Printable View
Hi Budokan,
I was wondering if JMA had the concept of jing. I'm just curious as I was reading a book about chi-kung and showed the kanji for jing to my wife. She said that this was tsuyoi in Japanese and that this translated as strength. It didn't seem quite the same. Is this right? Or is there another term for the same thing?
Cheers
I'd be happy to answer, but I'm afraid I don't know what jing is, although I think I have SOME idea from the context of your question...
Define it for me and maybe then I'll be able to help...! :)
K. Mark Hoover
"Jing" is the expression of energy.
Peng Jing is a penetrating energy
Fa Jing is an explosive or emmittive energy
Shackled (heavy) energy
Floating energy
etc.
Ah, that clears things up. Yes, JMA does have a 'jing' concept, although I'm not familiar with the Japanese term. I've kind of heard it mentioned before, you know, but not in any concrete terms...and it's something much more than 'ki' which, I suppose, might be confused with 'jing' but it's not really.
Gee, I've been some help, huh? Still, the answer to your question is yes, there is a similar concept in JMA--but I don't know the correct term. It sounds to me though that your wife is probably on the right track...
K. Mark Hoover
I think a handy definition for jing, although it's not the traditional one, is 'skillfull strength.'
There are old kungfu sayings that remark to the effect that young, strong people can generally make things work, so don't bother training jing, and then when they get old, they can't do it anymore; but those who have jing can still make it work.
So, put this way, you can think of jing as a kind of strength derived through skill, rather than raw physical attributes. This is not the same as simply skill though, as there are a number of skills that could lead to an older/weaker/sickly/etc individual making techniques work, such as the japanese concept of aiki, or blending energy. Jing is not this; it is not skill in general; it is something more specific.
Alot of people are fond of large cataloges of different jings. What makes alot more sense to me, and what I've heard remarked by a couple people that I trust, is that there really is only one jing, but there are different ways you can express it, and different aspects of it you can focus on. Perhaps it's just semantics; maybe there are a million jings, but the practical point here is that I believe they all stem from the same assortment of basic skills, and it is in analysis of these skills that you could further define jing.
To this end, I would say jing is the coherent expression of energy throughout the body. I'm not sure how else to put it without misrepresentation. There is often talk in the martial arts of concepts like 'project the energy of your body down your arm' and 'project your intent ever forwards.' These ideas describe a more holistic approach to using your body, and despite the many ways you can express them, all stem from the same basic skills. It is in examining this that you will find jing.
Of course, that's just my opinion. :)
There's also of course the idea of jing as the essential energy in the continuum of jing-chi-shen. But I figured that that angle wouldn't be as useful to talk about.
What about the definition of jing as sperm or vital virile energy?
Braden, that pins it down even more. Thanks. Yes, there is this concept in JMA, but unfortunately I don't know the proper term used to express it.
Often, we just call it 'ki', but like I said, we kind of do it knowing that's not the correct definition of what's being discussed here.
K. Mark Hoover
There seems to be confusion. "Ki" is the Japanese word for Chinese "Qi [Chi]" meaning "breath". "Yi" is the mental expression of energy, "Shen" is the emotional expression, and "Jing" is the physical expression.
Mr. X - Jing in the sperm and jing as vital energy is part of the jing-chi-shen continuum of vital energies in taoist internal alchemy. I think jing is more properly called generative energy, but I could be wrong. That's certainly a valid definition, and some would say it related directly to what we're talking about. However, some would say it's completely different. Either way, it's an approach to the topic which I didn't think was useful for the discussion.
Thanks everyone. :cool:
Pinyin romanizations.
Jin = "skilled Li (strength)"
Jing = "essence"
This is my understanding.
As far as different jin.
I believe that since li is "converted" to jin, different arts train different jin. In TaiChi everything is based on different expressions of peng jin. In wing chun, elbow jin is very developed. Bagua can develop a lot of coiling jin.
Just my 2 cents.
BTW, I don't think JMA have this concept defined in this manner. Ki is probably as close as it gets.