around your head;
when you go to Viet Nam, or China, or Japan, the country
people wear scarves around the face like that; they cover
them. In other words, everthing that man invents copies
natural phenomena. And in all afflictions of the skull you
have to use LI-4 and St-36. I've just talked about pain
caused by stagnation of Blood; now we're going to talk a
little about the pathology of various illnesses:
Facial Neuralgia: You know that as far as facial neuralgia is
concerned, there are some acupuncturists who cure it and
some who can't. (Let's not even mention Western Medicine
because they never cure it.) I would like everyone to apply
the same technique so that everyone can cure it. For facial
neuralgia, it's always caused either by Cold or by a
compression of the pathways of the meridians of the face, or
Stomach heat which ascends towards the face, or by a
deficiency of Blood and energy in the face. Whereas, for us,
the Trigeminal Nerve doesn't really have anything to do with
facial neuralgia. In general, there is a point which
corresponds to the second branch of the Trigeminal Nerve;
we have to compare treatments of the two types of
medicine: Western Medicine uses injections of alcohol to
treat facial neuralgia; they inject alcohol into the Trigeminal
Nerve; or else they inject a solution of cortisone. For the

moment the patient will be calmer, but the next day there
will be the same pain. This would seem to indicate that it is
not the Trigeminal Nerve that is the cause of the problem; if
it were the Trigeminal Nerve, then once you inject an
analgesic product it would be immediately cured. But it isn't.
Let's suppose that it is the Trigeminal Nerve, because
science has told us this, and we have to listen: so we say
that on the Trigeminal Nerve, especially the second branch,
<in this area> the point SI-18; <here is the face; here is
the zygomatic bone; here is the masseter muscle, and the
second branch is just at that point.> And for we
acupuncturists, SI-18 is located there, so we are very
clever--to keep our colleagues the MDs happy, we say that
it's accurate, and we say that we're treating according to the
Western idea of physiology. So we would puncture SI-18;
and the MD, looking at your treatment, would say, 'Of
course--you've punctured the second branch of the
Trigeminal Nerve.' So we all agree on that. But of course we
are really only doing it because of SI-18. Because in every
case of facial neuralgia, this point is always very painful. If
there's pain, I would turn quickly. And this pain often
radiates to <this area>, which is SI-19; and this pain also
often goes to the eye. This is why, during an attack of the
pain, there are tears; eyes closed like that, and the twisting
of the face because of the pain--because the pain is also
causing muscular spasms in the face. But we don't describe
it that way; we say, when there is pain it injures the
pathways of the meridians, and the meridians are often
found in the muscles, and that's why there are muscular
spasms. I'm showing you the existence of the channel
because under normal circumstances, there are no
meridians. As I sit here at this moment, I don't know if I
have a Heart or Lungs; but if I have dyspnea, I would be
very aware that I have a problem with my Lungs. Health,
that is, the human being in good health like me, I'm whole-ask me about my eyes, as far as I'm concerned I don't have
any; I don't feel my arms; but if I have a pain in my

shoulder, I'm always thinking about my shoulder.

So the Chinese say: when there is pathology, my shoulder,
it's separated from the other parts of my body. This is why,
to treat external diseases, I have to reestablish the
connection between my shoulder and the other parts of my
body, that is, the external parts. Now, if I had a stomach
ache--because you don't even know that you have a
stomach right now, right? You're listening, you're not being
conscious of your stomach, because you're feeling OK; but if
you had a stomach ache, the Chinese Medicine doctors say,
you're stomach is separated from the other organs and
bowels. A good acupuncturist, before treating you, would
reestablish the connections between your Stomach and the
other organs and bowels. But we have points, to treat all
external afflictions, or to reestablish the connection between
the sick part and the other parts; we have to use SJ-5,
Waiguan. 'Wai' means 'external'; 'guan' means 'barrier'. So
in all external problems, if you're really traditional, you
would use SJ-5. For example, if this lady needled this
gentleman, and I observed how she was doing it, if I were
really traditional, I would have no reason to ask anything; I
would know exactly what she was doing, because we have
the same knowledge; for example, if you were puncturing
SJ-5, I would know that it was because he had an external
problem with his shoulder or his leg or whatever.
Now if it's a question of an internal illness, Lungs, Heart,
Spleen, etc., you have to use Pe-6, the point opposite from
SJ-5 (which is Waiguan, Wai means external); Pe-6 is
Neiguan: 'nei' meaning 'internal'; 'guan', means barrier.
Remember that in cases of pain of facial neuralgia, it could
be caused by an invasion of cold wind; it could be due to a
compression of the nerve of the pathway of the channel; it
could also be caused by Stomach heat, or it could be due to
a deficiency at the level of the face; in other words a

