The forbidden points of the Jiayi Jing

The chapter on prohibitions begins with a general principle, taken from the Ci Yao Lun chapter of the Suwen: “病有浮沉，刺有淺深，各至其理，無過其道”. Disease lies on the surface or in the depths, and the needle must reach its level without going past it. Going too far harms the interior; falling short leaves the illness outside. Then come the two lists: the needle list, with fourteen entries, and the moxa list, with twenty-four.

• GV24, Shenting: “神庭禁不可刺”, is not needled.
• GB3, Shangguan: not deeply, because “深則令人耳無所聞”, it leaves one deaf.
• TE19, Luxi: «刺不可多出血», without drawing much blood.
• The “left angle,” 左角: do not retain the needle. It does not correspond to any point on the current list.
• ST9, Renying: «刺過深殺人», needling too deep kills.
• LU2, Yunmen: not deeply, because “深則使人逆息不能食”, the breath reverses and one cannot eat.
• CV8, the navel: "臍中禁不可刺".
• ST32, Futu: not needled.
• TE8, Sanyangluo: not needled.
• KI7, Fuliu: without letting much blood.
• BL56, Chengjin: not needled.
• KI2, Rangu: without drawing much blood.
• ST17, the nipple: «乳中禁不可刺».
• CV15, Jiuwei: not needled.

• On the head: ST8, Touwei; BL6, Chengguang; GV17, Naohu; GV16, Fengfu; and GV15, Yamen, because “灸之令人喑”, it leaves one mute.
• Beside the ear: ST7, Xiaguan, if there is dry discharge in the ear, and TE21, Ermen, if there is pus; also TE18, Chimai.
• On the face: TE23, Sizhukong, because “灸之不幸令人目小或盲”, it can shrink the eye or blind it, and ST1, Chengqi.
• On the neck and chest: ST9, Renying; ST17, the nipple; GB22, Yuanye, because “灸之不幸生腫蝕”, it can cause swelling and ulceration; and CV15, Jiuwei.
• On the back: GV6, Jizhong, because “灸之使人僂”, it hunches the back, and BL30, Baihuanshu.
• On the abdomen: CV5, Shimen, only in women (“石門女子禁不可灸”), and ST30, Qichong, the 氣街 of the text, because “灸之不幸不得息”, it can cut off the breath.
• On the arms: LU8, Jingqu, because “傷人神”, it harms the spirit, and LU3, Tianfu, because “使人逆息”, it reverses the breath.
• On the legs: ST33, Yinshi; ST32, Futu; GB33, the 陽關 of the Jiayi Jing, today Xiyangguan; and GB42, Diwuhui, because “使人瘦”, it causes emaciation.

The lists do not always agree with the location entries in the same book. In the third book, Chimai, TE18, receives three moxa cones, and in the fifth it appears among the prohibited points; next to Futu, ST32, the editor notes that its location entry gives it a needling depth of five fen (“本穴云刺入五分”). Conversely, the third book reinforces some of the prohibitions with reasons of its own: Jingqu, “不可灸，灸之傷人神明”; Jizhong, “不可灸，灸則令人痿”; Tianfu, “禁不可灸，灸之令人逆氣”. These are layers of earlier texts that Huangfu Mi gathered without fully harmonizing them.

The same chapter contains one of the harshest sentences in the canon on technique. It asks whether “針能殺生人，不能起死人”, whether the needle can kill a living person but cannot raise the dead, and the answer is yes. It has already listed the five depletions (五奪) in which one must not disperse: wasted flesh, great loss of blood, profuse sweating, severe diarrhea, and childbirth or heavy hemorrhage. “此皆不可瀉也”, in none of them is one to disperse.

Several prohibitions have an anatomical logic that is easy to understand today. ST9 lies over the carotid artery; LU2 and CV15 sit over organs that a deep needle can reach; ST17, the nipple, is used today only as a landmark for locating other points, and the navel, CV8, is still treated only with indirect moxa. Others reflect the ideas of their time. In every case, the current precautions for each point are on its page, and no ancient list replaces clinical training.