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Chapter 3: Theory and Philosophy behind the art of ch'i kung

China is one of the oldest nations in the world. She is the cradle of a very ancient civilization; older, perhaps, than the civilizations that grew up in Egype, Babylonia, and Assyria; and also, these ancient cultures passed away long before the birth of Christ while China continues to grow and flourish.

It is not known who the first Chinese were, or where they came from. They were not the original inhabitants of the area which became China. Some believe that the Chinese originated in the rich basin of the Euphrates, the mother of all races. They migrated eastward to the Shansi province in the Yellow River Valley around the 23rd century, B.C. Like the Chaldeans and the Israelites, they were a pastoral people. But after the Chinese had wrested possession of the land from the aboriginal tribes, they became an agricultural people.

The legendary Emperor Shen Nung was believed to be the founder of agriculture. "Shen" means spirit or god, and "Nung" means agriculture. Shen Nung was revered as the patron god of agriculture. He is associated with the Way of Nature as farming is a livelihood that depends on harmony with nature. He showed the Chinese that one must break ground, plant, cultivate, and harvest in accord with the natural passing of seasons.

The early history of China abounds in myths and legends. By these tales, man was able to explain things he didn't understand. But as time passed, experiences gave him empirical knowledge. Many old arts were developed by our ancestors through trial and error and the passing of many centuries. Ch'i Kung, the art of breathing control, is one of the oldest arts in China and it was developed in this way. It began long before written history, and reached its golden age of development during the Chou Dynasty, 1122-255 B.C. Each succeeding dynasty, up to the communist takeover, sustained and practiced this art.

According to the old tales, everything began from Chaos, or the Great Void. Within Chaos, there existed the three primary elements of the universe—form, force, and substance. But they were still undivided and existed as one. The early tales of cosmology explain that force was first to separate from the Great Void. It was followed by form then substance. The last stage, when substance appears, is called the Great Homogeneity. The universe was complete, but there was no distinction between heaven and earth. Then the lighter and purer substances rose up and created the heavens, and the coarser and heavier substances sank and produced the earth. The division of substance into lighter and heavier parts manifest the Chinese belief in dual power. The Way of Nature is accomplished by the interaction of dual power, and not by the will of a single power such as the Christian God.

The sequences of Ch'i Kung were formulated according to the concept of dual power. Action, or movement, is made up of a gentle part and a forceful part. One may move slowly and gracefully, or one may move quickly and forcefully. Ch'i Kung brings the dual power of movement into harmony. As an example, one begins Ch'i Kung practice with the gentle movements of the Yin and progresses to the forceful movements of the Yang. Each part is essential to each other, and each must be practiced at the right time in order to maintain harmony.

According to legend, 500,000 years passed between the beginning of the world and the ascension of the Emperor Fu Hsi, the founder of the Chinese Nation. During that period, there were countless traditional stories describing the origin of customs, arts and industries. There are no facts of this period, just stories. Anthropologists tell us that primitive peoples all over the world have basically the same customs and beliefs. It is only through the passage of time that human cultures have become distinct and individual. Each culture gradually evolved from a lower and simpler form of life to a higher and more complex one.

The art of Ch'i Kung developed in a similar manner. At first, the theory and practice was simple, but the art progressed to more complex and more refined stages. This progression is naturally reflected in the practice of Ch'i Kung, where one starts with the simple and then goes to the complex.

Before animal husbandry and agriculture, the primitive Chinese lived in caves and survived by anything that came their way. They ate wild fruit, drank the blood of animals, and covered their loins with skins. They had to fight wild beasts and often were hurt of wounded. This is another reason for the development of Ch'i Kung. The cave dwellers needed to be in control of their body energy in order to survive.

Ch'i Kung also aided them in preventing illness and speeding recovery. Meals were irregular and the food coarse and uncooked. The body was exposed to the weather and subject to much abuse. Stomach trouble and other ailments naturally followed. Through experience, they learned methods to fight illness. For example, when they were ill, they lay still in caves and waited for death. After long experience, they discovered that by not moving or exercising, their bodies decayed and they died. By practicing certain exercises, they learned that the sick could become well again. They also found that exercises helped to maintain good health. These exercises were developed over thousands of years and came to be known as Ch'i Kung.

These exercises were developed naturally from instinctive responses to illnesses. The most universal symptom of disorder in the living organism is pain. The organism instinctively seeks to find remedies for it. For example, the dog licks its wounds, and eats certain herbs and grasses when sick. A child will naturally stretch its cramped limbs or scratch its itching body to remove these irritations. Such instinctive responses are the origins from which definite curative systems have arisen.

Primitive man had a very limited knowledge of physical laws or cause and effect. He was in the very first stages of understanding the workings of Nature. The only way for him to explain things was to personify them. He attributed to all inanimate objects his own sentiments and passions, fancying them to be influenced by the same things in the same ways. This tendency to personify or animate everything is universal among primitive peoples.

Primitive man considered natural phenomena to be alive and to have human characteristics. He was frightened by lightning, thunder, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and eclipses. He was in awe of the sun, the moon, and the stars. To him all things were the outward manifestations of the gods, demons, and other powerful forces of the universe.

Primitive man thought that health and disease were controlled by these forces. Disease, in particular, was regarded as the work of devils or spirits in possession of the body. The possessed could only be cured of infirmity when the intruders were evicted by the application of appropriate incantations. Charms and other psycho-spiritual practices were used as well as martial exercises for health. In the early stages of Ch'i Kung development, the art was once a faith-and-nature healer as well as a martial art.