The Rice Strikes Back

五臟實為生性之源，生氣之本*

The five organs are really the source of the production of essence, the basis of the production of vapours

布形候氣**

Deploying the body awaiting for vapours

行氣，深則蓄，蓄則伸***

Vapours behaviour, deep then accumulating, accumulating then stretching

Even if the original character for Qi was just a simple description of cloud vapours and did not contain any reference to rice, as explained in "气 Where is my Bowl of Rice?", one cannot also totally dismiss the presence of rice, or grain, in such notion. Indeed, languages are a living thing, meanings and understanding changes during the course of time, and the complex version of Qi, "氣", has been used for a time long enough to alter, willingly or not, the original meaning of what was just a simple way to describe the feminine and masculine principles interaction, more known as the Yin and the Yang. Futhermore, if the complex version was not a pictogram, it was still an ideogram made of two very recognisable compounds, grain (or rice) and vapours. Hence, for who opened the lid of a pot of just cooked rice, or grain, and saw the vapours coming out of it, the link between the character and vapours coming from just cooked grain or rice can seem quite obvious. A lot of texts describing the notions behind the concept of Qi were originally written with its complex version, meaning the understanding was also coming from an analysis including the rice/grain element.

Then, one can logically try to find out what rice or grain brings to the concept and what it implies when training vitality. Rice or grain represents essence, stressing that it is not just a water and heat issue but that essence (of life) has also to be taken into consideration. As far as training is concerned, this essence or quintessence naturally leads to the importance of one's organs, what actually internal practices train first and foremost.

Rice for Essence

As it has been said before, the original character for Qi, "气", describes cloud vapours, which is a way to refer to the Yin-Yang relation, heat and water combining to make vapours. Out of the numerous different explanations of the term, this blog limits itself to the ones more linked to what is called "internal alchemy", a great part of the training in internal practices. Hence, Qi in its complex version,"氣", has to be put in perspective with one of the basic principles of internal alchemy, "Liquid essence/Essential liquids can change into vapours". Indeed both the character used for essence, 精, and the complex one for vapours, 氣, contain the character 米, rice or grain, as a compound. This, of course, cannot be regarded as pure coincidence. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, 精 is "the fundamental substance which maintains the functioning of the body; essence of life". It originally meant "to choose" and then by extension "to choose rice". 精 are essentials liquids, mainly the ones coming from the organs, as well as liquid essence in the sense that those liquids contain an essence of life (like nutrients). Through heat, this essence shall be vaporised.

Furthermore, grain is also, as a product of the earth, a more plain way to point out that apart from water and fire, an earthy element or a recipient containing the essential fluids has also to be taken into consideration. In one's body, it is obviously one's organs. Hence, as soil needs to be ploughed to be improved, organs need to be trained.

Finally, one can also notice that water, heat (fire), movement (the "rising clouds", hence wind) and grain (earth) sum up in one character something somehow close to the four classical elements found in some cultures. Furthermore, quintessence can be seen as the equivalent of Aether.

The Organs, the Base of Vitality

In direct relation to the meaning "having the appearance of rising clouds", vapours are supposed to come out from various parts of the body at certain stages when training the internal alchemy, the forehead, the top of the head, outside of the throat and the palms for the most noticeable. The addition of the character for grain as a compound in the complex version leads, as it has been explained before, to the question of training the organs. Indeed, organs are essential parts of our body, hence the thing to train above all for internal Martists. Obvious remains of such importance can be still witnessed in the practices that still link some of their posture or moves to a specific organ. Strictly speaking, when one is training very low to improve his legs muscles, this is external, while doing the same would be internal if it is done in a way to mainly improve the organs. The same goes for stretching, external if done only to be more flexible, acrobatic, internal when precise angles directly target all the connective tissues linked to one's organs.

The main targets for internal practices as far as organs are concerned are keeping, cleaning and improving:

Keeping

As it has been mentioned already in Health, according to sayings like 五臟六腑，各按其位, "the five organs and six viscera, each shelved in its right place" and 腸肚入槽, "the stomach and the intestines go into the manger/groove", it is very important for internal practices to keep the organs in their right place. Therefore, fascias along the organs shall be targeted, like membranes lining them. To do so, heavy stretching with particular angles were the norm. A special type of breathing meant for alignment, which will be described in the next post, was also used.

Cleaning

Cleaning was mainly done through heat, so exercise or breathing until one would sweat. Obliviously one would also try to have a light diet in order to avoid having too many toxins in the body.

Improving

The traditional way to improve organs was similar to the one described in Bones and the Force, influencing one's growth, puberty being the most crucial period. Therefore, young kids were imposed very strenuous exercises often including weights, putting them regularly in a state of deep exhaustion (but still avoiding it to be hurtful). They would then end up having a very resistant and athletic body, and very strong organs to support them. Still, apart from heavy duty and exhaustion trainings targeting one's growth, special shaking, breathing meant to pressure them like also the whirlpool or the gulping and throwing up techniques, bearing extreme heat and cold were among the exercises used to specifically make one's organs stronger and more resistant to outside pressure.

Clean, stronger and kept at their right place, organs production of essentials liquids would be greatly enhanced, so was the production of Qi.

From its original simplified version to its complex one, Qi remains a riddle meant to help understand the mechanisms behind the various changes one's shape undergoes from a day to another, or even during the day, without any noticeable change in one's physical body (i.e muscle or fat growing or receding). Invisible to the eyes phenomenons, it makes it hard to understand. For further clues on this particular riddle, one would also have decipher the hidden meaning of the third less used but very Taoist remaining version of Qi, the character 炁.

*Discourse on the Five Essentials, Discourse on the Nine Essentials 五要論，九要論

** The lady from Yue talks about the way of the sword in Spring and Autumn of the Wu and the Yue, King Goujian's Plots Unauthorized Biography, Goujian's Reign Year Thirteen 吳越春秋, 勾踐陰謀外傳, 勾踐十三年

***Engravings on a Jade Ornament about Qi Behaviour,  行氣玉佩銘. Maybe one of the oldest text on Qi. It may be interesting to notice that Qi is written with the character for fire as a compound instead of the rice one... Since this jade ornement dates from the end of the Warring States period (around 475 to 221 BC), a time when Chinese writing was less unified and much more diverse, as the particular writing of Qi shows, the version of the quote is the probably most acknowledged translation since there are indeed discussions about the meaning of at least ten characters in the text. Therefore, another translation of the quote could be 行氣，吞則蓄，蓄則神 , "Vapours behaviour, gulping then accumulating, accumulating then spirited". Both could make sense, an issue when studying with the old methods...