Qigong

氣功 - Qigong, literally translating to “energy cultivation”, is a catch-net term used to describe any practice where the aim is to directly influence qi in a particular way.  This ranges from martial arts practice which involve a lot of activity and exertion like Xingyiquan, to stretching and calisthenic exercises like dao yin or yoga, to gentle movement practices like the Eight Brocades of Yue Fei, and even to sleeping practices which are performed in dreams.  In this way, the term is very general.  

Qi is the capacity to interact.  This is the basic nature of life -- interaction.  The degree to which one is capable of interacting is a measure of the yang qi (function) and the things doing the interacting are a measure of the yin qi (form).  When the qi is strong the body functions at its optimum potential.  When the qi is weak, there is susceptibility to damage, there is weakness in muscular strength, the immune system falters, etc.  

At birth a body is abundant in potential energy.  Like a fully coiled spring there is a great amount of possibility stored up and yet to be realized.  The process of ageing describes the loss of potential energy for metabolism, activity, and just living -- it all turns kinetic.  The Daoists discuss the consumption of essence (精) by the metabolic fire in the process of ageing.  In the five element model the first half of life is characterized by a relatively greater amount of ascending (wood & fire) energy, which is generative and regenerative, while the second half of life is characterized by a decline in this dynamic for the sinking energies of metal and water.  Modern theories on ageing have pointed to the shortening of cellular telomeres and consequential complications with DNA replication as a possible reason for senescence with age.  However you view it, though, our bodies are programmed to expire after a certain duration of years.  Qigong is a practice for slowing or reversing this process of decline by reconsolidating resources and strengthening the body's innate tendency toward self preservation and repair.  

There are three primary principles which comprise any qigong practice:  Intention, breathing, and posture.  Any practice which takes into account these three basic tenets can be considered qigong. The specifics of practice will range widely depending upon the intended effect of the given form.

History

Qigong has been in practice, in one form or another, at least as far back as the Han dynasty, which was founded in (-) 206. Excavations of the Ma Wang Dui tombs in Hunan, which contained the remains of three Han dynasty noblemen, yielded a painted scroll depicting a series of 44 stretching postures which would have been practiced as a means for maintaining and preserving health. At the time, these exercises were called Dao Yin - 導引, which means “stretch and pull”, and they were not dissimilar to Indian yoga. These stretches were done both standing and sitting, and were meant to balance and regulate the organs, revitalize the body, mind, and spirit, keep the muscles and skin supple, and develop flexibility in the sinews.

In the later Han dynasty (+ second century) a very famous physician called Hua Tuo - 華佗 - developed what would become the most famous set of dao yin exercises: 五禽戲 - The five animal frolics. These were based on the movements of the tiger, deer, monkey, bear, and crane, and worked to regulate the function of each of the five solid organs: The lungs, kidneys, heart, spleen, and liver. This would go on to become one of the most widely practiced and adapted forms in all of China, even to today.

Dao yin and qi gong forms were developed and preserved early on within a few different contexts. Some practices were aimed at spiritual progress, achieving greater mindfulness, achieving unnaturally long life or supernatural abilities, or perhaps cultivating a more sophisticated relationship with the deities, spirits, and souls of the body; these forms were practiced primarily by monks and nuns living in religious establishments. Other forms are intended only to preserve health and prolong life; this type of form was and still is the most popular and widely practiced in China and is often practiced by physicians and taught to patients in order to correct particular disorders. It is also commonly found throughout society and practiced by many laymen. Still other forms are martial in nature and are practiced in order to develop power for fighting; these forms are traditional to schools of martial arts. Practically speaking, these three categories of qigong often overlap one another, and it isn’t at all uncommon to find a form which is supposed to benefit the spirit, body, mind, and have martial arts applications to boot — taijiquan is a great example of an extremely popular system which would fit this criteria nicely.

In (+) 495 Shaolin Monastery was built on Mount Song in modern day Henan Province by a buddhist monk from Nepal called Buddhabhadra (跋陀 - Ba Tuo - in mandarin). Here, with the blessing of the current Emperor, 魏孝文帝 - Xiao Wen, he developed the first and most significant Buddhist center in China. As the temple grew, it came to attract several men who had backgrounds in the military and martial arts, and who took an interest in incorporating a rigorous physical training regimen into the monastic program for devotees. This tradition grew and blossomed into a comprehensive system of Buddhist gong fu: Martial arts, qigong, meditation, hygiene, etc. By the end of the Sui Dynasty (7th century), the martial arts tradition at Shaolin had sufficiently individuated so as to be considered an entirely unique style. From this point on, Shaolin would consistently play an important role in the world of war and combat, especially in defense of the people against bandits and pirates, by training some of the strongest and most formidable warriors in the land. This status has found the temple destroyed and rebuilt multiples times since its creation, as the monks have inevitably found themselves, from time to time, to be on the losing side of a war. But nevertheless, the Shaolin tradition has remained unbroken across the years.

