Way of Hunyuan: A Personal Odyssey by Chen Zhonghua
Edmonton: Hunyuantaiji Academy, 2002. 233pp. 5-1/2” X 8-1/2” Illustrated (Paperback) $49.99
Available from:
Hunyuantaiji Academy
5222-86 Street
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, T5J 5J6
Tel. 780.413.0454
E-mail: sales@chenzhonghua.com
Reviewer: Jean-Philippe Ranger, M.A., Ph.D. ,Paris IV (Sorbonne) / Université d’Ottawa

Even as qigong attracts increasing numbers of students and awakens public awareness, those who train this art continue to acknowledge that qigong remains veiled in secrecy and in what appears as inaccessible complexity. Clarity is found however, in Chen Zhonghua’s new book, Way of Hunyuan: A Personal Odyssey, which gently lifts this veil and illuminates the path to qigong. His text is a substantial volume of invaluable information essential to any qigong practitioner.

Upon opening the Way of Hunyuan the reader is initially made aware of the uniqueness of this qigong text. Many books on this topic try to teach qigong techniques, making each text useful primarily to students of a particular system. However this is not the Way of Hunyuan’s main purpose, in fact there is only one short section concerning technical details. Instead, Chen’s book deals with such fundamental concepts that the Way of Hunyuan will be of interest to students of any system of qigong.

Chen Zhonghua is a 19th generation disciple of Chen family taijiquan under Grandmaster Feng Zhiqiang, the founder of Hunyuan qigong. Since he moved to North America, Chen has actively promoted Chen taiji in the English-speaking world. His frequent visits to China to pursue direct instruction under Grandmaster Feng Zhiqiang, as well as his translation of other important texts on qigong (Feng Zhiqiang’s Hunyuan Qigong) and taijiquan (he has some forthcoming projects), show his dedication to the arts of taiji and qigong. Although these translations are valuable, this new book demonstrates his foremost authority as an interpreter, transmitter and teacher of complex Daoist concepts dealing with qigong and taiji.

As the word on the relevance and benefits of qigong spreads worldwide, authoritative reference material in English is in great demand and the Way of Hunyuan goes above and beyond this call for high quality material. In this book many fundamental Daoist concepts are not only introduced for the first time in the English language, but they are also explained in a vocabulary that is concise and intelligible. As Chen acknowledges in his “Afterword”:
it is almost impossible to use the English language to write a Qigong book. The language is incapable of bringing forth the ideas in Qigong. I hope that I have resolved some of the problems with the language and shed some light on the true nature of Qigong through the employment of a mixture of English and Chinese, in words, and more importantly, in meaning (p. 222).

While it is true that some sections of this book are difficult to grasp, this shortcoming is not the result of its author’s inability, rather this is due primarily to the complex nature of qigong. This is a warning for the beginner who opens the Way of Hunyuan: as Chen has so many times explained in his oral teachings, the understanding of words is of a lower kind than the understanding in the body itself. It is impossible to fully comprehend many of these concepts without having reached a high level of qigong practice.

In general terms, the Way of Hunyuan is best classified as a philosophical text dealing with the fundamental Daoist concepts of qigong. The way in which the material is presented, however, is not a dry list of concepts and definitions. Instead, Chen succeeds in presenting and analyzing complex concepts that are accompanied by useful and relevant examples and anecdotes. Far from making the reader stray off course, these illustrations help us along Chen’s train of thought (a balance that is hard to achieve for any writer, as we often find such a text to be either too dry or too anecdotal).

Chen’s transitions between concepts and illustrations are skilful and clearly demonstrate his ability as a teacher and writer. Furthermore, another strong point in the Way of Hunyuan is the way in which Chen conveys ideas to the reader. Let me stress what is unique about his discussion of oft-named, but rarely explained concepts: where most authors would stop at noting how immortality is a goal of qigong, for example, Chen is unsatisfied with this and goes a step further by asking how Daoism conceives of immortality, how it is defined, experienced, who reached Daoist immortality, what it means to be immortal and so forth. Chen uncovers these elusive concepts. With these general comments in mind, we turn now to a more precise overview of the Way of Hunyuan’s content.
To begin, the introduction deals with the basic definition of qigong, its history, and its relation to taiji, the Yi Jing and the Dao De Jing. In the first chapter, following this entry into qigong,

Chen presents the specific characteristics of Hunyuan qigong, the particular system he practices. More explicitly, he talks about the physical requirements of Hunyuan qigong, zhan zhuang (standing meditation) and then, in the only technical part of the book, he explains four of the twelve exercises developed by Grandmaster Feng. Next, he describes his first contact with Hunyuan taiji, and then explains the concept of “one grain of Hunyuan qi.” The last section of this chapter is a list of frequently asked questions and answers dealing with Hunyuan qigong. The second chapter entitled “Paradigm Shift” is the most philosophical in the whole book as it “looks into the basic premises of Qigong” (p. 120).

Here are examples of the many Daoist concepts fundamental to the understanding of qigong explained by Chen: “everything comes out of nothing (wu zhong shen you),” “the great dao has no shape (da dao wu xing),” “the great dao is extremely simple (da dao zhi jian)” and “cultivate the emptiness into the dao (lian xu he dao).” Then, in the third chapter entitled “Secrets of the bed chamber” Chen tackles a topic that is often taboo in qigong teachings. The sexual aspects of qigong are dealt with in plain and non-elusive language. In the fourth chapter, Chen explains the Chinese concept of immortality and its importance as one of the goals of qigong. Finally, the last chapter written by Yaron Seidman, one of Chen’s disciples and a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine, questions some contemporary models of Chinese medicine and meridian theory on the basis of his qigong experience as well as on the basis of ancient texts. Yet again, we see a challenging new point of view on formally accepted concepts. Further, in the last pages of the Way of Hunyuan, we find a useful “Qigong Dictionary,” a reference that explains in greater detail certain key concepts and actors in the history of this art. There is also a short bibliography, a history chart of China as well as a list of personal references used in schools of taiji and qigong. Finally, there is a useful index guiding the readers who will inevitably return to various sections of Chen’s book for further study.

In one sentence, the Way of Hunyuan is a timely book that will be valuable for anyone who wants to understand the complex and subtle ways of qigong. While Chen is right in stating that this text is but a “little peeping hole into the vast knowledge source of Qigong” (p. 2), it does offer a much broader view than the one we formerly had access to in the West. Even beyond its excellent content, the Way of Hunyuan is simply a great read because of its organization as part philosophical and part anecdotal. Then, when we finally close the book, we recognize that our previous views on qigong have been redefined.

With the Way of Hunyuan, Chen meant to “throw the brick to entice the jade” (p. 4). Those of us who take up Chen’s challenge will find that he points the way toward training harder and smarter.

Reply

Dear Master Chen,

I will be visiting you at Daqingshan this May 2013. May I know if the “Way of HuanYuan” book will be made available there?

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Dear Master Chen,
Will more books be available soon? Thank you very much. Jeri

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