The word yoga (English: Yoga, Hindi) is derived from the Indian Sanskrit word “yug” or “yuj”, which means “unity”, “union” or “harmony”. “union” or “harmony”. Yoga originated in the Himalayan foothills of northern India, and is one of the six major philosophical schools of ancient India, exploring the principles and methods of “unity of Brahman and Self”. What is known in modern times as yoga is a series of methods to cultivate the body and mind. In about 300 B.C., Patanjali, the great philosopher of yoga in India, composed the Yoga Sutra, on the basis of which Indian yoga took shape, and the practice of yoga was formally defined as a complete system of eight branches. Yoga is a system that helps humans reach their full potential by raising their consciousness. It is a form of exercise to achieve harmony between body, mind and spirit, including body postures, breathing techniques, and meditation techniques to achieve unity of mind and body.
The earliest record of yoga appears in the Indian scriptures of the Vedas. Around 300 B.C., Patanjali, the progenitor of yoga, articulated in the Yoga Sutras a course of practice for making the body healthy and spiritually enriched, a course that was systematized and standardized by him and forms the basis of contemporary yoga practice. The philosophical principles presented by Patanjali are recognized as a milestone on the path to the spiritual realm of yoga.
Indian yogic practices were introduced to our country probably in the 4th century and are first found in the Buddhist Treatise on Convenient Mind. Since its introduction into China, yoga has interacted with Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, medicine, martial arts and the folk art of qigong. The practice of “supreme meditation” proposed by the Zen sect of Buddhism, the “Six Wonderful Doctrines” advocated by the Tiantai sect, and the “Nenbutsu Samadhi” advocated by the Pure Land sect (chanting can focus the mind and lead to rebirth in the Pure Land) The influence of yoga can be seen in all of them.
The ancient historical texts of China record the health guidance techniques related to Indian yoga, such as the “Yi Jin Jing”, which was popular during the Northern and Southern Dynasties. Guiding was one of the most important areas of Chinese medicine, and it was extensively recorded as early as the pre-Qin period. The “Suwen – The Treatise on Different Methods and Directions” listed Guiding alongside four other therapies, reflecting the importance of Guiding in medical practice at that time. However, from the time of the first monograph on channeling in the Western Han Dynasty, “The Book of Guiding”, until the Ming Dynasty, although there were many books on channeling and methods of channeling, most of them only recorded exercise methods, but there were few theoretical discussions. The Yi Jin Jing not only records the systematic exercise methods, but also contributes to the theoretical construction of Chinese medicine and health science, and enjoys a high status in the traditional health science. It is a kind of medical qigong health guidance method that is in line with the theory of “treating the disease before it happens” in Chinese medicine. Regardless of the changes in the version of “Yi Jin Jing”, the author retains the title of “Bodhidharma” and emphasizes in the preface that the original book is in Sanskrit and this book is translated from Sanskrit. Bodhidharma, originally a monk from South India, came to China in the tenth year of Taihe in the Northern Wei Dynasty (486 A.D.) and eventually arrived at the Shaolin Temple in Songshan, where he started Chinese Zen Buddhism. Therefore, his teaching of the Yi Jin Jing should be inextricably linked to the Indian yoga. The “Tianzhu Massage Method” introduced in the Tang Dynasty and the “Brahmin Guidance Method” introduced in the Song Dynasty have been compared with the “Hatha-yoga Explanation”, which records the summation of Indian Hatha-yoga (power yoga), some of which can be seen in the Indian Some of them can be seen as some influences of Indian yoga, while some of them are created by China itself and assumed to be from Tianzhu (India). During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the translation of Buddhist scriptures in China was still in its early stage, and not many scriptures were written down as the yoga art of practicing the body.
From the theories of the two schools, there are many similarities: Yi Jin Jing and other guidance techniques are based on the theory of meridians originated from the Nei Jing, and they pursue the realm of independent guarding of the mind and the muscles as one. Yoga is also based on an ancient Indian book whose title, although not translated, is equivalent to the Chinese Nei Jing, which seeks to awaken innocence and retrace its steps.
Although the “meridian system” and the “chakra system” seem to be two very different states of practice, their basic requirements, such as breathing, lifting the perineum, training the dantian, etc., are surprisingly consistent. Their corresponding positions, if we look at the Nei Dan texts, are roughly the same in terms of their routes. Most importantly, the pursuit of the state of unity between mind and body is the same. One cannot help but marvel at how wise the ancient people of the East were, and how déjà vu the truth is.
