LU-02 (Yun Men) Cloud Gate

What does LU-02 Yun Men do?

LU-02 clears Lung heat and disseminates and descends Lung qi, dispels anxiety and agitation, and drains heat in the joints — and it sits high on the chest below the collarbone, directly over the apex of the lung.

• Clears Lung heat and disseminates and descends Lung qi — the respiratory action; “disseminate” is the Lung’s spreading of qi and fluids outward
• Dispels anxiety and agitation — a mental-emotional action, uncommon on a Lung point
• Drains heat in the joints — the action behind its shoulder-inflammation indication

It pairs with LU-01 just below it. LU-01 Zhong Fu, the Lung’s Front-Mu point, sits one intercostal space below LU-02, and the two are the Lung channel’s upper chest points — used together for the chest and the Lung, and sharing the same anatomical situation over the lung apex, which the needling section sets out. Our LU-01 record is its channel-mate and its close neighbour in every sense.

On the name. “Yun Men” means Cloud Gate — yun cloud, men a gate. The Lung is associated with the qi that the classical texts liken to mist and cloud rising and spreading, and the point is a gateway high on the chest through which that qi passes. It is one of the more evocative names in the system, matching the Lung’s disseminating function.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (channel, action, location and translation records; the LU-01 record queried against our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

What is LU-02 Yun Men used for?

LU-02 is used for cough, asthma, wheezing and shortness of breath, for chest fullness and pain and heat in the chest, and for pain and inflammation of the shoulder. Our own indication record is reproduced here in full.

• Cough, asthma, wheezing, shortness of breath and dyspnoea
• Fullness and pain in the chest, heat in the chest
• Pain and inflammation in the shoulder

Respiratory, chest and shoulder — the point’s position accounts for all three. It sits over the lung apex (the respiratory and chest entries) and in the hollow below the collarbone at the front of the shoulder (the shoulder entry). The shoulder indication is where LU-02 is genuinely useful in practice as well as classically — it is a common point for pain at the front of the shoulder.

An honest note. CHEST PAIN OR TIGHTNESS WITH BREATHLESSNESS, SWEATING, OR PAIN SPREADING TO THE ARM OR JAW IS A MEDICAL EMERGENCY. SHORTNESS OF BREATH THAT IS SUDDEN, SEVERE, OR NEW REQUIRES URGENT ASSESSMENT — and a point on the chest carrying breathlessness indications sits over the lung, where a pneumothorax (a collapsed lung, which itself causes sudden breathlessness and chest pain) is the very hazard the needling record warns of. ASTHMA CAN BE FATAL and requires prescribed management. Shoulder pain with weakness or numbness needs assessment. This record documents classical use only.

How it is combined. With LU-01 Zhong Fu just below — the Lung’s Front-Mu point. With BL-13 Fei Shu on the back, the Lung’s Back-Shu point. With LI-15 Jian Yu for the front of the shoulder, and LU-05 Chi Ze and LU-07 Lie Que distally for the respiratory indications. All held here.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (indication record; the BL-13, LI-15, LU-01, LU-05 and LU-07 records queried from our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

Where is LU-02 Yun Men located?

LU-02 is in the hollow below the outer end of the collarbone, at the front of the shoulder, six cun out from the midline.

• Below the lateral extremity of the clavicle, 6 cun lateral to the midline
• In the deltopectoral triangle — the hollow between the deltoid and the pectoralis major muscles, which deepens when the arm is moved
• LU-01 Zhong Fu lies about one cun below it, in the first intercostal space

The infraclavicular hollow is the landmark, and it is a real one. Below the outer end of the collarbone, between the deltoid and the pectoralis major, there is a distinct depression — the deltopectoral triangle — that becomes more obvious when the arm is raised or moved against resistance. LU-02 sits in it. A palpable soft-tissue hollow bounded by two muscles and a bone is a more reliable guide than a measurement alone.

