Reference; https://mbp-japan.com/tokyo/seino-1987/column/5105120/
Modified and translated by CFJA
Dr. Seino revealed that “qi” is a word that represents “workings”. In Chinese medicine, the concept of qi is the core of the study. Everyone uses the word “qi”. Some think that “qi” is energy. For 9 years, Dr. Seino has put tremendous effort into understanding that “qi” is a word that represents “workings”.
The major pieces of ancient works were 17 pieces, “Guoyu 国語 (National Language),” “Lunyu 論語 (The Analects),” “Laozi 老子(Book of Venerable Masters),” “Mozi 墨子 (Master Mo),” “Liezi 列子 (Master Lie),” “Mengzi 孟子 (Master Meng),” “Zhuangzi 荘子 (Master Zhuang),” “Xunzi 荀子 (Master Xun),” “Hanfeizi 韓非子 (Master Han Fei),” “Yi Jing 易経 (Classic of Changes),” “Chunqiu Zuo Shi Zhuan 春秋左氏伝 (Spring and Autumn Annals),” “Zhou Li 周礼 (The Rites of Zhou),” “Yi Li 儀礼 (Etiquette and Rites),” “Liji 礼記 (The Book of Rites),” “Guanzi 管子 (Master Guan),” “Lu Shi Chunqiu 呂氏春秋 (Spring and Autumn of Master Lu),” and “Huainan Zi 淮南子 (The Master(s) of Huainan).” The 767 instances of the character for “qi” in the 17 major pieces of ancient literature and 74 instances in the 25 parts of the nine major pieces of unearthed literature (a total of 841 instances in 42 pieces of literature) were examined in accordance with collation notes such as “Shisan Jing Zhushu Jiaokan Ji 十三経注疏校勘記” and “Huang Qing Jing Jie 皇清経解,” which revealed a total of 836 instances: 764 applicable instances of the character for “qi” ※3 in the major pieces of ancient literature and 72 characters that should be interpreted as “qi” in the major pieces of unearthed literature. Texts featuring 192 terms using the character for “qi” that contained just the radical for “qi” were extracted and all meanings of the character for “qi” that were used were investigated. The character for “qi” was considered a suffix representing the “workings” of things and humans in the natural world. These 192 terms were classified into the four following categories based on this meaning.
(1) “Qi” used as a suffix indicating “the workings of the natural world”
(2) “Qi” used as a suffix indicating “the workings of breathing”
(3) “Qi” used as a suffix indicating “the workings of the body”
(4) “Qi” used as a suffix indicating “the workings of the mind”
This shows that the character “qi” is a character that describes the “workings” of breathing, body, or mind upon diagnosis. If you are interested, please see “The Character of Qi in Excavated Literature” in the book, Collection of Daito Bunka University Chinese Essays (Vol. 31) published in December 2013. Please let us know and we might be able to give you a copy.
※3 The character “qi 氣” – This character “qi 気” is a simplified Chinese character created after the war. The character “qi 氣” is the original character. This character “qi気” does not exist in China.Chinese philosophy is based on the “yin-yang perspective 陰陽観”, “three-world perspective 三才観” and “five-phase perspective 五行観”. This is a philosophical thought used for viewing one thing from two, three and five perspectives for analysis. The “concept of qi 氣の思想” is based on the yin-yang perspective and it expands into the thought of “qi-blood 気血”. The character “qi 気” beings used by itself or used with another character, such as “qi-blood 気血” or “blood-qi 血気”, the meaning of the character “qi 気” is different. When it is used with another character, “qi-blood 気血”, the character “qi 気” in this case means “mind” and “blood 血” means “body”. Without such knowledge, one will not be able to read ancient medical books. Even the common, popular books that are out there in the world, Dr. Seino says that there were incomprehensible sections everywhere in the translated books. Quite a lot seems that it has not even been translated, in other words, original words were used as a translation. Dr. Seino argues that all translations and interpretations done by the predecessor need to be reviewed and reconsidered.
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