Posted by Louis on January 25, 1999 at 16:17:36:
In Reply to: Re: Grammatologist posted by Show-Hong on January 23, 1999 at 23:50:23:
Greetings, Show-Hong,
Always fascinated by your posts! You have presented examples of behavior that you hold may reflect “hao ran zhi qi”. What I find interesting is that these examples all reflect what might be called “valor” – i.e., strength of mind or spirit that enables a person to encounter danger with firmness -- and this is in fact how some translators have interpreted Mengzi’s “hao ran zhi qi”, as “valor”.
Is this what Mengzi meant? I’m not entirely convinced. In reflecting on your original question about whether “qi is energy”, I offer the following:
Sarah Allan, in her recent book, _The Way of Water and Sprouts of Virtue_ (1997, SUNY), devotes a section of the work to “Breath,” “Vapor,” “Vital Energy” (Qi), beginning on p. 87. In keeping with the theme of her book – water and natural imagery as root metaphors of early Chinese philosophy – she states, “The primary model for the concept of qi is water in the form of vapor, but water vapor may disperse, liquefy as water, or solidify as ice. Thus qi encompasses not simply vapor but all the various forms that vapor may take including the liquid and the solid.”
She continues:
“Qi is one of the most important – and one of the most difficult – of all early Chinese concepts to understand. In the West, the idea of qi has been introduced through the technique of qi gong in martial arts – the ability to control and use one’s breath or inner vitality (qi) to obtain great force or power – and in Chinese medical techniques, such as acupuncture, which is based on the idea of channels of qi moving through the body.
“According to A. C. Graham, ‘qi . . . has the place in Chinese cosmology occupied by matter in ours. The basic metaphor behind the word matter is of timber (Latin materia), inert, and cut up and to be assembled by a carpenter; qi, on the other hand, is in the first place the breath, alternating between motion and stillness, extended in space but insubstantial, although vaporizing to become visible on a frosty day. The qi is conceived as becoming solider the more slowly it moves, with the more tenuous circulating within and energizing the inert, for example, as the jing ‘quintessence,’ the vitalizing fluid in the living body. In its ultimate degree of fineness we could think of it in Western terms as pure energy.’ ” (Allan, pp. 87-88)
Allan notes a very early appearance of an early form of the character for qi on an inscribed jade inscription from the Warring States Period known as the “Moving Qi” (Xing Qi) jade. She translates the inscription (pp. 88-89), but I won’t quote in full. Significantly, the last two lines are, “If one follows along, one lives. / If one goes against, one dies.”
Allen comments, “Here, then, qi is both human breath and the cycle of water that nourishes all life, the ultimate life force.” (p. 89)
Further on, Allan quotes some passages from Mengzi regarding qi:
“The will (zhi) is the governor of qi. Qi is what fills the limbs. Wherein the will arrives is wherein the qi lodges. Thus it is said, ‘Hold fast to your will and do not violate your qi.’ ” (IIA.2, Allan, trans., p. 91)
And, Mengzi, clarifying what ‘hao ran zhi qi’ means:
“It is difficult to explain. This is qi which is supremely large and supremely firm. If it is nurtured with straightness and unharmed, then it will fill up the space between heaven and earth. This is qi which matches rightness with the way. Without these, it will starve. It is that which accumulated rightness generates. It is not that right [acts] are done again and again and one takes [the principle] from that. If there is no gratification in the heart from one’s actions, it will starve.” (IIA.2, ibid.)
It seems to me, then, that while valor is an indication of ‘hao ran zhi qi’, what Mengzi speaks of is something more fundamental. It is an identification, an alignment of one’s self with what is naturally right and good. This is his objective in self-cultivation.
Take care,
--Louis