Journal of Chinese Medicine • Number 78 • June 2005


Master Cui’s Four Flowers Points


17


Master Cui’s Four Flowers Points


Abstract Master Cui’s Four Flowers point combination is a group of non-channel points specifically described for the purpose of applying moxibustion in severe vacuity conditions. Traditionally, this group of points was located using an unusual technique, but over time some doctors simplified the point location method or equated them with channel points. The history, theory, indications, location and treatment of the Four Flowers points are discussed.


Introduction M


aster Cui’s Four Flowers point combination, also known simply as the Four Flowers, is a group of points specifically used for the


application of moxibustion. Traditionally, certain points were reserved for moxibustion only. These included the Four Flowers, Gaohuangshu BL-43, Yaoyan M-BW-24 (Lumbar Eyes), Zhoujian M-UE-45 (Elbow Tip), Qizhumaxue (Extra, Ride the Bamboo Horse) and Sanjiaojiu M-CA- 23 (Triangle Moxibustion). Other modalities such as needling are not discussed in the context of these points. The other unique feature of the Four Flowers is that


they were located, not by anatomical landmark, but by a method of measuring one part of the body with a string or straw and comparing it to another. This essay will focus particularly on the writings


of the Four Flowers as they have been passed down by two important Ming dynasty (1368-1644) doctors, Yang Jizhou1


and Zhang Jiebin2 .


History of the Four Flowers Secret Necessities of a Frontier Official (volume 13) published in 752 AD provides us with the first extant mention of the Four Flowers3


. The author, Wang


Tao, listed their indications as well as location and treatment methods. Wang simply called these points the ‘Four Flowers’ and did not equate them with regular channel points. He attributed them to Master Cui Zhiti4


, an earlier Tang dynasty doctor whose


writings have since, unfortunately, been lost. Over the centuries, the Four Flowers were described


in a number of other books and a simplified location method evolved. This method is described in the influential text the Classic of Nourishing Life with Acupuncture and Moxibustion5


which was published


in 1220 and is quoted by Gao Wu in 1537 in volume two of Gatherings from Eminent Acupuncturists6


in


his description of the Four Flowers. Gao also may have been the first to identify these points as Geshu BL-17 and Danshu BL-19. About 65 years later, Yang Jizhou cited Gao’s writings as his source for the Four Flowers in the Great Compendium of Acupuncture and Moxibustion. Yang’s Great Compendium is still considered today by many to be the most important handbook on acupuncture and moxibustion in the history of Chinese medicine. Modern texts generally agree with Yang and Gao that the Four Flowers correspond to Geshu BL-17 and Danshu BL-19. Other authors, for example Li Yan7


and subsequently


Zhang Jiebin in his Illustrated Supplement to the Categorised Classic8


, remained faithful to the location method described by Wang Tao.


Indications of the Four Flowers Yang Jizhou states, “The Four Flowers treat the five taxations and seven damages in males or females, qi vacuity and blood weakness, steaming bones, tidal fever, cough, phlegm panting, emaciation and intractable disease”. Zhang Jiebin adds to the above list, “vexing heat


in the five hearts, fatigued and cumbersome limbs in emaciation and weakness patterns. These points treat all these conditions equally”.


Locating the Four Flowers Yang and Zhang locate the Four Flowers differently from one another. Zhang also states that the Four Flowers consist of six points, whereas Yang states that only four points belong to this cluster. Both doctors, however, describe a similar type of point location, traditionally used to find many moxibustion points, by using a waxed string to measure the patient’s body. The string is waxed so it can stick to the flesh, which makes the measurement more accurate as the string is less likely to slip out of place.


By: Lorraine Wilcox


Keywords: Four Flowers points, moxibustion, Huanmen, Yang Jizhou, Zhang Jiebin


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