Is ki real?

[Tomk80]

Nothingness.
Everything is nothing, and nothing is everything.
When your Sensei tells you use the energy of the "Universe," he is telling you to use the energy of everything. (i.e. the living energy)
The Universe contains everything, but is largely nothing.
Now, that probably doesn't make sense, because I have only been practising Martial Arts for about 5 years. I suspect that what I have said will make much more sense if you read the final chapter of Miyamoto Musashi's "Book of Five Rings."

How I always understood this was that you will never really understand. Nobody will, because it is above your imagination. Several religious (christian) teachings have reached a similar position.
Reality/the Universe/God is indescribable in human terms. Therefore it/He exists and doesn't exist, because existing is also a human term which is insufficient to really represent the reality represented in the spiritual. Maybe one of these days I'll get the book, but I won't make any promises on this.
For me, Chi works because of the visualisation. I never really dove into it, I just relax and then strike/punch/throw/do other fancy stuff. Little else is better to make you feel nice and relaxed IMO .

 

[Mr.Pious]

There is only one spirit that rules a follower of Christ's life. It is the Holy Spirit. It does not share bandwidth with any other. There is no Biblical reference that tells us to use and or manipulate some force/spirit to enhance our spiritual/human development. .

Odd, in my reading of the bible, and going to church for the beter part of 10 years (that I have been able to understand things) I have never once seen in the bible or heard my minister tell me that god wants me to urinate but yet I do that on a daily basis. Am I going to hell for this?

 

[peaceful soul]

Odd, in my reading of the bible, and going to church for the beter part of 10 years (that I have been able to understand things) I have never once seen in the bible or heard my minister tell me that god wants me to urinate but yet I do that on a daily basis. Am I going to hell for this?

What is your point? Rather silly notion you make.

 

[Mr.Pious]

He said because it was not in the bible it was a sin, and I simplly said that it doesn't tell you to urinate in the bible is that a sin?

I was pointing out just because it is not in the bible doesn't necisarilly wrong. I was just trying to add a little humor.

 

[g4goddess]

hi... i just wanted to pop into all of this and say... i'm a reiki practioner and a christian. reiki is a japanese healing methodology utilizing ki/chi energy.
there is NO conflict biblically with working with your chi.

Corinthians 14:1 Paul tell us to eagerly desire spiritual gifts. In I Corinthians 12: 28 Paul says that healing is one of the gifts. Paul also says that each of the gifts is best expressed with love. Also, Jesus is quoted in John 14:12 as saying, "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I go to the Father." We know that Jesus practiced laying on hands type healing, therefore, it is scriptural for Christian to practice healing by laying on hands. www.christianreiki.com

The above mostly relates to reiki, but i believe it relates to energy work in general.

my personal opinion is that chi is our biomagnetic/electric field. in fact, the human body can generate enough electricity to light a lightbulb.

so as far as i'm concerned, its chi "as seen on tv, satan not included".

 

[noob]

I'm coming into this conversation a little late, lol. But Qi is scientific and is nothing supernatural(as far as we know). In China qi pathways(basis of acupuncture) were mapped by experimenting on prisoners with needles. Not very nice, but it got the job done It takes on a supernatural status with people here because there no real good direct translation to English. A number of people use the term "bioelectricity(sp?). Unfortunately, there's a lot of uneducated and/or superstitious that turn qigong it into some kind of wierd religous practice, or use our ignorance of the subject to trick people. The Shaolin monks are an example, who do parlour tricks(based off of simple physics) and relate it to qi to take money from gulible tourists. Spear to the throat trick, their iron shirt demos, laying on a bed of nails, etc. These were all common tricks developed to make money over 100 years ago. Martial artists in China weren't the most respected class of people. Many were illiterate and uneducated and had to make money using their impressive physical abilities as street performers.
Another funny "qi trick" some claim is levitation. Of course, every demo of levitation I've seen has been a guy bouncing up and down on his but, lol. Empty force strikes are another qi myth... Yellow Bamboo is a group that shows the worst of this kind of trick, basically setting up a pseudo cult and stealing peoples' money.

 

[PhoenixDown]

Interesting course of discussion...

Here are some of my thoughts on the subject.

