The Root of Chinese Qigong. Jwing-Ming Yang

and root of your life. It is what enables you to grow stronger and bigger. After your birth you start to absorb the Jing of food and air, converting these Jings into the Qi which supplies your body’s needs. You should understand that when Jing is mentioned in Qigong society, it refers usually to Yuan Jing (Original Jing, ). Qigong practitioners believe that Original Jing is the most important part of you, because it is the root of your body’s Qi and Shen. The amount and quality of Original Jing is different from person to person, and it is affected significantly by your parents’ health and living habits while they were creating you. Generally speaking, it does not matter how much Original Jing you have carried over from your parents. If you know how to conserve it, you will have more than enough for your lifetime. According to Chinese medicine, you probably cannot increase the amount of Jing you have. It is believed, however, that Qigong training can improve its quality.

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      In Qigong training, knowing how to conserve and firm your Original Jing is of primary importance. To conserve means to refrain from abusing your Original Jing through overuse. For example, if you overindulge in sexual activity, you will lose Original Jing faster than other people and your body will degenerate faster. To firm your Jing means to keep and protect it. For example, you should know how to keep your kidneys strong. Kidneys are thought of as the residence of Original Jing. When your kidneys are strong, the Original Jing will be kept firm and will not be lost without reason. The firming of your Original Jing is called “Gu Jing” (), which is translated “to make solid, to firm the essence.” Only after you know how to retain (meaning to conserve and firm) your Original Jing can you start seeking ways to improve its quality. Therefore, conserving and firming your Jing is the first step in training. In order to know how to conserve and firm your Jing, you must first know: the root of your Jing, where the Original Jing resides, and how Original Jing is converted into Qi.

      The root of your Original Jing before your birth is in your parents. After birth, this Original Jing stays in its residence, the kidneys, which are now also its root. When you keep this root strong, you will have plenty of Original Jing to supply to your body.

      If you look carefully at how you were formed, you can gain interesting insights into life. You started as one sperm which, because it managed to reach and penetrate the egg before any of the other millions of sperm could, was one of the strongest and luckiest sperm alive. Once this sperm entered the egg, one human cell formed and then started to divide, from one to two, and from two to four. Finally, the baby formed. All of the baby’s health depended on the sperm and egg which were generated from the Jing of the parents. As the baby was being formed it was immersed in liquid, and it received all of its nutrition and oxygen from the mother through the umbilical cord. Notice that the umbilical cord connects at the navel, which is very close to both the Dan Tian and your body’s center of gravity. The umbilical cord is very long, and because it is hard for the mother alone to push the necessary supplies to the baby, the baby needs to help. The baby must draw the nutrients to itself with an in and out pumping motion of its abdomen.

      Once you are born, you start taking in oxygen through your nose and food through your mouth. Since you no longer need the abdominal motion to pump in nutrients, it gradually stops, and, finally, you forget how to use it. In Qigong, the Lower Dan Tian (Xia Dan Tian, ) or abdomen is still considered the original Qi source because it is here that Qi is made from the Original Jing which you inherited from your parents.

      According to Chinese medical and Qigong society, the Original Jing which you obtained from your parents stays in your kidneys after your birth. This Original Jing is the source of your life and growth. This Original Jing is converted continuously into Qi which moves into the Lower Dan Tian, and stays stored there in its residence for future use. The Dan Tian is located on the Conception Vessel — one of the eight Qi “reservoirs” in the body which regulate the Qi flow in the other Qi channels (this will be discussed further in Part Three). Dan Tian Qi is considered “Water Qi” (Shui Qi, ), and is able to cool down the “Fire Qi” (Huo Qi, ) which is generated from the Jing of food and air and which resides at the Middle Dan Tian.

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      As you may realize from the above discussion, if you wish to stay strong and healthy, you must first conserve your Original Jing. Remember that Original Jing is like the principal in your savings account in that it is an original investment which will continue to return interest as long as it is conserved. Jing can produce Qi, so if you handle this Jing carefully, you will continue to have Jing and Qi. However, if you abuse yourself with an unhealthy lifestyle, you may damage and reduce your original Jing.

      In order to conserve your Jing, you must first control your sexual activity. The gonads are called the “external kidneys” (Wai Shen, ) in Chinese medical society. This is because Chinese doctors believe that sperm is a product of Original Jing and the Jing from food and air. The more ejaculations you have, the faster you will exhaust your Original Jing, and the shorter your life will be.

      Please understand that the Chinese doctors and Qigong practitioners are not saying that in order to conserve your Jing, you must stop your sexual activity completely. As a matter of fact, they encourage the proper amount of sexual activity, believing that it will energize and activate the Jing, which makes the Jing-Qi conversion more efficient. Remember, Jing is like fuel, and Qi is like the energy generated from this fuel. The more efficiently you can convert your fuel into energy, the less you will waste.

      In addition, the proper amount of sexual activity will energize the Qi so that it nourishes the Shen (spirit). This will help you stay mentally balanced, and raise your Shen. It is very important to keep your Shen raised, otherwise you will tend to get depressed and will be afraid to face life. It is very hard to define how much sex is the proper amount. It depends on the individual’s age and state of health. According to Qigong, the Jing which resides in the external kidneys (gonads) is the main source of the Qi which fills up the four major Qi vessels in the legs. These four Qi reservoirs (vessels) keep the legs strong and healthy. Therefore, if you feel that your legs are weak due to the amount of sexual activity, you have lost too much of your Jing.

      The second thing you must do in order to conserve your Original Jing is to prevent your Original Qi from leaking out of your body. There are two acupuncture cavities called “Shenshu” (B-23, ) or “Jingmen” (Essence Doors, ). These two cavities are the doors through which the kidneys communicate with the outside, and they are used to regulate the Qi production in the kidneys. When Qi is converted from Original Jing, most of it moves forward to the Dan Tian. However, some Qi is lost backward through the Kidney Doors. If you lose too much Qi, your Jing will be depleted as you try to make up for the loss. In Qigong practice, one of the major training goals is to learn how to lead the converted Qi from the kidneys to the Dan Tian more efficiently.

       Qi

      Since we have already discussed Qi at the beginning of this chapter in general terms, we will now discuss Qi in the human body and in Qigong training. Before we start, we would like to point out one important thing. At this time, there is no clear explanation of the relationship between all of the circulatory systems and the Qi circulatory system. The Western world knows of the blood system, nervous system, and lymphatic system. Now, there is the Qi circulation system from China. How are, for example, the Qi and the nervous system related? If the nervous system does not match the Qi system, where does the sensing energy in the nervous system come from? How is the lymphatic system related to the Qi system? All of these questions are still waiting for study by modern scientific methods and technology. Here, we can only offer you some theoretical