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Glossary
- Goju karate
- A karate style that has strong Fukien province Southern Shaolin roots. It has both Okinawan and Japanese branches.
- Gung fu
- Also known as gong fu or kung fu. (1) A level of skill usually gained through long continuous effort in anything. (2) A generic term for all the Chinese martial arts. (3) Refers also to the Chinese external and external/internal arts as opposed to only the internal martial arts (“Do you do internal martial arts—tai chi, ba gua, hsing-i—or gung fu?”).
- Hao style tai chi
- The least widespread style of tai chi; based on small external and internal movements.
- Hard martial arts
- Those martial methods whose techniques rely on superior force and strength to defeat inferior strength. Practices of the hard martial arts are aimed at making the body as hard as steel, especially the arms and legs. Hard approaches may be used in both internal (hsing-i, for example) and exter-nal schools, but prevail mostly in the external martial arts.
- Hebei hsing-i
- A branch of hsing-i where hsing-i and ba gua are commingled and not distinct.
- Heng chuan (heng quan)
- Crossing Fist. One of the five basic techniques of hsing-i chuan.
- Hexagram
- One of the sixty-four energetic changes of the I Ching.
- Hinduism
- A major religion of India that reaches as far back as recorded time. Its most important texts are the Vedas, Upanishads, and the Bhagavad Gita. Hinduism gave birth to Yoga, Tantra, and Buddhism.
- Hit medicine (die da, tie da, di da)
- A branch of Chinese medicine that deals with the aftermath of traumatic injuries, such as broken bones, swelling, soft tissue damage, spinal misalignments, joint dislocations, and internal organ damage.
- Hombu style
- See Aikido.
- Hou tien
- See Post-birth.
- Hsien tien
- See Pre-birth.
- Hsin (xin, shin)
- Heart/mind. The ultimate source of a person’s being according to classical Taoist and Buddhist thought. The hsin is both subtle and nonphysical, and is located near the physical heart.
- Hsin-i
- Heart/mind boxing. Another term for hsing-i chuan.
- Hsing (xing, shing)
- The form or shape that any manifestation takes, be it a concrete object, a martial art movement, a subtle energy or feeling, or a mental construction of the mind.
- Hsing-I
- Also known as or Hsing-i Chuan, xing yi quan or shing yi chuan. Mind-form boxing. A hard internal martial art created by the Chinese general Yue Fei in the thirteenth century. Hsing-i emphasizes all aspects of the mind to create its forms and fighting movements.
- Hsing-i men
- A hsing-i chuan school that has the complete martial tradition of hsing-i intact, usually from a lineage source.
- Hung gar
- An external style of Southern Shaolin from Canton province.
- Hyung (Hyung is Korean; in Chinese: tao lu; in Japanese: kata)
- A form. A set of prearanged choreographed martial movements done either alone or with a partner or partners.
- I (yi)
- Will, intent, intention, mind, and projecting mind. In the chi world of China, “I” (pronounced yee) denotes the specific aspect of mind that projects. If a person sees something and wants to acquire or move toward the object of their intentions (be it concrete or mental), that person mobilizes the “I,” and after an infinitesimal gap moves into action.
- I Ching
- Also known as yi jing. The Book of Changes. This 5000-year-old book is considered to be the classic Taoist text about the nature of change and how change occurs. The I Ching encompasses eight trigrams that embody the eight primal chi energies of which the universe is composed, according to Taoist thought. The eight expand to sixty-four by detailing how each of the individual trigrams impacts, mitigates, and expands the others when they are mixed. Ba gua chang is a mind/body/spirit practice that seeks to have an individual experience within his or her own being what the I Ching communicates intellectually.
- I chu dzuo (yi chu zuo, i ch'u tso)
- A basic chi cultivation method where one uses the “I” to create a mental picture (visualization), which then indirectly moves chi through the human body according to the classic Chinese principle: The “I” leads or moves the chi.
- I Chuan
- Also known as Da Cheng Chuan. A style of hsing-i that is based upon eight standing postures rather than on the classical movements of hsing-i. I Chuan was developed by combining classical hsing-i with ba gua footwork, western boxing, and Buddhist chi gung.
- Iaido
- Japanese martial art of the sword; practiced with actual samurai swords.
- Inner-dissolving process
- A basic Taoist chi (nei gung) practice for releasing energy blocked anywhere within a person; used primarily to heal and strengthen an individual’s emotional, mental, and psychic aspects.