How did the concept of ki in MAs develop?

Kilik · March 9, 2005

How did the concept of ki in MA develop?

When I practiced martial arts in a kwoon or Dojang the instructors would talk about ki, breath, meditation, focus, visualisation and peacefulness. I have been interested in the concept of Ki for a little while now and read alittle about it and studied meditation some.

Here is post quoted from another discussion board,

" Qi has been subjected to this kind of cross cultural parsing error to the point of obscurity. No-one who understood what is implied by Qi would say they don't beleive in it. Saying you don't beleive in Qi is like saying you don't beleive in 'relationship' or "influence".

Qi is an old idea. The model I will try to explain is at least 2300 years old as it is clearly laid out in the Huangdi Neijing, the seminal work of chinese medicine. While essentially a medical text it also lays out a metaphysical model that is basic to chinese philosophy. The oldest character for Qi represented vapours rising. In time the radical for grain was placed below to show the steam that rises from cooking millet. What happens when you smell food cooking? Your body responds; stomach gurgles, mouth waters, etc. So something about cooking food exerted influence on you. Qi.

What is the nature of this influence? It requires that we introduce two other philosophical concepts that have been subject to ideational mutilation, Yin and Yang. We often see the simplistic folk models of Yin and Yang that are lists of things associated with the two concepts. ( Yin is feminine, cool, dark, receptive/ Yang is masculine, warm, light, creative). These lists are not strictly wrong, yet they obscure the reason the lists were made in the first place.

' Between heaven and earth are qi and it's laws' ; between Yin and Yang are Qi and it's laws'. This classic statement points to the most important aspect of Qi, it's context. So qi is the interplay of Yin and Yang. This brings us back to the nature of Yin and Yang.

Yin is the tendency of things in the universe to coalesce and slow down. Yin is the tendency to crystalization and struction. Yin is the tendacy of matter to fall down and shadows to form in opposition to light.

Yang is the tendency for things to change and become other things. The tendency to dissolve and tendency to grow. The tendency for clouds to boil and skin to tan.

All objects of sense experience are an interplay of Yin and Yang. This includes individual things as well as systems. This is why the concept of Taiji is the great terminus or the grand ultimate, because it includes all things in the universe. Yin and Yang are linked and one cannot be discussed without invoking the other. Structure cannot be divorced from function.

They stand in mutual opposition.

They are rooted in each other.

They define each others limit.

They transform into one another.

When we discuss the balance of Yin and Yang at any given moment or in any given state we are talking about Qi. It is important to understand that Yin and Yang are not absolute states of being, rather they are part of a moving frame that can applied in a variety of ways to any situation. There are many situations where the place of Yin and Yang is considered to be understood and relatively predictable so they are left out of the discussion. One of these places is in the context of the relationship between body and mind.

When we look at the basic idea of body and mind in Chinese philosophy we are talking about Jing(essense), and Shen( spirit, or summation of mental-emotional aspects of the individual). The relative interaction of Jing and Shen is the normal context for the discussion of Qi in martial arts. When someone says 'lead qi to your fingertips" the implication is to focus the mind on the fingertips to perceive the interaction between Jing and Shen at that point, hence qi. However, you could also say, ' absorb the opponents force to use their strength against them.' In this case Yin is found in the reception and relaxed connection of the defender ( song) , and the Yang is found in the aggresor's force( Li). The resulting Qi is how the interaction plays out. If the defender is subtle and skilled the qi will be the qi of a throw perhaps. If the aggressor is more subtle or skilled the result may be the qi of a successful hit.. If the aggressor is very subtle they may be able to become more Yin that the defender and so invert the frame of Yin and Yang.

So to come back to the idea 'Do you beleive in qi?' may be more usefully phrased, ' Do you beleive in the interplay of structure and fuction? Do you beleive in the interaction of order and chaos?"

Anyways, that's one post I found interesting. So it sounds like one of the first classifications of Yin and Yang, supposedly had to do with sunlight vs. a shadow, or light vs, dark. This is because through history, teachers would teach mankind through oracles such as the I ching, and possibly used prisms to teach about oneness. Such as how everything is vibration , and octaves. Galaxies, stars, planets, moons, humans, light, matter, vapour, sound. The emperors had no problem with this as long as they could become immortal, lead be turned to gold, or if their futures could be predicted.