The most notable destruction of the temple came at the hands of a Manchu emperor at the turn of the 18th century, Qing Dynasty. The temple was destroyed for supposed treasonous activity, and in the process, five skilled monks escaped and fled to various regions of the south wherein refuge could be found amongst the numerous Ming sympathizers. This led to the founding of several martial arts traditions which may be thought of as Shaolin-in-exile schools, and which went on to become well-respected traditions in their own right. Most notably the nun Ng Mui founded Wing Chun, the style Ip Man and Bruce Lee were born out of, Bak Mei created White Eyebrow Kung Fu (feature in Kill Bill 2), and Ji Sin ended up becoming the grandfather of the five major family styles of southern martial arts: Hung Gar, Lau Gar, Choi Gar, Lei Gar, and Mok Gar, from which were born such legendary figures as Wong Fei-Hung. In this way the diaspora of the Shaolin is really quite extensive. Some of the most popular forms of qigong and martial arts in the world originated in Shaolin, and though these forms used to be forbidden to the public, they are now taught and practiced around the world.

The most famous qigong form to have emerged from Shaolin is 八段錦 - The Eight Silk Brocades. This set of eight exercises, which emerged publicly during the Song Dynasty, is designed to strengthen the body, maintain a healthy tonicity and suppleness to the sinews, and regulate organ function. Today it is the most widely practiced qigong in China and perhaps in the world.

As Buddhist practices were developing and evolving so were those of the Daoists. During the Han Dynasty a man named  張道陵 - Zhang Dao Ling emerged announcing that he had received a revelation from Lao Zi forecasting doom and destruction upon Earth as forces of darkness were due to be let loose upon the people. He furthermore said that only 240,000 would be spared this apocalypse to serve as seed people for the new generation. He began to amass a following and in (+) 142 he formally organized his movement in the Han Zhong valley (southwest modern Shan Xi) into a theocratic state called 天師道 - The Way of The Celestial Masters. Outsiders called this movement “The Way of The Five Pecks of Rice” as this was the tax levied on adherents.

His movement encouraged right living, healthy eating, temperate behaviour, abstention from spilling one’s seed, and qigong and meditation practices to refine and store up the body’s energy so that one might achieve immortality. This state was relatively short-lived, dissolving into Cao Cao’s kingdom of Wei in (+) 215, but the legacy of the movement and it’s practices was significant. This was the first organized form of Daoism, which had previously only existed as a folk tradition, and it would set a precedent upon which subsequent Daoist schools would build.

Near the end of the fifth century, another sect of Daoism was beginning to emerge in the wake of a series of revelations delivered to a Jin Dynasty Celestial Masters School adherent -  魏華存 - Wei Hua Cun, also called Lady Wei. She was visited by deities of the Heaven of Supreme Clarity - The Shang Qing Heaven - and she recorded these encounters in detail. Following her death in (+) 334 another Daoist adherent, 楊羲 - Yang Xi, continued to receive visitations from Daoist deities, and from the years 364-370, with the employment of psychotropic herbs and meditation techniques, he recorded the Shang Qing revelations.

These were a series of ecstatic visions detailing various deities, heavenly realms, practices for attaining higher consciousness and for achieving various states of immortality, as well as direct messages for various political figures of the time. Over the course of the next century these revelations had become quite popular in the aristocratic circles of southern China, with Mount Mao, or Maoshan being the central location of this movement. In 492 陶弘景 - Tao Hong Jing, a prominent writer, calligrapher, pharmacologist, musician, astronomer, and alchemist, under the sponsorship of Emperor Wu of Liang, moved to Maoshan wherein he undertook the organization of what would become one of the most important schools of Daoism — 上清派 - the Shang Qing school. He read, edited, and compiled the Shang Qing revelations into The Shang Qing Scriptures, which describe in living color the many methods for achieving heaven and immortality. He also oversaw the construction of the first Shang Qing temple, 華陽館 - The Abbey of Flourishing Yang. Tao continued to receive imperial patronage from the state of Liang throughout his life, and even when government sanctions were placed upon Daoists, he and his school would be exempt. He was very well respected, and indeed even remained a counselor to the emperor himself many years into his retirement and seclusion. The fifth century saw a burgeoning expansion of Daoism throughout southern China.

