QI: VAPOUR, BREATH AND VITAL ENERGY The most complicated and difficult to articulate concept in the ancient Chinese thought and philosophy is certainly that of Qi, Vital Energy. It is present in all that is manifest in the universe, in any which form. Qi is, in fact, the ‘matrix’ of everything. Breath, vibration, wave, quark, weave.
The Chinese character for Qi represents rice which, being cooked, gives off vapour, steam:
The rice, in the lower right portion of the character, is the material (Yin), nourishing and sustaining aspect, while the vapour is the ethereal (Yang), evolutionary and moving aspect. Without movement Qi ceases to exist. In human beings, Qi is categorised in a variety of different ‘types’, representing the evolution of Qi through different, specific aspects of the organism.
QI: PRE-NATAL ENERGIES
The first ‘types’ of Qi to impact on the person are known as ‘pre-natal Qi’, which is very much the equivalent of the western concept of ‘genetic pool’ and DNA, and is composed by:
[ Yuan Qi – species
[ Zong Qi – progeny
[ Jing Qi – parents (conception)
The specific combination of these ‘energies’ (aspects of Qi at different evolutionary stages) determines, inalterably, the personal characteristics of the individual, at all levels.
QI: POST-NATAL ENERGIES
Post-natal Qi is, instead, the sum total of the ‘external’ energies that the organism has the ability to utilise and the ‘internal’ ones it can produce independently, through them, in its lifespan. The main external energies are:
[ Gu Qi – food (Earth)
[ Da Qi – air/oxygen (Sky/Heaven)
The food is macerated in the Stomach and divided there into ‘useful’ and ‘scrap’ (faeces). The useful part is transformed into Gu Qi by the Spleen, which further transforms it into blood (Xue), and transports it to the Lungs, which potentiate it combining it with Da Qi from the air (sometimes also known as Feng Qi), ultimately creating Zhong Qi. The Lungs use a portion of Zhong Qi to produce Wei Qi, our protective Energy (equivalent to the western concept of ‘immune system’), they distribute it to the skin and send the rest to the Kidneys, which ‘blend’ it with Jing (pre-natal Energy or Essence) giving origin to the Zhen Qi (post-natal Energy), which supports and sustains all energetic and physiological functions of the organism.