Dim Mak — Dian Xue (点穴) vital-point striking
Dim Mak — Dian Xue (点穴) vital-point striking is a Chinese / Martial — Dian Xue (dim mak) body system as transmitted through the lineage Dian xue (点穴, 'dotting the cavities/points') is a Chinese martial vocabulary for striking or seizing vulnerable bodily loci, with shi xue (时穴) traditions associating point vulnerability with a time-cycled sequence. Classical quan pu materials and later martial manuals preserve heterogeneous point names and timing claims rather than one stable canonical death-touch chart. This system reuses the anatomical locations of named acupuncture points from the twelve primary-meridian corpus, while marking the martial interpretation as a medium-fidelity modern synthesis.. This page lists every point in the system with sourced placements and links to cross-tradition correspondences curated for The Body Spiritual.
Open in interactive explorerPrimary sources
- Dianxue / shixue passages in classical quan pu (Ming–Qing martial arts manuals; anonymous and attributed editions with contested provenance) — The manuals are a corpus of variant lineages, not a single securely attributable canon; point and timing claims are therefore reported as traditions rather than settled historical fact.
- Huangdi Neijing · Lingshu (transl. Unschuld, California UP 2016) — Canonical channel and acupoint context used for shared anatomical names; it is not evidence that the Neijing teaches a Dim Mak death-touch method.
- Brian R. Kennedy and Elizabeth Guo, Chinese Martial Arts Training Manuals (North Atlantic Books, 2005) — Modern historical survey used to situate quan pu transmission, manual genres, and the evidentiary limits of later English-language martial claims.
- P. Deadman, A Manual of Acupuncture (JCM Publications, 1998) — Modern anatomical and nomenclature reference for the acupuncture point identifiers reused as location anchors.
- Erle Montaigue, Dim-Mak (Paladin Press, 1995) — Popular modern presentation; low evidentiary weight and flagged as a modern invention/popularization where it supplies fixed timing or death-touch certainty.
Known lineage variants
- Shi xue hourly-cycle doctrine is retained in prose only: manuals and later schools disagree about the sequence, point correspondences, and whether timing is literal, mnemonic, or tactical. No clock or 24-hour timetable is rendered, and no fixed schedule should be inferred from orb pulse periods.
- Quan pu attribution is unstable: titles, dates, compiler names, and transmission lines vary across surviving editions. The system therefore treats the classical corpus as primary evidence for a vocabulary and doctrine, not as a single authoritative chart.
- Montaigue's fixed operational timing and dramatic death-touch framing are modern popularization, not a secure classical consensus; those claims receive low weight and are not used to assert predictable injury or mortality.
- The front-view coordinates are editorial projections into this project's normalized silhouette. Anatomical-right is x < 0.5; bilateral loci are represented by a right-side anchor unless a midline point is named, and uncertainty radii are widened where a point is lateral, deep, or custom rather than a standard acupoint.
- The GV/CV, ST, LV, SP, GB, BL, and KI identifiers reuse locations in tcm_twelve_primary_meridians and related extraordinary-vessel data; this is a topographic cross-reference, not a claim that acupuncture and martial dian xue have identical functions. Organ context is cross-referenced to wuxing_five_zang, while its zang–phase correspondences remain a separate TCM doctrine.
Related systems
No other systems share this tradition label.
Points
- Taiyang (EX-HN5) — Temple — extra head point, right representative
- Renzhong / Shuigou (GV26) — Philtrum — Governing Vessel point
- Tiantu (CV22) — Sternal notch / throat — Conception Vessel point
- Renying (ST9) — Carotid groove — Stomach channel point, right representative
- Danzhong (CV17) — Mid-sternum / cardiac region — Conception Vessel point
- Qimen (LV14) — Rib margin — Liver channel point, right representative
- Shenque (CV8) — Navel — Conception Vessel point
- Guanyuan (CV4) — Lower abdomen / suprapubic centre — Conception Vessel point
- Chongmen (SP12) — Inguinal crease / groin — Spleen channel point, right representative
- Huantiao (GB30) — Hip / gluteal fold — Gallbladder channel point, right representative
- Femoral passage (right) — Femoral triangle / proximal thigh — non-acupoint anatomical anchor
- Weizhong (BL40) — Popliteal crease — Bladder channel point, right representative
- Kunlun (BL60) — Lateral ankle — Bladder channel point, right representative
- Taixi (KI3) — Medial ankle — Kidney channel point, right representative
Frequently asked
What is Taiyang (EX-HN5)?
