baihe shifu Posted August 12, 2011 at 02:29 AM Report Share Posted August 12, 2011 at 02:29 AM Once again I am asking for someone to please translate as best they can the following into English: I would be most grateful to anyone who can help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edelweis Posted August 26, 2011 at 05:11 PM Report Share Posted August 26, 2011 at 05:11 PM Okay I'll do the first easy one... I assume jing, qi and shen are concepts that make sense to you? 精 jing (vitality/energy) 形 xing (form) 氣 qi (vital breath) 神 shen (soul/spirit/divine essence) The caption says (please someone correct me if I'm wrong): drawing #2 Jing/Qi/Shen in the sport of Wushu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imron Posted August 27, 2011 at 09:37 AM Report Share Posted August 27, 2011 at 09:37 AM Okay I'll do the first easy one... I assume jing, qi and shen are concepts that make sense to you? The problem is, translations of these words are basically useless without an accompanying explanation, and often those explanations miss the mark completely. They also tend to mystify things that are actually very common or ordinary phenomenons. Take for example 精 - jing, which is often translated as vitality/energy, or also essence, but what does that really mean? Actually what 精 means in Chinese both literally and in an internal martial art context, is sperm. Which might seem a little bizzare, but actually I'm sure you've probably read in the west about coaches encouraging elite male athletes to refrain from sexual activity in the weeks or even months leading up to a big game/race/match in order to increase their energy/aggression/performance. 守精 (storing sperm - i.e. making sure your sperm stays in your body), has been used in Chinese internal martial arts for hundreds of years, and the feeling of increased energy it creates is basically your 氣 (qi), but the problem is, simply using 守精 as a way to increase your 氣 is not enough because this energy (and by energy I don't mean any sort of mystical or magical energy, just the feeling of extra energy that refraining from sexual activity will bring) will be dispersed throughout the entire body and by itself will probably lead to increased agitation and lack of focus, which are not good things because focus and intent are what drive/guide your 氣 and so if your focus is all over the place and has no direction, then this energy is wasted. This is where 神 (shen) comes into play. Actually, here, 神 doesn't refer to spirit or divine essence (whatever that means), it basically just means your focus, intention or thought - think 心神、眼神 rather than any spiritual/mystical meaning of 神. And so, you have the complete cycle, where you use your thought/intent to focus the extra energy you get by 'storing' your sperm, which in turn creates more of the same, increasing your energy and your need for focus and so on and so on. That's of course a simplified explanation (I'm not any sort of expert in the subject), and of course there are definitely more scientific ways to explain what is going on, but back in the day, the people coming up with this terminology didn't understand the whys and hows of the various chemical reactions going on inside the body, they simply observed a natural phenomenon and came up with a way to describe it. So it's important not to be misled by single word translations or attach any sort of mystical connotation to these words and their meaning. There's nothing mystical or magical about it, and if you're a male, this particular phenomenon is something you can easily test and observe for yourself. So, my advice would be not to get hung up on a specific translation, but rather ask your teacher (or someone who understands these things in greater detail) to explain the concepts behind the words, because this is the sort of thing that you really can't capture with a single word translation. Actually these terms also need to be explained to a Chinese person who decides they want to train this sort of thing. It's not something a typical person will know anything about. Different martial arts may also have slightly different variations on the same theme, so it's important to speak with someone inside your martial art who can explain it. The caption says (please someone correct me if I'm wrong): drawing #2 Jing/Qi/Shen in the sport of Wushu Not 'in the sport of Wushu', but 'in martial arts'. Wushu basically has two meanings these days. The original meaning is just martial art. Nowadays it also specifically refers to the sport Wushu. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenny同志 Posted August 27, 2011 at 11:29 AM Report Share Posted August 27, 2011 at 11:29 AM Just to add that 精,气,神 are basic concepts in traditional Chinese medicine on which 武术, including 内功, is based upon. I completely agree with Imron on his explanation and approach of translation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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