What is qi?

[Guest guest]

'Hi All, & Ken,

 

Ken wrote:

> I've offered my four word reductionistic approach: connectivity,

> communication, change, movement. But you know what? When I am

> talking with people in Chinese and the word qi flys by, as it does

> many, many times a day, I never ever stop to wonder, " Now what

> does that word mean? " Qi is qi. Ask any Chinese. No one will

> disagree.

 

Hey, Ken, you pinpoint the basic problem to be overcome when

one person tries to communicate with another. It is the assumption

that

 

(a) the " sender " knows exactly what he/she wishes to transmit, and

 

(b) the receiver INTERPRETS the transmission correctly.

 

We are right back into derfinitions of terminology, and the cultural

backgrounds of the sender and receiver. This is why we must

attempt to use (or develop) glossaries and thesauruses of technical

/ medical terms.

 

I agree with your suggestion that we use the word " Qi " rather than

the terms " Energy " , or " Vital Energy " . Maybe " Qi " is not definable

in a simple, succinct way, but I would like to see an attempt to

define it.

 

One writer [i forget who] defined Qi as: " matter on the point of

becoming energy, and energy on the point of becoming matter " .

 

Ken's reductionist bullet points of " connectivity, communication,

change, movement " summarise the main attributes of Qi. However,

but I would love to see a half-page from Ken on the topic - even

though he " wrote a whole book in order to more or less make [his]

confession that [he] really cannot " [define it]..

 

 

 

 

 

Best regards,

 

Email: <

 

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[Guest guest]

All,

 

I am grateful for the opportunity

to engage with people in discussing what

qi is. This is an ancient pastime, and if

our aim is to emulate ancient sages who

supposedly were able to grasp the azure,

as old Ezra Pound put it, that it, to take

hold of a clear concept and by its light

navigate the spirit on its journey, wherever

it may be bound, then engaging in a chat

about the meaning and nature of qi is an

altogether rational thing to do, despite the

fact that we can probably agree at the

outset that there will be no satisfying

conclusion to such an acitivity.

 

One of the reasons why we wrote A Brief

History of Qi was precisely to stimulate

such discussions as well as to provide

those who will engage in them a single

reference that contains a wide sampling

of opinion and expression on this very

question. It always seemed clear to me

that if anyone wants to know what qi is,

the obivous place to start is with the meanings

that the word has had assigned to it by

those who coined it and have used it now

for thousands of years.

 

Cheng Man Ching characterized the attitude

and conduct of far too large a majority of

students who approach such questions

saying they are inclined to give up the near

to seek the far. In this case, the near can

be taken to mean that which is known,

recorded, written down, treasured for centuries

and passed from generation to generation

to serve the very purpose of providing the

literal root of the answers one invariably

encounters when one goes looking to discover

 

What is qi?

 

The near is the word itself, which like all

words has a history, an origin, a story that

has grown up around it throughout its long life.

 

What is the far? Well, that's just the point.

How can we reach a distant place without

traveling through the territory that lies between

wherever we are and wherever...or whatever it

might be...or represent. How can we even

begin to chart a path to the far until and unless

we traverse the near?

 

People may notice that I have a hobby horse

that I like to ride about language and words.

I admit it, Fernando.

 

But that doesn't really alter the simple fact

that the first thing comes before the second.

 

With respect to what qi is, the first thing

is to understand that this word has a range

of meanings, and it has more or less been

growing this range of meanings all along.

In the past, those who would seek to grasp

these meanings and to add their own thoughts

to the ongoing accumulation of what the word

has come to mean to successive generations

all engaged in a common activity designed to

transfer from their predecessors in this pursuit

the accumulated insights, that they might be

useful in years to come. This, they called

education.

 

This concern about the propagation of ideas

should not be overlooked simply because it

is a subtle one. I believe it is a fundamental

force that drives the ongoing engines of the

Chinese cultural experience.

 

But this is all just a longwinded way of saying

that before we can jump to a consideration of

what qi's ultimate nature might or might not be,

we owe it to ourselves and to each other (not

to mention those dutiful questioners like

ourselves who simply happened to live in

years gone by as well as those who will follow

down this same path in years to come) to become

familiar with what the Chinese say qi is.

 

If we don't do so and if we don't cleave to the

integral senses in which the word has always been

used, then what are we really doing?

 

It seems to me that what most people do when

they go about defining qi consists of a projection

of their various known and unknown considerations

about a wide range of life's more mysterious aspects.