During the Tang Dynasty, Counted by most to be the height of Chinese civilization, Daoism underwent some restructuring. The 李 - Li family which founded and ruled the Dynasty claimed Lao Zi as an ancestor, and because of this, Daoism enjoyed more respect and privilege in this time than ever before. The Daoist deities were put in charge of the primary mountains throughout the land, and Daoist priests were given more respect than ever before. Several new schools were forming, and most notable was the 正一道 - Zheng Yi school, which was closely related to the Celestial Masters school.

Meanwhile another major tradition — the 靈寶派 - Ling Bao school — came to an end as it was absorbed into the Shang Qing tradition. The Ling Bao school had been organized by 葛巢甫 - Ge Chao Fu, grandnephew to Ge Hong, at the turn of the fifth century. This school was primarily known for incorporating Buddhist beliefs and cosmology in with those of Daoism. Most notable is the belief in reincarnation, which traditionally belonged to Buddhism.

From these Daoist schools along with several others there emerged a rich tradition of meditations, religious observance, geomancy, medicine, cleromancy, and movement arts including martial arts and qigong. Together with the Buddhist and Daoist traditions, East Asia came to accumulate a rich and complex culture of personal cultivation practices designed to improve health, lengthen life, develop internal power, and/or attain spiritual achievements.

the posture

By the posture, I mean the posture of power.  A posture which, when held, awakens the deep stores of energy within the body and allows it to stream forth. Assuming a posture which facilitates the free flow of qi from the depths of the kidneys throughout the body is the most essential part of any qigong practice.  

You must settle the weight from the head into the shoulders, from the shoulders to the hips, from the hips to the knees, and from the knees down through the inside arches of the feet into the ground.  

The feet should be slightly wider than shoulder width and parallel to one another.  Weight should be lively and carried just behind the balls of the feet.  

The knees must be slightly bent, but not bent so much that the toes can’t be seen upon gasting the gaze downward.  

The pelvis must be tilted inward, with the tailbone tucked forward such that the lumbar spine is lengthened and straightened.  

The shoulders must be relaxed and allowed to fall ever-so-slightly forward such that the scapula are drawn away from the spine and the upper back is slightly rounded from shoulder to shoulder and the chest is made slightly hollow.  

The elbows are slightly bent and the hands are slightly engaged such that there can be found no sharp angles in the arm, but a smooth curve from the tip of the index finger up to the shoulder, across the upper back to the other shoulder, and down to the other index finger.  

The chin ought to be drawn in toward the chest in order to lengthen and straighten the cervical spine.  The tongue rests upon the roof of the mouth and the teeth are touching.  

The gaze is soft and the head is carried as if lifted up by a string which is anchored at the crown of the skull.  The skeleton is stacked such that the weight of the body falls directly down into the bottom of the feet from the crown of the head.

The upper body feels as though it is liften up, lively and floating.  Meanwhile the lower body is sinking toward the ground; it feels heavy and the center of gravity is ten feet below you.  In the center, on the plane of the naval, there is space created by these two diverging energies.  This space gives way to movement. This movement is called the moving qi of the kidneys and it represents the interaction between the kidney yin and the kidney yang (traditionally the left and right kidneys), whence issues a torrent of qi which streams up the spine and at each vertebra is distributed out to the vital organs and to the twelve primary channels.  This is the flow of the 三焦經, the triple burner.  

tai yu shen gong

太玉神功

Within the monastic lineage of the 玉清黃老派 - Jade Purity School, under which Master Jeffrey Yuen is ordained, the cultivation practice undertaken by an initiate is primarily not a qigong, but a shengong practice.

