Treatises
Using Guangming (GB37) acupoint to treat eye diseases: from historical suspense to modern clinical experiments
Tao HUANG, Mozheng WU
Published 2016-05-28
Cite as Chin J Med Hist, 2016, 46(3): 161-164. DOI: 10.3760/cma.j.issn.0255-7053.2016.03.006
Abstract
Guangming (GB37) gained its name before the writing of Huang di Ming Tang Jing (The Yellow Emperor’s Mingtang Classic), the earliest work of the art of acupuncture point. However, in acupuncture and moxibustion works before the Song Dynasty, this acupoint was not used to treat eye diseases. In Dou Hanqing’s Zhen jiu biao you fu (Song to Elucidate Mysteries in Acupuncture Moxibustion), Guangming was used to treat oculopathy as an alias of Cuanzhu (BL2). Influenced by this, the alias"Guangming"was mistaken as Guangming (GB37) of the Gallbladder Meridian in the Bian que shen ying zhen jiu yu long jing (Bian Que Acupuncture and Moxibustion Jade Dragon Classic) of the Yuan Dynasty, and the symptom of eye itch was added to the indications of Guangming (GB37). This was wrongly informed in the later acupuncture and moxibustion works, and the modern scholars also accepted it and confirmed its effect by the clinical and experimental research.
Key words:
Guangming (GB37); Point; Huang di ming tang jing (The Yellow Emperor’s Mingtang Classic); Bian que shen ying zhen jiu yu long jing (Bian Que Acupuncture and Moxibustion Jade Dragon Classic)
Contributor Information
Tao HUANG
Hospital of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, Institute of Acupuncture and Moxibustion
Mozheng WU
Beijing International Acupuncture Training Center, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, 100700, China