I felt the "Chi" (or Qi in Korean)

Two years ago I started practicing Tai Chi in Vietnam. When I returned to Columbia I joined a Tai Chi group that meets in the Columbia Armory several times a week. The leader of that group is Kenny Green and he is always talking about "Chi". Chi is the internal power and energy you can harness. Basically it is your "life force".

Last weekend I participated in a temple stay. Most of the temples in Korea welcome visitors and allow them to stay one or more nights in their compound and meditate and study with the monks. Our group stayed at Daeheung Monastery in the far southwestern part of the Korean Peninsula. Our bus dropped the group off at the bottom of the mountain and we walked about a half mile up the road to the monastery.



Once there we changed into our "monk clothes"...basically a pants and vest that we wore the entire time. This is a picture of me with Sharon Ryan, a MU professor in the Economics Dept.



The group was separated into boys and girls and we were assigned to "cells"....small rooms lined with rice paper and double wooden doors on both ends. No windows! The sleeping area was old and heated using a traditional ondal system where a series of tunnels run below the building--and a fire is built at one end and chimneys are at the other. The heat from the fire circulates below the building through the tunnels and heats the floor. Since it is summer and was pretty warm, the system was not operating. It is somewhat rare to see this type of heating system still in use. Now electric heating coils run under the floor...which is much safer. CO2 poisoning is a big problem with the older ondal system and thus they are not commonly found any longer.

The first afternoon we had an orientation session where a lay person gave us the "rules" we must follow while at the temple. Then at 4pm a monk started to beat on a huge drum --calling the monks to the late afternoon meditation session.



Korean monks chant and do a series of bows (on your feet then lying almost flat on a mat) which are up and down for a long time. Someone told me 100 times...but I lost count and gave up after about 20!



Dinner was at 6pm. We ate in a small cafeteria separate from the other monks. We washed our own dishes and then headed off to a small tea ceremony with one of the monks. He gave us some lessons on meditation.



Afterwards we headed off to our cells for private meditation....which meant lots of talking! It was our private PJ party! We slept on the floor on thin mats. I did ok --mainly because I stacked about 5 mats to make a nice soft pallet for me! Lights out at 9:30pm.........



I woke to a bonk bonk bonk sound and a monk chanting. It was 3am! We had to be up and in the main hall at 3:30am for the morning prayer session. It was pretty neat! The drumming started in earnest about 3:20am and ended when everyone had gathered. It really was amazing to hear the chanting and bells.

The weather was not cooperating during our stay and the rain was sheeting down all night and during the day. We were supposed to climb the mountain to an upper temple and meditation house...but instead the head monk loaded up only "professors" into his new SUV with leather seats, moon roof and rap music. The kids were left behind. We bounced up a stream bed and small track to an upper retreat center. It was beautiful...even in the rain!

We spent about three hours talking to the head monk. He was a personable and funny guy. He was about 45 years old and had been a monk since he was 15. He was in the Korean Army's special forces group....I guess monks are not exempt from military service.


He talked to us about many things.....but what impressed me the most was our discussion about Chi. I told him I practiced Tai Chi...which got us talking about Chi...or Qi in Korean practice. He asked me if I knew what Qi was. I said I thought so...but still was searching for the true meaning of the word.

At this point the monk jumped up....and grabbed me and yanked me to my feet. He asked me to hold out my arm...straight out from my body. He then took his hand and slapped my out stretched hand. He said....that was not Qi. Basically it was a little slap...didn't hurt. He then made the same movements as before....it looked like he was going to slap my hand again. BUT --WOW....instead he harnessed his inner Qi....and used it to SLAP my hand. Gad....my hand stung like heck. It was an impressive show of strength. Then I looked down at my hand and wrist. YOU COULD SEE THE IMPRINT OF HIS FINGERS....on my wrist. Perfectly...three fingers imprinted in a huge red welt on my wrist. One of the other women professors went crazy when she saw my arm.....she freaked! I was just staring at it...amazed by what I saw! I wanted to take a picture of my arm...but thought that would be pretty rude. The mark lasted about two hours and then faded. I was disappointed because I wanted to show everyone the finger bruises on my wrist!



So...what is the moral of this story. I learned about the power of Chi. That monk did nothing different each time he "slapped" my arm. The first slap was a tiny tap....the second was a massive burst of Chi...inner strength and power unleashed. Impressive...to say the least! Kenny Green talks about Chi... and he would never hit anyone to show what it really was. But for me--this was a great teaching moment. I learned about Chi...and will never forget it. I don't think I would have been as impressed with this lesson if he just talked about it. The experience was powerful! I now know how powerful Chi can be...my challenge is to learn how to harness this inner power!