Tai Chi Chuan – Shen, Yi, Chi, Chin into English?

Tai Chi Chuan – Shen, Yi, Chi, Chin into English?

Say what?

I’ve been avoiding the Chinese concepts of tai chi in this blog space, but I’ve been reading a book that has me thinking along Chinese concepts. I’m enjoying the read.

I’m also re-writing it, but not with any sort of authoritative quality. I’m trying to match the concepts as he spells them out to my sense of the word and my experience. All of this is a bit heady and dangerous so I don’t take it too seriously. Nonetheless, I thought I might ponder on this for a bit and you can ponder too. We ponder as we wonder.

The book is The Art of Chinese Swordsmanship by Zhang Yun. I’m not recommending it, nor am I NOT not recommending it. From what I see and read, he looks really great. It is mostly pictures with detailed explanations of his sword moves. I’m not even sure I’ll read that part (most of the book) because our form is substantially different.

But his overview of tai chi has been satisfying and I like the ideas. I also like rewriting the ideas.

For the serious tai chi player, Shen (spirit) leads Yi (mind). Yi leads Chi (intrinsic energy). Chi leads Chin (internal force). Ultimately, according to Mr. Yun, Shen (spirit) is the main event and the hardest one to achieve. But it is the leader in this sequence.

He then goes on to say that initially we learn about Chin (internal force). Then we acquire Chi (intrinsic energy). This leads to Yi (mind). And Yi leads to Shen (spirit). So we learn in reverse order to acquire the path that comes back the other way as you gain experience. That sounds right to me. I guess this is because the essence is so difficult to reach or understand or experience, but it is the real key to living.

But those vague concepts. Those groundless words. What DO they mean, really?

Of course, some will argue that to even try to find words to wordless experience is a fool’s errand. Alas, here I go! I think words can help as much as they can hurt. See how this works for you.

I can only guess at meanings and give them my best shot. The translations into English above are OK, but when you hit the word Chi in the Chinese world, you face more ambiguity than I care to deal with. It starts to feel meaningless.

So with a grain of salt let me give you my words. I regret that I can’t hear yours.

To me, Shen, Spirit, conveys a certain Will and Intension to begin your movement. It is not fully expressed yet and can go anywhere, but your mind and body know they are about to make some sort of decision to do something and they pull you together to get ready. Before knowing, this is an act of existence. It is BEING. This is like undirected potential energy. It is BEING here now and BEING ready for …. To me, this has a full quality. To Be.

Yi, or Mind: I like to think this is simply Awareness. You know you know. You observe what you feel. You SEE. You can put your mind where it needs to go to do what the body/mind needs to do. This has an empty quality to me. That is, emptying out so that thoughts are not in the way and pure awareness can take over. It is one step removed from Shen. To See.

Chi. Intrinsic Energy. I’ll go with that. I’ve written some about it before. When I think of Chi, I think of all the cells participating to make this happen. It FEELS very cellular to me – the energy of each and every cell working in concert. This brings me back to fullness. All is in motion, if not quite moving forward or backward. To Feel.

Lastly, Chin. Internal force. He elaborates quite accurately that this is about all the muscles being relaxed and coordinated such that the “force” comes from the whole of the body’s effort. All parts are doing the job for a whole body to do the job for one movement.

But I think I would avoid the use of “force” altogether. Not that it is wrong – a certain kind of “force” does come from using the body in this way. But I like the notion of Wholeness better, or a sense that parts interact with each other to make the whole ACT but no single part is doing all the work. A unified whole ACTION (hence, effortless effort). Another empty “technique”. To Act.

Mr. Yun encourages us to explore each facet individually and really understand them. This sounds very useful, if not impossible. I’m guessing that some of these cannot be separated from the others. But giving some mind (Yi) to each one seems to have some benefit.

I have another thought on this paradigm. Perhaps the sequence could also be described along the following path:

Gather Up Your Intention, Existence (BE),

Find Your Mind’s Focus (SEE),

Feel Your Potential Energy (FEEL),

Act From Total Movement (ACT).

Shen is gathering up your forces (your will or your existance), Yi is adding a needed focus to be here now, Chi is using internal energy for moving, Chin is activating the Chi of the whole body for a total movement. True or false, this seems like a good way to work on the form and to gain greater integrity in your life. Or so I believe.

Being eventually leads to Action. We learn in life first through Action, noting how that Feels, growing this into a larger domain of Seeing what it is you are doing, and ultimately learning what it means to dwell in Being. As I stated before, if we can really dwell in Being, the rest can fall out naturally. But life is often a path where we learn how to be. So is tai chi.

After this, it is all flow, allowing, letting go and letting it happen.

I like this division of “states”. I’m buying it.

Shen, anyone?