ST-19 (Bu Rong) Not Contained

What does ST-19 Bu Rong do?

ST-19 harmonises the middle jiao and lowers rebellion, and it descends qi and alleviates cough and wheezing — and it is the highest point of the Stomach abdominal run, sitting close under the diaphragm.

• Harmonises the middle jiao and lowers rebellion — the digestive action, and “rebellion” the upward movement of vomiting and hiccup
• Descends qi and alleviates cough and wheezing — the respiratory clause, which its height under the diaphragm accounts for

The respiratory action reflects its position. ST-19 sits six cun above the navel, level with REN-14 Ju Que — the highest of the Stomach abdominal points, just below the breastbone’s tip, where the abdomen meets the diaphragm and the chest above. A point that high carrying a cough-and-wheeze action is the region’s own logic: it is closer to the lungs than to the intestines. The points below it on the same line lose the respiratory clause as they descend.

On the name. “Bu Rong” means Not Contained, sometimes rendered Not Contained or Cannot Contain. The reading usually offered is anatomically apt: this is the upper limit of the stomach’s capacity — the highest point at which the stomach can be said to sit — beyond which the abdomen “cannot contain” more. For the topmost point of the run, a name marking the top of the stomach is a fair description of where it is.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (channel, action, location and translation records; the REN-14, ST-20 and ST-21 records queried against our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

What is ST-19 Bu Rong used for?

ST-19 is used for abdominal distension, vomiting, gastric pain and loss of appetite. Our own indication record is reproduced here in full — four entries, all digestive.

• Abdominal distension
• Vomiting
• Gastric pain
• Anorexia (loss of appetite)

The list is upper-digestive, matching a point over the stomach. Distension, vomiting, epigastric pain and loss of appetite are the presentations of the stomach itself — and ST-19 sits directly over it, at the top of the run. Notably its recorded action names cough and wheezing while the indication list does not; both fields are given as our record holds them, and the action reaches a little further than the indications, as this project has found on several records.

An honest note. Gastric pain that is severe, persistent, or comes with weight loss, vomiting, black stools or difficulty swallowing requires medical assessment — and pain in the upper abdomen can originate in the heart, so upper-abdominal or chest pain with breathlessness, sweating, or pain spreading to the arm or jaw is a medical emergency. Persistent vomiting causes dehydration and needs care; vomiting blood or material like coffee grounds is an emergency. Loss of appetite with weight loss requires assessment. This record documents classical use only.

How it is combined. With ST-20 Cheng Man and ST-21 Liang Men below on the same line. With REN-14 Ju Que on the midline — the Front-Mu point of the Heart — and REN-12 Zhong Wan, the Front-Mu point of the Stomach. With P-06 Nei Guan and ST-36 Zu San Li distally for the stomach. All held here.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (indication and action records; the P-06, REN-12, REN-14, ST-20, ST-21 and ST-36 records queried from our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

Where is ST-19 Bu Rong located?

ST-19 is on the upper abdomen, two cun out from the midline and six cun above the navel, level with REN-14 Ju Que — the highest point of the Stomach abdominal run.

• 2 cun lateral to the midline, 6 cun above the umbilicus
• Level with REN-14 Ju Que on the midline
• ST-20 Cheng Man lies one cun below at 5 cun; the run descends a cun at a time to ST-24 at 1 cun

The Stomach abdominal line pairs one-to-one with the Conception Vessel, ST-19 with REN-14 at the top — and the same pairing runs on the Kidney channel’s 0.5-cun line, whose top point KI-21 also sits level with REN-14, six cun above the navel. So at this level three points sit across the abdomen: REN-14 on the midline, KI-21 at 0.5 cun, ST-19 at 2 cun. Our KI-21 record sets out the Kidney line.

Measured from the navel, but the diaphragm matters here. Six cun above the navel places ST-19 near the xiphisternum — the tip of the breastbone — and just below the costal margin, where the ribs flare. In some people the point sits close to that bony edge, which is worth knowing before treatment because it is where the abdominal wall gives way to the ribcage and the organs beneath change.

On the name. “Bu Rong” — Not Contained, marking the upper limit of the stomach, as set out above.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (location and translation records, retained unchanged; the KI-21, REN-14 and ST-20 records queried and the abdominal lines paired against the Conception Vessel, against our own data).

• A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 144): On the abdomen, 2 cun lateral to the midline and 6 cun superior to the umbilicus, level with Juque REN-14.
• Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion (p. 150): 6 cun above the umbilicus, 2 cun lateral to Juque (REN-14).

How is ST-19 Bu Rong needled?

Our own record states perpendicular insertion of 0.5–0.8 inch, with moxibustion applicable — shallower than the points lower on the run, and the reason is what lies beneath at this height. 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: perpendicular, 0.5–0.8 inch. Compare 0.8–1.0 inch at ST-22 and 0.7–1.0 inch at ST-23 and ST-24 lower down. The recorded depth shortens toward the top of the run, exactly where the liver and stomach come beneath the line and the costal margin is close.
• Moxibustion: recorded as applicable.
• Regional anatomy: rectus abdominis and its sheath overlie the peritoneal cavity; the stomach lies deep, with the left lobe of the liver above and to the right and the diaphragm above that; the costal margin lies just superior and lateral.

Why this end of the run needs the shorter depth. The upper-abdominal points sit over the liver and stomach, which is why our KI-21 record — at this same six-cun level on the Kidney line — carries an explicit liver-injury caution and a shortened depth. ST-19’s own record carries no such caution, and this page does not import one; but the recorded depth shortening here, toward the organs, is the same anatomical fact expressed through the number. Only four points in the library carry an organ-injury caution, counted by query, and none is on this line.

Hazard, stated proportionately. The abdominal wall is thin and the peritoneal cavity lies directly beneath — which is why the depth is bounded. Near the costal margin a needle angled upward toward the ribs could reach the pleural reflection at the very edge, which is a further reason the recorded insertion is perpendicular and shallow rather than deep or oblique-upward.

What is not claimed. No study measuring a safe depth at ST-19 could be located, and none is borrowed. Neither measured-depth study this library uses reaches the abdomen. No case report naming ST-19 was located.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (needling record, retained unchanged, and the recorded depths down the Stomach abdominal run compared; the KI-21 record and the four organ-injury cautions queried from our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources; regional anatomy from standard anatomical description.

Is there research on ST-19, and what should a reader know?

No trial isolates ST-19. Where the point appears it is one component of a digestive protocol, and a study that includes a point in a protocol is not evidence about that point.

What this page can state with confidence. ST-19 is the highest point of the Stomach abdominal run, six cun above the navel and level with REN-14 — the level the Kidney line’s top point KI-21 also shares. Its recorded action names cough and wheezing, uncommon on an abdominal point and accounted for by its height under the diaphragm. Its recorded depth is the shortest of the run, tracking the liver and stomach coming beneath the line and the nearby costal margin. And its name marks the upper limit of the stomach, an anatomically apt reading for the topmost point.

A note on searching for it. “ST 19”, “S 19” and “Burong” searches return protocol trials and unrelated material matched on transliteration — and in English “Bu Rong” reads as an ordinary phrase. 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; the Stomach abdominal run depths compared and the KI-21 level and caution queried, against our own data).