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ОглавлениеChapter 1
General Introduction
1-1. Introduction
Even though Chinese martial arts were imported into Western society more than fifty years ago, many questions still remain. The most common and confusing questions today are the following: Where does the style I am learning come from? What are its theoretical roots and foundation? How good are the styles which I am practicing? What are the differences between the internal styles and the external styles? What are the differences between the southern styles and northern styles? How do we define hard, soft-hard, and soft styles? How is Japanese karate different from Korean taekwondo, and how are these styles different from Chinese martial arts? How do these styles relate to each other? What is martial arts qigong? How different is this qigong from other schools of qigong, such as medical qigong, scholar qigong, and religious qigong?
In order to answer these questions, you must first study and understand the history of Chinese martial arts. Furthermore, you should search and comprehend its theoretical roots and cultural background. Knowledge of its past history and an understanding of its roots will enable you to appreciate the consequences that exist today.
Taijiquan, its theoretical roots and the concept of yin and yang itself, can be traced back four thousand years. From this root, the essence of taijiquan originated. Specifically, the style was created in the Daoist monastery of Wudang Mountain, Hubei province. The original motivation behind taijiquan creation was twofold: self-defense and spiritual cultivation.
Taijiquan is a slow and relaxed moving meditation. Through practicing taijiquan, you are able to calm your mind, locate your spiritual center, and consequently find your entire being. Moreover, from the relaxed moving exercises, you can bring your physical body to an ultimate level of relaxation and natural ease. This can result in smooth qi (inner energy or bioelectricity) and smooth blood circulation. This is the key to maintaining health and recovering from sickness.
Since taijiquan’s revelation to the Chinese public in 1926 by Yang, Chen-fu in Nanking Central Guoshu Institute, it has been widely welcomed and has gradually become one of the most effective ways of self-healing exercises or qigong in China. Unfortunately, it was also due to its popularity and emphasis on health promotion that the martial essence of taijiquan has been gradually lost. The forms have been changed and the quality has been worsened. The essence of every movement is no longer of importance to the general public.
When Taijiquan was introduced into Western society during the 1960s by Cheng, Man-ching, it was already popular in China. Before long, it had become a very popular exercise in the West. Today, it is commonly recognized that practicing taijiquan is able to help with many problems such as hypertension, high blood pressure, balance and stability, heart problems, lung-related illness, stomach problems, and many others. It is understood that through these relaxed movements, you can reach a state of self-relaxation and healing. The benefits of practicing taijiquan are reported again and again. In fact, many healthcare providers started encouraging their clients to practice taijiquan, and beginning in the 1990s, some insurance companies even began to contribute to the expense of learning in order to further the health and vitality of their members.
Since 1973 when President Nixon visited mainland China and opened the gate of China, many taijiquan masters have immigrated to the United States. Now, the Western taijiquan practitioners are starting to realize there are many styles of taijiquan that have originated from the same theoretical root. Unfortunately, two major parts of taijiquan essence are still missing. These two are the martial root of taijiquan and its relationship with qigong. The motivation for writing this book is to provide modern taijiquan practitioners with an understanding of the relationship between taijiquan and qigong. After studying this material, if you are interested in knowing more about the taiji qigong and martial applications of taijiquan, you may refer to these books: The Essence of Taiji Qigong, Tai Chi Theory and Martial Power, and Tai Chi Chuan Martial Applications, published by YMAA.
In the first chapter of this book, common martial arts knowledge will be introduced followed by a brief history of taijiquan. The meaning of taijiquan and its training guidelines, particularly that of Yang style, will then be discussed. After you are familiar with these general concepts, the most important essence of taijiquan will be introduced: the relationship between qi and taijiquan. This relationship will be explored in Chapter 2 through the means of taiji qigong. The third chapter will cover the external manifestations of the theory, as well as the external root of basic taijiquan movement, the thirteen postures. Finally, the traditional Yang Style Long Form of Taijiquan will be introduced in Chapter 4.
I believe that through effort and by coordinating both theory and the practice of qigong and external training, you can glimpse and begin to appreciate the profound essence of taijiquan, instead of just learning how to copy the forms.
1-2. Common Knowledge of Chinese Martial Arts
Since taijiquan is an internal martial art, in order to understand its origin and historical background, it would be wise for us first to learn some of the common knowledge behind Chinese martial arts.
In this section, we will explain some essential points, such as the general definition of Chinese martial arts, martial arts history, and comparisons of the different styles. Hopefully, through study of this section, you will gain a better understanding of Chinese martial arts.
This section will first survey Chinese martial arts history and its cultural relationship with neighboring countries in the past. From this survey, you will obtain a general concept of how this art developed. Then, we will trace how this art was developed and how it became popular today in the West. From this, you can analyze the style you are learning.
