GB-06 (Xuan Li) Suspended Tuft

What does GB-06 Xuan Li do?

GB-06 expels wind and clears heat, and it activates the channel and alleviates pain — word for word the actions our record gives for GB-05, one step down the same line.

• Expels wind and clears heat
• Activates the channel and alleviates pain

The identity is exact, and both pages say so. Comparing our records directly, GB-05 and GB-06 carry the same two actions in the same order in the same words. This library has documented the same at BL-31 and BL-34 on the sacrum, and a stronger version at KI-23 and KI-24 on the chest, where the indication lists match as well. Here the indications do differ, so the identity is in the action field alone — and writing two differently-flavoured pages would misrepresent what we hold.

Four channels meet here: the Gallbladder, Stomach, San Jiao and Large Intestine, as our category record states — the same four-channel designation GB-05 carries. The temple is where the yang channels of the head converge, and these classifications record it.

On the name, and the confusion it invites. “Xuan Li” means Suspended Tuft — xuan, suspended, shared with GB-05 Xuan Lu (Suspended Skull), DU-05 Xuan Shu and GB-39 Xuan Zhong. GB-05 and GB-06 differ by one syllable, sit adjacent on the head, and have identical recorded actions. That is as easy a pair to confuse as any in the system, and it is the practical reason to read the code rather than the name.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (channel, category, action and translation records; the GB-05 action record compared word for word, and the BL-31, BL-34, DU-05, GB-39, KI-23 and KI-24 records checked, against our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

What is GB-06 Xuan Li used for?

GB-06 is used for migraine, for pain at the outer corner of the eye, for tinnitus, and for frequent sneezing. Our own indication record is reproduced here in full — four entries.

• Migraine
• Pain in the outer canthus (the outer corner of the eye)
• Tinnitus
• Frequent sneezing

Frequent sneezing is what distinguishes it — and it is the only such entry on this channel’s head run. Comparing our records, GB-04, GB-05 and GB-06 all carry migraine and outer-canthus pain; GB-05 adds facial swelling, GB-04 adds vertigo, tinnitus, toothache, convulsion and epilepsy, and GB-06 alone records sneezing. Repeated sneezing is the classical picture of wind in the upper body, which is exactly what the recorded action names.

An honest note. Migraine deserves proper medical diagnosis and management; effective preventive and acute treatments exist. A sudden severe headache unlike any before, or one with fever, neck stiffness, weakness, confusion or visual loss, is a MEDICAL EMERGENCY. A red or painful eye requires assessment — some causes are sight-threatening. New or one-sided tinnitus requires assessment. Persistent sneezing and nasal symptoms warrant assessment rather than repeated self-treatment; allergic rhinitis is treatable once identified.

And a caution particular to this region and age group. Temporal pain and scalp tenderness in an adult over about fifty — especially with jaw ache on chewing, or any visual change — can indicate giant cell arteritis, which threatens sight and is a medical emergency. It is stated because these points sit over the temporal artery’s territory, not because our indication record mentions it.

How it is combined. With GB-05 below and ST-08 Tou Wei above — the upper anchor of the quartered line. With GB-07 Qu Bin, its lower anchor. With Tai Yang at the temple and GB-20 Feng Chi for the head. With LI-20 Ying Xiang and Yin Tang for the sneezing, and LI-04 He Gu distally. All held here.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (indication and action records; the GB-04, GB-05, GB-07, GB-20, LI-04, LI-20, ST-08, Tai Yang and Yin Tang records queried and compared from our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

Where is GB-06 Xuan Li located?

GB-06 is in the temple within the hairline, three quarters of the way along the line from ST-08 Tou Wei to GB-07 Qu Bin.

• In the temporal region, within the hairline
• Three quarters of the distance between ST-08 Tou Wei and GB-07 Qu Bin
• GB-05 Xuan Lu sits at one half and GB-04 Han Yan at one quarter of the same span

Three points quartering one line. Our records place GB-04, GB-05 and GB-06 at one quarter, one half and three quarters of the distance from ST-08 to GB-07 — nothing measured in cun, the span simply divided. It is the most systematic proportional arrangement in this library, and it is self-correcting: the fractions hold whatever the size of the head, where a chain of separate cun measurements would accumulate error.

The same method appears on another channel. Our SJ-18 and SJ-19 records place those points at one third and two thirds of a curved line behind the ear, from SJ-17 to SJ-20. Two channels, two regions, one idea: fix the anchors, then divide the span.