Shen - 神 means spirit, and shengong means cultivating spirit. This is distinct from qigong which is mostly to cultivate health and long life. Shen gong is an internal alchemy practice which is designed to imbue the body with more spirit — to make the body light. This is accomplished by enriching the kidney yin / jing through diet, herbs, and exercises, by strengthening the san jiao mechanism, increasing the amount of yuan qi moving from 命 門 to the organs and channels. Enriching yin attracts yang; accumulating kidney yin/jing not only provides more substance to which shen can cling, but indeed it spontaneously draws that yang-natured, ethereal shen to meet it. The shen dwells in the blood vessels, but it is anchored in the water, the kidneys. This is modeled in the dynamic between the heart and kidneys, physically in the structure of the aortic artery — the largest blood vessel in the body — which directly connects the heart and kidneys, and metaphysically in the penetrating vessel, the Chong Mai, which acts as the tether between the spirit (神) and the body. The Chong - 冲 - is the channel of collision — where two worlds meet. Fire and water gather together here, where the kidneys represent the Earth, the yin, the substance, the essence of humanity as can be seen in the form of deoxyribonucleic acid bundles neatly tied up as 46 chromosomes, and the heart represents Heaven, the sun, the yang, ethereal, psychic, higher-dimensional aspect of the Human being. The Chong Mai bridge is the most fundamental vector for human life - severance means death. In the practice of the most fundamental Daoist internal alchemy exercises, the Chong Mai dynamic is upregulated, incorporating both more shen and more jing into the body.

< 3 The heart, importantly, depends upon the lungs to descend into the water of the kidneys. Fire can’t descend on its own, it hasn’t the capacity to move downward, fire always rises. The heart depends upon the lungs, which have a strongly descending energy, to anchor the spirit into the body. In this way, the breath is said to anchor the spirit in the body.

Tai Yu Shen Gong is a system of nine sets of nine exercises — eighty-one exercises in total — practiced within this monastic lineage in order to attain higher states of consciousness, to hasten the unfolding of one’s destiny, and to awaken inner potential. The exercises must be practiced in order, beginning with the first set and moving on to the more advanced sets only as one’s skill level advances. This is important in order to avoid injury and to maintain overall safety and health, as some of the advanced exercises have the potential to damage the body or mind when done improperly or by an ill-prepared practitioner. The first set of exercises is taught publicly, while the other eight are only taught after one has reach a sufficient state of preparedness.

The primary meditative posture observed within this practice is called “Little Boy Worships Buddha” and it is designed to direct the mind and energy of the body internally. This posture mostly engages the yangming channels on the primary level, and the yin qiao mai and chong mai on the essential level. Holding this posture will cultivate psychological acumen, balance the qiao and wei channels to consolidate the qi and strengthen the body and mind, it will clear pathological heat and damp from the body, it will be grounding and nourishing for the kidneys whilst also opening the flow of yang qi in the body. The exercise is performed as follows:

Standing with the feet together, the weight is dropped from the head into the shoulders; shoulders are relaxed and dropped down away from the ears. The weight is dropped from the shoulders into the hips; the pelvis is relaxed and the tailbone is tucked, tilting the pelvis forward, lengthening and straightening the lumbar spine. The weight is dropped from the hips into the insides of the knees, and the knees collapse toward one another, such as all of the weight of the body is thrown to the insides of the legs. The weight is dropped from the knees through the inside arches of the feet into the area just behind the ball of the foot (KD 1 - Bubbling Spring), and straight down into the ground. You may lean forward slightly (if you incline in any direction at all).

The palms are pressing together as in the gesture of prayer, with plenty of pressure. The thumb squeezes into the index finger, stimulating the adductor pollicis muscle, the area between the thumb and index finger. The forearms are parallel with the floor such that there is a 90 degree angle at the wrist.

The face is relaxed with the eyes open and the gaze softly falling upon the floor or down the bridge of the nose. The tongue is curled up and touching the soft palate in the back of the roof of the mouth. The teeth are resting together. The chin is tucked in toward the chest so as to lengthen and straighten the cervical spine. The entire back should be straight as an arrow and perpendicular with the ground. The knees should not be extended so far forward so as to obscure the toes upon looking down.

Meditating in this posture at least 15 minutes per day affords enormous benefit to the body and it is the foundational posture within the cultivation practices of the Jade Purity tradition.

The first exercise in set 1 is called “Return to Spring”, and this exercise is the foundation of the nine within the first set. It acts to strengthen the kidneys and to gather and consolidate qi into the lower abdomen, specifically in an area called the 丹田 - dan tian, which literally translates to “cinnabar field”, but since cinnabar (HgS) is so iconic within the world of Daoism as the premier ingredient in various alchemical elixirs (due to its property of sequestering shen into the physical realm), a more popular translation is “elixir field”. This term, like qi, is so nuanced that it is rarely translated into english. The dan tian is often associated with the uterus in women and the prostate in men.