Next, we will summarize some of the important concepts in Chinese martial society, such as the differences between internal styles and external styles, how the southern styles developed differently from the northern styles, the definition of the hard, soft-hard, and soft styles, the four fighting categories of Chinese martial arts, and the Dao of Chinese martial arts.
General Definition of Chinese Martial Arts. The word for martial in Chinese is wu. This word is constructed from two Chinese words zhi and ge. Zhi means to stop, to cease, or to end and ge means spear, lance, or javelin, and implies “general weapons.” From this you can see that the original meaning of martial arts in China is “to stop or to end the usage of weapons”.
The name of Chinese martial arts has been changed from period to period. However, the most commonly-recognized name is wuyi. Wuyi means “martial arts” and includes all categories of martial arts which are related to battle, such as archery, horse riding, dart throwing, the design and manufacture of weapons, armor, or even the study of battlefield tactics.
In actual combat, individual fighting techniques are called wushu, which means “martial techniques.” This implies the techniques that can be used to stop a fight. This means that Chinese martial arts were created to stop fighting instead of starting it. It is defensive instead of offensive. This concept was very different from that which was obtained by Western society in the 1960s. At that time, Chinese martial arts were commonly lumped together under the term “kung fu” and were considered solely as fighting skills. In fact, the Chinese meaning of kung fu (gong) means energy and (fu) means time. If you are learning or doing something that takes a great deal of time and effort to accomplish, then it is called kung fu (gongfu.) This can be learning how to play the piano, to paint, to learn martial arts, or complete any difficult task that takes time and patience.
A Brief History of Chinese Martial Arts—East and West
It is impossible to survey the history of all the existing Chinese martial arts in a single book. There are two reasons for this:
1 Since ancient times, there have probably been more than five thousand martial styles created in China. After long periods of testing and experimenting in martial arts society or in battle, the arts of quality continued to survive, while those that were ineffective slowly became disregarded and died out. According to recent reports out of China, there could be more than one thousand martial styles which still exist and are practiced there, each with its own several hundreds or even thousands of years of history. It is not possible to collect all of this history for every style.
2 Since most martial artists in ancient times were illiterate, the history of each style was often passed down orally. After a few generations, the history would become like a story. In fact, there are only a few existing famous styles, such as Taijiquan, Shaolin Quan, and some military martial styles, in which the history was documented in writing. Moreover, the documentation for these styles was extremely scarce and its accuracy often questioned.
Therefore, in this sub-section, I would first like to briefly summarize a portion of the known history of the East. Then, based on my personal observations of the evolution of Chinese martial arts in the West for the past 35 years, I will offer my observations and conclusions on Chinese martial arts in Western society.
Historical Survey of Chinese Martial Arts. Chinese martial arts probably started long before history was recorded. Martial techniques were discovered or created during the long epoch of continuous conflict between humans and animals or between different tribes of humans themselves. From these battles, experiences were accumulated and techniques discovered that were passed down from generation to generation.
Later, with the invention of weapons—whether sticks, stones, or animal bones—different types and shapes of weapons were invented, until eventually metal was discovered. At the beginning, metal weapons were made from copper, tin, or bronze, and after thousands of years of metallurgical development, the weapons became stronger and sharper. Following the advancement of weapon fabrication, new fighting techniques were created. Different schools and styles originated and tested one another.
Many of these schools or styles created their forms by imitating different types of fighting techniques from animals (e.g., tiger, panther, monkey, bear, or snake), birds (e.g., eagle, crane, or chicken), or insects (e.g., praying mantis). The reason for imitating the fighting techniques of animals came from the belief that animals possessed natural talents and skills for fighting in order to survive in the harsh natural environment. The best way to learn effective fighting techniques was by studying and imitating these animals. For example, the sharp spirit of the eagle was adopted, the pouncing, fighting of the tiger and the eagle’s strong claws were imitated, and the attacking motions of the crane’s beak and wings were copied.
Since the martial techniques first developed in very ancient times, they gradually became part of Chinese culture. The philosophy of these fighting arts and culture has in turn been influenced by other elements of Chinese culture. Therefore, the yin and yang taiji theory was merged into techniques, and the bagua eight trigrams concept was blended into fighting strategy and skills.
Chinese culture initially developed along the banks of the Yellow River (Figure 1-1). After many thousands of years, this culture spread so widely that it eventually reached every corner of Asia. China is called Central Kingdom (Zhong Guo) by its neighboring countries. The reason for this was because China possessed a much longer history in artistic, spiritual, religious, and scholastic fields, as well as many others; Chinese history stretches back more than seven thousand years. To the neighboring countries, China was an advanced cultural center from which they could learn and absorb cultural forms. Over thousands of years, the Chinese people themselves have immigrated to every corner of Asia, carrying with them their arts and customs. From this prolonged exchange, Chinese culture became the cultural foundation of many other Asian countries. Naturally, Chinese martial arts, which were considered a means of defense and fighting in battle, have also significantly influenced other Asian societies.
