在最基本的层面上，与五行之一相关的经络上的任何一个穴位，都具有来自该行之属性的“神”。因此，为了更好地选择穴位，医者必须深入了解五行及其脏腑（官）。由于治疗的目的在于扶持护持一行 (疾病起因，CF) ，一旦我们可以确定治疗的是正确的一行，便让看起来困难的穴位选择变得非常简单。

因为我们需要做的只是集中精力选择该行的其中一条、或两条经上的穴位，五行便会肩负起疗愈的重任，只需极少的推动，治疗便能取得进展。每个穴位都能表达这一行的“神”。

为了不让我们这些初学者对五花八门的穴位望而生畏，华思礼教授总是提醒我们，即使只是反复治疗某一行的原穴，亦是良好的治疗。与选择更复杂的治疗相比，它能达到相同的结果，但“可能需要更长的时间”。

除了穴位与某一行和某一官的关联外，与穴位选择相关的还有另一更深的层面，那就是某些穴位被赋予了与其相配之五行相关的特定功能。主要见于集中在肘膝关节以下的一组穴位，我们称之为主管穴。其中包括母穴、子穴、时令穴和五输穴。

因此，以水为例，属水之二官肾和膀胱，其经络上都分别具有一个木穴、火穴、土穴、金穴和水穴，使每一官内部亦存在一个五行循环。

五输穴就像是大五行循环的缩影。有些穴位还具有其他功能，即当它们构成特定治疗方案中所使用的一系列穴位中的一部分时，例如用于清除AE、内障、出入阻滞或夫妻不和的穴位。

我们还可以根据历史上对穴位名称的释义来选穴，这常常是另一深奥且令人困惑的领域。穴位名称很容易让人产生联想，唤起每个人心中不同的感觉，并因特殊的生活经历而引发各自不同的共鸣。

每个医生会因不同的原因选择一个他/她认为最符合病人当下需求的穴位。因此，不同的医生可能会为相同的病人选择不同的穴位，尽管他们的选择可能都是对的。

问题在于人们总是喜欢确定性。即使是最有经验的五行针灸师，也喜欢某个穴位有某种特定的作用，这样才能有据可依，在选穴这一令人困惑的领域中找到一些固定的路标。

由于我们的工作中有太多难以确切描述的东西，便总是迫不及待地抓取任何可以帮助我们选择穴位的微小指针。

仍记得当我们还是学生时，曾多么急切地想抓住任何对穴位作用的描述，仿佛只有这样，才能在穴位选择的神秘世界给自己一个安全的立足点。

我的结论是，医生对其想要的治疗结果的全神贯注，即使不是治疗中最为重要的部分，也是不可或缺的部分，医生在想要达到的治疗结果上所投入的能量，足以增加治疗的深度，并促使治疗成功。

医生在针刺穴位时所倾注之“神”非常复杂，它交织着过去的经历、医患关系、以及穴位的内在品质，而这种内在品质，在更深的层次上又来源于它与某一行功能之关联。这一切所编织的网络非常个人化，因医者而异。

以期门为例，每当我针此穴时，我会将所有信念倾注其中：为什么我认为这个病人是木，我多年来对木之神秘世界、尤其是肝这一官的心得，以及为什么我认为适合在今天用这个穴位为病人带来希望。

最后，为了说明医者、病人和穴位三者之“神”互动的力量，为大家讲述一个发生在很久以前我刚取得针灸师资格时的感人场景。

当时我正在犹豫病人是否有夫妻不和，尽管对自己诊脉的准确性不甚确定，我还是按照顺序开始标记用来清除夫妻不和的穴位。由于不确定病人是否需要这一治疗，我的动作非常缓慢。

当我标完脚上最初的几个穴位时 (至阴，复溜) ，病人突然说：“你老师那本书里写的夫妻不和真可怕呀！”我曾借给她一本华思礼教授的书，书中描述了这种失衡，但直到此刻她才提起读过这本书。

我顿感轻松，对上天给我的鼓励连声说着感谢，继续清除着夫妻不和，因为病人的话已为我做了证实。病人、医者和穴位之“神”共同成就了这次成功的治疗，让我心生感动。

正如刘力红教授所言，中医非常重视主观感受，因此，没有什么比医生对病人在某一天需要某个或某组穴位的评估更主观的了。每个穴位中都写满了我们自己的故事，随着多年来对它的使用，这些故事将变得愈加丰富。

翻译:杨露晨

A meditation on the spirits of acupuncture points (II)

(Article prompted by a request for me to write more about the spirit of points from Seán O’Neill of the College of Five Element Acupuncture (CoFEA) in Dublin, Ireland)

At the most fundamental level, any point which lies on a meridian associated with one of the five elements receives some of its “spirit” from the properties of that element. To help them in their point selection, therefore, practitioners have to steep themselves in their understanding of the elements and their officials. 

