Reflections on CH'I and the Martial Arts Part 1

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By Pete Mills, on 07-12-2007 20:38

The universe, according to Chinese tradition, is filled with ‘ch’i’. Defining or translating this term is extremely difficult, but the philosopher and scholar Wing-Tsit Chan explains that ‘Every student of Chinese thought knows that ch’i, as opposed to li [principle] means both energy and matter, a distinction not made in Chinese philosophy. Both ‘matter’ and ‘ether’ are inadequate. Dubs’ ‘matter-energy’ is essentially sound, but awkward, and lacks an adjective form. Unless one prefers transliteration, ‘material force’ seems to be the best. In many cases, especially before the Neo-Confucian doctrine of li developed, ch’i denotes the psychophysiological power associated with blood and breath. As such it is translated as ‘vital force’ or ‘vital power’, and in the case of hao-jen chih ch’i as ‘strong, moving power’. [i]

The term ch’i became used to explain all kinds of phenomena of creation, birth and death, and certainly its impact on medicine and the martial arts cannot be minimised.

THE TRADITIONAL VIEW

Over a long period of time it became an accepted belief that it was possible for a Taoist adept to become physically immortal. The sixteenth century Taoist Wu Shou Yang [circa 1563-1632] wrote ‘The great pass which divides life and death is the ch’i. The difference between a sage and an ordinary man is [that the sage is able] to subdue the ch’i while the ordinary man is unable to do so.’ [ii] Many stories were told of individuals who had achieved the status of a hsien or immortal. A typical example is to be found in the writings of K’o Hung [260-340]. In his work the Pao P’u Tsu he tells a story originally recounted in an earlier work the I Wen Chih ‘There was a certain Chang Kuang Ting in the province of Ying Shui. War having broken out in the province, he fled for refuge, after throwing into a hole in a large old tomb his four year old daughter, who was a great encumbrance to him in his flight. The war was suppressed in three years, at the end of which time he returned to his village to find his daughter’s remains. But to his great astonishment he found her still alive. In answer to her enraptured parents’ questions, the daughter told the secret of her miraculous escape. As she went into the cavity, she said, she found in a corner something alive which was breathing by stretching its neck. She then imitated this manner of breathing, and by this means saved herself from starvation until the day of her rescue. They then looked for the living thing to which they owed so much gratitude, and found it to be a tortoise.’

The tortoise is one of the symbols of longevity, so to K’o Hung and others imitating the breathing methods of a tortoise was one of the paths to immortality. From the martial arts point of view achieving this state was of great worth. The immortal Kung Yüan was beheaded by the Emperor in a rage, but he reappeared and said ‘one who has become immortal is immune from all calamity. Heaven and Earth might be engulfed and still he would remain unscathed; how much less could he be injured by ordinary weapons?’ [iii]

This belief in immortality, or extreme longevity, is not dead today. In a book published in 1974 the T’ai Chi Ch’uan master Da Liu included a section on master Li Ch’ing Yuen who was said to have been born in 1678 and died in 1930 at the age of 252! [iv] Many techniques evolved to attain the state of immortality or longevity. One approach concentrated on the production of a chemical elixir of life. In this method, known as wai-tan, the student uses alchemical means to transmute various drugs, herbs, metals, animal products etc. He aims to make an actual substance which when ingested actually produces the physical state of immortality. Since many of these concoctions contained powerful poisons such as mercury and arsenic, their effects tended to be the opposite of those aimed for. [v]

Another method evolved which is of interest. Known as nei-tan, this approach aims at controlling the flow of ch’i in the body until the desired state is reached. This method often uses the terms of physical alchemy but applies the labels to parts of the body which is seen as a microcosm of the universe. The two basic approaches were not mutually exclusive, and it was quite common for an individual to use drugs, meditation, and physical exercises at the same time in his quest for immortality.

