A Gi-point in Taoists and the conception of Life Gate in Korean medicine

도가(道家)의 기혈(氣穴)과 한의학(韓醫學)의 명문사상(命門思想)

This paper aims at the comparative study of practicing Buddhism and Taoism related to "life gate". The term "life gate", as a physiological entity of disputed morphological identity, first appears in The Inner Canon where it refers to the eyes. Reference to a "life gate" as an internal organ body first appears in The Classic of Difficult Issues which states, "The two kidneys are not both kidneys' The left one is the kidney, and the right is the life gate." Successive scholars refers to life gate as a gi point of Taoists.. The question of the life gate invited little discussion until the Myeong and Cheong Dynasty, when various different theories were put forward. Especially Jin Sa-taek says "life gate" is the governor of the twelve place in the human body, throwing light on the meaning of it. Not that life gate denotes a local point, it does a system of life gate. Generally speaking, life gate designates cinnabar field. I think that the human body produces essence by way of life gate. That is, the human body is unified by the system of life gate. Life gate is not only the source of infusing the engine of the human body with vital energy but also as well as gi-point.