Taiyuan

About Taiyuan (LU9)

The name Taiyuan means “Great Abyss” or “Supreme Deep Pool” — the deep source from which the channel’s qi wells up. It sits at the radial wrist, over the very place where the classical pulse is read, and no other point on the Lung channel carries so many titles at once.

LU9 is the Yuan-Source point of the Lung, the place where the channel’s original qi surfaces; it is the Shu-Stream point of the five-shu series; and it is the Earth point of a Metal channel. Because Earth is the mother of Metal in the engendering cycle, this makes it the classical tonification or “mother” point — the point reached for to build up a deficient Lung. To these it adds a fourth distinction: it is one of the eight Hui-Gathering points, the Influential point of the Vessels, of which the Ling Shu says, “the meeting of the vessels is at Taiyuan.”

That last role, set precisely where the radial pulse is felt, ties the point to the whole circulatory web of the body, not the Lung alone. The convergence of source, stream, mother-point, and vessel-influence makes Taiyuan the channel’s great tonifying point and one of the most important points in the entire system — the deep pool to which the tradition returns whenever the Lung’s qi or the body’s vessels run thin.

What are the functions of Taiyuan in TCM?

In TCM this point is classically described as tonifying Lung qi and Lung yin, gathering and benefiting qi, transforming phlegm, and — as the Influential point of the Vessels — supporting the vessels and the circulation. As the Shu-Stream and Earth point of a Metal channel it is the classical tonification point, drawing on Earth to nourish Metal.

What is Taiyuan classically indicated for?

Classically indicated for chronic cough and asthma, shortness of breath, weak voice, patterns of Lung qi and yin deficiency, and — through its role with the vessels — disorders of circulation and a weak or irregular pulse. Also cited for pain and weakness of the wrist.

Where is Taiyuan located?

The WHO Standard Acupuncture Point Locations places LU9 at the wrist, on the anterolateral aspect, between the radial styloid process and the scaphoid bone, in the depression on the radial side of the radial artery, at the radial end of the wrist crease.

Needling reference

Educational reference only — describing how classical and standard texts characterize this point, not clinical instruction.

Standard references describe shallow perpendicular insertion to roughly 0.2–0.3 cun, taking care to avoid the radial artery that lies immediately beside the point. No pneumothorax caution applies.

What are the cautions for Taiyuan?

What points are related to Taiyuan?

Chize (LU5), Lieque (LU7), Zhongfu (LU1)