The nei-tan approach is relatively straight forward. The adept uses a combination of meditation and visualisation techniques, breathing exercises, diet, and physical postures to activate and increase the S.P.L. of ch’i in his body. Gradually the ch’i increases and becomes purified and concentrated until various types of supernatural powers develop i.e. levitation, the ability to resist sword cuts or heavy blows, and other wonderful powers. All bodily secretions were considered valuable sources of ch’i, so conservation of saliva and sperm was vitally important. By changing the nature of these fluids and moving them around a number of ‘psychic channels’ [vi] in the body the ultimate aim will eventually be achieved. In time this transformation was regarded as taking place in three main areas known as tan-tien, each area being analogous to a crucible in alchemy. The lowest is situated in the abdomen, just below the navel; the second is behind the solar plexus, and the third is in the head, behind the eyes. The basic energy used in this system is known as ch’ing and is identified with semen. This is transformed into ch’i which in turn is transformed into shen or spirit. Each of these three energies is regarded as being centred on one of the major tan-tien. The inner energy is roused by the adept indulging in breathing and physical exercises and is amplified by meditation methods. The energies are seen to move around the body in a constant circulation, becoming more and more refined until eventually the seed of immortality is produced and the new immortal emerges.

This process is referred to in a pre-twelfth century text, the Hsiu Chen Pi Chueh [Esoteric Instructions on the Regeneration of the Primary Vitalities]. The author, who is unknown, gives the following advice ‘Whoever wishes to nourish the shen must first nourish the ch’i, but in order to nourish the ch’i one must first nourish the brain [nao], and in order to nourish the brain one must first nourish the seminal essence [ching], and in order to nourish the ching one must first nourish the blood [hsueh], and in order to nourish the blood one must first nourish the saliva [t’uo], and in order to nourish the saliva one must first nourish the element water. These are what are called the Nine Regenerations. But if one talks about the Seven Reversions, the greatest takes place in an annual cycle and the least in a diurnal cycle. Within the diurnal cycle, under the turning of the heaven and the earth, from the yin double-hour [beginning at 3 am] to the shen double-hour [ending at 5 pm] these are the seven reversions. Or if you go backwards to the tzu double-hour [centred on midnight] you have the nine regenerations.’ Here we can see that a complex series of operations to be performed at specific times had evolved.

Various teachers and practitioners developed sets of movements to absorb external ch’i from the air and to combine this with the internal ch’i of the adepts body. [vii] Probably the best known of these sets of exercises is the Ba Duann Chin [The Eight Elegant Exercises]. These exercises, said to have been taught by an eighth century Taoist Chung Li Ch’uan and his student Lü Tung Pin [viii] have been published in many different works and have been revised and added to over the years. An enlarged set of twelve exercises showing a Buddhist influence are often associated with the I Chin Ching [Muscle Change Classic]. [ix]

The following instructions on performing the exercises of the Ba Duann Chin are based on Dr. Joseph Needham’s translation found in Science and Civilization in China Vol. 5 Section 5 [pp 158-159]:-

1. Gnash the teeth 36 times and assemble the spirits. Clasp the head with both hands, and beat the celestial drum [base of the neck] 24 times.

2. Twist the vertebral column looking at the shoulder and upper arm to the right and the left, 24 times.

3. Stir up the saliva to the right and left with the tongue against the palate 36 times. Rinse the mouth with it and gargle 36 times. Separate it into three lots as if it were a hard thing, and swallow it. After this one can walk through fire.

4. Massage the Hall of the Reins [the loins, above the pelvis dorsally] with both hands 36 times. The more one does this the more wonderful the effects.

5. With the single right and left arms make a turning movement like a pulley, revolving to sweep the lateral costal region successively 36 times each.

6. Repeat this using both arms simultaneously 36 times.

7. With the two hands joined in front of the body, make five ‘ho’ exhalations, then interlace the hands above the head in the position of supporting the sky [palms upward], then massage the vertex of the head. Repeat the cycle three or nine times.

8. Make the two hands like hooks, stretch the arms forward and take hold of the soles of the feet. Do this alternately 12 times, then return the feet and resume sitting in the correct position [i.e. cross legged].

