Xingyi Boxing Meditation"Biwuxing"
形意拳 闭五行
In Daoism, a way to live long and stay healthy is to cultivate one’s Qi 气. Also, one should not lose one’s Qi by over spending it. One can spend Qi not only through vigorous exercises but also by some simple activities such as watching a television, listening to music, or singing. We spend Qi of our eyes by watching a television or a computer screen, we spend Qi of ears by listening to music, and we spend Qi from Dantian 丹田(lower part of belly where Daoists believe humans can store Qi) by singing.
Spending Qi for a moderate amount does not harm your health but over spending will gradually harm you. In today’s society, many people constantly watch computer and smart phone screens. Also, some people listen to music throughout a day. This can lead the people to over spend their Qi and harm their bodies.
Daoist martial art called Xingyiquan 形意拳 has a meditation technique which prevent spending Qi and restore it. This meditation technique is called Biwuxing (闭五行). This literally means closing five organs. Five organs refer to eyes, nose, ears, mouth, and brain. In doing Biwuxing, you are supposed to close your eyes, breath quietly and softly from your nose, do not listen to sounds outside but try to hear the sounds inside your body, close mouth lightly, and think nothing. When you are in this state, your five organs are at rest. When five organs are at rest, Qi of five organs are not spent.
In addition, as you breath softly and quetly, your body start to restore Qi and make your five organs 五脏 healthy. According to Chinese medicine, five organs are connected to five internal organs. Eyes are connected to liver, nose is connected to lungs, ears are connected to kidney, mouth is connected to heart, and brain is connected to spleen. Therefore, Daoists believe that by nourishing five organs by Qi, one can strengthen the five internal organs. One does not have to do Biwuxing for a long period. Five to ten minutes of Biwuxing everyday should be good enough for health maintenance.
