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Glossary
- Earth element
- In Chinese cosmology, one of the basic energies or elements from which all manifested phenomena are created.
- Eight Drunken Immortals
- An external/internal martial art in which practitioners mimic the lurching, falling, rolling movements of a drunk.
- Eight energetic bodies
- In Taoist philosophy, eight clear vibratory frequencies of energy that comprise a human being. Each is called a “body.” These are identified as the physical body, etheric/chi body, emotional body, mental body, psychic energy body, causal body, body of individuality and body of the Tao.
- Eight extraordinary or special meridians
- The eight meridians that have special uses in acupuncture above and beyond the normal vertical and horizontal meridians.
- Eight Mother Palms
Also known as ba mu chang, ba mu zhang, pa mu chang or ba mu jang. The eight basic palm changes or movement patterns of ba gua chang. Each of the energies of the eight trigrams of the I Ching is embodied in one of the eight mother palms.
- Emptiness
- A profound state of spiritual, mental, and psychic equilibrium that is a major goal of all Asian meditation practices and that lies at the heart of the higher levels of achievement in the internal martial arts.
- Empty/full (xu/shi, hsu/shi, syu/shr)
- A fundamental concept that exists throughout chi gung, Chinese medicine, and internal martial arts. Empty refers to a lack of, a deficiency of, or less of something. Its opposite, full, refers to an abundance of, an excess of, or simply more of something. Commonly used in reference to the chi of a body part or internal organ being full or empty.
- Energy channels of the body
- All the subtle energetic channels of the body through which chi travels.
- Etheric body
Also known as the chi body. The bioelectric field that extends anywhere from a few inches to a few hundred feet from a person’s body. Commonly called the aura in the West.
- External martial arts
Also known as wai jia quan or wai chia ch'uan. Martial arts that focus on physicality, muscular strength, reflexes, tension, mental discipline, and body conditioning (push-ups, sit-ups, weight-lifting, and running), and not on developing and cultivating the chi.
- External/internal martial arts (nei wai quan/chuan)
- Those martial arts that use both a clearly developed internal chi gung program and external muscular practices based on contracting the muscles through physical tension.