Because all our efforts are directed at establishing which of the five elements is what I call the guardian element (the element of the causative factor of disease, the CF), much of what might seem the difficult work of point selection is made very simple once we are sure we are directing our treatment at the right element.

For all we need then do is concentrate upon choosing points on one or other of that element’s officials, or on both of the officials, and the element will then take over responsibility, with little nudges from us as treatment progresses. 

Every one of these points is able to express the “spirit” of its element. To stop us novice acupuncturists from being too daunted at the wide array of points available to us, JR would always remind us that good treatment could simply consist in needling an element’s source points time and time again. This would produce the same result as choosing more complex treatments, but “it may only take a little longer”. 

The purity of five element treatments was one of the main reasons by JR would say that five element acupuncture is such a simple discipline, “any child would understand it”.

In addition to a point’s association with a particular element and official, there is a further layer which contributes to point selection, and that is that certain points have been given specific functions in relation to the element to which they belong. 

The most common of these functions is that associated with the group of points clustered around the arm and leg which we call command points. These include what are called tonification, sedation and horary points, plus five individual element points. 

Thus the Water officials, Kidney and Bladder, each have a Wood point, a Fire point, an Earth point, a Metal point and a Water point, creating an inner five element circle within each official. 

These element points are like a reflection in miniature of the large five element circle. Some points also have other functions when they form part of a sequence of points used in specific treatment protocols, such as those used for clearing Aggressive Energy, Possession, Entry/Exit blocks or a Husband/Wife imbalance.

In selecting which of the element’s points we should use at any treatment, we can also draw on our interpretation of the names the points have been given over the centuries, another profound and often confusing area of point selection. 

A point’s name is very evocative, awakening in each one of us very different feelings, and finding personal echoes because of our particular life experiences. There are many ways in which it will be up to each practitioner to choose a description which seems to him/her to best respond to their patient’s needs at any particular time. 

For this reason, no two practitioners are likely to make the same choice of points for the same patient, though both may be making appropriate choices.

The trouble is that it is natural for people to like certainty. Even the most experienced five element acupuncturist likes to have a handle to hold on to by being told that a point has a certain action, since this helps to give some fixed signposts in the often bewildering area of point selection. 

Because there is so much that is indefinable in our work, any little pointer which helps us towards making a point selection may be too quickly snatched at. I remember how eagerly as students we would seize on any description of a point’s action as though giving us a secure footing in the very mysterious world of point selection. 

It requires some courage to accept that our own subjective input into point selection is a crucial component in the success of any treatment. 

But then I have always said that five element acupuncture, with its emphasis on the importance of the practitioner’s input, is not for the faint-hearted.

I have concluded that the concentrated focus of a practitioner upon what he/she intends to be the outcome of the proposed treatment forms part of the treatment, if not its most important part, as though the practitioner’s energy directed at achieving the outcome of the treatment he/she is intending to give is itself something which adds to the depth and success of the treatment. 

The spirit a practitioner brings to needling any acupuncture point is a function of a very complex interweaving of past experiences, the relationship of patient to practitioner, as well as something inherent within the point, at a deep level coming from its association with the functions of a particular element. 

All this weaves together a web of personal associations which will differ for each practitioner. 

Every time I needle Liver 14, Gate of Hope, I instil into this points all my belief as to why I think this patient is of the Wood element, plus all my years of delving into the mysterious world of the Wood element, and its Liver official in particular, and why I think it is good today to use this point to offer hope to my patient.

As a final illustration of the power of the interactions of the spirits of practitioner, patient and point is a moving occasion that occurred very early on in my practice when as a newly-qualified acupuncturist I found myself trying to decide whether I could detect a Husband/Wife imbalance in my patient. 

Still somewhat unsure whether I was interpreting the patient’s pulse picture correctly, I started to mark up the sequence of points to clear the H/W, working rather slowly as I wasn’t sure that this was the treatment I needed to do. 

As I marked the first few points on the foot (Bl 67, Ki 7), my patient suddenly said, “That’s a rather frightening thing that Husband/Wife imbalance your Professor Worsley writes about.” I had lent my patient a book by JR in which he described this imbalance, but she had never mentioned until this moment that she had actually read it. 

I sent thanks up to heaven for this encouragement, and with a lighter heart continued clearing the H/W block which I felt her words had confirmed for me. This was a moving example of the spirits of patient, practitioner and point combining to create a successful treatment.

Since traditional Chinese medicine places great emphasis on the subjective experience, as Professor Liu Lihong points out, there is nothing more subjective than an individual practitioner’s assessment of why he/she feels the patient needs a particular point or points on that particular day. 

Each point becomes as though impregnated with our own personal narrative, which our use over the years has added to it. 

I revel in the fact that every time I select a point, I bring to my selection the understanding of the particular element or official associated with that point which I have gained from my experience as practitioner over the years. 

Copyright: Nora Franglen 2019