 

I'm not saying this is wrong. I'm just pointing

out that when any word can mean anything,

then that word comes finally to mean nothing.

 

Qi is not nothing.

Qi does not mean nothing.

 

Qi is something.

Qi has a bunch of meanings.

 

If anyone wants to know what these are,

they can do what we did. Here's how we

wrote the book.

 

We went to Chengdu in the Fall of 1997

and spent every spare nickel we had buying

books. It was a kind of shopping frenzy.

We hit every bookstore in Chengdu and

the big ones in Chongqing. We filled up

an apartment with books. Then Yuhuan

curled up for about four months and digested

these books, sorting them into categories

that corresponded with the outline we'd

submitted to the publisher. Oh yeah, the

outline took about thirty years to compose;

but it need not take anyone else that long.

 

I work rather slowly. But I strive to be thorough.

 

Then we sat down and went over the notes

and culled texts that we thought served to

fill in the gaps created by the outline. We

translated it, strung it into a narrative line

according to the sequence in the original

outline and...

 

Voila.

 

What I did during the previous thirty years

or so was to cultivate a practice of accumulation

and refinement of qi, based on the teachings

of taiji, so that I could relate the ideas and

experiences of others to a personal, subjective

reality based in my own experience.

 

Now, I am not saying that anyone else can,

should or must repeat my method. If I didn't think

that someone could benefit from simply

directly accessing the Chinese source

materials, I would not have gone to such

lengths to try and provide such access.

 

Nor do I hold that there might not be other

far more workable methods of coming to

know what this little word means and is

all about.

 

Please, if anybody can come up with an

easier approach, share it with us.

 

I'm still trudging away on the path using

the same basic approach I've tried to

describe above. And I will be eternally

grateful to anyone who can show me an

easier way.

 

I won't even begrudge the years already

spent in working to understand qi and would

simply consider them to be my own personal

excess. But I have to add that I didn't come

up with this method on my own. It's the one

I've been taught by those people who I consider

to be my teachers and who are themselves

simply moving along the same road.

 

All sustained by the same qi.

 

What is it?

 

Ken

[Guest guest]

Isn't this vibrational theory?

 

Attilio

 

rizinrico@a... wrote:

> For me I see qi as the way cells communicate. by stimulating the

> electomagnetic field of the skin with a needle or moxa, tuning

fork, laser, finger,cup,

> emmination from P8 etc you cause a spark that generates a healing

cascade as

> cells begin to work together more effectively. points cause

different groups of

> cells to work together better. we will not be able to prove how

acupuncture

> works until we can determine the language of cells. at that time

we will also be

> able to measure qi which would then be the loudness of the

vibration that

> calls the cells to work together as it comes from from the organ,

meridian and/or

> practitioner. so if there is no qi then none of the cells work

together and

> the patient is dead.

>

> Enrico Viselli, LAC

> NYC - 212-316-6476

> Westchester - 914-632-1896

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

 

I have been passively absorbing other's input on what is Qi? My Thanks

especially to Ken. I will add my cent's worth to the subject.

 

I have no idea what 'Qi' is or really means. I am aware that I have used the

term for a long time and that I have an opinion on its meaning that has

grown on me more by 'osmosis' than by reading any particular theory.

 

I have read of it been equated with 'Prana' which I used to think as been

the negative ions in the air. I used to think this because it is the

'electricity' that allows our nervous system to function.

 

The Chinese system links Qi and emotions where by each can affect the other.

I am aware that emotions can be held in the body and stopped from flowing

or being discharged through the nervous system. Indeed, this is the function

of antidepressants like valium and drugs like heroin.

 

I suppose in an ultimate sense saying what is Qi is like saying what is an

orange. Only through the direct experience of our senses (not just the 5)

can we 'know' anything.

 

I have a number of skills that I have developed over the years perhaps I am

been sloppy but I have assumed that the name Qi applied to the 'medium' at

the heart of my skills.

 

My skills are pretty common although a large proportion of acupuncturist

are not aware they posses them. These are: When I move my hand a few

inches above a meridian I feel a cushion of 'something'. As I move

sequentially through the acupuncture points of a specific meridian I feel

this cushion at differing stages of full or absent.

 

the acupuncture point that is absent of this 'feeling' is where I place the

needle in. To myself I say 'this is where the Qi is not flowing'. Invariably

as soon as the needle is in I once more place my hand over the point. and

then it feels full again. So I tell myself that the Qi is flowing once more.