Figure 1-1. China and Her Neighboring Countries
However, since the martial arts techniques and the methods of training could decide victory or defeat in battle, almost all Chinese martial arts were considered highly secret between countries, and even between different stylists. In ancient times, it was so important to protect the secret of a style that usually a master would kill a student who had betrayed him. It is no different from a modern government protecting its technology for purposes of national security. For this reason, the number of Chinese martial techniques that were revealed to outside countries was limited. Often, when an outlander came to China to learn martial arts, he first had to obtain the trust of a master. Normally, this would take more than ten years of testing from the teacher in order to achieve mutual understanding. Moreover, the techniques exported were still limited to the surface level. The deeper essence of the arts, especially the internal cultivation of qi and how to apply it to the martial techniques, normally remained a deep secret.
For example, it is well known in China that in order to compete and survive in a battle against other martial styles, each martial style must contain four basic categories of fighting techniques. They are kicking (ti), hand striking (da), wrestling (shuai), and joint locking or seizing and controlling techniques (qin na or chin na) (na). When these techniques were exported to Japan, they splintered over time to become many styles. For example, punching and kicking became karate, wrestling became judo, and qin na became jujitsu. Actually, the essence and secret of Chinese martial arts developed in Buddhist and Daoist monasteries were not completely revealed to Chinese lay society until the Qing dynastyA.D. 1644-1912). This secret has been revealed to Western countries only in the last three decades.
There was an extreme scarcity of documentation before A.D. 500 with regard to martial arts organization and techniques. The most complete documents that exist today concern the Shaolin Temple. However, since Shaolin martial arts significantly influence the overwhelming majority of Chinese martial arts society today (and this includes taijiquan), we should be able to obtain a fairly accurate concept from studying Shaolin history. The following is a brief summary of Shaolin history according to recent publications by the Shaolin Temple itself.
The Shaolin Temple. Buddhism traveled to China from India during the Eastern Han Ming emperor period (A.D. 58-76). Chinese emperors were given special names upon their coronation; it was customary to address them by this name, followed by the title “emperor.” Several hundred years later, as several emperors became sincere Buddhists, Buddhism became very respected and popular in China. It is estimated that by A.D. 500, there probably existed more than ten thousand Buddhist temples. In order to absorb more Buddhist philosophy during these five hundred years, some monks were sent to India to study Buddhism and bring back Buddhist classics. Naturally, some Indian monks were also invited to China to preach.
According to one of the oldest books Deng Feng County Recording (Deng Feng Xian Zhi), a Buddhist monk named Batuo came to China to preach Buddhism in A.D. 464 Deng Feng is the county in Henan Province where the Shaolin Temple was eventually located.1
Thirty-one years later, A.D. 495, the Shaolin Temple was built by the order of Wei Xiao Wen emperor (A.D. 471-500) for Batuo’s preaching. Therefore, Batuo can be considered the first chief monk of the Shaolin Temple. However, there is no record regarding how and what Batuo passed down by way of religious qigong practice. There is also no record of how or when Batuo died.
However, the most influential person in this area was the Indian monk Da Mo. Da Mo, whose last name was Sardili and who was also known as Bodhidarma, was once the prince of a small tribe in southern India. He was of the Mahayana school of Buddhism and was considered by many to have been a bodhisattva, that is, an enlightened being who had renounced nirvana in order to save others. From the fragments of historical records, it is believed that he was born about A.D. 483.
Da Mo was invited to China to preach by the Liang Wu emperor. He arrived in Canton, China in A.D. 527 during the third year of the reign of the Wei Xiao Ming emperor Xiao Chang (A.D. 516-528) or the Liang Wu emperor (A.D. 502-557). When the emperor decided he did not like Da Mo’s Buddhist theory, the monk withdrew to the Shaolin Temple. When Da Mo arrived, he saw that the priests were weak and sickly, so he shut himself away to ponder the problem. When he emerged after nine years of seclusion, he wrote two classics: the Muscle/Tendon Changing Classic (Yi Jin Jing) and the Marrow/Brain Washing Classic (Xi Sui Jing).
The Yi Jin Jing taught the priests how to build their qi to an abundant level and use it to improve health and change their physical bodies from weak to strong. After the priests practiced the Yi Jin Jing exercises, they found that not only did they improve their health, they also greatly increased their strength. When this training was integrated into the martial arts forms, it increased the effectiveness of their martial techniques. This change marked one more step in the growth of the Chinese martial arts: martial arts qigong.