deficiency of yin, of Blood. When there is a deficiency of yin,

Blood, there is always an excess of yang, energy.
This morning I talked about a neuralgia which causes a pain
that is like a burning sensation. The pain during an attack
may last only one second, or for one to two minutes. During
an attack there are always muscular spasms. This is why we
must reach the painful points on the face. We've established
that SI-18 is always painful; this also often involves LI-20
which is also painful. On the forehead, GB-14, may be
painful; SI-19 may be painful; the pain may also radiate
toward the region of the chin, by the lips; but the central
area is always SI-18. So we have to puncture and disperse
these points. To puncture SI-19, you have to ask your
patient to open his or her mouth, because this point is
situated between the ascending branches of the mandible;
when you open the mouth: <here's the tragus, when you
open up your mouth, there is a hole, an opening <shaped
like that>, you can put your finger <there is a finger>, and
this point is SI-19; below is GB-2; above it is SJ-22:
therefore, in this hole, there are three points. So if you look
in your book, you see "1-2-and-3". But this is only to show
students; in practice, the middle point is slightly over to the
side. When you ask your patient to open the mouth, you put
the needle in, deeply--you put it in to two or three
centimeters, about one cun--if you don't ask your patient to
open the mouth, you hit the bony protuberance of the jaw,
so you're blocked, you can't put the needle in. It is the only
way to get good results. This is why the technique of
manipulation and the technique of acupuncture is very
important. Let's suppose we want to needle <this lady>. I
ask her to open her mouth. Before opening it, you can't get
the needle in, it's blocked. Open--there's the hole.
Q: After the needle is in, can you then close the mouth?
A: Yes, you can relax the jaw. But don't bite down.

If you don't reach the point, which is at a deeper level, you

won't get results.
Another example: when you treat tinnitus, you have to press
on this point. If you are talking about the Kidney channel,
you know that the Kidney rules the ears; when there's a
deficiency of Kidney energy you press on this point and the
condition will continue to manifest. If it's of external origin,
especially if caused by wind, when you press on this point
the ringing stops. This is very important, that's why I've
noticed that many of my colleagues who treat this condition
of ringing of the ears treat the name of the illness and not
the form. If it's caused by the Gall Bladder, in other words,
wind--because the Gall Bladder and the Liver constitute an
inseparable system of energetics which corresponds to
wind--you have to treat at the level of the Shao Yang. If it's
caused by the Kidneys you have to treat at the level of the
Bladder or the Kidneys. This is the secret of acupuncture. If
you only treat the term tinnitus, ringing of the ears, you're
only going to succeed one time out of a thousand. When you
know the cause, you have all the techniques possible to
treat the origin of the disease. And then when we cure our
patient we are happy. Whereas if you don't know this
technique and you don't cure your patient, you don't know
why not.
I just told you that the principle point to puncture in the
case of a facial neuralgia is SI-18. The pain may radiate
towards SI-19, or towards Bl-1, towards CV-24 ( in other
words, towards the chin), or may radiate towards the labial
region, in which case you would puncture GV-26. This is
local treatment, to relieve pain. If you have pain and you
don't treat the cause, it will come back, exactly the same
way as if you made an injection of cortisone. You don't know
the cause of the pain; three hours later it comes back.
Here we're talking about wind cold, for example: the point to
puncture would be the point of wind. <Here is the ear;