Later versions of the Ba Duann Chin are performed in a standing posture, sometimes in a horse stance. It is interesting to note that most of the English language versions available do not refer to manufacturing and swallowing saliva or to any of the original concepts involved in this set of exercises. The modern view is to see the Ba Duann Chin as a form of calisthenics, or as a way of warming up to perform T’ai Chi Ch’uan. [x] The physical postures developed by the Chinese in their search for ways of producing and manipulating the flow of ch’i were first seen by Europeans in the eighteenth century when a Jesuit priest P. M. Cibot published a short Notice de Cong-fou des Bonzes Tao-see in 1779. This work, which is usually wrongly attributed to J.J.M. Amiott, was influential in the development of Western physical exercises for the promotion of health and the treatment of disease. [xi]

The growth of interest in the ‘internal’ martial arts of T’ai Chi Ch’uan, Pa Kua, and Hsing I has stimuled interest in ch’i kung. Indeed many Western practitioners of internal systems see them simply as methods of producing or manipulating ch’i and have little or no interest in the martial aspects. In the West it is now quite common to find oriental and occidental masters of ch’i kung who have many followers all trying to grasp the ancient Taoist mysteries. The methods of ch’i kung or ki manipulation now taught tend to focus on the health aspects, certainly as far as the general public is concerned. Of course some martial artists also see the development of their vital energy as a necessary adjunct to the practice of their martial art; ch’i or ki is the energy that allows the method to function effectively and efficiently.

For some practitioners of internal energy the kinds of exercises described above were a little too prosaic. According to He-Young Kimm, a Korean teacher of Hapkido, his teacher told him to run to the top of a hill beside his village in order to ‘face the red sun as it rises. Open your mouth and eat the red sun. Make it flow through your body. Make the red sun settle in the centre of your body. By doing this and the breathing exercises you shall develop the power of Ki.’ [xii] One Korean Hapkido master appeared on The Guiness World Records show on British independent television on June 25th, 1999. He held a dollar sized piece of molten lead in his mouth for over ten seconds, a feat he attributed to the control of his internal energy developed through his martial arts training. It is interesting to note that Harry Houdini refers to this stunt in his Miracle Mongers and their Methods [xiii] and the magician Ricky Jay includes a chapter on ‘Incombustible Men and Fireproof Women’ in his excellent history of bizarre forms of entertainment, many of whom could hold molten lead and burning coals in their mouths without injury. [xiv]

[i] A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy Wing-Tsit Chan Princeton University Press 1969 p 784

[ii] ‘Taoist Self-Cultivation in Ming Thought’ Liu Ts’un-Yan in Self and Society in Ming Thought ed. William Theodore De Bary University of Columbia Press 1970.

[iii] One story concerning the emergence of an immortal can be found in John Blofeld’s book Beyond the Gods: Buddhist and Taoist Mysticism 1974. The viceroy of Liangkuang was in desperate need of gold. He ordered a Taoist mystic to transmute base metals into gold, and at first everything went well. As the demands increased, the Taoist refused to produce any more gold, and shouted out some anti-dynastic slogans, so automatically incurring a death sentence. Blofeld explains ‘When confirmation of his sentence arrived from the capital, he was publicly beheaded; whereupon, to the onlookers amazement, from the blood spurting from his torso rose a cloud white as a lustrous pearl, in the heart of which was seen the spirit body of the Taoist dressed in resplendent robes and reclining nonchalantly upon a couch.’ p 39

Blofeld goes on to say that the immortal did not hold a grudge against the Viceroy, who once he realised he had tried to kill a holy man repented of his ways and erected a shrine to his memory!

[iv] The Chinese have long believed that physical longevity, if not immortality, is actually possible if a strict discipline is observed. John Blofeld in The Secret and the Sublime: Taoist Mysteries and Magic recounts a meeting he had with some Taoist adepts in the 1930s. The Abbot of a Taoist hermitage took him to see an ancient master of Taoist yoga ‘In the centre of this chamber was a pile of old cushions upon which, rapt in meditation, sat a wrinkled ancient whose white locks fell about his shoulders in disorder, and whose beard, albeit rather sparse and wispy, reached down to where his hands were resting, lightly clasped upon his lap...the Abbot, lips close to my ear, whispered ‘The Immortal has not quite reached the stage of living on air and dew, but two bowlfuls of sweetened rice and a little fruit last him for seven or eight days.’

