🌿 Folk Prescriptions

Chinese people have long used acupuncture and moxibustion for health preservation. The *Huangdi Neijing* refers to doctors skilled in these techniques as “superior physicians,” stating in *Ling Shu·Reverse and Forward* that “the superior physician treats conditions before they arise.”
During the Tang Dynasty, acupuncture and moxibustion held significant importance. *Qianjin Yaofang* discusses numerous materials on health-preserving acupuncture and moxibustion. In the Song Dynasty, Wang Zhizhong’s *Zi Sheng Jing* recorded using acupuncture to prevent various diseases, such as puncturing Fengmen to prevent carbuncles. Ming Dynasty physicians also advocated health-preserving acupuncture. Gao Wu wrote in *Zhenjiu Juying*: “To needle without illness is to act prematurely—this is prevention.” “Premature” here means prevention. In the Qing Dynasty, Pan Weiru elaborated on acupuncture’s health benefits in *Weisheng Yaoyao*, stating: “The body’s zang-fu organs, meridians, blood, qi, and muscles are daily vulnerable to external pathogens. Ancient people took acupuncture and moxibustion as fundamental... thus benefiting joints, harmonizing blood and qi, expelling pathogens swiftly. Once pathogens depart, righteous qi returns, and illness heals naturally.”
Acupuncture health preservation involves stimulating specific acupoints with fine needles to stimulate meridian qi, thereby enhancing metabolism and achieving physical strengthening and longevity. This method, known as acupuncture health preservation, shares basic techniques with acupuncture for treatment but differs in focus. While acupuncture for treatment corrects imbalances in yin-yang and qi-blood, acupuncture for health preservation aims to strengthen the body and enhance metabolic capacity for longevity. Due to differing focuses, there are variations in acupoint selection and needle techniques. For health preservation, moderate stimulation intensity is preferred, fewer acupoints are used, and emphasis is placed on points with strengthening effects.
Health-preserving moxibustion is a unique Chinese health method, useful not only for strengthening but also for recovery in chronically ill or weakened individuals. It involves moxibustion at specific acupoints to harmonize blood and qi, regulate meridians, nourish zang-fu organs, and prolong life. *Yixue Rumen* states: “When medicine cannot reach and acupuncture cannot penetrate, moxibustion must be used,” illustrating moxibustion’s unique role beyond what medicine and acupuncture alone can achieve. The health benefits of moxibustion were clearly documented in *Bian Que Xinshu*: “In times of health, regularly moxibusting Guanyuan, Qihai, and Mingmen... even if not achieving immortality, one may live over a hundred years.”