ti shen xing

[Guest guest]

Ken Thank you very much for the respons ,

 

 

Marco

Someting that may intrest you and the list sent from Chimed list:

 

 

 

"...There are articles and texts in which you can find this sort of thing, but for the purpose of this type of presentation, I will pass on my qi/ki outline, which I used for a group of teenager aikidoists. You can compile more rigorous, thorough, and footnoted etymologies from the literature. A few sources for the early period, off the top of my head, include works by Vivienne Lo, Donald Harper, and Shigehisa Kuriyama. My "psycho-physical stuff" for qi is from Benjamin Schwartz, The World of Thought in Ancient China. Nathan Sivin's Traditional Medicine in Contemporary China, although concerned more with TCM as represented in a 1972 textbook than full etymological analyses, is very useful. Following Kuriyama and Farquhar, for such presentations I use a child's anatomy book with transparent overlays to demonstrate the hierarchical and structural view of the body that is common sense in the "west," and contrast this with common images from earlier Chinese medical texts.

 

Please, list members, other suggestions welcome on good basic sources, as well as on the outline. Sorry for giving such a cursory response, Trying to minimize distractions from writing right now . . .

 

--TJH

 

Qi/Ki:

 

ý Originally, in China, it referred to steam rising from rice. Perhaps because this was (and still is) used to feed, exchange with, and communicate with spirits and gods, it became very important and the meaning expanded.

ý Airý Breath

ý Vitality - What you circulate around your body when you regulate your breath to "cultivate your vitality." Around two thousand years ago or earlier, people in China began developing practices which they called "Cultivating Vitality." This included breathing, circulating qi/ki, meditating, and stretching and moving (what they called "Guiding and Pulling" [the qi]). These are similar to what you might know as Qigong (=Qi-Techniques, a modern Chinese name for these practices). The foundations of Chinese medicine grew out of these practices.

ý It was thought to be essential for your own health to make sure that your qi/ki circulated properly. Physical, mental, spiritual, and even social health were not conceived of as separate. Human beings were considered to be "microcosms" of the universe (the macrocosm), and it was considered essential to the health of the state and the cosmos for qi to circulate properly there as well.

ý "Psycho-physical stuff" - Some scholars like this translation because in Chinese metaphysics and practice, qi/ki is like energy or an energized fluid, it is all the "stuff" or physical matter of the universe, and it also includes thought, intention, and emotions. In its original cultural context, it also included spiritual dimensions. One very useful way of thinking about qi/ki in practice is as attention. ..."