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The Meridian Systems of Acupuncture and Moxibustion originated from China have more than 4000-5000 years of history. Many basic theories concerning the internal organs, meridians, acupoints, and the use of acupuncture needles were recorded in Huangdi Neijing Suwen (the Plain Questions of Huangdi's Internal Classic) and Lingsu (Miraculous Pivot), the two earliest Chinese Medical books about Traditional Chinese Medicine.

There are 20 meridians in total in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Acupuncture and Moxibustion:

(1) The Twelve Primary Hand-Foot Meridians, including Liver (Liv), Heart (H), Spleen (Sp), Lung (L), Kidney (K), Triple Energizer or Sanjiao (TE or SJ); Gallbladder (G), Small Intestine (SI), Stomach (S), Large Intestine (LI), Bladder (B) and Pericardium (P). Liver (Liv) and Gallbladder (G), Heart (H) and Small Intestine (SI), Spleen (Sp) and Stomach (S), Lung (L) and Large Intestine (LI), Kidney (K)and Bladder (B), Triple Energizer (TE) and Pericardium (P) are related each other as the Interior and Exterior, e.g. Liver (Liv) is the Interior while Gallbladder (G) is the Exterior. The acupoints in Liver (Liv) Meridian are used for liver and/or gallbladder problems, and the acupoints in Gallbladder (G) Meridian are also used for both.

There are 309 acupoints totally on the 12 Primary Hand-Foot Meridians: 14 on Liv Mer., 44 on G Mer., 9 on H Mer., 19 on SI Mer., 21 on Sp Mer., 45 on S Mer., 11 on L Mer., 20 on LI Mer., 27 on K Mer., 67 on B Mer., 23 on TE Mer., 9 on P Mer. For both side of the body, it's 618 in total.

(2) The Eight Extra Meridians, including Governor Vessel (Dumai, GV, DM), Conception Vessel (Ranmai, CV, RM), Chong Vessel (Chongmai, ChV), Belt Vessel (Daimai, BV), Yin Heel Vessel (Yinqiaomai, Yin HV), Yang Heel Vessel (Yangqiaomai, Yang HV), Yin Link Vessel (Yinweimai, Yin LV), Yang Link Vessel (Yangweimai, Yang LV).

Most health professionals use the 14 Primary Meridians: the 12 Primary Hand-Foot Meridians plus Governor Vessel (Dumai, GV, DM), Conception Vessel (Ranmai, CV, RM).

There are 28 points on GV (DM) and 24 on CV (RM). In total there are 361 or 670 in both sides of the body on the Standard 14 Primary Meridians.

The Eight Hui Points used in MNEF System are on the 12 Primary Hand-Foot Meridians but connected to the Eight Extra Meridians.

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Q2. What is the Midnight-Noon Ebb-Flow (MNEF), or Zi Wu Liu Zhu Acupuncture? How Many Studies of MNEF Are There in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)?

The Midnight-Noon Ebb-Flow (MNEF), or Zi Wu Liu Zhu in Chinese, is an ancient acupuncture theory of selecting acupoints. According to this theory, the acupoints from the Primary Meridians are related to the changes of the days and the hours in terms of the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches in Chinese Calendar. Similar to the tides, we can predict the status of the Ebb and Flow of Qi and Blood along the Meridians, so as to select the appropriate opened acupoints.

Practically, there are 3 MNEF Systems practically:

(1) Na Jia Fa or Na Gan Fa, The Day-Prescription of Acupoints Techniques for select the points on the 12 Primary Meridians in accord with the day to match the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches in the Chinese calendar.

The Five Shu Acupoints are used in this system and are in the 12 Primary Meridians and have considerable therapeutic significance on the limbs distal to the elbow and the knee. The Five Shu points are related to Five Interior Organs -- the Liver, Heart, Spleen, Lung, and Kidney on each of the 12 Primary Meridians. So there are 60 Shu Acupoints in total in this system.

* Note: There are 60 Shu Acupoints in total, but there may be slight differences for which points from different studies and books in TCM are used. In Dr. Wu' Practical MNEF Acupoint Calendar, you may find that 2-3 Shu Acupoints are not listed, and 2-3 Acupoints listed here are not used in some books as Shu Acupoints.

For example, H3 and SI 2 are not listed because these two Shu points are used beyond the hours of 6 am to 11 pm. For practical purposes, only 6 am to 11 pm are listed. G40, SI4 and S42 are not Shu Acupoints in many books, but listed in the Calendar because some Chinese doctors and TMC studies have used these points as Shu Acupoints for many years and have successful results.

(2) Ling (Nin) Gui Ba Fa , The Eight Magic Turtle Techniques ( also called Extra Meridians Na Jia Fa. To select the points on the 8 Extra Meridians in accord with the day to match the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches in the Chinese calendar -- just use the 8 acupoints on the 12 Primary Meridians and 8 Extra Meridians BOTH.

What does the name "Eight Magic Turtle Techniques" mean? These techniques use 8 Extra Meridians, 8 Hui Acupoints which match to 8 Divination Symbols (Bagua, or Pagua, or Pakua) -- Taiji (Taichi) Yin-Yang Symbol is in the center of Bagua from Taoism. Bagua was named from the great book of I Ching -- the Book of Changes, and said to be born on the Magic Turtle's back at the dawn of time. A detailed Bagua Chart is used as the map of Feng Shui for direction, and to remedy the problems in your body, your home, office, and aid your health and all situations in your life.