Of course To rely on my skill without feedback from a patient would be folly

 

Another of my skills is to touch the source point of a meridian and note the

fedback from my patient.

Since I invariably get physiological changes in my patient and all that I

have done is to use my 'Will and Emotional Centre' to command the movement

of ...Qi? either towards or away from then I have assumed that this

'willing' on my part has moved the Qi in my patient.

 

With patients I also invariably 'feel' for this 'cushion' above the various

chakras or damaged parts of a body and when absent will hold my hands above

the relevant part for a lenght of time. Since my hands will be around 8

inches away from the body and the person invariably feels an intense heat

which I also feel in my hands I have also labelled this experience rightly

or wrongly as 'transmission of Qi'

 

But to complicate matters If I touch a person in healing and my focus is

within in myself I will end up feeling quite tired. However, If I maintain

an expanded sense of Self then I won't Does this mean that 'Qi' can flow

from me or through me? I think so. In which case It seems to me that we live

in a Sea of Qi.

 

So if I have tasted the meaning of Qi it seems to me that What ever Qi is

is at the behest of 'Will and Emotion' and is very much linked to the flow

and containment of emotions. Wether it can flow from one person to another

or symply resonates I couldn't say.

 

What I can say is that If I Will this energy towards another then this other

will have a direct taste of this 'sensation'. I suppose the difficulty in

describing Qi is that we are attempting to describe something that is beyond

the 5 senses.

 

 

Salvador

 

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[Guest guest]

Hi All,

 

Don't know much first-hand of the " TCM view " , but here are some

facets for me,

 

Best regards,

Phil

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Qi

 

Laugh, hiss and roar of God,

plumule pushing through the sod,

honey-buzz of bees,

whisper of shy wind in trees,

 

beauty of the salmon's leap,

rush of water to the deep.

light from shooting star,

dream of Three Kings from Afar.

 

Moan of calving cow,

cry of the newborn,

warmth of mother's milk,

coolth of handmade silk;

 

Hum of Creation,

silence of extinction,

thrum that binds all things,

joy that makes poor paupers kings.

 

Memories of my laughing son,

Christ Radiant, striding from the tomb,

Buddha's smile and serpent's guiles,

The Prophet's Book, the Torah's Scrolls.

 

All those are signs of Qi to me

and when mine leaves I'll cease to be

alive to earthly chores and merits

returning to awaiting spirits.

 

 

Best regards,

 

Email: <

 

WORK : Teagasc Research Management, Sandymount Ave., Dublin 4, Ireland

Mobile: 353-; [in the Republic: 0]

 

HOME : 1 Esker Lawns, Lucan, Dublin, Ireland

Tel : 353-; [in the Republic: 0]

WWW : http://homepage.eircom.net/~progers/searchap.htm

[Guest guest]

Altho I can't speak as eloquently or insightfully as most in this

thread, comments were solicited so here's a little thought. Most

comments on 'what is qi?', will resemble the finger pointing at the

moon. Or like asking yourself, what does my tongue taste like?, or

Can you see your own eyes looking at something? Our mind and senses,

the clear yang quality, when healthy, are transparent windows between

our awareness and the outside world. Like looking for acupuncture

points on a cadaver, is wondering how people privately felt about a

diety just from the remains of a crumbling temple.

Thinking of death of someone close one time, I asked, " What happens

when you die? " " The yang goes up, and the yin goes down " , was the

answer. That clear yang quality rises/expands to find its own

affinity somewhat in line with its own concious and sub/un-concious

content, and self/universe awareness or ignorance, and the yin body

drops/decays and enters the chains of life under control of a more

integrated qi system or ecological environment. (Disregarding the

modern practises of embalming and attempts to fix the body like a

statue at the time of death.)

So looking at something that has died, wondering where is the qi

now, as weather and other lifeform's qi takes over because the

survival/integration mechanisms are lost, it seems that 'Qi' in a

broad meaning, kind of is similar to the whole workings of the micro

and macro cosmos', and in its narrow meaning, it is any of the

infinite varities of its movement/manifestation.

Also since we exist, we share deeply fully in this entity/quality,

we are potentially present wherever it is, thus the ability of

mystical, beyond 'self' experiences, beyond conditioning. Human

awareness I guess, is only part of the universal qi, or energy, or

potential awareness, of which all matter is born and shaped and

reborn. Side by side, and overlapping currents.

It reminds me of the Sufi story of how, 'A thousand years is

only a second of time in the eyes of God' (translated by great

Andries Shah, I think.)