Zen and Body Practice
From Exposed in the Golden Wind -
An Introduction to Zen and Buddhist Forms

Qigong

Qigong is the art of developing vital energy for health, mind expansion and spiritual cultivation. In pinyin chinese, q is pronounced like the english ch'; o like the english u. Hence, "qigong" should be pronounced like the english "ch'i gung". Depending on how we would define "types", there are two, three, four, five, six, hundreds of or thousands of types of Qigong. Some people divide Qigong into two types: quiescent and dynamic, or internal and external. Some into three types: quiescent, dynamic, and quiescent-cum-dynamic. Others into four types: standing, sitting, lying down, and moving. Still others into five types: Buddhist, Daoist, Confucian, medical, and martial. Some add populace Qigong to the five to make six types.

There are various schools of Qigong, such as Shaolin Cosmos Qigong, Shaolin Damo Qigong, Taiji Eighteen Steps Qigong, Flying Crane Qigong, Fragrance Qigong and so on. Sometimes, people may refer to different Qigong techniques as different types of Qigong, in which case there are thousands of them. Hence, it is understandable that there are also different levels of attainment in the various types of Qigong. Is Qigong the same as Taiji Quan? No, they are different, although Taiji Quan (if it is practiced the way traditional masters practiced it) makes extensive use of Qigong. Basically, Taiji Quan is a martial art, whereas Qigong is a collective term for various arts of energy, which may or may not be used for martial art purposes. The movements of some Qigong types resemble those of Taiji Quan, whereas many other Qigong movements are totally different from typical Taiji Quan movements.

There are many wonderful benefits derived from practicing Qigong, and they may be generalized into the following five categories:

Curing illness and promoting health.
Enhancing vitality and developing internal force.
Promoting youthfulness and longevity.
Expanding the mind and the intellect.
Spiritual cultivation.

Many Qigong types focus on only one or two of the above categories, but a few cover all the five. For example, most types of medical Qigong aim mainly at curing illness, virtually all sexual types of Qigong emphasize solely on youthfulness, whereas Shaolin Cosmos Qigong touches on all the above five categories of benefits. According to Chinese medical thought, practicing Qigong can cure as well as prevent all kinds of illness, including diseases like asthma, diabetes, hypertension and cancer which are generally considered "incurable" by conventional medicine. Practicing Qigong is also very effective for overcoming psychological problems.

One must, first of all, realize that the conventional medical paradigm is only one of many ways to look at health and illness, and it is not necessarily the only correct way. According to the Chinese medical paradigm, there is no such a thing as an incurable disease, although a patient may be incurable if his disease, even a simple one, has done damage beyond a certain threshold. No disease is incurable because it is our natural birth-right to overcome all types of diseases -- if our psychological and physiological systems are working the way they should work. Illness occurs only if one or more of these natural systems fail in their functions.

When all our systems are functioning naturally, the Chinese figuratively describe this condition as harmonious qi flow, i.e. the energy flow that supplies the right information to every part of our body (and mind), that provides the right defense or immunity when needed, that repairs all our wear and tear, that channels away toxic waste and negative emotions, and that performs other countless things to keep as alive and healthy, is functioning the way it should. If this harmonious chi flow is disrupted, illness occurs.

The forte of Qigong is to restore and enhance this harmonious qi flow, thus overcoming illness, irrespective of the labels one may use to define its symptoms, and promoting health, which the Chinese have always considered to be more important than curing diseases. It is significant to note that the claim of Qigong to overcome illness and promote health is not based just on the above philosophical explanation, but on thousands and thousands of practical cases.

All great gungfu makes use of energy training (which is Qigong) to develop internal force, without which it remains at its external, mechanical level, considered by Chinese martial artists as rough and low-class. Hence, a gungfu master may look, and actually is, gentle, yet with his internal force he can cause much damage to his opponent if he wishes. Moreover, his internal force does not diminish with age, and he can apply it for peaceful use in his daily living. Unlike in many other systems of martial arts where the training itself often results in physical as well as emotional injuries, gungfu training with Qigong enhances harmonious chi flow, thus promotes health, vitality and longevity.

There are three aspects in all types of Qigong, namely form, energy and mind. If you practice only the form, without the energy and the mind dimensions, then you are merely performing physical exercise, strictly speaking not Qigong, for there is no training of energy. For an effective control of energy, you have to enter what is called in modern terms "a Qigong state of mind". In the past, this was called "entering Zen" or "entering silence". When you are in Zen or a meditative state of mind, you can, among other things, tap energy from the cosmos and direct the energy to flow to wherever you want in your body. It is this mind aspect of Qigong, even more than its energy aspect, that enables Qigong masters to perform what lay people would call miracles, or, depending on their attitude, fakery.

Internal Gungfu

The internal Gungfu program includes training in hand and weapons forms, nei kung, and shen (spirit) practice. The twocore forms for advanced students are chang ch'uan (long boxing) and Lui Ha Ba Fa (six harmonies and eight methods). These are the oldest and rarest forms in Chinese Martial Arts. In addition, the hand and weapons forms from the Yang, Chen, Wu, and Sun family Taiji systems are taught. The neigung (internal work) training includes several systems of qigong and tien hsueh work. Students receiving neigung instruction are also required to participate in the Taoist and Buddhist (Zen) meditation classes.

External Gungfu

The core style for the external Gungfu program is a southern Chinese temple system named Pang Gai Nun (half hard-half soft system). It is a dragon, crane, tiger style. In addition, training is offered in advanced chi kung (ironshirt, I quan [mind boxing], etc.), and iron palm for students at advanced ranks.The Pang Gai Nun system is best known in the U.S.A. by the name Uechi-Ryu. Master Kanbun Uechi brought the style to Okinawa from China in the early 1900's. After his death the style was named Uechi-Ryu in his memory throughout the Ryukyu Islands. Sifu George Matson brought the style from Okinawa to Boston, Mass. in the 1950's.