So Return to Spring is focused on strengthening the kidneys and gathering and consolidating yuan qi into the lower dan tian. The exercise is performed as follows:

Beginning in the Little Boy Worships Buddha Posture, the hands are turned so that the fingertips face downward, the index fingers touch together and the thumbs touch together in the shape of a triangle. The thumbs come to rest in the naval and the palms are laid flat against the lower abdomen. The tip of the index fingers will naturally rest near the top of the pubic bone at the point Ren 2 and at the tip of the pinkies is the point Stomach 30. In the center of the triangle is the lower dan tian and the focus of the exercise.

With the inhale, grip the ground with your toes, contracting Kidney 1, sink the weight into the balls of the feet and image sucking qi up the kidney channel from the soles along the medial aspect of the legs and up into the lower abdomen. With the exhale, push up from the heels, lift the pelvic floor, contracting Ren 1, and press with the hands against the lower abdomen, imagining consolidating the qi into the area in the center of the triangle formed by your hands. This is repeated until heat is generated beneath the hands, either 9, 27, or 81 breaths. This exercise is the foundation of the practice, and in the beginning, the only exercise practiced. Once heat is developed in the lower abdomen and it stays consistently warm there and heat can be immediately summoned to this region, then you move on to the second exercise, which focuses on mobilizing this qi.

The second exercise is called “Continuous Link” and it acts to mobilize the yuan qi, which is stored in the kidneys, to move up the spine and to be distributed throughout the body by means of the san jiao. It features a twisting of the arms and legs which stimulates the san jiao, heart and kidneys to promote the distribution of alchemical heat throughout the body and strengthen the connection between the heart and kidneys. This exercise begins with the feet parallel and shoulder-width. The arms are by the sides with the hands hovering over the dan tian with the palms facing inward. There is space between the arms and the torso all the way up to the axilla.

Inhaling, the right hand is twisted in external rotation and simultaneously driven upwards, leading with the fingers, to rise on the left side of the body, halting when the hand reaches the level of the head. As the arm rises, the pelvic floor is also lifted such that there is a sensation of lifting and holding up of the entire body. Once the arm has reached the level of the head, turn the body to the right, initiating movement from the hips, maintaining the structure of the upper body. As you turn, the left foot turns to the left as well, pivoting on the ball of the foot, until the left foot is situated perpendicularly to the right foot and the thighs are squeezing together tightly. Exhale, release the pelvic floor lift, let the right hand untwist so that the palm faces out to the right away from the body, and the right hand floats down to the level of the lower abdomen. Return to the neutral position with both hands even in front of the dan tian before repeating on the other side.

This process, illustrated in the first two exercises plus the standing meditation posture comprises the most fundamental longevity practice within Daoism: Strengthening the kidney yin/精 - essence, and the san jiao mechanism, mobilizing yuan qi throughout the body (and consequently strengthening the qi of the entire body), opening the Chong Mai and strengthening the interaction between the heart and kidneys, drawing more shen into the jing. It is through this process that one embarks on the path to immortality, which is described on three levels in Daoism.

Level One is an Earth Immortal, and this simply means someone who lives a very long life in a physical body, but at some point finds a natural end as the flesh itself is still susceptible to destruction if it meets an adversary of suitable strength. This may be a person who lives to 130, at the modest end, or someone who lives for hundreds of years. Theoretically there is no end to the potential time-frame on this, as the method of prolonging life, once successfully implemented, can go on generating jing and repelling senescence indefinitely.

Level Two is the spiritual immortal. This marks the successful creation of a spirit baby! There is a practice utilized by internal alchemists of cultivating the astral body, sometimes also called the plasma body. This is the form we take when we dream, when we have out of body experiences, and when we astral project (if you’re into that kind of bull-ish). Nourishing and strengthening the astral body allows for one to consciously assume the astral form for longer periods of time without exhausting the qi of the physical body (there is a high demand put on the physical body when traveling on the next dimension). The goal is to prolong the period of time one can spend in the higher dimension as well as the amount of energy and volition one can carry into that plane, with the eventual goal of creating a strong enough astral body, to be able to project into the astral realm and leave the physical body altogether behind. This is extraordinarily difficult to accomplish, as the creation of a fully self-sufficient astral body is nothing short of a miracle. In this plasma form, one is able to move about time and space unhindered, and to interact with unincorporated spirits. This is a truer sense of the word immortal, as one truly transcends time at this level.

Level Three is a Celestial Immortal. At this stage one comes to resonate at such a high frequency that the physical form merges with light and ascends to the heavens, body and soul together. This is what is meant when a holy figure is said to have ascended. At this stage of achievement, one can dematerialize and rematerialize at another time or place at will. You can travel across dimensions and you can even create worlds. This is the highest achievement possible for humans.