After some conversation Blofeld asked how old the ancient one was. Popular legend credited him with being three hundred years old, but the Abbot thought this was an exaggeration.

‘The Immortal rarely speaks of personal matters, but he once described to me an event he had witnessed as a child in the reign of the Chia Ch’ing Emperor. We may therefore suppose that his life has but recently entered upon its third sixty year cycle. It is a pity he would not answer your question. No doubt he considers you young for such sacred knowledge.’ pp 148-151

The T’ai Chi Ch’uan master Da Liu in his work The Tao and Chinese Culture recounts the sad tale of one Wang Hsien Ch’ing a Taoist adept, who decided that he was in fact a hsien or immortal. Da Liu says ‘I used to meet him often in a park in Taipei, where I practiced T’ai Chi Ch’uan early in the morning. We enjoyed many an interesting discussion about Taoist philosophy and practices, from which I deduced that he was extremely knowledgeable and highly advanced in these matters. I was not alone in being impressed with him, and as his reputation grew, he became a popular lecturer, for which he was advertised and introduced as an actual hsien. Apparently, he himself believed that he was immortal, for he never denied these claims. He also thought it unnecessary to eat grain or other ordinary foods, with the result that his body suffered from lack of nourishment. Some years later, while in New York, I came across a magazine report of his demise. One of his legs had become paralysed and eventually had to be amputated. Weakened beyond help due to his long improper eating habits, he failed to recover successfully, and his immortality was laid to rest with his remains, exposed as an illusion.’ pp 138-139

The lunatic belief that food is unnecessary for life still attracts followers. An account published in the Sunday Times newspaper of 26/9/1999 refers to ‘Three deaths linked to ‘living on air’ cult.’ ‘The teachings of a new age dietary guru who claims she has not eaten for five years have been linked with the deaths of at least three of her disciples including an Australian woman who died in Scotland last week.

A Sunday Times investigation has revealed that Ellen Greve’s books and internet sites expounding the wonders of ‘breatharianism’ may have contributed to the fatal fasts of a woman in Brisbane, Australia, last summer and of a German kindergarten teacher in Munich in 1997, as well as the death of 49-year-old Verity Linn last week. Greve, 43, who is also known as Jasmuheen, claims to have 5,000 followers world-wide and is set to tour Britain in November to promote her philosophy that humans can attain a higher spiritual state by starving themselves. Her business is based mainly on the internet. Greve charges more than £1,500 for tickets to her seminars, which are said to be attracting increased interest on the eve of the millenium. The questionable nature of Greve’s 21-day fasting regime was raised by the Scottish procurator fiscal Alasdair MacDonald last week when he said Linn died amid the bleak moorland of Sutherland because of hypothermia and dehydration, with self-neglect a secondary cause.

Her semi-naked body was found by an angler on Tuesday several miles from the nearest road or habitation, curled up by a lochan. Alarm bells began ringing when Greve’s Living on Light book was found among her few possessions... Tracked down to a seminar in Auckland, New Zealand, last week, Greve said she had no knowledge of Linn but claimed that when told of her death she had ‘cried for two days’. She described her as a ‘spiritual warrior whose work was complete’. She said she had spoken through cosmic telepathy to one of her ‘ascended masters’, St Germain who assured her that Linn had found ‘a very nice way to go out’.

The other two deaths associated with Greve’s 21-day air diet have met with similar pronouncements. Last August Lani Morris, 53, from Melbourne, lost the power of speech and the use of her right arm, after seven days of trying to survive on ‘prianic light’, and collapsed three days later, never to recover. Greve said later that perhaps Morris was ‘not coming from a place of integrity and did not have the right motivation.’