behind the ear, you lift up the ear, you will see a slight
depression; at the bottom of this depression you will find SJ17, of which the name is Yifeng, "Hidden Wind". In other
words, the wind hides in the face and causes pain. This is
the most important point to treat when wind is causing
problems in the face.
Now let's talk about wind. You know that in Chinese Medicine
we distinguish six types of climatological energy: Wind,
Cold, Heat, etc. [Dry, Damp and Glare]. These energies
belong to the heavens [Cosmos], or the sky, and we
describe them as the six celestial energies. When they
penetrate into our bodies, our organisms, they cause pain,
and then we regard them as Perverse energy. The first time
I used the word "Perverse" in the West, in 1969, I received a
lot of letters form my colleagues, who complained that I had
introduced terms from the Middle Ages, and now we're in
the scientific age; and I replied: 'When a woman leaves her
family to go and live with another man, I would call this
woman "perverse". I would say the word "Perverse woman"
is ultra-modern, and not as ancient as they thought."
Certain people propose that the word 'Perverse' should be
replaced by the word 'pathogenic energy'; this is a great
error, because our energy, when it's disturbed, for example,
the energy of the Liver, blocks, or if it invades the energy of
the Spleen, it invades the Spleen channel, in this case it is
also perverse. When you're talking about Perverse energy in
general, we're talking about cosmic energy which penetrates
into our bodies. The other energies, such as Cold, Heat and
Humidity, cannot penetrate into our bodies. They have to be
carried in by the Wind. For example, if I lived at the North
Pole, there's only Cold up there, there isn't much Wind; I
wouldn't catch cold, I would feel cold, but this Cold wouldn't
penetrate into my body. This is why in Chinese Medicine you
often come across the terms, for example, Wind-Cold, WindHeat, Wind-Humidity, etc. But there are illnesses which are
caused only by Wind. So when you talk about Cold, what
you really mean is Wind-Cold. You should understand this,
otherwise you could come across these terms in American

literature, and you're not going to understand them. Even in

Chinese literature. These terms have to be understood well.
In the case of facial neuralgia, it's very often Wind-Cold
which penetrates. But, of course, the Wind itself can also
cause it. And Wind-Heat may also cause facial neuralgia. So
we need to treat Wind. What points shall we puncture? This
is very important. I just explained the case of someone who
comes with ringing of the ears, tinnitus. And I suggest
puncturing SI-19. I manipulate the needle. During the
manipulation of the needle she immediately feels better. But
if I don't use SJ-17, when I stop the manipulation she's
going to feel the pain more. To puncture this point in this
case, <here's the needle>; I would orient the needle
towards the upper part of the ear. You have to be very
careful, it's an area where the jugular vein passes. Before
puncturing, you should massage a little bit. So you massage
<like this>, so you look for the jugular nerve, and you try
very hard not to puncture it, you orient the needle towards
the ear to treat the ear.
Now, facial neuralgia: it's the opposite direction, you have to
orient the needle towards the face, and you turn it, and in
this case there will be a sensation of coolness in this area.
This sensation of coolness immediatlely gives a sense of
relief to the patient. So in the treatment of facial neuralgia,
the principal point is SI-18, and then you look for the points,
the so-called secondary pain points, in other words you look
for where the pain is radiating, and as a result you puncture
there. Supposing that this lady has a pain <here> which is
radiating up towards the forehead; <here> there is GB-14,
and here, SI-19; I would puncture <this> point straight in,
deeply, and <here> obliquely, because if I puncture straight
I will touch the skull. And since the central area of pain is in
<this> area, I would orient the needle towards that area.
And then I would join the points with an electrical stimulator
to disperse them. Supposing the pain of facial neuralgia was
located in <this> area, and radiated towards the upper lip:
<this> is the principal point, and I would have to puncture

