everything wrote:it seems like yi and xin would be even more difficult to define.
Different styles and schools interpret and utilize "yi" in different ways, but "xin" or "heart-mind" is actually a quite simple and down-to-earth concept, though it's still very misunderstood and mostly used completely wrong. It's not anywhere near "mind-power", but has more to do with an emotional judgment. To "use xin" actually means more that you should put passion in what you do than anything else.
Literally the character “xin” or 心 means heart. The standardised version seen today is a simplification of a much older character that was originally a picture of a human heart. The problem for us when we try to understand what the word xin actually means in a Chinese language context, is that it is mostly translated to English as “mind”.
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Sometimes though, the Chinese “Xin” is translated to “heart-mind”, meaning the emotional mind. My own teacher in Chinese Philosophy, who kindly gave this very lazy student a very high degree for some strange reason, explained this relationship as that the brain and heart are very much connected in Chinese thought. He meant that the heart and emotion is actually what all thoughts reflects.
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But how then is the word “mind” actually used? I mean, it is said that you must use mind in your Taijiquan practice. (“to use xin” is something different from “to use Yi” as in “to use Yi instead of Li“.) So what does this mean? I will tell you this: it’s much more simple than you might want to believe. It’s not about thinking, and it’s not about developing any mind-power or “thinking-energy” as a Qigong teacher explained the processes in what he did. Just as all of these strange mystical sounding words as qi, yin-yang and everything else that is usually mystified, “xin” is also something used daily, a common word in the Chinese language.
My wife who works with chemistry recently said that why she is better to find out what is wrong with an instrument or why she usually find when something is wrong before many of her colleagues, is because she use “xin” in her work. What she meant was really the same as the English expression to use the heart, that she puts her heart in her work. She is focused on her tasks, does things with awareness and cares about everything she does. This is to “use xin”.
What it is meant to “use xin” in taijiquan is the same. It means that you cannot mechanically do the form or any exercise just because you should do it. You must put in a lot of heart in your practice, you need to be aware and pay attention on what you do, “take care” of what you do. You need to be mindful, take your practice very seriously and examine yourself carefully, and reflect on how well you carry and embody the Taiji principles in every inch of your movement, in your stillness and in your breath. Otherwise, if you don’t put a lot of heart in what you do, it will all become superficial practice and not even good Taijiquan.
Your Taijiquan should always be done this way. To “use Xin” is thus something commonsensical and practical, though there is also a much more philosophical way of describing the “heart-mind”....
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Excerpt from "Thoughts on Tai Chi", Full article:
https://taichithoughts.wordpress.com/20 ... taijiquan/