Timo Degan, a 31 year old kindergarten teacher from Munich, died in March 1997 after reading about Greve’s quasi-mysticism and the ‘liberation from the drudgery of food and drink’ on one of her many internet sites. On day 12 of his diet he reported having visual problems and a week later he slipped into coma. A hospital spokesman said Degan had suffered ‘an almost total circulatory system collapse’ and looked as though ‘he’d been in a concentration camp’; after four weeks on intravenous drips he recovered, only to fall over and die from a head injury. Greve’s followers have been unrepentant, and the German new age magazine Esotera announced that ‘one death in 5,000 is not too high a price to pay to fight world hunger.’ The advantages to the Third World of not eating are a central vein of Greve’s publicity, her critics point out that she has never toured developing countries...

Greve herself is a svelte 7 st. 6 lb., a weight she claims to have ‘commanded my body to stabilise at.’ She drinks herbal teas and confesses to the occasional ‘taste orgasm’ involving chocolate or ice cream, but Lange insists she has ‘eaten only a packet of biscuits’ in the past half decade.

Successive interviewers have been surprised to find her £148,000 house and swimming pool in Brisbane’s prosperous Chapel Hill crammed with food, but Greve insists these are the vegan requirements of Jess Ferguson, 52, her second husband. The local newspaper last week revealed that he had been convicted of fraud and has twice been made a bankrupt...

Linn’s death has revived anger in the medical profession at Greve’s commercial success. Dr Geoff Marks, head of the nutrition programme at Queensland University, called her teachings ‘dangerous mumbo jumbo.’ ‘There is no mechanism by which our bodies can extract nitrogen and other elements from the air,’ he said.

Dr. Dee Dawson, eating disorder specialist at the Rhodes Farm Clinic in north London said simply that Greve was an ‘irresponsible nutter.’

The fifth and youngest child of Norwegian immigrants, Greve claims to trace her techniques back to methods traditionally used by Tibetan monks, and has sworn that she will never need to eat again...’ p 12

[v] One side effect of the drugs ingested by Taoist seekers would have been the production of hallucinations, some of which could have produced the sensation of flying and other magical skills. A similar process was at work in the West. Many of the recipes used in witchcraft involved aconite, belladonna, alcohol and fly agaric [the magic or sacred mushroom] all of which can cause mental confusion, and lead to the fantasies mentioned in the witchcraft trials in Britain and elsewhere. See G. Parrinder Witchcraft: European and African Faber 1963

[vi] These channels are described in the writings of Yin Shih Tsu [the nom de plume of Chiang Wei Ch’iao]. In his third book Yin Shih Tsu’s Experimental Meditations for the Promotion of Health he describes the strange effects after his internal energy began to flow through, and connect up, the eight major psychic channels. ‘One night the heat in the ‘central spot’ vibrated, causing my body to bend forwards and backwards and to the left and right. These bendings were orderly and the same number each time without the least confusion. Then the vibration caused my arms to revolve backwards and forwards quickly like a wheel with the same number of turns each way. Then it reached my legs so that the left one bent while the right one straightened and vice versa.’ For a complete description of the effects see The Secrets of Chinese Meditation Lu K’uan Yu Rider 1964 pp 193-201

[vii] This idea may be seen in the art of T’ai Chi Ch’uan where health is now more important than fighting skill. Miss Rose Li told me that T’ai Chi Ch’uan was for fighting illness, not people, although some teachers still teach a fighting aspect to their styles. An interesting work dealing with the health aspect of T’ai Chi Ch’uan is Yin and Yang to Rejuvenation by Winston Wei-chung, Hong Kong 1978

[viii] Lu Tung Pin was one of the famous group of eight Taoist Immortals. After learning the Ba Duann Chin from his master Chung Li Ch’uan he learned to fly and become invisible at will. One day while flying over the Huang Lung mountain he became aware of strange shaped clouds hovering over a monastery. Realising that something unusual was happening he entered the main hall where he found the Chan [Zen] master Huang Lung expounding the Dharma [Buddhist teaching] to the monks. An argument ensued between the Taoist immortal and the Chan master which caused Lu Tung Pin to throw his sword at master Huang Lung who simply pointed at the sword causing it to fall to the ground.

