  In summary, most of these texts can be described as part of a yang sheng culture, which offered and emphasized control over physiological processes of the body and mind that were understood as transformations of qi. What is the relation of these detailed technical texts to philosophy? These technical arts form a continuum with philosophy because their transformations were understood as self-cultivation in the coterminous senses of moral excellence, health, and longevity (rather than medical pathology), and physiological transformation through the manipulation of qi (V. Lo 2001).