The Xi Sui Jing taught the priests how to use qi to clean their bone marrow and strengthen their immune systems, as well as how to nourish and energize the brain, helping them to attain Buddhahood. Because the Xi Sui Jing was hard to understand and practice, the training methods were passed down secretly to only a very few disciples in each generation. Da Mo died in the Shaolin Temple in A.D. 536, and was buried on Xiong Er Mountain. If you are interested in knowing more about Yi Jin Jing and Xi Sui Jing, please refer to my book, Qigong The Secret of Youth, Da Mo’s Muscle/Tendon Changing and Marrow/Brain Washing Classics published by YMAA.
During the revolutionary period between the Sui dynasty and the Tang dynasty, in the fourth year of Tang Gao Zu Wu De, A.D. 621, Qin king Li, Shi-ming had a serious battle with Zheng king Wang, Shi-chong. When the situation was urgent for the Qin king, thirteen Shaolin monks assisted him against the Zheng. Later, Li, Shi-ming became the first emperor of the Tang dynasty (A.D. 618-907), and he rewarded the Shaolin Temple with 40 qing (about 600 acres) of land. He also permitted the Temple to own and train its own soldiers. At that time, in order to protect the wealthy property of the Shaolin Temple from bandits, martial arts training was a necessity for the monks. The priest martial artists in the temple were called “monk soldiers” (seng bing). Their responsibility, other than studying Buddhism, was training in the martial arts to protect the property of the Shaolin Temple. For nearly three hundred years, the Shaolin Temple legally owned its own martial arts training organization.
During the Song dynasty (A.D. 960-1278) the monks of the Shaolin Temple continued to gather more martial skills from outside sources. They blended these arts into the Shaolin training. During this period, one of the most famous Shaolin martial monks, Jueyuan, traveled around the country in order to learn and absorb high levels of martial skill into Shaolin training. He went to Lan Zhou to meet one of the most famous martial artists, Li Sou. From Li Sou, he met Li Sou’s friend, Bai, Yu-feng and his son. Later, all four returned to the Shaolin Temple and studied together. After ten years of mutual study and research, Li Sou left Shaolin; Bai, Yu-feng and his son decided to stay and became monks. Bai, Yu-feng’s monk’s name was Qiu Yue Chan Shi who was known for his bare hand fighting and narrow blade sword techniques. According to the book Shaolin Temple Record, he developed the existing eighteen Buddha hands techniques into one hundred and seventy-three techniques. Moreover, he compiled the existing techniques contained within Shaolin and wrote the book, The Essence of the Five Fists. This book included and discussed the practice methods and applications of the five fist animal patterns. The five animals included dragon, tiger, snake, panther, and crane. This record confirms that the five animal patterns martial skills already existed for some time in the Shaolin Temple.
From the same source, it is recorded that in the Yuan dynasty, in the year A.D. 1312, the monk Da Zhi came to the Shaolin Temple from Japan. After he studied Shaolin martial arts (bare hands and staff) for nearly thirteen years, in A.D. 1324, he returned to Japan and spread Shaolin gongfu to the Japanese martial arts society. Later, in A.D. 1335, another Buddhist monk named Shao Yuan came to Shaolin from Japan. He mastered calligraphy, painting, chan theory (i.e., Zen) and Shaolin gongfu during his stay. He returned to Japan in A.D. 1347 and was considered and regarded as “country spirit” (guohuen) by the Japanese people. This helps to confirm that Shaolin martial techniques were imported into Japan for at least seven hundred years.
Later, when the Manchus took over China and established the Qing dynasty, in order to prevent the Han race (pre-Manchurian Chinese) from rebelling against the government, martial arts training was forbidden from (A.D. 1644 to 1911). In order to preserve the arts, Shaolin martial techniques spread to laymen society. All martial arts training in the Shaolin Temple was carried out secretly during this time. Moreover, the Shaolin monk soldiers decreased in number from thousands to only a few hundred. According to Shaolin Historical Records, the Shaolin Temple was burned three times from the time it was built until the end of the Qing dynasty A.D. 1911. Because the Shaolin Temple owned such a large amount of land and had such a long history, it became one of the richest temples in China. It was also because of this that Shaolin had been attacked many times by bandits. In ancient China, bandit groups could number more than ten thousand; robbing and killing in Chinese history was very common.
During Qing’s ruling period, the most significant influence on the Chinese people occurred during A.D. 1839-1840, (Qing Dao Guang’s twentieth year). This was the year that the Opium War between Britain and China broke out. After losing this war, China started to realize that traditional fighting methods, i.e., using traditional weapons and bare hands, could not defeat an opponent armed with guns. The values of the traditional Chinese culture were questioned. The traditional dignity and pride of the Chinese people started to waver, and doubt that China was the center of the world began to arise. Their confidence and trust in self-cultivation weakened, and this situation continued to worsen. In A.D. 1900 (in Qing Guangxu’s twentieth year), when the joint forces of the eight powerful countries of Britain, France, the United States, Japan, Germany, Austria, Italy, and Russia occupied Beijing in the wake of the Boxer Rebellion, Chinese dignity was degraded to its lowest point. Many Chinese started to despise their own culture, which had been built and developed on principles of spiritual cultivation and humanistic morality. They believed that these traditional cultural foundations could not save their country. Instead, they needed to learn from the West. Chinese minds started to open and guns and cannons became more popular.
