Abstract
The inseparability of the theory of the body and the theory of the embodiment characterized Chinese intellectual history. Chinese mainstream thought never regards the body as an object which can be grasped by categories. Quite the contrary, it regards the body as a vivid organism which should be cultivated carefully. There are two different methods to transform the empirical body in ancient China. One is a posterior, the other is a priori, The a posteriori method is held by the school of medicine, it stresses the interaction between man and heaven. “Human's correspondence with heavenly schema”&“breath of energetic ch'i”are the particular means to strengthen human life. The a priori method is held by many philosophers in this period. They think if students can regenerate the mysterious ch'i in the deepest layer of the body, the mysterious ch'i will transform the entire body. Concerned with the approaches to regenerating ch'i, some philosophers think the Chinese yoki Method is more effective, the others think moral consciousness will arouse the inner mysterious ch'i, and finally both of consciousness and ch'i will flow simultaneously. Therefore, the cultivation of mind and the cultivation of ch'i are two aspects of the same activity.