What is Qi?

To deepen an understanding of Qigong, it is important to understand the concept of Qi. What is Qi? The word qi is complicated and yet simple.

Simple: it is the substrate of the universe; it forms all the substances of life, it is life. It is the basis of function and form.

Complicated: Undifferentiated (like the bodies stem cells), it is the simplest construct that can become anything and everything. The more one tries to define it, the more reductionist and less abstract, the more complicated and confounding the word becomes. For example, the terms ‘life-force’, ‘energy’, ‘matter’, ‘vital energy’, ‘air’, ‘breath’, and ‘energy flow’ are all considered definitions of the word qi. All these words encompass aspects of the word qi; qi defined is all of these words and yet none of them. The word qi is sententious (hear I use the original definition of sentitious = “full of meaning”) and cannot be broken into its parts without loosing the essence of the word. The same problem occurs in Chinese culture, as there are many different characters for the word, ranging from ‘universe’ to ‘human’.

When the ‘one’ becomes the ‘two’, the Wu ji becomes the yin-yang, thus the 2 begets the 3, ‘tian ren di’ (universe human earth), and thus deliquesces to become all the myriad things; it is the qi that ‘provides’ or ‘is’ the function of this process. Yet within qi is something essential, something enigmatic, and elusive; the function contains an innate ‘force’ that unites and weaves through time and space, form and function to provide a ‘wholeness’ of existence. This deliquescence is a cohesion that forms the elements, the building blocks of our world.

Qi is everything and it is nothing. Qi is everything because it is the function and form of the universe, Qi is nothing because it is the un-manifested; it is innate, it is numinous.