承光 Chengguang
“Receiving Light” · BL6
Foot Taiyang · 6 of 67
Where. On the scalp, two finger-widths behind BL5, on the same line two finger-widths out from the centre.
For. Headache; dizziness; blurred vision.
Press. Small circles with two fingertips, about a minute each side.
承光，在五處後二寸按 · Press with me
Six slow breaths
About a minute. Press as you breathe out, ease as you breathe in.
鄰 · Neighbouring leaves
Where Chengguang Sits on the Scalp
The dataset sentence reads simply: on the head, 2.5 cun above the midpoint of the anterior hairline, 1.5 cun lateral to it. Unpacked, that describes a spot on the upper forehead where hair usually takes over: begin at the centre of the hairline where it meets the midline of the forehead, climb two and a half cun straight up, then step a cun and a half outward to whichever side you are working. A cun, the traditional measuring unit of Chinese point-location, is proportional rather than absolute — lengths taken from the body being examined, with one cun sitting close to the width of your own thumb at the knuckle. Because the yardstick lives on the person, the same numbers land differently on a slight teenager and a broad-browed adult, and the point always answers to the body it inhabits rather than to a ruler.
The neighbourhood makes the placement easier to trust. Reading down the catalogue, the same lateral distance — always 1.5 cun beside the midline — recurs point after point: Qucha (BL4) half a cun above the hairline, Wuchu (BL5) one cun above, Tongtian (BL7) four cun above. Chengguang therefore holds a rung on a ladder that climbs the forehead in a pair of parallel tracks, one either side of the midline, tracing the route the classical atlas gives the bladder channel as it crosses the head. That channel matters here: the meridians register opens it at the inner corner of the eye, sends it over the crown, and runs it down the whole length of the back to the little toe — the longest channel in the body, and the one whose early miles cross this very stretch of scalp.
Under the fingertips the terrain is forgiving. However curiously you explore with light pressure, you meet hair, scalp, and then the firm curve of the skull; no delicate structure rides just beneath the skin the way it does over the chest or abdomen. For most adults the site lies within hair-bearing scalp, which changes the feel of the search more than the search itself. Nothing about locating Chengguang requires force — the landmarks announce themselves to patient fingertips — and gentleness remains the house style everywhere on these pages.
A Self-Palpation Walkthrough
Begin seated, shoulders easy, in good light. First find the midpoint of the anterior hairline: set a finger between your eyebrows and draw slowly straight up the midline of the forehead until you meet the hair; the centre of that meeting is your base. Rest the edge of your thumb just above it and step upward — thumb-edge touching thumb-edge — two full widths and then half of another, keeping to the midline throughout. From that height, walk a cun and a half outward, one and a half thumb-widths, toward the side you mean to work. Settle your fingertips there, into the hair or just at its border, and let them rest a moment while the scalp settles beneath them.
A few confirmations help before any pressing begins. Touch feather-light and compare sides: many people notice a faint, dull awareness at the true point — sometimes a slight tenderness, sometimes only warmth — and much less sensation a thumb-width away. Check the symmetry: the twin points should sit level with one another, equal distances either side of the midline, like a pair of bookends. Use the ladder as a second witness: distinctly lower and closer to the hairline you are in Wuchu’s territory, distinctly higher you approach Tongtian, and the station between hairline-height and those upper slopes is where Chengguang waits. If thick hair gets in the way, part it gently and search with the finger pads; the scalp underneath receives touch exactly as bare skin would.
Common slips have simple fixes. The most frequent is measuring upward from the wrong landmark — from the crown or from the eyebrows rather than from the hairline’s midpoint — so restart at the base whenever in doubt. Another is drifting toward the temple: the correct track keeps its constant thumb-and-a-half distance from the midline even as it climbs. A third is covering the whole distance in one long guess; several deliberate thumb-steps land far truer than a single leap. People with receding hairlines may find the textbook “hairline” less obvious than the diagram promises — take the point where forehead skin changes texture and colour, and trade precision anxiety for a margin of patience.
Reading the Name: Receiving Light
The name arrives as two spare characters: Cheng Guang, 承光. Cheng 承 means to receive, to bear, to hold up from beneath — the posture of hands cupped to catch something as it settles. Guang 光 means light, radiance, brightness. Read plainly, the name says Receiving Light or Holding Up the Light, and like many channel points named for images — gates, valleys, courtyards, storehouses — the metaphor does real work. It pictures this scalp station as a place where brightness is gathered in and carried: a lamp-wick image set into the map of the head.