Qigong is cultivation of the mind's place in the universe, to be open to all power all creation, flowing. Buddhas, and cultivators of buddhahood do a meditation posture in which the first finger bends down to connect to the thumb, symbolising the ego's will bowing to the will of heaven. The Tao has the way of wu wei, action through non action, doing things in accordance with the eternal Tao and nature, and not through self, or the human mind's will. Jesus said you reap what you sow, but that it would be full, pressed down and overflowing. In a Path that became religous over time, there was a saying( in reference to the universal spirit), " your will be done, not mine, in me and through me", and goes on to say, " show me what I must do this day to be a channel of your blessing to all." The more consciouss of the eternal manifestiation of the great priciple, that which creates, consitutes, governs, sustains and contains all, the more in accordance to it's way and flow someone can be, in my understanding. Which can use both physical and mental activities.

I think the Taoist cultivation is quite concerned with pre natal qi-

http://www.kheper.net/topics/I_Ching/IChing_and_dna.htm

IMO and as I understand-

The great principle, is that which creates, constitutes, governs, sustains, and contains all within all.

There are laws of the absolute, and laws of the relative.

Absolute laws or the Great Law. The same law governs everything from biggest to smallest, beginning and end. Life, mind, truth, love, is all, four points of the base of a pyrymid in a specific order with spirit at the tip as one. All is vibration.

The laws of the relative are law of polarity, law of rythm, law of cause and effect, law of gender.

There is also the law of evolution, like 10 steps forwrd 9.9 steps back, SORT OF, and law of love.

There is a so called principle of inter- generation, inter-inhibition. And creation, stasis, degeneration, destruction.

Ultimately ki is related to the principle of the oldest name of God. Yod He Vau He. It is know in many cultures, Yawheh, jehova, and Ya Ho Wa Ho are afew. The interplay father, mother, son, and universal holy spirit reborn. All is vibration, and octaves of it.

http://www.anton-heyboer.org/i_ching/trigrams/archetypes.htm

Kilik · March 9, 2005

quotes from chapters 1 and 2 of "Science of Being" by Eugene ferson

" Etenal energy, primal energy- pevading the universe, filling infinite space. If primal energy fills infinite space for one moment, it must be one with eternal space for eternity, because there is no place where it can lose itself. Therefore the basic energy of the universe is found to be infinite, and at the same time eternal. Through further investigation, it was discovered that infinite energy expesses itself in most admirable laws, sublime laws: that it shows the profoundest intelligence and logic, a self conciossness expressed in the divinest terms, laws invariable, true to themselves, mathematically correct, and above all, harmonious and beutiful.

As a result of all this reasoning, was discovered, through its first universal manifestation as primal energy, that which has always exsisted, the eternal unmanifest called god, conciouss of it's own power, law emitting, law abiding. In other words there is a Unit, a One, existing eternally, expressing itself through its creation, the universe, conciously governing it, sustaining it in a condition of eternal harmony, and loving it, for love and harmony are one. Love Is attraction.Thus science has found divinity under another name. Therefore the word "god" which would have been used in "religion", will be substituted a word having deeper meaning, covering broader ground, the word principle."

" That is the great principle is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent, The great principle has from eternity, out of itself created everything there is. It is it's own center and own circumference. The absolute is present everywhere, whether we are conciouss of it or not. That means that whenever we wish to come in contact with the great principle, we do not need to think of something far distant, unattainable. All we need to do is know the immutable fact that its first manifistation, universal energy, is always about us in full power. Therefore when anyone realises this presence conciously, there it is in its full power. We can agian make the comparisin to the ocean. We cannot say that in any one place in the ocean there is more power than in another. There is power everywhere. Whenever one wishes to contact the ocean, one has simply to dip the hand into the water and one will feel all that the ocean is, and if one puts tha hand in another part of the ocea, one will have the same results. Millions of people can do the same thing, at the same time, and they all will contact the same fullness of the ocean. So it is with the great principle. Whenever we conciously contact the absolute in its manifistation as Universal energy, there it is in all it's omnipotence, because it is all embracing. Therefore it is not correct, as we find in literature, to imagine that there is somewhere in the universe a center of powers and forces from which all forces radiate, acting most strongly on those things which are nearest and more feebly on those ****hest away"

"" Primal energy, as was explained in the first lesson, is the fundamental force of the universe. It underlies, pervades, and sustains everything, fills all space, endures throughout eternity, and is the source of all power. It is indeed the very life of the universe. As such, it is in perpetual motion, expressing itself through what are called vibrations