After 1911, the Qing Dynasty fell in a revolution led by Dr. Sun, Yat-sen. Due to the mind-expanding influence of their earlier occupation, the value of traditional Chinese martial arts was reevaluated, and their secrets were gradually revealed to the public. From the 1920s to the 1930s, many martial arts books were published. However, this was also the Chinese Civil War period, during which Chiang, Kai-shek tried to unify the country. Unfortunately, in 1928, there was a battle in the area of the Shaolin Temple, and the temple was burned for the last time by warlord Shi, You-san’s military. The fire lasted for more than forty days, and all the major buildings were destroyed. The most priceless books and records on martial arts were also burned and lost.
It was also during this period that, in order to preserve Chinese martial arts, President Chiang, Kai-shek ordered the establishment of the Nanking Central Guoshu Institute at Nanking in 1926. For this institute, many famous masters and practitioners were recruited. The traditional name for martial techniques (wushu) was renamed Chinese martial techniques (zhong guo wushu) or simply country techniques (guoshu). This was the first time in Chinese history that under the government’s power, all the practitioners of the different styles of Chinese martial arts sat down and shared their knowledge. Unfortunately, after only three generations (that is, the time it takes to train a group of students from novice to advanced), World War II started in 1937 and all training was discontinued.
In 1945, after the Second World War, mainland China was taken over by communists. Under communist rule, all religions were forbidden. Naturally, all Shaolin training was also prohibited. Later, under the communist party, wushu training was established by the Chinese Athletic Committee. In this organization, the communist party purposely deleted portions of the martial training and their applications in order to discourage possible unification of martial artists against the government. From Chinese history, it is well known that almost all revolutions that succeeded did so due to the unification of Chinese martial artists. Unfortunately, only the aesthetic and acrobatic parts of the arts were preserved and developed. Eventually, it became known that the athletes trained during this period did not know how to fight or defend themselves. Performance was the goal of this preservation. This situation was not changed until the late 1980s. After the communist government realized that the essence of the arts—martial training and applications—started to die out following the death of many traditional masters, the traditional training was once again encouraged. Regrettably, many masters had already been killed during the so-called “Cultural Revolution,” and many others had lost their trust of the communist party and were not willing to share their knowledge.
In order to bring Chinese wushu into Olympic competition, China expended a great deal of effort to promote it. With this motivation, the Shaolin Temple again received attention from the government. New buildings were constructed and a grand hotel was built. The Shaolin Temple became an important tourist attraction. In addition, many training activities and programs were created for interested martial artists around the world. Moreover, in order to preserve the dying martial arts, a group called the Martial Arts Investigation Team was organized by the government. The mission of this team was to search for surviving old, traditional masters and to put their knowledge in books or videos.
This situation was very different in Taiwan. When Chiang, Kai-shek retreated from mainland China to Taiwan, he brought with him many well-known masters, who passed down the Chinese martial arts there. Traditional methods of training were maintained and the arts were preserved in the traditional way. Unfortunately, due to modern lifestyles, not many youngsters were willing to dedicate the necessary time and patience for the training. Therefore, the level of the arts reached the lowest level in Chinese martial history. Many secrets of the arts, which were the accumulation of thousand years of human experience, rapidly died out. In order to preserve the arts, the remaining secrets began to be revealed to the general public and even to Western society. It is good that books and videotapes have been widely used both in mainland China and Taiwan to preserve the arts.
Many of the Chinese martial arts were also preserved in Hong Kong, Indo-China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Japan, and Korea. It is now widely recognized that in order to preserve the arts, all interested Chinese martial artists should be united and share their knowledge openly.
If we look back at the martial arts history in China, we can see that in the early 1900s, the Chinese martial arts still carried on the traditional ways of training. The level of the arts remained high. But from then until World War II, the level of arts degenerated very rapidly. From the war until now, in my opinion, the arts have not reached even one-half of their traditional levels.
All of us should understand that today’s martial arts training is no longer useful for war. The chances for using it in self-defense have also been reduced to a minimum compared to that of ancient times. This is an art whose knowledge has taken the Chinese thousands of years to accumulate. What remains for us to learn is the spirit of the arts. From learning these arts, we can discipline ourselves and promote our understanding of life to a higher spiritual level. From learning the arts, we can maintain healthy conditions in our physical and mental bodies.