That image resonates quietly with the point’s recorded portfolio. Among the traditional indications the dataset preserves for Chengguang stands blurred vision — clouded, dimmed sight — alongside the headache and dizziness that fill the portfolios of scalp points generally. Classical teaching treats the head broadly as a gathering ground where the channels’ activity converges, and the bladder channel in particular is drawn crossing precisely this scalp territory on its way from the inner eye over the crown. The tradition offers no mechanism behind the name and neither will this page; it is enough to notice that a point called Receiving Light was classically discussed when sight grew dim, and that the old authors liked names which remembered a point’s work for them.
Pinyin renders the name Chéngguāng. Dictionary form puts a rising second tone on cheng — the pitch climbs, fittingly, the way the character lifts something upward — and a high, level first tone on guang. The hanzi pair 承光 is short enough to memorise at a glance. As with the gates and storehouses elsewhere in the atlas, the name functions as a memory aid written into the body itself: find the station where light is received, and you have found the point the records describe.
Traditional Indications, Explained
The recorded indications read: headache, dizziness, epilepsy, nasal congestion, blurred vision, febrile disease without sweating, and vexation. Framed as tradition rather than promise, the first pair form the classic portfolio of scalp points: old case literature reaches again and again for stations along these midline tracks when heads ached heavily or the room seemed to tilt. Nasal congestion looks less obvious on a head point until the channel map is recalled — the bladder pathway opens at the inner corner of the eye, right beside the bridge of the nose — and classical practice routinely discussed congested nostrils along the channel’s upper course.
The remaining entries carry older meanings worth translating honestly. Blurred vision sits naturally beside the point’s luminous name. Febrile disease without sweating is a traditional diagnosis: a fever felt stuck at the body’s surface, unable to break through — a distinction the old physicians drew carefully, and one modern readers should meet as history, because any significant fever today calls for proper medical assessment. Vexation names an inner restlessness, an agitation with or without accompanying heat. Epilepsy reminds us how differently the ancients grouped illness: convulsive disorders belonged to the discussions collected around head points. Whatever the old books debated, seizure care today belongs wholly to medical teams — without exception, and without substitution.
It bears repeating plainly: these are traditional uses preserved in a licensed dataset and classical literature, offered here for cultural and historical understanding. They are not claims that pressing this point treats disease, and nothing in this guide replaces assessment by a qualified clinician. Where modern research touches self-applied pressure at all, reviews suggest effects are modest and context-dependent, and evidence specific to any single scalp point remains thin. Hold the tradition lightly, and hold the safety rules tightly.
Self-Care Acupressure at Home
With the point located by the walkthrough above, settle in: seated, spine tall but unforced, breath unhurried. Part the hair if needed and rest the pads of one or two fingers — never the nails — on the spot. Begin with contact alone for a few breaths, then add small, slow circles, letting the scalp glide minutely over the skull beneath rather than grinding against it. Pressure should register as pleasant dullness or mild warmth, never soreness that sharpens as you continue. A common home rhythm is one to three minutes per side, once or twice daily, matched where possible to slow exhales. Swap hands afterwards and repeat on the other side, so the twin points receive equal attention.
Quality matters more than duration. Light, patient, regularly repeated contact fits the wellness register this page practises; hard rubbing teaches the scalp nothing and leaves the follicles grumbling besides. Warm cold hands before beginning. Choose a quiet corner rather than a screen, because the practice doubles as a thinking pause — eyes closed, breath low and slow, the day’s noise pressed gently outward under still fingertips. Many people anchor the minute or two to an existing habit: after washing the hair, through the afternoon slump, before bed. Consistency, not intensity, is what self-care traditions actually ask for.
Treat the exercise as a small ceremony of attention rather than a treatment session. Across weeks you may notice the area feels less tender to the touch, that the ritual carves a calm pocket into the day, or simply that you spent two minutes caring for a part of the body rarely noticed until it complains. Every one of those outcomes fits the honest scope of self-acupressure. During a fierce headache attack, rest comes first — try the point only if the lightest touch genuinely soothes, and stop the moment it does not. Escalating pressure, duration, or depth to force a result is never part of this practice.
Cautions and Safe Practice
One warning sets this point apart, and it deserves its prominence. The licensed dataset cautions practitioners: do not apply moxibustion; classical literature says moxibustion here causes loss of sight. Few points carry so stark a transmitted prohibition. This guide neither explains the warning away nor softens it: the record passes it forward, and the record governs. For home practice the sensible reading is broader than the letter of the text — no moxa sticks, no heat lamps, no warmed oils or balms, no heated tools of any kind belong at this scalp site. Heat-based practices near the head belong to trained professionals who carry such warnings with them.
Fingertip acupressure is a different order of contact, and the practical rules follow plainly. Keep every touch on the surface: finger pads only, no knuckles, nails, brushes, or devices. Skip the point over broken, irritated, or freshly shaved skin, during any feverish illness, and after head injury or scalp surgery until a clinician clears ordinary care. Sharp, electric, or radiating sensation means stop at once and do not try again that day. Pregnant readers, and anyone living with chronic neurological or eye conditions, should ask a qualified practitioner before adding any new point practice — a conservatism this page applies gladly.