Chi or Ki has a few meanings depending on the context in which its refered to, partially because Chi doesn't have a direct translation but this isn't english 101 so let me continue...

As already mentioned Chi or Ki can refer to the soul. In the sense that it relates to the soul, I think the Christian equivilent would be equivelent to the holy spirt. The holy spirit is the essence which imbues us as people and every other thing in the universe.

When you pray, you hope to strengthen your connection to God the father, God the son, and the Holy Spirit. Meditating can also strengthen ones connection to God and bring us a better awareness of the Holy Spirit. I think that prayer is simply a form of meditation -- which is not take away from what prayer is - only to illustrate that while some people meditate through prayer, others may meditate by listening to relaxing music or through painting or singing or even through training such as the martial arts.

When one begins to strengthen thier connection to god and the holy spirit, one can begin to see the spiritual connections within us and the world around us.

I have been to church where the priests were blessing the holy water and saw the energy of the holy spirit that consecrated the water... the same energy I have seen in people practicing Tai Chi (a martial art focused on Chi excersizes) and elsewhere.


-- Indecentally this reminds me of a story I saw on NY1 news (nyc) where a chinese man as a younger man was suffering from some health problems and learned tai chi on a visit to china. He began teaching others, senor citizens and such, tai chi and everyone of the people interviewed by NY1 news stated that they have seen an improvement in thier health since they started. The part that really suprised me though was the guy teaching it was over 80 -- I guy I thought was maybe 40.

 

[WiccanHeart]

It's probably that same force that gives a mother strength to lift a car to save her child, but control of the source of this strength by practice.

I never thought of it like that. I know there is a great surge of adrenaline in a panic situation that can enable this type of thing too.

Ki/Chi comes from the Hindu concept of Prana, the life-force. When we meditate, we are told to visualize the Prana coiled in the base of the spine, and moving up the spine.

This sounds a lot like Chakras (there are 8 of them right?) each one has a different color and it can be used in meditation.

It is definately real. The Chinese have mastered the use of Chi/Ki/Qi (how ever it is spelled) with acupuncture which uses needles to help the flow of chi in various places of the body. It's very interesting and apprently works wonders with a great many people.

I read where some have witnessed super-human feats attributed to meditation to summon the Serpent power( Kundalini).

Satan resides in the forces of this world, which includes ley lines, and other "high energy" states. It is my opinion that "chi" or "kundalini" Is nothing more than demonic posession in which the demon gives the host a "gratification" or power to do something supernatural.

Daniel 11:38
But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things

I know someone else addressed this but Id like to also address it.

To blame everything that isnt understood or that remotely resembles something in the bible to the devil is ignorant. Buddists and Hindus dont even acknowledge a devil. They have been around for many thousand years BEFORE Christianity. How can something like that be blamed on the devil?

 

[Proud Hindu]

This sounds a lot like Chakras (there are 8 of them right?) each one has a different color and it can be used in meditation.

Namaste Bhai That's right, the chakras are believed to be located along the spine (I believe there are seven though), and prana flows through them, imbuing them with energy.

In China qi pathways(basis of acupuncture) were mapped by experimenting on prisoners with needles. Not very nice, but it got the job done

Sorry to get off topic, but found this interesting. In India, acupuncture was discovered similarly. In wars between Hindu kings, the Kshatriyas (warrior caste) found that when arrows hit them in certain places, it had therapeutic effects. A prince of the Cheras empire decided to experiment, jabbing his servants with needles. Sadly, over a hundred servants died in this experiment, but the prince found the spots used in acupuncture, as well as the 108 marmas, the spots where a blow could kill. The latter was incorporated into Hindu martial arts. There's another theory that acupuncture and martial arts found its way into China through Indian Buddhist monks who went to spread their religion. This explains the similarities between Prana and Chi/Ki.

 

[Hitokiri Shadow]

Namaste Bhai That's right, the chakras are believed to be located along the spine (I believe there are seven though), and prana flows through them, imbuing them with energy.

Are these also known as "Gates"? Just curious, because in a show I watched there were 7 or 8 "Gates" that, when "opened," unleashed massive power.

Also, there were a bunch of specific points in which the chakra could be released. Does this fit with what any of you know about chakra and ki/chi?