Abstract:

Huang Di Nei Jing is the most important classical medical books. Ling Shu Jing is one of important parts in Huang Di Nei Jing, which lay a solid theoretical foundation for future generations of Traditional Chinese Medicine especially for acupuncture development. As a normative technical term, “nine needles” appears repeatedly in Huang Di Nei Jing, in which Ling Shu Jing set the Nine Needles and Twelve Source Acupoints as the first page. Therefore, the significance of “nine needles” is evident. With the passage of time and continuous progress of clinical technology of acupuncture and moxibustion, nine needles also have evolved numerous. In this paper, nine needles described in Ling Shu Jing were comprehensively analysed. From the origin of nine needles, the length of the needle shape, different syndrome and historical evolution, we hope to investigate the law that ancients can use different needles to treat the corresponding diseases, summarize the development of nine needles and modern applications, and provide reference for future improvement and reform of the needles.

Key words: Ling Shu Jing, Nine needles, Acupuncture apparatus