[QUOTE=goju;1030923]Eh this thread makes me want to barf.
Ancient man created martial arts for no other reason than to defend themselves and hurt or kill another human being THATS IT.
All the silly spiritual nonsense is just for people who have gotten lost in their own @ss with david carradine fortune cookie spirituality.
just be a decent human being and eschew the rest of the martial code malarkey that very few of the old timers ever used to begin with :D[/QUOTE]
The following **** is some sh!t I wouldda wrote had I had the time or the inclination to write some **** like like this sh!t right here:
The Image of the Cosmos in the I Ching: the Yi-globe
The Yi-globe and the human microcosm
The I Ching and the Nei Jing
The Yi-globe as the symbol of the microcosm
According to the teachings of the I Ching, a wise man is supposed to contemplate on the hexagrams, understanding thereby their meanings. As the book says: ‘In this way man comes to resemble heaven and earth, he is not in conflict with them. His wisdom embraces all things, and his Tao brings order into the whole world; therefore he does not err.’ [Baynes: 295.] This saying includes the traditional idea that man was originally created in the semblance of heaven, that is he represents a certain kind of microcosm, having thereby an inherent ability to apply the heavenly laws to himself, thus harmonizing with heaven. The I Ching renders guidance for the solution of this exact task, disclosing the rules of harmonious human life. Therefore the book, since ancient times, has exerted its influence not only on the spiritual development of men but on the preservation and curing of bodily health as well. Also the theoretical fundaments of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) reflect the spirituality of the I Ching, or are directly originated from it. The frequently quoted saying of Sun Simiao, a Taoist priest and medical expert (581-682), is generally accepted in this sphere, according to which: ‘You cannot master medicine until you have studied the I Ching.’
In the previous passages the Yi-globe was discussed as the symbol of the macrocosm but it seems to be probable that also the human world, the microcosm, should be manifested in it. This consideration encourages the discussion on the Yi-globe and the human microcosm as on comparable ideas. Hereafter, such elements will be revealed in the Yi-globe, which are considered as the fundamental features of the human organism.
THE I CHING AND THE NEI JING
To demonstrate the relationship between the I Ching and Chinese medicine, the oldest ancient work of the vast TCM literature, the Nei Jing serves the purpose best. The theoretical and practical material of this book forms the basis of each following Chinese medical work, and therefore still exercises its influence in our time. The survival of the Nei Jing through millennari can be attributed to its versatility; being not only a medical book but rather a philosophical treatise on health and illness. Ilza Veith writes that in the ancient China: ‘Medicine was but a part of philosophy and religion, both of which propounded oneness with nature, i.e. the universe.’ [Veith: 10.] Thus it is impossible to understand the Nei Jing without being familiar with the Chinese thinking of that time, with special regard to the three fundamental concepts: the Tao, the yin/yang duality and the theory of the five elements. From among these concepts the first two are cardinal ideas in the I Ching as well, and so, as common spiritual base, create a thorough relationship between the two works.
The Tao, “the Way” stands for the general ordering principle of the universe. One has to follow it to attain internal peace and complete enlightenment. The following of the Tao means performing the balance between the two principles of existence: the yin and the yang.
Instead of further speculations, some citations below will illustrate how the Tao and the yin/yang duality appears in these two cardinal works of Chinese philosophy and Chinese medicine.
1.) Structure of the universe: the role of the Tao and the duality of the world.
In the I Ching:
‘The Book of Changes contains the measure of heaven and earth; therefore it enables us to comprehend the Tao of heaven and earth and its order.’
The same in the Nei Jing:
‘The principle of Yin and Yang is the basic principle of the entire universe. It is the principle of everything in creation.’
2.) The aim of the wise man: to understand the changes in the world, and to follow the Tao accordingly.
I Ching:
‘As the firm and the yielding lines displace one another, change and transformation arise.’ Further on, according to the previously cited saying: ‘Since in this way man comes to resemble heaven and earth, he is not in conflict with them. His wisdom embraces all things, and his Tao brings order into the whole world; therefore he does not err.’
Nei Jing:
‘If Yin and Yang change the people will change likewise and their destiny can then be prefigured. … In ancient times those people who understood Tao patterned themselves upon the Yin and the Yang and they lived in harmony with the arts of divination.’
‘Obedience to the laws of Yin and Yang means life; disobedience means death.’
3.) Parting of spirit and form.
I Ching:
‘In the heavens phenomena take form; on earth shapes take form.’
Nei Jing:
‘In Heaven there are ethereal spirits; upon earth there is form and shape.’
4.) Yin and yang: dark and light.
I Ching:
‘That which lets now the dark, now the light appear is Tao.’ (Here the original Chinese text applies the words yin and yang, and those are replaced by dark and light in the English translation.)
Nei Jing:
‘Heaven was created by an accumulation of Yang, the element of light; Earth was created by an accumulation of Yin, the element of darkness.’
As the citations show, the ideas of the I Ching appear in the Nei Jing almost word for word; however, in the latter, these statements serve first of all to support the guidelines in respect to the restoration of the balance of the bodily state. For that matter, nowadays, the principles of the I Ching also find an ever increasing application in the western world and not only in spiritual field but also in everyday practice. Medical practitioners and doctors, moreover medical centers and hospitals, work and cure patients using these traditional principles (the methods of divination are applied for example in diagnostics as well).
The third spiritual base of the Nei Jing, the five element theory, is not included in the I Ching. This does not mean that this theory was unknown at the time the book was written, but rather denotes that the I Ching deals with such higher levels of existence where the differentiation of the world to the five elements is not yet taken into consideration.
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