And the wider rule stands over everything: this page is educational, and acupressure is self-care, not diagnosis or therapy. Seek prompt medical care — not a longer pressing session — for sudden severe headache, the worst headache of one’s life, headache with fever and a stiff neck, headache after a blow to the head, any change in vision, speech, or limb strength, and any seizure. Persistent headaches or dizziness deserve a licensed practitioner’s assessment, medical or East Asian medical as suits the complaint. The image of receiving light is lovely, but the brightest gift this page offers is a reader who enjoys gentle scalp work and knows, clearly, where the exits stand when symptoms refuse to stay ordinary.
Chengguang, Receiving Light, stands two and a half cun above the middle of the front hairline, a thumb-and-a-half to one side of the midline. Classical practice reached for this point amid headache, dizziness, and clouded sight, and the record adds an unusual warning: no moxibustion here. This guide walks you to the point by touch and shows how to keep self-care light, kind, and safe.
Cautions from the classical sources
- No moxibustion here — classical texts link it to blindness.
Self-care limits
Frequently asked
- How do I find Chengguang without knowing anything about cun?
- Anchor on the hairline. Draw a finger straight up the midline of the forehead from between the eyebrows until you meet the hair, mark that midpoint, then climb two and a half of your own thumb-widths and step one and a half thumb-widths to the side. The spot under your fingertips — level with its mirror-image partner on the other side — is the location the dataset describes. Cun measurements simply encode the same landmark sequence in proportional language.
- Why does this point carry a warning against moxibustion?
- Because the record says so, and the record is the authority this site follows. The licensed dataset states that classical literature links moxibustion at this point to loss of sight; the tradition transmitted the prohibition without the sort of explanation modern readers might want, and this guide declines to invent one. Home practice extends the warning conservatively: no moxa, lamps, or heated products at the site at all. Gentle fingertip pressure is an entirely different kind of contact, and it is the only technique described on this page.
- What did classical practice use Chengguang for?
- The traditional record lists headache, dizziness, epilepsy, nasal congestion, blurred vision, febrile disease without sweating, and vexation. Head-and-sight complaints dominate, which suits both the point’s position on the scalp and its light-receiving name. These are traditional frameworks for understanding the body, documented for context — not evidence-backed treatment claims.
- The point seems to sit under my hair. Does that change anything?
- Only the mechanics. Part the hair gently, use soft finger pads rather than anything scratchy, and let small circles move scalp and hair together; the underlying tissues respond to touch exactly as they would on bare skin. Wash your hands first, avoid tugging, and skip the session over any irritated or broken patch of scalp. If styling products are in, an evening after washing works better than a morning after styling.
- Can pressing Chengguang replace seeing a doctor about my headaches?
- No. Self-acupressure is a comfort practice, not a diagnostic tool. Sudden severe headache, headache with fever and stiff neck, headache after a head injury, disturbed vision or speech, weakness, or any seizure needs prompt professional assessment — and headaches that persist or change pattern deserve one too. Think of the two as different floors of the same building: daily self-care lives downstairs, clinical medicine keeps the consulting room upstairs, and neither substitutes for the other.
Sources
- 01WHO Standard Acupuncture Point Locations in the Western Pacific Region (2008), World Health Organization — nomenclature conventions.
- 02A Manual of Acupuncture, Peter Deadman, Mazin Al-Khafaji and Kevin Baker — point-name tradition and channel context.
- 03aijiu-mpvue (MIT License) licensed dataset, entry for BL6 Chengguang — location, actions, and caution record.
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/bl6/leaf.json
- GET /zh-hant/points/bl6/leaf.json
- GET /zh-cn/points/bl6/leaf.json
- /llms.txt — the index of every leaf
- JSON-LD in the page: MedicalWebPage, MedicalEntity and FAQPage
{
"id": "BL6",
"name": {
"en": "Chengguang",
"gloss": "Receiving Light",
"zh-Hant": "承光",
"zh-Hans": "承光"
},
"channel": {
"id": "BL",
"order": 6,
"of": 67
},
"location": {
"text": "On the scalp, two finger-widths behind BL5, on the same line two finger-widths out from the centre."
},
"for": [
"headache",
"dizziness",
"blurred vision"
],
"press": {
"text": "Small circles with two fingertips, about a minute each side.",
"seconds": 60,
"sides": "both"
},
"cautions": [],
"source": "Zhenjiu Jiayi Jing, book 3",
"url": "https://acupoints.com/en/points/bl6",
"lastReviewed": "2026-08-25"
}