Taiyang is the temple locus known in contemporary acupuncture nomenclature as EX-HN5; the left side is its bilateral counterpart, while the right side is the rendered anchor. Dian xue manuals commonly place the temple among vulnerable head targets, but their injury language and timing associations vary by lineage and do not establish a predictable outcome.
What is Renzhong / Shuigou (GV26)?
Renzhong, also called Shuigou, is GV26 at the midline of the philtrum. The point is reused here because martial manuals and acupuncture references share this named topography; the shared name does not prove that a historical dian xue application had the same indication as acupuncture.
What is Tiantu (CV22)?
Tiantu is CV22 at the suprasternal notch, the visible front landmark at the base of the throat. Dian xue descriptions place the anterior throat among high-consequence targets, but the point's deep structures and vulnerability make this a warning locus rather than a safe training target.
What is Renying (ST9)?
Renying is ST9 in the lateral neck groove beside the laryngeal prominence, and it is bilateral; the right side is the displayed anchor. Its location overlaps major neurovascular structures, so the martial association is recorded as a hazardous anatomical reference and not as an instruction or claim of reliable incapacitation.
What is Danzhong (CV17)?
Danzhong is CV17 on the anterior midline of the sternum, in the precordial or cardiac region. The coordinate is a broad body projection rather than a claim that the point lies on the heart; dian xue texts use chest-centre language variably, while wuxing_five_zang supplies the separate heart/fire organ context.
What is Qimen (LV14)?
Qimen is LV14 at the lower rib margin, near the anterior thoracic-abdominal transition; the right-side anchor follows the project's anatomical-right convention. The rib and upper-abdominal area is treated as a vulnerable flank region in martial lore, while the Liver tag records a TCM channel and wuxing association rather than a biomedical target claim.
What is Shenque (CV8)?
Shenque is CV8 at the umbilicus on the front midline. The navel is a recurring bodily centre in Chinese internal-body and martial writing, but this map records only a location and a textual association; it does not endorse striking or penetrating it.
What is Guanyuan (CV4)?
Guanyuan is CV4 on the lower anterior midline, superior to the pubic symphysis and within the lower-abdominal region. Martial texts use lower-abdominal and generative vulnerability language inconsistently; the jing tag marks a TCM essence context and not a claim of a special lethal mechanism.
What is Chongmen (SP12)?
Chongmen is SP12 in the inguinal fold, and the right-side point stands for its bilateral pair. This groin location is included because dian xue accounts repeatedly classify the inguinal and femoral passage as vulnerable, but its proximity to vessels and nerves makes any contact hazardous.
What is Huantiao (GB30)?
Huantiao is GB30 at the hip, located in the gluteal region near the greater-trochanter landmark; the right representative is projected on the front silhouette with a widened radius. It is an established acupoint location reused as a martial topographic reference, not a claim that the Gallbladder channel is a literal conduit of force.
What is Femoral passage (right)?
The femoral passage is a custom anatomical anchor for the proximal anterior thigh and femoral-triangle region, not a standard acupuncture point identifier. It is kept separate from SP12 and GB30 so the map does not imply that every martial locus has an acupoint equivalent; its coordinate is deliberately broad because the classical wording is not a modern anatomical dissection.
What is Weizhong (BL40)?
Weizhong is BL40 at the centre of the popliteal crease, represented on the right leg in the front-view projection. The popliteal fossa is a vascular and neural passage; it is mapped because the requested martial corpus names the knee hollow, not because a strike can be assumed to produce a fixed result.
What is Kunlun (BL60)?
Kunlun is BL60 at the depression between the lateral malleolus and the Achilles tendon, represented on the right ankle. The named acupoint supplies a reproducible landmark for the martial map, while the historical dian xue timing and consequence language around distal points remains variant and non-predictive.
What is Taixi (KI3)?
Taixi is KI3 between the medial malleolus and Achilles tendon, shown as a right ankle representative beside Kunlun's lateral-ankle locus. Its Kidney and jing tags are TCM correspondences cross-referenced to wuxing_five_zang; they should not be read as anatomical claims about a renal structure at the ankle.