And the two constructions share an anchor. Our GB-07 record locates that point — the lower end of this quartered line — level with and one finger-breadth in front of SJ-20 Jiao Sun, which is itself found by folding the ear forward. So a single ear-fold ultimately fixes SJ-18 and SJ-19 behind the ear and the three quartered Gallbladder points in front of it: one landmark, six points. An error there propagates to all of them.

A caution about hair. These points lie within the hairline where landmarks are hidden, which is precisely why the proportional method is used rather than a description of surface features.

On the name. “Xuan Li” — Suspended Tuft. As noted above, one syllable from GB-05 Xuan Lu, its adjacent neighbour with an identical action record.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (location and translation records, retained unchanged including the three-quarters construction; the GB-04, GB-05, GB-07, ST-08, SJ-18, SJ-19 and SJ-20 records queried and their constructions compared against our own data).

• A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 426): In the temporal region, within the hairline, three quarters of the distance between Touwei ST-8 and Qubin GB-7.
• Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion (p. 210): Within the hairline, at the junction of the lower 1/4 and upper 3/4 of the distance between Touwei (ST-8) and Qubin (GB-7).

How is GB-06 Xuan Li needled?

Our own record states SUBCUTANEOUS insertion — the needle laid along under the skin — to roughly 0.3–0.5 inch, with moxibustion applicable. What follows is a neutral record of what the reference literature documents. It is not instruction, and this page does not teach technique.

• Angle and depth as recorded: subcutaneous (transverse), 0.3–0.5 inch — the same insertion our records give at GB-04, GB-05 and GB-07. All four points of this temporal run are recorded identically.
• Moxibustion: recorded as applicable.
• Regional anatomy: the temporalis muscle and its fascia lie beneath thin scalp; the superficial temporal artery and vein and the auriculotemporal nerve ascend through the region; the temporal bone lies beneath, and it is the thinnest part of the skull.

Why subcutaneous, and why that is the safety story. There is muscle and then bone beneath the scalp, so a transverse needle is what the anatomy permits rather than a stylistic choice. This is a low-hazard point in that specific sense: no cavity within reach, no organ, no major vessel at the point itself. The scalp bleeds readily, which is a nuisance rather than a danger.

The arterial caution in this region belongs to a different point. Our SJ-22 He Liao record, at the front edge of the temple, opens with “avoid puncturing the artery” and gives only 0.1–0.3 inch, because the superficial temporal artery is the structure its own location uses. GB-06’s record carries no arterial caution — nine points in this library do, counted by query, and GB-06 is not among them — and this page does not import one.

What is not claimed. No study measuring a safe depth at GB-06 could be located, and none is borrowed. Neither measured-depth study this library uses reaches the head. No case report naming GB-06 was located.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (needling record, retained unchanged, and the GB-04, GB-05 and GB-07 recorded insertions compared; every needling record queried and the nine arterial cautions counted, with SJ-22's attributed to that point), cross-referenced against multiple online sources; regional anatomy from standard anatomical description.

Is there research on GB-06, and what should a reader know?

No trial isolates GB-06. Where the point appears it is one component of a headache protocol, and a study that includes a point in a protocol is not evidence about that point.

Migraine has a substantial acupuncture literature, built on multi-point protocols around GB-20, Tai Yang, LI-04 and SJ-05 — not this point. And “scalp acupuncture” is a distinct modern system with its own zones and trials, not the same thing as the classical channel points on the head. Neither literature is claimed here.

What this page can state with confidence. GB-06 sits at three quarters of a line divided into quarters by GB-04, GB-05 and GB-06 — a method that is self-correcting whatever the head’s size. It is a meeting point of four channels. Its action record is word for word identical to GB-05’s, which both pages disclose rather than disguise. And it is the only point on this channel’s head run recording sneezing, which is consistent with its recorded wind-expelling action.

A note on searching for it. “GB 6”, “G 6” and “Xuanli” searches return protocol trials and unrelated material — and the specific trap is GB-05 Xuan Lu, one syllable away, adjacent on the head, with an identical recorded action. Any claim attached to this point should be checked against which of the two a study actually used.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (category, action, indication and location records; the GB-04 to GB-07 constructions and the SJ-18 to SJ-20 parallel confirmed, and the GB-05 action record compared word for word, against our own data).