<here>, St-4, and <this> is GV-26. If the pain is <here> I

would puncture <here>, but I would orient towards GV-26.
If the pain is <here> I would orient it in <this> direction.
This is very important. I have to use two needles in order to
join up the electrical stimulator.
Good acupuncturists have to know very well the pathways of
the Channels, and not the drawings which you see in the
books, which are not completely accurate. Frequently,
according to the diagrams in the books, it looks like <this>
would be the channel [Foot] Yang Ming, the Stomach; but
that's not exact: this is just for students; we need
something better. <Here> is St-3; the mouth looks like this;
there is the point <here>, and here. The energy of the
Stomach, when it's reached <this point> first of all goes to
GV-26, and then it goes to St-4, and then it goes to CV-24,
and then it goes to St-5, and from St-5 directly to St-8. And
so <there> there is no joining, it doesn't join at all between
<those> points. This is why the pain radiates in <these>
directions. This is why we have to know, by heart and in
depth, the pathways of the channels, which are our
energetic physiology. According to where the pain radiates
to, which is the case, you have to add GV-26, CV-24, or St4.
Conclusion: To treat neuralgia, SI-18 plus the Ah Shi points,
all of those are Ah Shi points: SJ-17, LI-4, St-36, SJ-5. And
the cure is almost instantaneous. But since it is a disease
which is difficult to treat by an MD, even if the patient feels
better, you have to do it 12 or 15 times, otherwise you don't
earn any money. But don't cure them too quickly, because
this is a question of ethics. For example, in the three months
my colleague has been treating me I haven't felt better; so I
go to this lady; I know that she knows a lot about
acupuncture; she uses these points, and I feel better. She
has to respect her colleague; you have to take advantage;
so you do 10 or 12 treatments. So you should see your
patients at least 10 or 12 times. If he or she gets better the

third treatment, you absolutely have to tell them that "if you
don't continue these treatments, the pain will come back".
This is what medicine is all about--it's also commerce.
Especially acupuncture! Never cure an illness in two or three
treatments. Don't do it--because the MD's don't like it! And
your colleagues, too. [Note: this was said tongue firmly in
cheek.]
I've just talked about facial neuralgia. Now I'm going to talk
about headache, cephalgia. It's the same thing: you need to
know the cause, you have to know the clinical signs, in order
to be able to apply an appropriate therapy. In general, you
need to know that all the Yang Channels ascend to the head.
You know that the Yang Channels bring Water towards the
head; because the brain is the place of mental activity, so
the brain is always overheated, and our body has to
constantly bring Water to it to cool it down; like the engine
in your car, you always have to have water to keep it cool.
And the meeting point of Water on the head is Bahui, GV-20.
So when there is a disturbance of the three Yang of the
hands, especially disturbances caused by a penetration of
Perverse energy, it can cause cephalgia, heaadaches of socalled exogenous origin. But the head, the skull, is also the
point where the Jing is concentrated. When there is a
deficiency of Jing, it also causes pain; the Jing is located in
the interior of the skull, it is the 'quintessence'. In the case
of deficiency, it causes a cephalgia which is intracranial,
which is called, in Western medicine, encephalalgia, in other
words in the interior part of the skull. But there are also
vessels carrying blood and energy to the head. In the case
of deficiency of blood and energy, caused for example by a
hemorrhage, or a post-partum metrorrhagia, or a serious
illness of long duration, this can also cause cephalalgia, but
in this case the headache is of internal origin.
Now we're going to talk about headache of external origin.
This is always caused by Wind-Cold. Wind-Cold attacks the
Channels, causing headache, which we describe as headache

of external origin. We know that we have three Channels:

Tai Yang, Shao Yang and Yang Ming; <here> are three Yang
Channels, the Cold attacks the Tai Yang, ascends towards
top of the head and causes a headache which we describe as
an occipital headache. When Wind-Cold attacks the Shao
Yang, which as you know travels in <this> area [temple], we
say when Wind-Cold attacks the Shao Yang there is a
temporal headache, or hemicrania, lateral headache. When
Perverse energy attacks the Yang Ming, and I said this
morning that the Yang Ming covers the forehead, in this case
we have frontal headache. But Western medicine also talks
about headaches at the vertex, in other words at the top of
the head. They've talked about headaches which are at the
vertex, but they are not able to treat them successfully. But
we can treat them for sure. I already said that GV-20 is
where the three Yang join or meet, but the channel of the
Liver, when it reaches Li-14, also ascends towards GV-20. I
also mentioned that GV-20 is the Meeting Point of Water.
Plants are the root, they look for a place where there is
water; that is why when the Liver channel reaches Li-14
automatically there must be a vessel which ascends towards
GV-20. This is very important. In the case of headaches of
the vertex, you would ahve to disperse GV-20 and you have
to puncture Li-2, otherwise you won't get any results. We
have to be precise. Once you puncture Li-2, you do a strong
stimulation. If this lady comes in with a headache of the
vertex, you puncture this point, she is immediately better.
Or you disperse <this> point, and she is still much better
immediately. Again, we're demonstrating the reality, the
existence of the Channels. Another example: if this lady
comes with hemorrhoids, she won't want to sit down, with a
full atttack of hemorrhoid pain. She comes to see you, you
simply puncture GV-20, you orient the needle towards the
back, <like that>. And you turn the needle quickly. She
immediately feels a freshness or coolness in the area of the
anus, and she says, "I have no more problem with the
hemorrhoids."