A History of Chinese Martial Arts in the West. If we trace back the history of Chinese martial arts in Western society, we can see that even before the 1960s, karate and judo had already been imported into Western society and had been popular for nearly twenty years (Figure 1-2). Yet most Chinese culture was still isolated and conservatively hidden in communist China. Later, when Bruce Lee’s motion pictures were introduced to the public, they presented a general concept of Chinese kung fu (gongfu), which stimulated and excited Western oriental martial arts society to a great level. This significantly influenced the young baby-boomer generation in America. During the period of unrest in America during the war in Vietnam, these films provided both a heroic figure for young Americans to admire, as well as a positive Asian personality with whom they could easily relate. Many troubled youngsters started to abuse drugs during this time, perhaps as an attempt either to escape from the reality of a capricious world or to prove to themselves that they had courage and bravery. Under these conditions, Bruce Lee’s movies brought to the young generation both excitement and challenge. Since then, Chinese kung fu has become popular in Western society.
Figure 1-2. History of Oriental Martial Arts Developed in Western Society.
At that time the term “kung fu” was widely misinterpreted to mean “fighting,” and very few people actually knew that its meaning is “hard work,” an endeavor which normally requires a person to take a great deal of time and energy to accomplish. It was even more amazing that after the young generation saw these movies, they started to mix the concepts from what they had learned from the movies with the background they had learned from karate, judo, aikido, and their own imagination. Since then, a new generation of American styles of Chinese kung fu originated, and hundreds of new kung fu styles have been created. These practitioners did not know that the movies they had watched were a modified version of Chinese martial arts derived from Bruce Lee’s Chinese martial art, Wing Chun (Yongchun) Style. For cinematic purposes, it had been mixed with the concepts of karate, Western boxing, and some kicking techniques developed by Bruce Lee himself. At that time, there were only a very few traditional Chinese martial arts instructors residing in the West, and even fewer were teaching.
During this period Cheng, Man-ching brought the concept of one of the Chinese internal martial arts, taijiquan, to the West. Through his teaching and publications, a limited portion of the public finally grasped the correct concepts of a small branch of Chinese martial arts. This again brought to Western society a new paradigm for pursuing Chinese martial arts. Taijiquan gradually became popular. However, the American style of Chinese kung fu still occupied the major market of the Chinese martial arts society in America.
When President Nixon levered open the tightly closed gate to mainland China in the early 1970s, the Western public finally had a better chance to understand Chinese culture. From the more frequent communications, acupuncture techniques for medical purposes, used in China for more than four thousand years, were exported to the West. In addition, Chinese martial arts also slowly migrated westward. The period from the 1970s to the early 1980s can be regarded as an educational time for this cultural exchange. While the Americans’ highly developed material sciences entered China, Chinese traditional medical and spiritual sciences, qigong, started to influence American society.
During this period, many Western doctors went to China to study traditional Chinese medicine, while many Chinese students and professors came to America to study material sciences. In addition to this, many American Chinese martial artists started to awaken and reevaluate the art they had learned during the 1960s. Many of the younger generation went to China to explore and learn directly from Chinese martial arts masters. It was a new and exciting period in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Because of the large market and new demand, many Chinese martial artists poured into America from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Indo-China. However, this generated a great force that opposed the American styles of Chinese kung fu created during the 1960s. The Chinese martial arts society was then divided more or less against each other. Moreover, martial artists who came from different areas of Asia also grouped themselves into camps against each other. Coordination and mutual support in Chinese martial arts for tournaments or demonstration was almost nonexistent.
In the late 1980s, many American Chinese martial artists trained in China became aware of some important facts. They discovered that what they had learned emphasized only the beauty of the arts, and that martial purposes, the essence and root of the arts, were missing. They started to realize that what they had learned were arts that had been modified by the Chinese communist party in the 1950s. All of the actual combative Chinese martial arts were still hidden from lay society and were passed down conservatively in traditional ways. Many of these artists were disappointed and started to modify what they had learned, transforming their techniques into more martial forms, while many others started to learn from martial artists from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Indo-China.
When mainland China finally realized this in the late 1980s, they decided to bring the martial purpose once again into the martial arts. Unfortunately, the roots of the beautiful martial arts that had been developed for nearly forty years were already firm and very hard to change. As mentioned earlier, the situation was especially unacceptable when it was realized that many of the older generation of martial artists had been either killed by the Red Guard during the “Cultural Revolution” or had died of old age. Those who controlled the martial and political power and could change the wrong path into the correct one had already built successful lives in the “beauty arts.” The government therefore established the Martial Arts Investigating Team to find those surviving members of the old generation in order to preserve the arts through videotapes or books while still possible. They also started to bring sparring into national tournaments in hopes that through this effort, the real essence of the martial arts could be rediscovered. Sparring (san shou or san da) was brought back to the tournament circuit in the early 1990s. In san shou training, certain effective fighting techniques were chosen for their special training, and each successfully delivered technique was allocated a point value. It was much like many other sports. However, the strange fact is that many wushu athletes in China today do not know how to fight, and many san shou fighters do not train wushu at all. In my opinion, wushu is san shou and san shou is wushu. They cannot and should not be separated.
