The debate on whether Qigong is equivalent to foreign qi is the most heated debate in the history of Qigong, especially when foreign qi is mistaken for Qigong, the blow to Qigong is almost fatal.

The ability to "call the wind and call the rain", "turn the stone into gold", "travel through time and space" and "predict good or bad luck" has nothing to do with Qigong. Qigong can only add luster to longevity, but can't make people become "superman".

The debate about Qigong has a long history, and it can even be said that the debate runs through the whole development process of Qigong. There are both academic and non-academic disputes; Different arguments have different meanings to Qigong. The main contents of the debate probably include the following aspects.

Static and dynamic debate

Because there are two kinds of qigong techniques, dynamic and static, the debate about the advantages and disadvantages of dynamic and static has a long history. There are the theories of Zhuangzi and Laozi, the meditation of Confucius and his disciples, the "nothing" advocated by Neijing, the meditation of Buddhism, the Sunday of Taoism and so on. The proposal includes the theory of "flowing water does not rot" in Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals, the guiding principles of Neijing, and the techniques of Wuqin Opera, Baduanjin and Yijinjing. This purely academic debate has greatly promoted the development and perfection of Qigong. The concept of "the mover is quiet, the mover is quiet" is accepted by almost everyone, and Qigong is integrated with TCM health preservation in theory and practice. These are all good examples.

The fifties and sixties of last century was a period of great development of Qigong, during which martial arts seemed to be "dominating and quiet". Internal strength training and later strength exercises introduced from Hebei, three-line relaxation exercises in Shanghai and children's meditation are all static exercises.

It is worth mentioning that in the 1950s, academic debates outside of "motion and static" appeared for the first time. According to the data, a paper published in journal of traditional chinese medicine at that time put forward a "discussion" with the author Liu about the practice of Qigong therapy, such as the definition of Qigong and the hypothesis of Qigong principle. Although Liu didn't respond, he accepted some opinions from the author according to the actual situation, such as the revision of the definition of Qigong in the second edition of Qigong Therapy Practice.

In the 1980s and 1990s, scholars once again debated the "movement" of Qigong. Its origin may be related to Zhang Wenjiang and others' book "Life lies in quietness-the true meaning of the principle of traditional Qigong health preservation in China" (Shaanxi People's Publishing House, 1989), which summarizes the "true meaning" of Qigong health preservation as quietness, which is not only unacceptable to the "advocates" but also contrary to the popular statement that "life lies in exercise", so people who care about this debate are far more than Qigong circles. Therefore, journal of traditional chinese medicine published relevant articles from 1990 to 1992, and debated the "dynamic and static view" in Qigong. Although this debate did not form a "standard answer" in the end, it was the same as the debate in the 1950s and 1960s. The original intention of both sides in the debate is to love and care about Qigong, so the result of the debate has played a positive leading role in the development of Qigong academic.

Controversy over external factors

The debate about Qigong's external qi is probably the fiercest debate in the history of Qigong, and this debate is only recent. Qigong's "external qi", called "emitting qi" in ancient times, first appeared in the Jin Dynasty. The ancient explanation is: "People who learn to nourish their qi can give it to others when they are satisfied ... This is the so-called venting. In other words, it is considered that a well-trained person gives his "extra" gas to others, so it is called "external gas" by modern people.

"Qi distribution" in qigong literature of past dynasties was in a state of "scattered theory", which was not seen in the 1950s and 1960s and began to rise in the late 1970s. Since the first issue of 1978, Nature has published many papers on foreign gas research by scholars from Shanghai and other places, which has aroused widespread concern. The "foreign gas fever" has also formed and heated up rapidly, so that "foreign gas" has almost become the representative of Qigong for quite a period of time, and the views of "foreign gas = Qigong" and "Qigong = foreign gas" have been widely accepted by the masses.

However, the debate about the outside air has followed one after another, and its "heat" has always fluctuated with the change of the outside air heat. The publication of the Contribution Report of Foreign Atmosphere, the research on the effect of foreign atmosphere on matter and molecules 2000 kilometers away, the participation of foreign atmosphere in extinguishing forest fires in Daxing 'anling, and the successful prediction of satellite launch by Qigong made the "foreign atmosphere fever" and its debate reach its peak.

There are two main arguments about foreign natural gas. One is whether there is foreign gas or not. Second, what is the function of external air? The former is in a dispute between "positive" (believing in foreign countries) and "negative" (not believing in foreign countries); The latter is a "positive" internal debate. Different from the above-mentioned debate about Qigong, because the external qi is not the "subject" of Qigong and cannot represent Qigong, this debate does more harm than good to the development of Qigong, especially when the external qi is mistaken for Qigong, it is almost fatal to Qigong.

Debate about function

Is qigong effective? What is the role of qigong? This is another focus of the debate. On the basis of various viewpoints, the views on the role of Qigong can be roughly divided into three types: the first is "all-round affirmation"-improperly exaggerating the role of Qigong, making it absurd and omnipotent. People who express this view seem to have good intentions, but the result is "pulling out the seedlings to encourage them", which is not worth the candle. The second is "total negation"-arbitrarily belittle or even denigrate the role of Qigong. It is worth mentioning that many of them, whether they are die-hard "positive" or die-hard "negative", have never been exposed to Qigong at all. They all express their opinions based on their own inherent qigong knowledge and rich imagination, so "you can sing and I will go on stage" and "auspicious words complain about shortcomings", which often turns "argument" into "farce". Thirdly, the attitude of the author and most medical qigong practitioners is that qigong is useful, but its function is not infinite, but limited. Taking medical treatment as an example, Qigong can play a leading role in a few cases, but in most cases it can only be in a subordinate and auxiliary position.

The function of qigong is mainly to explore the internal potential of human body. The ability of "calling the wind and calling the rain" and "turning the stone into gold" has nothing to do with qigong, even if it exists; Words such as "traveling through time and space" and "predicting good or bad luck" are either the imagination of novelists or people's beautiful wishes, and have nothing to do with Qigong. For people, Qigong can only add luster to longevity, but can't make people become "superman". Therefore, the debate about the role of Qigong has actually gone beyond the academic scope.

Disciplinary dispute

Although some people agree that Qigong is useful, they deny that it is an independent discipline, but a part of psychology or sports. The reason is that these people don't have a comprehensive understanding of Qigong. They either only pay attention to the adjustment of Qigong, so as to judge that it is psychotherapy, or they only see the adjustment of Qigong, so as to think that it is a kind of exercise. In addition, some people classify Qigong as yoga and behavioral medicine. This is the same as for some time, people only saw the pranayama function of Qigong, defined it as breathing exercise, and made the mistake of "small vision".

In fact, Qigong is essentially different from psychology, physical education, yoga and breathing exercises mentioned above. No matter in theory or operation, Qigong's national color, China characteristics and the integration of three tones are completely different from psychology which originated in the west and lacks three tones. As for the mutual reference between them, it is inevitable in the process of discipline development, and has nothing to do with discipline ownership. It's like that although there are a lot of reliable Qigong documents in religious works and many religious people are practicing, we can't equate Qigong with religion. The division and attribution of disciplines should start with the connotation of theory, method, operation and function, rather than just relying on one stroke or just a few words.