Once again this demonstrates the existence of the Du Mai,

the reality. So there isn't any point in doing scientific
experiments on animals, which is what they do now to prove
that acupuncture is a reality. Another example, when you
have angina of the chest, in other words cardiac pain, you
have a pain which radiates from the thorax to the little
finger; in Western medicine they haven't been able to prove
that the heart has a nerve which reaches the little finger, but
Chinese Medicine has proved that there is an energetic
pathway that goes from the heart to this point. This is very
important. This is why at the moment in Europe the question
of channels of energy is already proven. And in 1971 I
showed the Americans in the important areas here in
acupuncture. They did research, and it's since that visit to
the United States acupuncture has begun to spread in the
United States. Unfortunately, however, at that time I had a
lot of things to do, because my duty was to convince the
Europeans first, and then I had to convince the Americans.
So now I've come to convince you, that acupuncture is a
medicine--it's not a therapeutic technique, it is a medicine.
It consists of studying anatomy, energetic physiology,
diagnostics, different therapeutic methods, and pathology. In
other words, it is a complete medicine. It is not adjunct to
Western medicine. We have a duty to confront the two types
of medicine: because Western medicine is based on the
material, whereas we base it [i.e. Chinese medicine] on
energy. Man is a mass; this mass has to contain energy.
When the two types of medicine are considered together, we
will have a medicine which we can call universal. I hope that
we can reach our goal, and I think that's beginning now. I'm
very proud that, at the moment Europe is becoming
interested in traditional medicine, to develop opposite
Western medicine, and not just for a little treatment as an
adjunct to Western medicine.
I've just talked about headaches of external origin. We are
traditional. But we live in the United States. We have to

obey the law of the Americans. We can't talk, for example

about headaches; we have to talk like the MDs: there are
occipital cephalgias, lateral headaches, those of the top of
the head, and frontal headaches. But we're going to show
the reasonings of Oriental medicine. I've already showed
you the reasoning of Oriental medicine: for you, when it's a
question of occipital headache, you have to treat the Tai
Yang; when you have a temporal headache, you have to
treat the Shao Yang; in the case of frontal headaches, you
have to treat the Yang Ming; and a headache of the vertex,
you treat the Liver. So it's easy. Occipital headache, you
puncture Bl-10, GV-20, and the Ah Shi points. But since the
Bladder goes from the head to the feet, and the Bladder has
another branch called the Yangqiao, which goes from the
lower part to the upper part, we have to open this point--Bl62. This is the way we treat occipital cephalgia. But we
always have to use the Curious Vessels. You see that this
part [the forehead], especially the center, is traversed by the
Dumai, the Governing Vessel. And on the foot, we have the
Yangqiao, which ascends. So Yangqiao has to associate with
Dumai, Governor. So you puncture SI-3 and Bl-62. Bl-62
you've already used, so you have to add SI-3 so the
treatment will be complete. But it's still not finished,
because the illness is of external origin. So which point do
we use? SJ-5. Because you had a headache, and now you've
rejoined your head with the rest of your body. So when you
do this treatment, the first treatment you will have at least
70-75% satisfaction, and the patients, when they leave your
office, they will be very happy.
Now temporal headaches: you know that the Shao Yang
travels on the lateral area of the head. When Perverse
energy attacks this area it causes lateral headache. The
treatment is easy: you puncture the painful (Ah Shi) points,
and you look for the most important points in this area; and
we've established that there is one very important point,
which is GB-8. This area <here>, above the ear, about two
fingers' width, it depends on how heavy the person is,