The clavicle is the reason a point here needs care. The collarbone is the roof of this region, and the apex of the lung rises above the first rib into the root of the neck just medial and deep to this hollow — which is exactly why the needling record warns against angling the needle inward. The location and the hazard are the same anatomy, set out below.

On the name. “Yun Men” — Cloud Gate, the gateway of the Lung’s misty qi.

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

• A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 77): On the antero-lateral aspect of the chest, below the lateral extremity of the clavicle, 6 cun lateral to the midline, in the center of the hollow of the delto-pectoral triangle.
• Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion (p. 136): In the superior lateral part of the anterior thoracic wall, superior to the coracoid process of scapula, in the depression of the infra-clavicular fossa, 6 cun lateral to the anterior midline.

How is LU-02 Yun Men needled, and what does our record warn about?

Our own record states OBLIQUE insertion of 0.5–0.8 inch directed toward the outer side of the chest, with the explicit instruction — “TO AVOID INJURING THE LUNG, NEVER PUNCTURE DEEPLY towards” the inner side — and moxibustion applicable. The direction is the whole of the safety, because the lung apex lies medial and deep. What follows is a neutral record of what the reference literature documents. It is not instruction, and this page does not teach technique.

• Our record states: never puncture deeply toward the medial (inner) aspect, to avoid injuring the lung. The needle is directed laterally, away from the lung apex — a directed insertion, and the direction is not optional.
• Angle and depth as recorded: oblique, directed laterally, 0.5–0.8 inch.
• Moxibustion: recorded as applicable, and it carries no pneumothorax hazard.
• Regional anatomy: the deltopectoral triangle lies between deltoid and pectoralis major, with the cephalic vein running in it; the clavicle is above; the first rib and the apex of the lung and the pleural dome lie deep and medial, rising into the root of the neck.

Only four points in the library carry an explicit organ-injury caution, and LU-02 is one of two naming the lung. Counted by querying every needling record: KI-21 (liver), KI-22 (heart), and LU-01 and LU-02 (the lung). LU-01 and LU-02 sit one above the other over the lung apex, and both carry the caution — a matched pair, unlike most of the caution set. Pneumothorax is the documented hazard of this whole band, and here it is written into the point’s own record with a specified safe direction.

What is not claimed. No study measuring a safe depth at LU-02 could be located, and none is borrowed. The paediatric chest-CT study this library uses measured 23 points on the back and shoulder, not the front. No case report naming LU-02 was located.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (needling record including the lung caution and the recorded lateral direction, retained verbatim; every needling record queried and the four organ-injury cautions counted, with LU-01 and LU-02 confirmed the two naming the lung; the point list of PMID 26922245 confirmed not to include LU-02), cross-referenced against multiple online sources; regional anatomy from standard anatomical description.

Is there research on LU-02, and what should a reader know?

No trial isolates LU-02. Where the point appears it is one component of a respiratory or shoulder protocol, and a study that includes a point in a protocol is not evidence about that point.

What this page can state with confidence. LU-02 sits in the infraclavicular hollow over the lung apex, and its record carries an explicit lung-injury caution with a specified safe direction — needle laterally, never deep toward the inside. It is one of only four points in the library with an organ-injury caution, and one of only two naming the lung, paired with LU-01 just below it. Its indications are respiratory, chest and shoulder — all accounted for by its position — and it is a genuinely useful point for pain at the front of the shoulder.

The warnings are the operative content. Chest pain or new breathlessness is an emergency, and pneumothorax — the very hazard the record guards against — itself presents that way.

A note on searching for it. “LU 2”, “L 2” and “Yunmen” searches return protocol trials and unrelated material — “Yunmen” is a place name and, notably, the name of a famous Chan Buddhist school and a dance company, which fills results. Any claim attached to this point should be checked against what a study actually used.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (action, indication, location and needling records; every needling record queried and the four organ-injury cautions counted, and the LU-01 record checked, against our own data).