Si Shen Chong Four Alert Spirit, Four Mind Hearing

What does Si Shen Cong do?

Si Shen Cong calms the spirit (Shen) and benefits the brain, pacifies internal wind, sharpens memory and concentration, relieves headache, dizziness and insomnia, and benefits the eyes and hearing — a group of four extra points around the crown of the head.

• Calms the Shen and benefits the brain — the core action, for a restless mind and for the “sea of marrow” (the brain)
• Pacifies internal wind — for the shaking, dizziness and convulsion of wind arising within
• Sharpens memory and concentration; relieves headache, dizziness and insomnia; benefits the eyes and hearing — the broad head-and-mind reach of the vertex

Four points, not one. Si Shen Cong (“Four Alertnesses of the Spirit”, coded EX-HN-1 / M-HN-1) is a set of four points encircling DU-20 Bai Hui at the crown — one cun in front, one cun behind, and one cun to each side. They are almost always used together, and their functions closely parallel DU-20’s own: calming the spirit, clearing and benefiting the head, and lifting the yang. Where DU-20 is a single crown point, Si Shen Cong is its four-point amplifier.

A modern favourite for the mind. This group is among the most-used scalp points in modern practice for the spirit and cognition — anxiety and restlessness, poor memory and concentration, insomnia, dizziness — and as an adjunct in wind-stroke and epilepsy rehabilitation (alongside, never instead of, medical care).

On the name. “Si Shen Cong” — si four, shen the spirit/mind, cong alert, clever or acute. The four points that make the spirit alert.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (extra-point action and translation records; the DU-20 record queried against our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

What is Si Shen Cong used for?

Si Shen Cong is used for headache, dizziness (vertigo), insomnia, poor memory, and epilepsy. Our own indication record is reproduced here in full.

• Headache
• Vertigo (dizziness)
• Insomnia
• Poor memory
• Epilepsy

Head and mind. Headache and vertigo are the wind-and-head action; insomnia and poor memory are the calm-the-Shen and benefit-the-brain action; epilepsy is the pacify-internal-wind action. It is a coherent head-and-mind list, matching a four-point group at the crown.

An honest and necessary note. Epilepsy requires medical diagnosis and management — a first seizure or any change needs assessment, and acupuncture is not a substitute for anticonvulsant care. Persistent poor memory or new cognitive change warrants medical assessment. New, severe or changed headache, and sudden or severe dizziness, require assessment. Persistent insomnia deserves proper assessment of its cause. This record documents classical use only.

How it is combined. Almost always with DU-20 Bai Hui at its centre, and with GB-20 Feng Chi, HT-07 Shen Men and Yin Tang for the spirit and the head. All held here.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (extra-point indication and action records; the DU-20, GB-20 and HT-07 records queried from our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

Where is Si Shen Cong located?

Si Shen Cong is four points on the top of the head, one cun in front of, behind, and to each side of the crown point DU-20.

• Four points grouped around DU-20 Bai Hui at the vertex
• Each 1 cun from DU-20 — one anterior, one posterior, one to the left and one to the right
• They form a small cross or square centred on the crown

Found from DU-20. Fix DU-20 Bai Hui first — on the midline at the crown, level with the tops of the ears — then mark the four points a cun away in front, behind and to each side. The whole group is defined by its relationship to that one central point.

On the name. “Si Shen Cong” — the four points that make the spirit alert, as noted above.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (extra-point location and translation records, retained unchanged; the DU-20 record queried from our own data).

• A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 565): Four points at the vertex of the scalp, grouped around Baihui (DU-20) and located 1 cun anterior, posterior and lateral to it.

How is Si Shen Cong needled?

Our own record states transverse (horizontal) insertion of 0.5–1.5 cun — the flat, threaded-under-the-scalp technique scalp points use. 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: transverse, 0.5–1.5 cun — each needle threaded flat under the scalp, commonly toward or away from DU-20 at the centre.
• As a group: the four are needled together, and often with DU-20 itself.
• Moxibustion: the scalp allows moxa with the usual care around hair.
• Regional anatomy: the points lie in the scalp over the skull near the crown; branches of the occipital, superficial temporal and supraorbital vessels and nerves run in the scalp; the skull is immediately deep.

Hazard, stated proportionately. This is a low-hazard group: the skull is immediately beneath, so transverse needling has no route into the head. The scalp is vascular, so bleeding and bruising are common even when harmless. No arterial caution applies.

What is not claimed. No study measuring a safe depth at Si Shen Cong could be located, and none is needed for transverse scalp needling over bone. No case report was located.

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

Is there research on Si Shen Cong, and what should a reader know?

No trial isolates Si Shen Cong. Where it appears it is one component of a scalp or cognition protocol, and a study that includes a point in a protocol is not evidence about that point.

What this page can state with confidence. Si Shen Cong (“Four Alertnesses of the Spirit”, EX-HN-1) is a group of four extra points around DU-20 at the crown, used together and closely paralleling DU-20’s own function — calming the spirit, benefiting the brain, pacifying internal wind — for headache, dizziness, insomnia, poor memory and (as an adjunct) epilepsy and stroke. It is needled transversely under the scalp.

A safety note. Epilepsy, stroke and new cognitive change are matters for medical care; this page records classical use and says so.

A note on searching for it. Si Shen Cong is coded EX-HN-1 (older texts: M-HN-1), and is romanised both “Si Shen Cong” and “Sishencong”. Any claim should be checked against what a study actually used.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (extra-point action, indication and location records; the DU-20 record queried, against our own data).