because you're traditional you say you have to look for a

point where the three sutures meet: the frontal, temporal
and parietal sutures. You touch it <like this>, and the point
is <here> When I press on it, she feels the pain, which
radiates towards the front or the back. In other words, this
is the central point for treating hemicrania, or lateral
headache. We also have to add a temporal point, the curious
point of Taiyang, <here>; if you put your finger on this
point, you feel a pulsation, an arterial pulsation; this point is
located on the superficial part of the temporal artery. You
know that among our clients we frequently come across a
disease called arteritis. The artery here is swollen and hard;
it's as hard as a tight string. The pain is atrocious, and the
patient might even faint, in which case you must not
puncture. You have to bleed Curious Extra point-9. Don't
worry, you can cut the artery if you like. <Right there>
<Here is the artery. The Chinese take a needle they call the
triangular needle, they put it into the artery and they cut.
But this is very brutal. We're more elegant about it. With a
lancet or a needle we just make a little hole and push on it
to get blood. We shouldn't make a very large wound in the
artery. And the patient immediately feels a lot better.
I've just explained how to treat a hemicrania, and at the
same time, in the hand, because it's Shao Yang, you again
have to puncture SJ-5, -3 and the Lo, because you're using
SJ-5. You know that SJ-5 is the opening point of the
Yangwei; you have to associate this point with the Belt
Channel, the Dai Mai. In other words, you have to puncture
GB-41. This is to show you that the Curious Channels are
used a lot by traditional doctors who know acupuncture very
well. Whereas in modern books coming from China, they use
the Curious Vessels but just <like that>, not deliberately.
Because they are unable to really show the existence of
these vessels scientifically in treatment.
This is the first time that I've met you; I'm going to give you
the greatest number of ideas that I can. We know that

Principal Channels have points. You know that, to treat an

illness, you always have to puncture these points. It's too
easy, we don't need to learn anything. You only need to take
the page and look at the points, and then puncture the
points. Now we have to define the points of the Principal
Channels. It's the place of confrontation of Ying energy, and
from these points there are many small irradiations which
lead to the area which you're considering, which nourish,
because we're talking about Ying energy, which is nutritive
energy. When the Perverse energy is in the Lo vessels,
<this> point is obstructed because it is unable to circulate.
To be able to circulate, the points have to be open. You know
that acupuncture points--it's not because all the points are
open, they're only open at certain times, but this is too
advanced. This is very advanced; if I come back in a couple
of years, then we'll really be able to talk about acupuncture,
real acupuncture.
Apart from these points, which are called channel points, we
also have curious points--they're very curious, because
they're not on a channel. They've always told us that the
points are on Channels, and now we are learning there are
points that aren't on the Channels. What are points that are
apart from the Channels? It simply means that they are
points which do not form part of a channel. Example of
these points: Yintang; we have to know the meaning of the
word, "Yintang"--it means "the sign of the forehead", that's
the definition of "Yintang". The trace of the energetic line,
the energetic pathway, so it's not a channel, it's just a trace
of a pathway. What type of pathway? You know that the
Curious Vessels have points which were discovered at the
same time as the Principal Channels, always. Which means
that the Curious points were discovered at the same time as
the points of the Principal Channels. In classical literature,
such as the Nei Ching, they talk a lot about Curious
Channels. To be a good acupuncturist, you have to know the
whole medical system, and not just one small part.

