Press the brow bone only, never down into the eye.
攢竹 Cuanzhu
“Gathered Bamboo” · BL2
Foot Taiyang · 2 of 67
Where. In the small notch at the inner end of the eyebrow, on the bone above the inner corner of the eye.
For. Headache; aching brow; twitching eyelids.
Press. Small slow circles with a fingertip on the bone, about a minute each side.
Caution. Press the brow bone only, never down into the eye.
攢竹，一名員在，一名始光，一名夜光，又名明光，在眉頭陷者中按 · Press with me
Six slow breaths
About a minute. Press as you breathe out, ease as you breathe in.
鄰 · Neighbouring leaves
Where Cuanzhu Sits on the Brow
The dataset places Cuanzhu on the face, in the depression at the medial end of the eyebrow, at the supraorbital notch. Unpacked: the medial end of the eyebrow is the end nearest the nose, the innermost tuft where most brows begin; the depression is the small hollow met right there; and the supraorbital notch is a natural interruption in the brow ridge itself — the arch of bone that rims the eye socket. Run a fingertip along that arch from the inside out and, in many people, it seems to break for a few millimetres near the inner end: a shallow dip where the ridge gives way. Anatomy explains why — a small nerve and its companion vessels pass through this gap on their way up to the forehead — though bodies vary, and in some people bone bridges the gap, leaving a subtle groove rather than an obvious hole.
What lies beneath the fingertip asks for a gentle hand. Facial skin here is thin, the bone lies immediately below it, and the eye itself waits just under and beside the notch — closer to the surface than at almost any other commonly used point. The notch earns its sensitivity honestly, because the structures passing through it carry feeling up to the forehead; even light pressure can send a faint ache arcing around the orbit. Nothing about approaching this point needs force, and force buys nothing here except soreness in a spot everyone can see. Patience is the entire technique.
The point is symmetrical, one on each side, mirrored across the midline, and searching for them as a pair keeps the fingers honest: the two dips should feel alike, and any mismatch usually means a fingertip has drifted. Two neighbours help orientation. Below and slightly inward, at the inner corner of the eye itself, sits Jingming (BL1), the point where the whole bladder channel surfaces. Above, straight up this point toward the front hairline, the channel continues to Meichong (BL3). Between the corner of the eye and the hairline, then, Cuanzhu holds the doorway stretch of the brow.
A Self-Palpation Walkthrough
Stand or sit before a mirror in good light with clean hands, and let the forehead soften — a furrowed brow hides the very landmarks wanted here. Rest the pad of one index finger on the innermost start of the eyebrow, the side nearest the nose. Slide gently outward along the brow ridge, feeling the bone through the brow hairs, and slow down near the inner quarter of the ridge. Look and feel together for the shallow interruption described above — a dip, a tender nick in the arch — and let the fingertip settle there carrying barely any weight. Then swap hands and find its twin on the other side.
A few quiet checks confirm the address before any pressing begins. Compare sides with feather-light touches: many people notice a faint dull awareness or a whisper of warmth at the true spot, and almost nothing a finger-width away. Keep the eyes closed and the face slack while searching; blinking and squinting move the landmarks. Confirm what is under the finger: firm bone edged by brow, never soft eyelid. If the lid or the eye itself seems to move beneath the touch, lift the fingertip upward and outward onto the ridge and begin again — the point lives on bone, not on the globe.
The classic mistakes all involve drifting. Sliding too far along the brow leaves the notch behind and wanders toward points higher out; hunting too high strays onto the forehead, clear of the ridge altogether; and the most important error — letting the finger slip down into the eye socket — is prevented by one habit: whenever in doubt, return to the innermost end of the eyebrow against the nose and walk the short distance again, slowly. The search takes ten seconds once learned, and repeating it every session beats trusting memory of yesterday’s placement.
Reading the Name: Gathered Bamboo
The name is a picture drawn in two strokes of meaning. Cuan 攢 means to gather or cluster — read cuán here, the gathering sense, distinct from the everyday reading zǎn used for saving money bit by bit. Zhu 竹 is bamboo. Classical name-glosses preserve the reasoning plainly: the two eyebrows, tufted and arching, were likened to clumps of bamboo leaves, densest and most crowded where they gather at the inner end — precisely where this point sits. The name therefore records an appearance before anything else: a place where the brow bunches like young bamboo crowded at the root.
Bamboo does quiet symbolic work in the tradition. It grows in stands, bends without breaking, and springs back; naming a point for clustered bamboo ties it to a shape rather than a function, in the same way that neighbouring points answer to gates, valleys, courtyards, and ravines. Read against the channel map, the image lands neatly: the bladder channel surfaces at the inner corner of the eye, and its very first climb gathers across this brow before ascending toward the crown — a bundle of pathways converging at the root of the brow, much as bamboo stems share a single clump.