The “Twelve Positions” listed in the Yi Jin Jing are somewhat similar to the gong methods described in the Hodayoga Explanation, although they are similar in terms of the combination of luck and body posture, with a few names such as “Dragging the Tail of the Nine Bulls Backwards” and “Bull’s Head”. A few names, such as “pulling the tail of the ox backwards” and “bull’s head”, “Vairocana pestle” and “Vajra gong” are similar, but the rest are different.
From the yoga posture and breathing, including the mobilization of qi and blood, until entering deep meditation, it is a whole set of complete and orderly exercise. The advantage of yoga is that it can shape your body into a tool for “doing whatever you want”, and it is certainly very meticulous in the pursuit of mind-body unity. The advantage of Yi Jin Jing’s meridian exercise method is that it is very shortcutting, getting the best physical and mental results with the least amount of physical exercise, and acting directly on the body through the qi channels and meridians to achieve its purpose of uniting mind and body.
Of course, the most consistent aspect of both is that without a good instructor, the quality of the exercises will be greatly diminished. We support the self-learning of this form of exercise, but we do not admit that it can be mastered completely on its own, the guidance of a good teacher is very necessary and should be timely.
In a comprehensive evaluation, yoga is actually more specialized, and its purpose is extremely simple and clear: to unify body and mind, to enter meditation, and to reflect the “divine culture” and “spiritual achievement” of the Indian people. Yi Jin Jing, on the other hand, has a distinctly Chinese character, i.e., it is neutral and wise. The middle ground is reflected in the fact that it takes into account both physical health and physical strengthening, both secular and secular. The wisdom lies in the more direct way it pursues its purpose. If yoga is to achieve perfect unity of mind and body through thorough mutual training of mind and body, and then enter the sequence of spiritual practice, Yi Jin Jing is to directly ask how to reach the place where the “body” and “mind” want to go. The Yi Jin Jing, on the other hand, directly asks the body and mind how to get to the place they want to go, and only cultivates the process needed, ignoring the other parts. For example, if we want the body to be strong, then the training of internal strength is very specific from the beginning; for example, if we want to achieve a clear emptiness, then the cultivation of the qi chakra becomes a necessary focus. This is different from yoga, which has only one pursuit, that is, the unification of body and mind, and the targeting of each movement is only for the movement itself, with no other purpose, and its other purpose is the synthesis of these movements. So the fact that the movements of all schools of yoga are basically the same is evidence of this. The Yi Jin Jing, on the other hand, is different.
If you evaluate the current state of Chinese channeling and Indian yoga, the current state of Chinese channeling is worrisome. Because of the conservative and secretive nature of channeling, it cannot be integrated into the market and is not open to social reform. Although there is no shortage of bright teachers nowadays, there are few actual beneficiaries. Yoga instructors in Europe and America are not as weak as in mainland China. In fact, “yoga injuries” in Europe and America do not have a great negative impact, and this problem is generally recognized and solved in Europe and America. Unlike the Chinese learners, who are full of mystery, basically every foreign yoga practitioner understands the whole picture of yoga and has a good instructor to guide them.
At present, yoga and taijiquan are popular all over the world, while Yi Jin Jing as a traditional health practice is obviously in a weak position compared to yoga and taijiquan. At the same time, we need to see that the basic research of Yi Jin Jing is weak, the team size is not large, and the social influence is still quite different from Taijiquan and Yoga. It should be seen that comprehensive universities and sports colleges and clinical departments of Chinese hospitals have a strong modern research and teaching base, which supports and promotes the study of Yi Jin Jing. Future research on Yi Jin Jing can be carried out comprehensively from teaching, basic research and clinical application, and joint research across institutions and specialties can be vigorously carried out. We can take colleges and universities, Chinese hospitals and communities as the main carriers to promote Yi Jin Jing and other fitness qigong, borrow the development experience of yoga, form a complete public training mechanism, let more people understand the importance of Guided Qigong for health, the urgency of fitness and health care, and operate to create a comprehensive, multi-level fitness system. Let all the people into the fitness cause, better improve our national physical fitness, so as to reduce the government’s medical burden; and promote the healthy and orderly development of China’s fitness and health care industry, and gradually to the world.