Now I've given you a definition of these Curious Points: it's

the place of reunion of Jing energy. Dr. Tran talked to you
yesterday about Jing. For example, the Jing of the Spleen
goes to the dermal area, but when it arrives there in
plentiful supply, it accumulates. The energy circulates in
<this way, in this direction>. The energy circulates like
<that>. You might have seen it on the television, they've
shown how energy circulates in the Cosmos. And it's exactly
the same thing in Man. If the energy has made its circle in
this area, it makes another circle and continues. But it
makes circles that are so deep that it stays down below.
Now I'm talking about the skin. We have the Jing of the skin,
of the Lungs, and this Jing continues to circulate. But there
are areas where it's much deeper; so the Jing energy stays
there, then it continues to circulate. And they are the
Curious Points. The Curious Points belong to the Jing.
They've taught us, even in modern Chinese texts, the
Yintang is the meeting point of the Jing of the Lungs.
Zhongquan, this is the reunion point of the Jing of the Heart,
etc. So the Curious points are equally as important as the
points of the Principal Channels. I have described
approximately 200 Curious points, and our contemporary
colleagues of China have invented another group of Curious
points called "new points"; in reality these are Ah Shi points.
The new points are not quoted in the Classics, whereas the
real Curious points are those points which are mentioned in
the Classical literature.
The points on the ear are part of these Curious points,
because the Jing of the Kidney ascends to the ear and
spreads out towards the outer ear. Yesterday Dr. Tran told
you that the Kidneys contain the Jing of the other organs. As
a result, at the level of the ear there are points of all the
organs, which is where the technique of auriculopuncture
arose. But, for example, in the United States they copied the
French method; they don't know why there are points on the
ear, and they say that they're talking about

'auriculomedicine'. And that's not true, not serious. They're

just talking about technique, not a medicine. A therapeutic
method is quite different from a medicine.
For example: if my Liver is ill, if I have a problem with my
Liver, I will tonify or disperse the middle point of the ear. I
have a pain in the wrist; there is a point on the ear
corresponding to the wrist, I will puncture that point. It's
beautiful: the treatment's very easy.
The treatment's not like that! That's the Franco-American
way. The Chinese technique is different -- you have to
define: perverse energy only penetrates the Channels, into
the Ching (ie: the Principal Channels), and the Lo Mai and
the secondary vessels, the different types of Channels, but it
never penetrates into the Jing. Jing, as we saw, is created in
the interior of the body. The Jing, if you want to use the
term, could be regarded as 'hormonal'. That means that all
problems are of 'hormonal' origin. But this is too western. All
internal disturbances can be treated by the points on the
ear. But this treatment has always got to be associated with
somatic puncture. Which means that you have to puncture
points on the Principal Channels, in addition. Whereas, at
this present moment in the west, the subject will think that
puncture of the ear is enough, that you're practicing Oriental
medicine. It never gives satisfactory results. This is why our
French and American colleagues have not yet managed to
establish real statistics. For example: there are peasants
with dysmenorrhea; they puncture the point corresponding
to dysmenorrhea; it calms the dysmenorrhea. But in other
cases it does not cure. They can't prove it. We immediately
know, therefore, that the dysmenorrhea, therefore, is of
psychological and internal origin. And since we're
acupuncturists, if one of our colleagues were treating a
patient by ear points who doesn't get better, when the
patient comes to us we know we have to puncture points of
the Principal Channels.

I'm sorry I have to stop there. After lunch, if we still have

time, we will continue talking about neuropsychiatry.
Because in Western medicine, when we talk about pain, pain
as a whole is regarded, is considered to be neuropsychiatry.
Because, although we're traditional, we can still use Western
medical terminology.
Thank you.

Sunday, 18 September afternoon session

Dr. Tran Viet Dzung:
I personally have practiced acupuncture since 1969, so as of
yet it has been nearly twenty years that I have been
practicing it. There are lots of things I am not sure about.
There are three things that I am sure about that I would like
to explain to you in a very simple way: First of all, the
further I get into my studies of acupuncture the more I
realize how little I know, that I know nothing; Two: among
my patients there are lots of failures, I fail to cure a lot of
people. But there is one thing I am sure about: that if I
don't succeed in curing my patients, it is not the fault of
acupuncture: I haven't reached the height of my prowess, I
haven't reached the peak of my possibilities and
achievements. There is acupuncture and there are
acupuncturists. Thirdly, I notice that often when I fail to cure
someone, it's because I haven't properly grasped the
technique; that is, I use a technique, often, that I haven't
really understood. That's why I believe, that when you
puncture a point in acupuncture, you have to understand the
meaning of that action, you have to understand the meaning
of what we do. We have to understand the deeper meaning
of acupuncture. Because if you puncture a point, and you