In Europe, Bruce Lee’s movies also started a fashion of learning kung fu. People there were only one step behind America. Unfortunately, from 1960 to 1980, there were very few traditional Chinese martial artists immigrating to Europe. The few traditional masters there dominated the entire market. Later, in the early 1980s, many European martial artists went to mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong to train for short periods of time to learn kung fu. Unfortunately, after years of training, they realized that it was very difficult to comprehend the deep essence of an art simply by studying a few months here and there. The situation was especially difficult for martial artists who went to mainland China at that time. At the beginning of the 1990s, China significantly changed its training from gymnastic wushu to more traditional styles. The worst outcome was that after many years of effort to bring wushu into the Olympic games, China failed in its bid to host the summer games. China has since paid less attention to the development of wushu. Even the young generation in China now treats wushu as an old fashioned pursuit and pays more attention to Western material satisfaction and political reform. The spirit of training has been reduced significantly.
In America, since 1985, Mr. Jeffery A. Bolt and many other Chinese martial arts practitioners, such as Nick Gracenin, Pat Rice, Sam Masich, and more have tried to unify the Chinese martial arts community, hoping to bring together the great martial artists from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Indo-China through tournaments and friendship demonstrations. Their ultimate goal is that these masters would become friends and finally promote Chinese martial arts to a higher quality. After ten years of effort, the organization, the United States of America Wushu-Kung Fu Federation (USAWKF) was established. Although there are still many opposing forces and obstacles to this unification, I believe that the future is bright, and I can foresee the continued success of this enterprise in the future.
Northern Styles and Southern Styles
Chinese martial arts can be categorized into northern styles and southern styles. The geographic line making this distinction is the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang, which means Long River (Figure 1-3). The Yangtze River runs across southern China from the west to the east.
Figure 1-3. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers in China
Generally speaking, the northern region of the Yangtze River is bordered by large fields, highlands, and desert. For this reason, horse riding was common, like Texas in the United States. People in the north are more open-minded compared to those of the south. The common foods are wheat, soybeans, barley, and sorghum that can be grown in the dry highlands.
In the southern region, there are more plains, mountains, and rivers. Rain is common in the south. Population density is much higher than that in the north. The common food is rice. Other than horses, the most common means of transportation is by boat. There is a common saying: “southern boats and northern horses”. This implies that the southern people use boats for travel and communication, while the northern people use horses.
Because of a long history of development shaped by these distinctions, the northern Chinese are generally taller than southern Chinese. It is believed that this is from the difference in diet. Moreover, northern Chinese are used to living in a wide-open environment. After thousands of years of martial arts development, northern people perfected long-range fighting, and therefore they preferred to use their legs more. This is not the case in southern China, which is more crowded and where the people, generally speaking, are shorter than those of the north. Moreover, because boats are so common, many martial techniques were actually developed to fight on boats. Since a fighter must be steady on a boat, the techniques developed emphasized hands with a firm root. High kicks were limited.
From these factors, we can conclude:
1 Northern Chinese are generally taller, and therefore prefer long- or middle-range fighting, while southern Chinese are shorter, so middle- and short-range fighting are emphasized.
2 Northern styles emphasize more kicking techniques for long-range fighting, while southern stylists specialize in more hand techniques and a limited number of low kicks. This is why it is commonly said in Chinese martial arts society: “southern fist and northern leg”.
3 Southern stylists focus on training a firm root, while northern stylists like to move and jump around. Moreover, northern martial stylists have more expertise in horse riding and martial techniques from horseback, while southern martial styles specialize more in fighting on boats and on the ground.
4 Because southern styles generally emphasize more hand techniques, grabbing techniques such as qin na were developed.
Many styles were created near the Yellow River, which carried within them the characteristics of both northern and southern styles. For example, the Shaolin Temple is located in Henan Province, just to the south of the Yellow River. The Shaolin Temple has trained both northern and southern styles for most of its history. In fact, there were a few branches of the Shaolin Temple in existence at different locations throughout its history. These include the Quan Zhou Shaolin Temple in Fujian established during the Chinese year of Tang Qian Fu (A.D. 874-878), and five others established by the head monk Fuyu during the first year of the Chinese Huang Qing of Yuan dynasty, A.D. 1312. These five were located at Jixian of Hebei, He Lin of Wai Meng, Changan of Shanxi, Taiyuan of Shanxi, and Lo Yang of Henan. Among these branches, two were located in the south of China.2
Internal Styles and External Styles
Before we go into the differences between internal and external styles, you should first recognize one important point: all Chinese styles, both internal and external, come from the same root. If a style does not share this root, then it is not a Chinese martial style. This root is the Chinese culture. Throughout the world, various civilizations have created many different arts, each one of them based on that civilization’s cultural background. Therefore, it does not matter which style you are discussing; as long as it was created in China, it must contain the essence of Chinese art, the spirit of traditional Chinese virtues, and the knowledge of traditional fighting techniques that have been passed down for thousands of years.
