From: leung@DSG.Tandem.COM (Steven Leung)
Subject: Re: What I think about Qi Gong and Yan Xin
Originator: leung@bittemple
Keywords: Qi Gong Yan Xin
Organization: Tandem Computers
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 17:03:27 GMT


yyg8104@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Yong-Qing Yang) writes:

> ... Hard Qi Gong can be learnt in a relatively short time period ...
> while it takes a longer time to achive a certain degree for the soft type.

Not quite true. Here in SF, there is a female QG master who taught a 5-week
class (2 hr. each week) and she is invited by some big tycoon in HK to teach
her brand of QG and she compress the class in one week. In terms of time,
I think both types can be "learnt" in a short period, but you need practice
to achieve a certain level.

> But generally there is no conflict if one uses
> the modern Western medicine to explain the effects of Qi Gong; just remember
> that the word " heart " sometimes means different things in Western and Chinese
> traditional medicine ( one means the physical heart and the other means what
> the modern medicine called nervous system ).

Actually, there is a lot of conflicts/inconsistency even within the the theory
of our traditional medicine. However, saying so doesn't mean to degrade the
value of our traditional medicine. In contrary, I believe the WuXin-based
internal organ theory of the chinese medicine is more advantageous than
western medicine in terms of providing a simple theoretical framework to explain
the interactions among various human bodily functions. Obviously, there is
definitely a need to revamp the theory in light of the knowledge of modern
medical researches. As to your example of "heart," I would like to point out
that the chinese word "heart," like other chinese word such as qi, tao, etc.,
is heavily overloaded. It does mean the physical heart as one of its meaning. And
on the other hand, the chinese word heart may cover some function of the nervous
system, but it is definitely not the equivalent of what the modern medicine
called nervous system. This (the nervous system is not part of the WuXin-internal
organ mapping) is actually one of the subtle/curious point of chinese medicine.
The tao/CM(chinese medicine)/QG complex actually "patches" this up by developing
the Jing-Qi-Shen theory and it appears to be where the "theory" of QG fits in.

> Now what is Qi? According to
> one definition, Qi is the basis of everything in the universe (as quarks and
> electrons in particle physics). 

I think this type of explanation of Qi should be thrown out.

> And the Qi in Qi Gong is related to the so-
> called Real Qi. Real Qi is divided into two kinds: Original Qi associated with
> the birth and the one after the birth, which is obtained from the foods, air 
> etc.

My current feeling is that this theory of so-called XianTianQi/HouTianQi needs
to be reformed. Just too many holes.

> Qi Gong is just a certian kind of method/measure/practice to maintain the 
> smoothness of these passages. This in turn will improve or maintain one's well 
> being. ...

I agree on this though. And one more point: if you look at the history, people
do things before they understand it - even nowadays. There are things we
may not understand, but that shouldn't blind you to neglect the facts. That's
my basic attitude toward QG.

Steven
-- 
328. Seek opportunity, not security. ...
        - Life's Little Instruction Book by H. J. Brown, Jr.