GB-01 (Tong Zi Liao) Pupil Bone Hole

What does GB-01 Tong Zi Liao do?

GB-01 benefits the eyes, eliminates wind and clears heat — a major eye point at the outer corner of the eye, and the first point of the Gall Bladder channel.

• Benefits the eyes — the principal action, and the reason this is one of the most-used local eye points
• Eliminates wind and clears heat — addressing red, hot, watering eyes and wind-type facial signs

A three-channel meeting point at the outer canthus. Our record classifies GB-01 as a Meeting Point of the Gall Bladder, Small Intestine and San Jiao channels — three channels converging at the outer corner of the eye, all of which reach the eye and temple. That convergence, plus its position right at the outer canthus, makes GB-01 a principal local point for eye disorders, working with the eye points around the orbit.

The channel starts at the eye. GB-01 is the first point of the Gall Bladder channel, which begins at the outer canthus and then zig-zags across the side of the head before descending the body. A channel that starts at the eye opening with an eye point is fitting — and it is why so much of the Gall Bladder’s head course treats the eyes, ears and temporal region.

On the name. The name is Tong Zi Liao, Pupil Bone Hole — tong zi the pupil, liao a bone hole (here the hollow on the outer orbital bone), which the translation “Pupil Bone Hole” matches.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (channel, classification, action and translation records; the three-channel meeting classification queried against our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

What is GB-01 Tong Zi Liao used for?

GB-01 is used for headache, red and painful eyes, failing vision, watering of the eyes, and deviation of the eye and mouth. Our own indication record is reproduced here in full.

• Headache
• Redness and pain of the eyes
• Failing (deteriorating) vision
• Lacrimation (excessive watering of the eyes)
• Deviation of the eye and mouth

The eye, and the temple beside it. Every entry but the headache is an eye disorder — redness, pain, failing sight, watering — the local eye action; the headache is the temporal headache of the channel that starts here; and eye-and-mouth deviation is the facial-wind entry. It is a tightly eye-centred list.

An honest and necessary note. A red, painful eye requires medical assessment — some causes (glaucoma, uveitis, corneal disease) threaten sight and are urgent. FAILING OR SUDDENLY CHANGED VISION REQUIRES PROMPT ASSESSMENT — it can signal sight-threatening disease and is not something to treat with acupuncture while sight is lost. A new facial droop or eye-and-mouth deviation is an emergency (stroke, Bell’s palsy). This record documents classical use only.

How it is combined. With BL-01 Jing Ming at the inner canthus and ST-01 Cheng Qi below the eye — the ring of orbital eye points — and with GB-20 Feng Chi and LI-04 He Gu distally for the eyes and head. All held here.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (indication and action records; the BL-01, GB-20, LI-04 and ST-01 records queried from our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

Where is GB-01 Tong Zi Liao located?

GB-01 is just outside the outer corner of the eye, in the hollow on the bony edge of the eye socket.

• 0.5 cun lateral to the outer canthus (the outer corner of the eye)
• In the depression on the lateral (outer) side of the orbit — the bony rim of the eye socket
• The channel’s first point; the other orbital eye points (BL-01 inner canthus, ST-01 below) ring the eye with it

The bony orbital rim is the landmark. Feel the outer corner of the eye, move a short distance out onto the bony edge of the socket, and settle into the small hollow there — that is GB-01. The bone protects the eyeball, and locating the point on the rim (not toward the globe) is part of needling it safely.

On the name. “Tong Zi Liao” — Pupil Bone Hole, the orbital hollow beside the eye.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (location and translation records, retained unchanged; the BL-01 and ST-01 records queried from our own data).

• A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 422): In the hollow on the lateral side of the orbital margin, approximately 0.5 cun lateral to the outer canthus.
• Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion (p. 209): 0.5 cun lateral to the outer canthus, in the depression on the lateral side of the orbit.

How is GB-01 Tong Zi Liao needled?

Our own record states subcutaneous insertion of 0.3–0.5 inch, and lists no moxibustion — as is standard for a point beside the eye. What follows is a neutral record of what the reference literature documents. It is not instruction, and this page does not teach technique — a point on the orbital rim is delicate.

• Angle and depth as recorded: subcutaneous, 0.3–0.5 inch — a shallow, flat insertion along the orbital rim, kept against the bone and away from the eyeball.
• Moxibustion: not listed — moxa is not used beside the eye, and its absence here is consistent with that.
• Regional anatomy: the point lies on the lateral orbital margin; the orbicularis oculi muscle surrounds the eye; the eyeball lies medial within the socket, and the zygomatic branch of the facial nerve and small orbital vessels run nearby.

Hazard, stated proportionately. The consideration here is the eye: needling is kept subcutaneous, along the bony rim, and directed away from the globe. The region is vascular and bruises around the eye are common and can be dramatic even when harmless. Our record carries no arterial caution at GB-01, and it is not among the nine points that do; the eye, not a vessel, is what makes this a practitioner’s point.

What is not claimed. No study measuring a safe depth at GB-01 could be located, and none is borrowed; the subcutaneous, against-the-bone technique stands in its place. No case report naming GB-01 was located.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (needling record, retained unchanged; the nine arterial cautions queried from our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources; regional anatomy from standard anatomical description.

Is there research on GB-01, and what should a reader know?

No trial isolates GB-01. Where the point appears it is one component of an eye protocol, and a study that includes a point in a protocol is not evidence about that point.

What this page can state with confidence. GB-01 Tong Zi Liao (“Pupil Bone Hole”) is the first point of the Gall Bladder channel, at the outer corner of the eye, and a Meeting Point of the Gall Bladder, Small Intestine and San Jiao channels — a three-channel crossing that makes it a principal local eye point. Its indications are almost all of the eye. It is needled subcutaneously along the orbital rim, away from the eyeball, with no moxa.

A safety note that outranks any TCM claim. Failing vision and a red painful eye are urgent matters for an eye specialist. This page records classical use and says so in the same breath.

A note on searching for it. “GB 1”, “G 1” and “Tongziliao” searches return protocol trials and unrelated material — and this channel is coded GB, G and VB (vésicule biliaire) across the literature. Our library uses GB-. Any claim attached to this point should be checked against what a study actually used.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (classification, action, indication and location records; the three-channel meeting classification and the orbital eye points queried, against our own data).