Pinyin writes the name Cuánzhú, and both syllables ride the second tone — the rising tone Mandarin voices at the end of a question: cuán rises, and zhú rises. The two hanzi, 攢竹, are compact enough to memorise at a glance. English-language manuals render the sense variously as “Bamboo Gathering” or “Drilled Bamboo”; the translations differ in temperament, but they agree on the underlying image of something gathered and pierced through at the brow. Names in this tradition are compressed descriptions, and this one folds an anatomical observation into four spoken notes.
Traditional Indications, Explained
The recorded indications read: headache, supraorbital pain, twitching or drooping of the eyelids, blurred vision, red swollen eyes, acute lumbar sprain, hiccups, and nasal congestion. The first two name the point’s own neighbourhood — headache locked across the brows, and pain along the orbital rim just above the eye — and classical practice naturally reached for a point living inside the complaint’s own postcode. Framed as tradition rather than promise, these records say where past practitioners placed their attention, not what outcome any person should expect from pressing.
The eye cluster reads through channel logic. The bladder channel opens at the inner corner of the eye, and classical teaching holds that the points along a pathway speak for the territories it crosses; a channel born at the eye therefore carries eye complaints among its signature concerns, and Cuanzhu, standing at the top of that opening stretch, heads such lists. Eyelid twitching received its own traditional reading, understood through broad classical frameworks of wind stirring and qi failing to settle — context offered here, not citation. Blurred vision and red, swollen eyes joined the same family of concerns approached along this stretch of channel.
The last entries travel furthest. Acute lumbar sprain — a low back seized without warning — and hiccups seem worlds away from a brow point until the channel map is consulted again: the bladder channel runs from the inner eye over the head and down the entire back to the little toe, and classical method freely paired points near a complaint with points far along the same route, on the understanding that the channel connects them. These pairings belong to the tradition’s internal logic, recorded faithfully here. Where modern research touches self-applied pressure at all, reviews suggest effects are modest and context-dependent, and evidence tied to any single point remains thin.
Self-Care Acupressure at Home
With the point located, settle in: seated, forearms supported so the hands carry no tension, eyes closed, hands freshly washed. Bring the pad of one index finger to rest on the notch and simply stay — a few easy breaths of plain contact. Then draw small, slow circles, letting the skin glide over the bone beneath rather than rubbing hard across it. Pressure should register as mild pleasant dullness, perhaps a faint warmth spreading around the orbit, never as sharpness or pain radiating deeper. A common home rhythm is thirty seconds to a minute per side, once or twice daily, matched to unhurried exhales; finish one side, then mirror the session on the other.
Quality outranks duration here more than almost anywhere. Use finger pads — never nails, knuckles, or any tool or gadget — and warm cold hands first, because chilled faces guard themselves. Many people fold the practice into an existing screen-break habit: after a long stretch of reading or monitor work, closing the eyes and resting a fingertip at the brow for a slow minute functions as a genuine pause, whatever else it may be. If the eyes feel gritty, sore, or irritated, let them rest untouched instead; the routine adapts to the day, and skipping gracefully is part of practising well.
Holding the honest frame matters most: this is a ceremony of attention, not a treatment course. Over weeks, notice what changes — perhaps the brow unknits more readily, perhaps the pause itself becomes the reward, perhaps nothing shifts except that a minute a day went to tending your own face. All of that sits comfortably inside what self-acupressure offers. What does not belong is escalation: harder, longer, deeper pressing to force a result. When curiosity pulls that way, return to gentleness, or simply stop for the day.
Cautions and Safe Practice
This point’s safety record leads every serious discussion of it, so it leads here. The licensed dataset warns plainly: do not apply moxibustion; classical literature says moxibustion here harms the eyes. Whatever one makes of the old warning, its instruction for the home setting is unambiguous — no heat-based therapies at this point, in any form. Professional practice includes refined techniques at this delicate site, taught under supervision and performed by trained hands; those techniques are the reason the warnings exist, and they sit categorically outside what anyone should attempt at home.
For fingertip self-care, the rules follow from the geography. Touch stays on the bony brow — never the eyeball, never the soft lid tissue — through clean finger pads only. Set the point aside entirely during any eye infection or stye, over broken or inflamed skin at the brow, and after facial injury or eye surgery until a clinician clears ordinary handling. Sharp, electric, or deeply echoing sensation means stop at once, that day finished. Treat certain signs as belonging to medicine rather than massage: a new or one-sided eyelid droop, sudden change in vision, or a headache unlike any before — above all the sudden worst-ever headache, or one arriving with fever and a stiff neck — call for prompt professional assessment. Pregnant readers and anyone managing chronic conditions do well to consult a qualified practitioner before adding any new point practice.
