The thirteen ghost points

Chapter 14 of the Qianjin Yaofang devotes a section to the disorders we would now call psychiatric, and describes them vividly: some people fall silent and others talk without stopping; some sing, weep, moan, or laugh; some undress or wander day and night; some hurl insults without restraint (“或歌或哭或吟或笑…或裸形露體，或晝夜游走，或嗔罵無度”). For these, the text says, acupuncture and formulas are used together.

The series is attributed to Bian Que, the legendary physician: “扁鵲曰︰百邪所病，針有十三穴”—for the diseases caused by the hundred evils, there are thirteen needling points. The order matters. One begins with the palace of the spirits and continues with the messenger, the rampart, and the heart, and the book adds that by the fifth or sixth needle one already knows what is going on: “針至五六穴即可知矣”. In a man one begins on the left, and in a woman on the right (“男從左起針，女從右起針”). If the point is paired, both sides are needled; if it is single, just once.

For each point the text gives a name, a location, and sometimes a note identifying it with a known point. Where the note is missing, the identification is the one usual in the later tradition.

• 1. 鬼宮, the palace of the spirits: the text itself says “第一針人中名鬼宮”; it is GV26, Renzhong.
• 2. 鬼信, the messenger: under the nail of the thumb, the location of LU11, Shaoshang.
• 3. 鬼壘, the rampart: under the nail of the big toe, identified with SP1, Yinbai.
• 4. 鬼心, the heart of the spirits: in the crease behind the palm, with the note “即太淵穴也”, LU9.
• 5. 鬼路, the path: below the lateral malleolus, at the edge of the white flesh, with the note “即申脈穴也”, BL62.
• 6. 鬼枕, the pillow: one cun inside the hairline, above the vertebra, the location of GV16, Fengfu, which the same chapter also calls “鬼穴”.
• 7. 鬼床, the bed: in front of the ear, five fen below the earlobe, identified with ST6, Jiache.
• 8. 鬼市, the market: 承漿, CV24, named by the text.
• 9. 鬼路, the path, again: three cun above the wrist crease, between the two tendons. The description is that of PC5, Jianshi, but the note says “即勞宮穴也”, PC8, and that internal contradiction explains why modern lists hesitate between the two.
• 10. 鬼堂, the hall: one cun inside the hairline, above the nose, with the note “即上星穴也”, GV23.
• 11. 鬼藏, the hiding place: in the seam below the genitals, the region of CV1, Huiyin.
• 12. 鬼臣, the minister: at the lateral end of the elbow crease, with the note “即曲池穴也”, LI11.
• 13. 鬼封, the seal: under the tongue, at the center of its seam. It does not correspond to any point of the fourteen channels.

The technique is as striking as the names. Five of the points are treated with fire needling (火針), the needle heated until red-hot, using the formula “火針七針針三下”: the path at the ankle, the pillow, the bed, the hall, and the minister. The hiding place receives three cones of moxa. And the last, the seal, requires piercing the tongue from below upward, with a board placed crosswise between the lips so that it cannot move (“仍以一板橫口吻安針頭令舌不得動”). The text also refers to a method of hand signs, the “黃帝掌訣”, which it presents as a secret of the specialists.

After the series, the same chapter gives other aliases with 鬼 that broaden the map. None of them enters the count of thirteen:

• 懸命, in the frenulum inside the lip: “一名鬼祿”.
• 風府, «一名鬼穴», which again points to GV16.
• The tips of the ten fingers: “一名鬼城”.
• 三里, “一名鬼邪”, which is usually read as ST36, Zusanli.
• 囟上, above the fontanelle, “一名鬼門”, the area of GV22.
• The pulsation at the elbow at 尺澤, LU5: “尺中動脈一名鬼受”.

The series is a document in the history of medicine: it shows how Tang-dynasty China explained madness and what response it offered. It became famous, and later tradition put it into verse for memorization. Its value today is that of a text, not of a protocol. Of its points, GV26 is the one that keeps the clearest place in current practice, as a reference point in loss of consciousness.