SRR

Sports & Exercise Research Volume 11 Number 3

Author:Tien-Deng Yu
Period/Date/Page:Vol. 11 No. 3 (2009 / 09 / 30) , P1 - 13
DOI:10.5297/ser.200909_11(3).0000
Interpretation of Tai-Chi Chuan's Jing Shen in Shi-San-Shi-Xing-Gong-Xin-Jie
Abstract:This study attempts to explore the real signification of Jing Shen (精神) in the canonical texts of Tai-Chi Chuan. It will take as points of departure the three key usages of this terminology in Shi-San-Shi-Xing-Gong-Xin-Jie (十三勢行功心解), namely ”Jing Shen that can be lifted,” ”inward adherence to Jing Shen,” and ”the whole body centering on Jing She.” It will read Jing Shen in light of both the modern systems science that takes human body as an open system constantly destabilized by the mechanism of modulation, and also the traditional Chinese thinking on the unification of the mind and the body, in contrast to the mind/body binary thinking in the West, as well as the unification of the cosmos and the human being. Three aspects of Jing Shen have been mapped out as result: (1) the perineum acupuncture point serving as the inner adherence center to connect the whole body and thus functioning as the corporeal spatial coordinate of Jing Shen; (2) the process of practicing Jing (精), Chi (氣), Shen (神) testifying the inner circulation or transformation of Jing Shen under the working of innate Chi; (3) the state of the mind and attention operating as the dominant driving force for Jing Shen. Configured by these three major aspects, the Jing Shen of Tai-Chi Chuan could thus be truly embodied in its full signification. (Full text)


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