In the absolute there is only one kind of vibration, the spiritual. In The present state of human concioussness those spiritual vibrations appear as a three fold ray

1. Life or magnetic vibrations

2.mind vibrations

3.soul vibrations"

" And each kind of vibration is expessing itsef in a different way, which conforms to it's own particular laws"

" Life vibrations are also called magnetic vibrations, because they possess two primary qualites, motion and attraction. In the practical application, those qualities are continually used in oreder to obtain the desired results. Magnetic vibrations are essentailly importan because they not only permeate the whole universe and underlie everything, but because they constitute the very element out of which our bodies and the whole visible universe is made. The great practical value of those Life Vibrations is that we do not need concentration or strong mental effort to contact them. All we need to do is to become concious of their continual flow into us, and thus establish the so called contact. No matter what we do, be it physical, mental, or emotional activity, we should never use our own very limited supply of life enrgy. THis must be the cardinal point to be remebered."

" The question may arise, why is it necessary to make contactwith the universal life energy? Are we not in direct and constant communication with it at all times? Yes, but we are not concious of it. On the contrary, we conciously beleive we are independant of it, that we have a life force of our own. We think we are seperate from all power. Therefore we need to reestblish on the mental plane that which was lost there, though we never lost that contact on the spiritual plane."

" There are different methods of contacting Primal energy. The easiest and the simplest way is through mental contact. In order to do it, we must relax completely as we can, physically, mentally, emotionally. And when we feel harmony within us then we must say to ourslves " I am one with the universal life energy it is flowing through me now, I feel it"

"In order to overcome that difficulty and enable everybody, even the most skeptical and timid, to make successful that conciouss contact with the universal life energy, there is another method of pure physical contact, based on pure physical laws. That second method has this advantage over the mental one, that it does not require any faith in it. It works for the reason that the physical laws are put into operation, and the physical contact with the universal energy is made, not because we think it or want it, but because we cannot help it."

" Yet if we do not think about it, it still will work, because of the aforesaid reasons. The second, the physical method, is based on a certain exercise called the star exercise"

" The heart situated on the left side of the body, is not only the central pumping station which takes in and sends out blood, but also is the apparatus which sucks in and pours out universal life energy"

That is from the book " Science of being" written by Eugene ferson in 1920s.

http://www.atlantis.to/books/Peniel's-books.htm

Here is the Star exercise to develop qi flowing inwards as well as outwards together. And to store/charge/refine as well as refine the energy vibration of the energy body.

http://www.meditation-techniques.net/meditations/starexercise.htm

Kilik · March 9, 2005

IMO qigong is ancient and prehistoric culture. The perfect condition is inflowing and outflowing cultivation at the same time. Some qigong starts by connecting to the universe, through the palms, feet, ba hui, or even fingers in mudra positions( fingers are like antennas). Some qigong is very concerned with inward cultivation and sealing the senses, cultivating lotus position and pointing fingers inwards towards the wrists like a hollow fist or hands at dantien. But I think perhaps cultivating lotus position, with energy flowing out the hands is a more advanced posture.

Qi practices also circulate energy and connect flows and acupoints, this is why if you bend forward you will next bend back, if you open you will next close.

So atlantis and ancient civilisations were destroyed, but some remnants of the culture remained. The knowledge had to be kept hidden to kings and emperors while the people with the knowledge could still work in society, either teaching about spirituality, or working to improve the world in other ways. "Gypsies" had the tarot card, which start and end with the fool card, a fool for the universal will. The Kaballah is also related as well as the I ching.

http://www.prs.org/gallery-kabblh.htm

http://chikungintl.com/+-trigramcl.jpg

http://zebu.uoregon.edu/~js/21st_century_science/lectures/lec16.html

http://faculty.clintoncc.suny.edu/faculty/Michael.Gregory/files/Bio%20101/Bio%20101%20Lectures/Chemistry/chemistr.htm

There were many prophecies in the past about the current age. Many qigong methods were to be kept absolutely secret until this millenium

http://www.think-aboutit.com/Spiritual/edgar_cayce.htm

http://www.keysofenoch.org/html/giza_update.html

http://www.lyghtforce.com/Giza/

Ancient spiritual groups in the past

http://essenes.net/lifein.html

http://www.crystalinks.com/dss.html

http://www.edgarcayce.org/ancient_mysteries/ancient_index.html