21/05/2026
QIGONG INSTRUCTIONS FROM THE FOURTH CENTURY BCE
This image is a rubbing of the Xingqi Yuming, 行氣玉銘, or the "Jade Inscription of Qi Movement". The words are carved on a twelve-sided piece of jade dating back to the late Warring States period, approximately 380 BCE. The plaque is the earliest known textual record of qigong and meditation. The original artifact is in the collection of the Tianjin Museum 天津博物馆.
行氣
xíng qì
Move the vital breath,
深則蓄
shēn zé xù
deepen and store it,
蓄則伸
xù zé shēn
store it and extend it,
伸則下
shēn zé xià
extend it and lower it,
下則定
xià zé dìng
lower it and settle it,
定則固
dìng zé gù
settle it and strengthen it,
固則萌
gù zé méng
strenghen it and sprout it,
萌則長
méng zé cháng
sprout it and lengthen it,
長則退
cháng zé tuì
lengthen it and withdraw it
則天
zé tiān
to follow heaven.
天機舂在上
tiān jī chōng zài shàng
Heaven's opportunities are worked* above.
地機舂在下
dì jī chōng zài xià
Earth's opportunities are worked* below.
順則生
shùn zé shēng
Follow and live.
逆則死
nì zé sǐ
Resist and die.
__________
The word rendered as “worked” is chōng舂. It means “to pound grain,” or “to beat.” It shows two hands holding a pestle. “Grinding opportunities” or “beating opportunities” doesn’t quite read well in English. I think the intention is that we must work what heaven and earth give us, just as we mill grain or pound wheat into flour. Since the word for “opportunity,” jī 機 can also mean “machine; opportunity; moment; chance,” I’ve chosen “worked” to indicate the actions we must exert to claim the opportunities of heaven and earth.
Another consideration is jīchōng 機舂, a water-powered pestle used to grind rice or pound porcelain clay. That would be interesting—except the device hadn’t been invented at the time of this inscription. But it does give the impression of the slow and steady work of qigong and meditation.
