| Trailokya Aryal |
Posted
on 07-Jul-01 06:40 PM
Hi all,
I found this old paper of mine (written while in China). Since, the topic of discussion now happens to be falun gong/qi-gong, I am posting this here. Please disregard it if you don't have any interest in it.
Trailokya
Traditional Chinese Medicine and Qi-Gong in today’s China
For centuries, traditional medicine (Tuina massage, Acupuncture and Qi-Gong) has been imbedded in Chinese culture. The range of traditional medicine is very broad. It is not only going to an acupuncturist or a Tuina doctor in case of pain, but it also involves the eating and drinking habits of the Chinese people. One particular aspect of the traditional Chinese medicine is “Qi-Gong”. The belief in Qi (energy) has been the basis of Chinese culture from time immemorial. According, to this belief, everything in the world, whether material or non-material, living or non-living, are made up of Qi.
The Qi is omnipresent and a regular flow of which, is necessary to keep everything in order. According to a popular belief, an irregular flow of Qi in human body can cause diseases. Probably, this belief led to the development of Qi-Gong.
Qi Gong is a set of movements that helps in a regular flow of Qi in the body and keeps the body healthy. This is why, Qi-Gong, is mostly seen as a preventative medicinal practice. People who practice Qi-Gong in one form or another (TaiJi, Kung Fu, etc) believe that the practice of Qi-Gong keeps them healthy, physically as well as mentally. This is why one can see people practicing various forms of Qi Gong early in the mornings, evenings; at parks, on streets, everywhere and anywhere in China. However, one interesting thing to note is that, that the majority of people practicing various forms of Qi-Gong are 50+. Why is the new “VCD” generation of China, slowly detaching itself from this great preventative medicinal practice? Is it because they do not have any time to practice it, or is it because they don’t believe in Qi-Gong?
Almost 90% of the students that I talked to believed in Qi, but not even half of them seemed to believe in Qi-Gong and it’s “healing powers”. Their reasons being too slow, time consuming and is only suitable for old people who have nothing else to do. The new generation of China, wants something that provides “instant” relief and the chemists all over China, filled with the western “Tylanol” like instant remedies, and herbal medicines, are where the new Chinese generation goes to in case of disease/illness. Interestingly enough, this generation still believes in acupuncture and Tuina, probably because these two forms of medicine were not labeled “conter-revolutionary/feudal/old” during the height of the Cultural Revolution. However, the members of the new generation, visit the tuina and acupuncture doctors when their disease/illness fails to get cured by the doctors who practice western medicine.
“Many of Qi-Gong masters are fake, like Li Hong Zhi of Falun Gong. That’s why I don’t believe in Qi-Gong”, said Jung Yi, one of my roommates in China, when I asked him whether or not he believed in Qi-Gong’s supposedly miraculous healing power. Like most of the people of his generation he believes in Qi, but not in Qi-Gong. It is hard to label his as an iconoclast for his views, because the “fake masters and their fake Qi-Gong, like that of Falun Gong” are being exposed almost every year and obviously people like him develop a negative feeling towards Qi-Gong. This is the new generation which demands scientific proof for everything they see/hear or believe. Qi-Gong, being something that still remains a mystery, cannot be explained in scientific terms but Tuina and Acupuncture can be explained scientifically. This is why the new generation is tilted towards the western medicine, Tuina and acupuncture and is cynical when it comes to Qi-Gong.
To 50+ generation in China, which is seen doing Qi-Gong has a different approach. My host-grandfather, who happens to be a calligrapher, thinks that the new generation is too westernized, has no patience and has no respect for the glorious Chinese traditions. However, he too could not resist his temptation to call Li Hong Zhi a fake master and his school of Qi-Gong as “unhealthy”. He was sad that because of the people like Li, many young people were losing their faith in Qi-Gong.
He believes that Qi-Gong can be applied to everything in life. When I was learning calligraphy with him. He would tell me to hold my arm still, apply Qi. I would try my best to do that, but could never do it. Then he would do it. He would hold his arm still, just move his palm/fingers and do calligraphy. For the people of my host grandfather’s generation, Qigong is what keeps them healthy and also helps in other aspects of life, such as calligraphy and also helps in mental relaxation. For these people, I assume, Qi-Gong is what they learned when they were growing up and has become an inseparable part of their life. This is probably because the 50+ generation grew up in a different environment in which not every thing was demanded to be proved scientifically.
|
