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YI – THE SOUND OF THE HEART
 



意 YI - THE SUOND OF THE HEART

When people ask me about the meaning of the term 意 “Yi”, many different interpretations I found during my research come to mind. Today I will try to describe the symbolic meaning of the character in brief.

To put things in order I always prefer to start from the Seals Script so you can have a clear idea of what has been the evolution of the character.

The Seal Script of today's character 意 is composed by two elements.
In the transposition from Seals Script to modern characters we find the same two elements in the form of radicals 音 Yin (Sound) - 心 Xin (Heart). In this sense, 意 has maintained its representative value even in the most recent version. It is interesting to see how this way of analyzing the ideogram fits perfectly with internal practices.

In Nei Gong it is essential to learn how to stimulate our energy system also through emotions. During practice we not only need to visualize concepts or situations but also be able to evoke specific emotions and sensations.

Perceiving the sound of the heart, which is its vibrations, means getting in touch with our deepest emotions. Emotions drive the energy of our life and the energy gives form to our actions- 意导气,气运形。

To analyze further the character we can think in terms of magnetic fields that are emitted from the heart. I’m very impressed to find how modern science is advancing in the study of toroidal magnetic fields and their relationship with the equilibrium of the universe.

The heart has a very powerful magnetic field, even more powerful than our brain. Eastern tradition believes that the energy emitted from the heart has the power to influence our state of health and the surrounding environment.

Whilst always remaining open to other interpretations, I believe this analysis of the term Yi fits perfectly with the emotional energy experience that internal practices offer.

Surely linguistic and historical skills are needed to find consistent interpretations of the terms. But in the research of classic theories, only linguistic and literal skills are not sufficient if not supported by experience in practice.

For those who wants to know more:

Why start from the analysis of the Seal Script?

The history of the Seal Script shows us that the character is composed of the 180 音 “Sound” and the 61 心 “Heart” radicals. If we start from the analysis of the modern character we would have come across a very different interpretation.

Furthermore, by analyzing the Seals Script we can find the progression starting from “Tongue” up to “Sound”.

The picture below points out how the graphic relationship of “Tongue”, “Talk” and “Sound” has been altered in the conversion into modern characters.
In the modern character of the "Sound" we can find the radicals 立 Li (Stand) and 日Ri (Sun) which have lost the reference of the "Tongue".