And the wider rule stands above everything here, as everywhere on this site: the page is educational, and acupressure is self-care, not diagnosis or therapy. Persistent eye discomfort, recurring headaches, or any symptom that frightens you belongs with a licensed practitioner — medical or East Asian medical as suits the complaint — not with a longer pressing routine. The gathered-bamboo image is charming, but the most valuable thing Cuanzhu offers most people is quieter: a reason to notice the tension knotting the brow, and permission to treat that small, busy place kindly.
Cuanzhu, Gathered Bamboo, marks the innermost dip of the eyebrow — a small natural notch in the brow ridge just above the eye. Classical practice reached for it when headache locked across the brows, when eyelids twitched, or when the eyes ran red and sore. This guide walks through finding it by touch, what tradition recorded here, and how to press it gently and safely.
Cautions from the classical sources
- No moxibustion here — classical texts say it damages the eyes.
Self-care limits
Frequently asked
- How do I find Cuanzhu without measuring cun?
- Use the eyebrow as the whole map. Start where the brow begins against the side of the nose, glide along the ridge, and feel for the shallow dip or tender break near the inner end — that interruption in the bone is the address the dataset records. Cun measurements simply encode the same landmark sequence in proportional language, and the landmark version needs no arithmetic at all.
- Is pressing Cuanzhu myself actually safe?
- Light fingertip pressure held on the bony brow is generally reasonable self-care for healthy adults — it engages skin and bone surface, far short of the delicate structures a trained practitioner works among. The recorded dangers attach to professional techniques, including the classical warning that moxibustion here harms the eyes; home acupressure never enters those categories. Respect the stop signals: sharp pain, electric sensation, or anything radiating deep around the orbit means finish immediately.
- What did classical practice use Cuanzhu for?
- The traditional record lists headache, supraorbital pain, twitching or drooping of the eyelids, blurred vision, red swollen eyes, acute lumbar sprain, hiccups, and nasal congestion — a portfolio explained partly by geography and partly by the channel that begins at the neighbouring inner corner of the eye. These are traditional frameworks for understanding the body, documented for context, not evidence-backed treatment claims.
- Why does a brow point appear in records about strained low backs?
- Channel logic. The bladder channel runs from the inner eye over the head and down the whole back to the little toe — the longest pathway in the body — and classical method freely reached for points far from a complaint yet connected to it by the channel’s course. Pairing near and far along one channel is one of the tradition’s oldest habits of thought. It explains the record; it does not promise results.
- Can acupressure at Cuanzhu replace seeing an eye doctor?
- No. Eye symptoms deserve professional assessment on their own timetable — promptly when vision changes, pain builds, redness will not settle, or a drooping eyelid appears. Think of daily self-care and clinical medicine as different floors of the same building: gentle routines live downstairs, and the consulting room upstairs receives the persistent or worrying signs. Neither floor substitutes for the other, and the stairs between them are worth climbing early.
Sources
- 01aijiu-mpvue (MIT License) licensed dataset, entry for BL2 Cuanzhu — location, point class, actions, and caution record.
- 02WHO Standard Acupuncture Point Locations in the Western Pacific Region (2008), World Health Organization — nomenclature conventions.
- 03A Manual of Acupuncture, Peter Deadman, Mazin Al-Khafaji and Kevin Baker — point-name tradition and channel-course context.
Last reviewed
牌記This leaf, for machines
Old books ended with a colophon saying who printed them. Every leaf here carries the same facts as structured data for agents and search, with no layout in the way.
- GET /en/points/bl2/leaf.json
- GET /zh-hant/points/bl2/leaf.json
- GET /zh-cn/points/bl2/leaf.json
- /llms.txt — the index of every leaf
- JSON-LD in the page: MedicalWebPage, MedicalEntity and FAQPage
{
"id": "BL2",
"name": {
"en": "Cuanzhu",
"gloss": "Gathered Bamboo",
"zh-Hant": "攢竹",
"zh-Hans": "攒竹"
},
"channel": {
"id": "BL",
"order": 2,
"of": 67
},
"location": {
"text": "In the small notch at the inner end of the eyebrow, on the bone above the inner corner of the eye."
},
"for": [
"headache",
"aching brow",
"twitching eyelids"
],
"press": {
"text": "Small slow circles with a fingertip on the bone, about a minute each side.",
"seconds": 60,
"sides": "both"
},
"cautions": [
"Press the brow bone only, never down into the eye."
],
"source": "Zhenjiu Jiayi Jing, book 3",
"url": "https://acupoints.com/en/points/bl2",
"lastReviewed": "2026-08-24"
}