[3] A section titled Zhen xie miyao (针邪秘要), or "Secret Essentials of Needling Off Evil Influences", recommends acupuncture-based cures for mental illnesses, particularly "derangement" and "seeing demons".
[7] As part of one ritual, the acupuncturist must picture "the Yellow Emperor, Shennong, Sun Simiao and Wei Boyang standing sternly in front of him", while clandestinely uttering "after my needling let the illness not recur".
[10] Yang originally intended to only write about the medical traditions in his family that had been collected in a manuscript titled Weisheng zhenjiu xuanji miyao (衛生針灸玄機秘要), or Mysterious and Secret Essentials of Acupuncture and Moxibustion for Safeguarding Life.
[4] According to Richard Bertschinger, the Zhenjiu dacheng is "the greatest comprehensive survey of acupuncture in China ever to be produced during classical times.
"[3] Joseph Needham called it "the acme of a tradition" and "still of the highest usefulness today",[12] while Paul U. Unschuld described it as an "extensive, impressive work".