The difference between Na Jia Fa and the Eight Magic Turtle Techniques is that the Eight Magic Turtle points are on the 8 Extra Meridians but connected to the 12 Primary Meridians; and there are just 8 Hui Acupoints totally in this system.

(3) Fei Teng Ba Fa, or Ling Gui Fei Teng, and The Eight Magic Turtle Flying Techniques are very similar to (2), but only use Heavenly Stems to do calculation. Most of the studies and books consider them together. Many medical books and dictionaries don't know the difference between them. Both use the Eight Hui Acupoints, but the calculations have some difference.

Dr. Wu's Practical MNEF Acupoint Calendar combines Three Techniques together. It uses The Eight Magic Turtle Techniques (Ling Gui Ba Fa) mainly but also lists the acupoints from The Eight Magic Turtle Flying Techniques (Fei Teng Ba Fa) and The Day-Prescription of Acupoints Techniques (Na Jia Fa). It lists all 8-Hui Converging Acupoints (#1 to #9) from Ling Gui Ba Fa and Fei Teng Ba Fa as the First Choice, and all 60 Shu Acupoints (60 acupuncture points in total)* from Na Jia Fa as the Secondary Choice.

In Dr. Wu's MNEF Calendar: It's normally to select the "8-Hui" Acupoints firstly according to "Nin Gui Ba Fa" and Fei Teng Ba Fa (shown in the First one or two of each calendar hour by numbers); then secondly, if necessary, according to "Na Jia Fa" (shown after a slash of each calendar hour by letters & numbers). For example, in 03/06/2003, 8-9 pm, the acupoints shown in the calendar are: "S:8,6/B65-S42". S = Stomach Mer., #8 is from Nin Gui Ba Fa, #6 is from Fei Teng Ba Fe, B65-S42 is from Na Jia Fa. There may be just one or two acupoints here because no points opened in this hour from Fei Teng Ba FA or/and Na Jia Fa.

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Q3. What are The Eight Hui Points in Acupuncture?

There are eight important strategic Acupuncture or Acupressure points related to the physiological function of organs, meridians or certain areas of the human body. The Eight Extra Acupuncture Meridians are connected to these eight "8-Hui" Converging Acupoints separately on eight regular meridians -- 8 of the 12 Primary Acupuncture Meridians. That means that the Primary Meridian System AND the Eight Extra-Meridians Converge in these Eight Hui Points. Administering acupuncture or acupressure on these points can stimulate BOTH systems.

These "8-Hui" Converging Acupoints are:

#1 = B62 (Shenmai) in Bladder Acupuncture Mer. (B);

#2 & #5 = K6 (Zhaohai) in Kidney Acupuncture Mer. (K);

#3 = TE5 (Waiguan) in Triple Energizer (Sanjiao) Acupuncture Mer. (TE or SJ);

#4 = G41 (Foot-Linqi) in Gallbladder Acupuncture Mer. (G);

#6 = Sp4 (Gongsun) in Spleen Acupuncture Mer. (Sp);

#7 = SI 3 (Houxi) in Small Intestine Acupuncture Mer. (SI);

#8 = P6 (Neiguan) in Pericardium Acupuncture Mer. (P);

#9 = L7 (Lieque) in Lung Acupuncture Mer. (L).

If you don't know where these points are located, please Click on the desired point above and go to a detail graphic.

Note:

• There are TWO kinds of "8-Hui" points in Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM): The Eight Hui Influential Points and The Eight Hui Converging Points. Do not confuse them. Hui has two meanings in Chinese (Hui is presented for 4 different Chinese characters at least actually): Influential of Focal and Converging.
• The Eight Hui Influential Points is the 8 Hui (Influential of Focal) Points. These are 8 important acupoints related to physiological functions of internal organs or tissues. 8 different points are used: 1. CV17 (Tangzhong) -- Focus of Qi, 2. B17 (Geshu) -- Focus of Blood, 3. B11 (Dachu) -- Focus of Bones, 4. G34 (Yanglingquan) -- Focus of Ligaments & Muscles, 5. G39 (Xuanzhong) -- Focus of Marrow, 6. L9 (Taiyuan) -- Focus of Pulses, 7. Liv13 (Zhangmen) -- Focus of Solid Organs, 8. CV12 (Zhongwan) -- Focus of Hollow Organs.
• Why is there #9 point here? There are just 8 Hui points in total. The numbers for the points are from the Bagua -- the source of The Eight Magic Turtle Acupuncture Techniques. In the bagua diagram, there are eight areas, or "guas," encircling the center, 8+1=9. These nine different zones correspond to nine major numbers of life. To calculate the opened acupoints for a certain date in a certain hour in Chinese Calendar (Not in Western Calendar!), the ancient Chinese doctors used 9 numbers, matched to these 9 Zodiac Zones, to stand for 9 locations in the human body. Each point in 8-Hui is related to one number, but one point (K6) is related to two numbers.

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