don't understand why you're puncturing it, if you're just

doing it because the Chinese say you that have to do it, or
other people say you have to do it, if it's just a 'reflex' point,
without any proper interpretation or real understanding,
according to my experience, the results are not good.
As I said, I've been practicing acupuncture for almost twenty
years. During the first four years that I used this method, I
didn't have a lot of results. I didn't have the results because
I just used the zones that I'm going to talk about without
really thinking about them; I didn't have a clear
understanding of my actions. The day on which I really
began to really understand it, I began to have better results.
You have to understand two basic ideas: the first is the idea
of the Kidneys; and the second is Jing. We're going to think
about the idea of the Kidneys first. You know that the
Kidneys in oriental medicine is something extremely
complex; it's not like in western medicine, where they are
only involved in the filtration mechanism, glomerular
filtration and urine excretion. The Kidneys in oriental
medicine have several functions: the first is what we'll call
the function of hydrogenesis, which enables us to have what
we call organic Cold. And this function of hydrogenesis
happens as a result of what we call Kidney yin. The second
function is that of thermogenesis; this function is to produce
heat, organic heat, the heat of our bodies. And we attribute
this function to the yang of the Kidneys. The third function
of the Kidneys is that of sexuality and procreation. This
includes the function of spermatogenesis, production of
sperm, and we can treat problems such as spermatorrhea. It
also includes the process of ovulation, and we can treat, for
example, problems such as sterility. It's an organ of
procreation, as a result of two channels: the Curious Vessels
known as the Ren mai [Conception Vessel] and the Chong
mai [Penetrating vessel]. What are they?
<This is the Kidney, and the uterus.> A vessel leaves the
Kidney and descends on the interior to the perineum. There

it surfaces at Huiyin, CV-1, and goes anteriorly and

posteriorly. The Ren mai [Conception Vessel] ascends the
anterior midline; the Du mai [Governing Vessel] ascends the
posterior midline. The Chong mai also descends internally, in
the same way, but separately. It surfaces at CV-4, where it
ascends with the Kidney channel starting at Ki-11. It travels
more superficially than the Kidney energy, and connects the
Kidney points together.
Yuan Qi is limited, it cannot be produced. When it circulates,
it has to go somewhere. So where does it go? To the
Kidneys, which has the role of conserving all the excess of
the Jing. OK?
Now. You also know that the Kidney governs the bone
marrow and the brain. <Here is the Kidney and here is the
bone marrow. You see that the Jing of the Kidney goes to
the marrow, and the brain is the Sea of Bone Marrow. So
you see that in the Kidneys there is the Jing from all the
organs (I spoke about earlier) there. So, in the Kidneys,
there is the projection (which I spoke about earlier) of all
these different aspects of the other organs. This Jing goes
into the bone marrow and reaches the brain. That is why, in
the brain, there are zones corresponding to all of the parts
governed by the Jing of the other organs.
we first have to find GV-20 for orientation. There are two
lines that we use as landmarks: first there is a line that goes
from GV-20 towards SI-18. First, GV-20; you know that,
when you talk about GV-20 -- and I'm going to repeat this,
because it is very important -- you know that you take the
tip of the two ears, and you draw a line between them; and
the point of intersection with the sagittal line is the point -but this is not true! In reality, GV-20 is further back; it is at
the anterior angle [anterior-most point] of the posterior
fontanelle. For example, on our friend here [chooses
member of audience with some loss of scalp hair]. According
to what you have learned here in the United States, or from

the Chinese text books, if you determine it from the

intersection of a line between the two ears with the sagittal
line, the point would be right <there>. Right where I make a
little chalk mark. But I told that you that, in reality, the point
is at the anterior angle of the posterior fontanelle.
To tonify the bone marrow in the lower part of the body, the
two points that correspond to the marrow, because of the
reasons I described earlier. You will remember <this
diagram>: the Jing of the Kidneys governs the bone
marrow. The brain is the "Sea of Marrow". So don't forget to
tonify these two points corresponding to bone marrow, that
is, in the inferior portion, GB-39, and in the superior portion,
LI-16. You just needle these two points for bone marrow.