What are the "powers" associated with chi and can they be used?

Question

What are the "powers" associated with chi and can they be used?

Answer 1

The way I am about to answer, has not be confirmed by any scientific community anywhere and, if anything, the Chinese scientific community itself would be the very first to deny all this.  This response is based on my readings regarding Chi, and much of it is legend and lore.  Without wasting any more of your time, here goes.

In Chinese mysticism, which borrows form Daoism and Buddhism, the human body is composed of material and spiritual matter.  However, the spiritual matter is divided two fold; Chi, which is slowly sundered as the person ages, and all living things have it, actually, all existence, its everywhere, all across the universe actually.  Contrary to what George Lucas said though; chi holds the universe together, the universe and living things, do not create chi, chi exists in changing ways.  It can be the form of living matter, or it can be a stone, but it remains nevertheless.  So there is chi, which is the "spiritual" side of the material world, but then there is something beyond it; "shen," or the soul, which is an eternal, vast well of power that if you tap into it, you become a Buddha whose powers go well beyond just "chi."  However, since this is concerned with "chi," these are the "powers" associated with it;

1)  Vast wells of chi, gathered from around the universe, can preserve the body's youthful strength and vigor.  Daoist masters of old, were said to have looked like men in their 30's, even though many were as old as 120.  Remember, chi is the foundamental ground work from which all matter and energy originates, so to cultivate it, preserves the body.  Ultimately though, it can not grant, far as I know, physical immortality but it can however act as a conduit to the spirit world, so that the soul may be released from the body, and the person can enter heaven without the pain of dying.  You simply fall asleep, your soul leaves, and  you are in heaven.  No pain, no suffering, no sadness, just peace.

2)  The ability, at the highest levels, to heal any disease, and among the old, regrow teeth.

3)  It can act as "body armor."  As your body radiates that energy, no knife can pierce the skin.  In the boxer rebellion in China, some monks were even able to stop bullets, according to the stories.  Here is the thing though; to stop a bullet, the monks reportedly meditated for 5 hours, and even then, their chi was concentrated in only one part of their body and, lets use some common sense here.  If that power was real, do you think the enemy would give you 5 hours to meditate on a battle field while you gathered your chi?  Of course not, nevertheless, that the same monks who could do this were easily killed by western guns, had a demoralizing effect in the chinese martial arts community.  No, that you can, possibly, use it, to stop a bullet, that may be, but not without an arduous marathon meditation session that only a high level monk can perform, and even then its dangerous.  Anyway, one of the powers, is that chi turns the skin into something like Superman's; proof-everything, but while maintaining its softness and suppleness.  Superman comics have long explaind that if you touched superman, that is if you shook his hand, his hand would feel like a normal, flesh and blood hand.  It is the solar energy his body radiates, that makes him invulnerable.  Regarding "chi," the principle is the same; your body becomes a battery of it, and as it radiates, it acts as a shield on the skin, and all tissues actually.

4)  The ability to resist any disease, and withstand any poison.

5)  Superhuman virility; the yellow emperor, the legendary first emperor of China, was also said to have been a practitioner of Chi Kung.  The legend says, that he was not a hedonist, or a lecher, but, his soul had become so purified from meditation, when were naturally drawn to him, and his harem was filled up of its own accord by WILLING women.  And, having a harem of over 400 women, the legend says he could service 100 of them in one day.  However, seeing it was a distraction from his meditation, he escaped from them.  Remember; they were the ones after HIM, not the other way around.  The legend says, tragically, that as the yellow emperor rode atop a dragon to go to heaven, one of his concubines, desperate to be with him, tried to grab to the chariot, but her grip was not strong enough and so she plumeted to her doom.  So, yeah, chi also gives superhuman virility, according to these legends.   You watch Dragon Ball Z right?  And you have played the Tekken games right?  In that anime, and the Tekken games, you remember Mutten Roshi, and Wang Jin Rei, both dirty old men?  Also in an anime Ranma 1/2, there was also a dirty old man in there too.  In fact, the "dirty old man" gag is used frequently in Japanese media.  Do you want to know why?  Because of their practice of martial arts, even as old men, many martial artists are STILL horny.  Because of strong chi.  That is where that joke comes from; in east asia, old masters of kung fu, and Karate, are stereotyped as "dirty old men."  Their virility, has to do with a strong chi flow.

6)  Basically all the powers of the Jedi knights.  All that stuff you saw them do in the movies?  Allegedly, "chi" lets you do all those things.

Also, there is something else you should know; a strong chi flow will keep a woman young and beautiful.  In yoga, chi is called "prana," and the reason many women who do yoga, even in their 50's, look as if they were in their 20's sometimes, has to do with a strong flow of "prana," what the chinese call "chi."  However, guys get the short end of the stick; for reasons no one knows, even though your body will stop aging and be as young, healthy and strong as that of a 30 year old in good shape, if you are a guy, strong chi flow will turn your hair white.  Women, on the other hand, remain young and beautiful, and their hair does not change color.

No one knows why this is; why guy's hair turns white, but women get to keep their hair color.  Some Daoists believe that a man's hair turns white to represent the "yang" nature of men.  That is, because men are masculine, we are "yang," whereas women are "ying."

In other words, your hair turns white, because having reached "true" manhood, a man's yang energy is manifesting itself in its full potency.  But I am talking not white as in, you grow old, it greys, you lose color, then it turns white white, I am talking an unatural, snow white color.

The sage Lao Tzu?  His hair was said to be as white as snow, and the reason people called him "old boy," is because even though he was said to have been centuries old, appearance wise, he looked like he was 18.  Even though some legends say he was 500 years old at the time he dictated his Tao Te Ching.  There are Yogis in India, hermits, whose hair is unnaturally white.

Again, I am talking a color "white" that is intense, like snow, not a light shade of grey.  Girls though, are lucky; whatever color their hair is, it stays that way even in, ah.... "old age."  I use quotes because a master of Chi Kung does not grow old, so the stories go.  A female master, will keep her beauty, and be as beautiful as she was at 20, even until the age of 80.  That is supposedly one of the powers of chi but here is the kicker; if you pursue it with vanity in your heart, the chi kung and meditation won't work.

These things do border on "super powers" don't they?  Nevertheless, these stories and anecdotes have been handed down for centuries in China but here is the problem;

1)  The scientific community of China, more than any other, will vehemently deny it.  Actually, more like fanatically.

2)  Even martial artists able to use chi, and even people who have witnessed someone "pushing someone else without touching them" will scoff at these stories and likely question your sanity for believing them.  I had a professor, Dr. Levine, who holds a PhD in Chinese studies.  She is said to have witnessed a master of Chi Kung at work.  Thing was, she also said, he was a very old man.  She is not the type who would lie, from when I took her class, and truth be told she was reluctant to give any further details but she did say this; it was really nothing special, first of, and second, people made such a big deal of it it lead to countless superstitions in China and she advised "believe only what you witness" and even told me not to believe her actually.  She said, I would have to see it myself.

3)  Do not forget China is a huge country, with a lot of people, but also do not forget that for much of its history education has been restricted only to a minority of people.  That is fertile ground for superstition.  I am not saying it may not be possible, I am saying, that you have to be careful of those stories.

Besides, think for one minute here; if you waste your time thinking about the super powers  you will get, can you concentrate on meditation and purifying your spirit?

The more you think on something that may not even be possible, the more room that leaves in your mind to be discouraged, and you do not get the real benefit of meditation, namely, inner peace.

Even if those super powers were real, what would they be worth, if you are not at peace with yourself?

Think about it.

Sorry I could not be of any more help.