According to the Buddhist version of this tale Lu Tung Pin then fell to his knees, admitted the error of his ways, and begged to be allowed to follow the Buddhist path.

While this tale is mildly amusing it contains all the elements which make internal energy so attractive; immortality, superhuman powers, and protection against weapons. All in all a plot worthy of a Superman comic!

[ix] The I Chin Ching [Muscle Change Classic] was said to have been written by the great Zen master Bodhidharma. The traditional tale is that he left this work, and another the Hsi Sui Ching [Washing the Marrow Classic] as a record of his teachings to the monks of the Shaolin Temple. Dr. William C.C. Hu has shown that there is no truth in the traditional story and that the I Chin Ching is in fact a product of the 19th century. See:-

Black Belt magazine Vol. 3 # 11, 12. Vol. 4 # 1, 2.

For English language versions of the I Chin Ching see:-

Secrets of Shaolin Temple Boxing R.W. Smith Tuttle 1964 pp 18-22

Chi Kung: Health and Martial Arts Dr. Yang Jwing - Ming Yangs Martial Art Academy 1985 pp 20-30

Chinese Healing Arts : Internal Kung-Fu ed. W.R. Berk Unique Publications 1986 pp 148-150, 165-177.

In the preface to the 1881 edition of the I Chin Ching, the editor Wang Tsu-yuan tells us that he was born a weak person. In 1835 at the age of thirteen he states that he was taught the exercises of the I Chin Ching by a military officer, Captain Chou Chia-fu. After one year of practice he ‘felt very healthy and my strength was so developed that I was able to lift the accumulated weight of ten chun, equal to 300 catties [400 lbs.]’. Here we have the claim that a 14 year old Chinese boy could lift about 400 lbs. Compare this with the 1990 version of the Worlds Strongest Man competition where weightlifters with years of training behind them [and weighing over 280lbs.] had great problems lifting stones weighing 250 and 300 lbs. Ludicrous claims like that of Wang Tsu-yuan became accepted as true and so amplified the myth that ch’i could substitute for strength. A sixteen year old Chinese boy is on record as having lifted 205 kgs. during the Chinese National Weightlifting Championships held in April 1986. However he weighed 146 kgs. and used normal weightlifting techniques and training methods to achieve his feat; no mention of ch’i kung here. See China Sports # 8 August 1986.

[x] Various versions of the Ba Duann Chin have been published in English. Interested readers may consult the following:-

* Chinese Healing Arts: Internal Kung Fu ed. W.R. Berk Unique Publications 1986 pp 48-57

* Chi Kung: Health and Martial Arts Dr. Yang Jwing-ming Yangs Martial Art Academy 1985 pp 30-36

* Pa Tuan Chin: Chinese Health-Giving Exercise H.F. Xue Wan Li Book Co. Hong Kong 1979

* Science and Civilization in China Vol. 5 part 5 Dr. J. Needham Cambridge University Press 1983 pp 158-161.

For similar methods see also:-

* The Kung Fu Exercise Book M. Minick Corgi 1975

* Chinese Yoga Stephen T. Chang Turnstone Press Ltd. 1980

* Daoist Health Preservation Exercises Bian Zhizhong Great Wall Books, Peking 1987

* The Secrets of Chinese Meditation Lu K’uan Yu Rider 1984. Chapter seven is concerned with ‘The Microcosmic Orbit Technique’, which seems to be the instructions used in the Ba Duann Chin.

[xi] See :-

* Science and Civilization in China Vol. 5 Part 5 Dr. J. Needham pp 170-173

* ‘A Report on the Kung Fu of the Taoist Monks’ Dr. W. C.C. Hu Karate Illustrated magazine Vol. 5 # 5 August 1974

[xii] Official Karate magazine Vol. 7 # 46 April 1975 p 22

[xiii] Miracle Mongers and their Methods Harry Houdini New York 1920 republished Coles Publishing Co. Ltd, Toronto Canada 1980 p 116

[xiv] Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women Ricky Jay Robert Hale Ltd., London 1986 pp 221-236

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