Classical Threads

The Chinese word jing means “silk-like thread”. It is often used as a descriptor of source-texts, such as the Nei Jing or Nan Jing. In this usage, the term jing is a correlate of the Sanskrit term sutra. Similar to jing, the Sanskrit sutra also means “thread” and is used as a descriptor of significant source-texts in Indian philosophy. The term also had a practical connotation in that ancient Indian texts were written on palm leaves that were threaded together.

In English, jing is usually translated as “classic”. Hence, the Nei Jing becomes the Inner Classic and the Nan Jing becomes the Classic of Difficulties. In its meaning as “classic”, jing implies the timeless quality and enduring significance of the knowledge within these texts. I am not aware of sutra being translated as “classic”, but it is also not a causal descriptor and reserved for sacred texts. Jing is also used in the medical context with the meaning of “essence”, the most concentrated form of qi. In Daoist alchemy, jing is transformed into qi and qi is transformed into shen (spirit). We can appreciate the additional connotation of works with jing in the name being considered “essential”, foundational, and concentrated forms of knowledge.

The term jing also appears in the Chinese term jing luo which literally means “matrix (or network) of silk threads”, though it is more commonly translated simply as “meridian” or “channel”. In Tibetan medicine, the energetic channels are described as silk threads and further divided into white and black silk threads. (In modern practice, white silk threads are interpreted as the nervous system and black silk threads as the arterial system).

In Ayurveda, the term nadi means “channel” or “stream”, depending on whether the “a” or the “i” becomes the long vowel. This term carries strong connotations of water and flow. It refers to the energetic pathways within the body, an identical concept to the Chinese meridian network, though the channel theory of Ayurveda is quite different from that of the Chinese.

In a recent class, Heiner Fruehauf described how the ancient Chinese defined qi as the invisible silken threads that link microcosm and macrocosm. Somehow, we always find our way back to these silken strands, whether considering texts, meridians, or the nature of reality.