Martial artists of old looked at their experiences and realized that in a fight there are three factors which generally decide victory: speed, power, and techniques. Among these, speed is the most important. This is because if you are fast, you can get to the opponent’s vital areas more easily and get out again before he can get to you. Even if your power is weak and you know only a limited number of techniques, you still have a good chance of inflicting a serious injury on the opponent. The reason for this is because there are many vital areas, such as the eyes, groin, and throat, where you do not need too much power to make an attack effective.
If you already have speed, then what you need is power. Even if you have good speed and techniques, if you don’t have power, your attacks and defense will not be as effective as possible. You may have met people with great muscular strength but no martial arts training; yet they were able to defeat skilled martial artists whose power was weak. Finally, once you have good speed and power, if you can develop good techniques and a sound strategy, then there will be no doubt that victory will be yours. Therefore, in Chinese martial arts, increasing speed, improving power, and studying the techniques are the most important subjects. In fact, speed and power training are considered the foundation of effectiveness in all Chinese martial arts styles.
It does not matter what techniques a style creates; they all must follow certain basic principles and rules. For example, all offensive and defensive techniques must effectively protect vital areas such as the eyes, throat, and groin. Whenever you attack, you must be able to access your opponent’s vital areas, without exposing your own.
The same applies to speed and power training. Although each style has tried to keep its methods secret, each follows the same general rules. For example, developing muscle power should not be detrimental to your speed, and developing speed should not decrease your muscular power. Both must be of equal concern. Finally, the training methods you use or develop should be appropriate to the techniques that characterize your style. For example, in eagle and crane styles, the speed and power of grabbing are extremely important and should be emphasized.
In Chinese martial arts society, it is also said: “First, bravery; second, power; and third, gongfu.”3 The word “gongfu” here means the martial skills that a person has achieved through long, arduous training. When the situation occurs, among the factors necessary for winning, the first and most crucial is how brave you are. If you are afraid and nervous, then even if you have fast speed, strong power, and good techniques, you will not be able to put all of these into action. From this proverb, you can see that compared to all other winning factors bravery is the most important.
It is generally understood in Chinese martial arts society that before the Liang dynasty (A.D. 502-557), martial artists did not study the use of qi to increase speed and power. As explained earlier, after the Liang dynasty, martial artists performing Muscle/Tendon Changing Qigong from Da Mo realized the value of qi training in developing speed and power. This type of training quickly became a major component of almost all styles. Because of this two-part historical development, the examination of this topic will cover two distinct eras. The dividing point will be the Liang dynasty, when Da Mo came to China (A.D. 527-536).
It is generally believed that before Da Mo, although qi theory and principles had been studied and widely applied in Chinese medicine, they were not used in the martial arts. Speed and power, on the other hand, were normally developed through continued training. Even though this training emphasized a concentrated mind, it did not provide the next step and link this to developing qi. Instead, these martial artists concentrated solely on muscular power. This is why styles originating from this period are classified as external styles.
Da Mo passed down two classics: the Muscle/Tendon Changing Classic (Yi Jin Jing) and the Marrow/Brain Washing Classic (Xi Sui Jing). The Yi Jin Jing was not originally intended to be used for fighting. Nevertheless, the martial qigong based on it was able to significantly increase power, and it became a mandatory course of training in the Shaolin Temple. This had a revolutionary effect on Chinese martial arts, leading to the establishment of an internal foundation based on qi training.
As time passed, several martial styles were created which emphasized a soft body instead of the stiff muscular body developed by the Shaolin priests. These newer styles were based on the belief that since internal energy (qi) is the root and foundation of physical strength, a martial artist should first build up this internal root. This theory holds that when qi is abundant and full, it can energize the physical body to a higher level so that power can be manifested more effectively and efficiently. In order to build up qi and circulate it smoothly, the body must be relaxed and the mind must be concentrated. We can recognize at least two internal styles, post-heaven techniques (hou tian fa) and small nine heavens (xiao jiu tian), as having been created during this time (A.D. 550-600). Both later became popular during the Tang dynasty (A.D. 618-907). According to some documents, these two styles were the original sources of Taijiquan, the creation of which is credited to Zhang, San-feng of the late Song dynasty ca. A.D. 1200.4
In summary: The various martial arts are divided into external and internal styles. While the external styles emphasize training techniques and building up the physical body through some martial qigong training, the internal styles emphasize the building up of qi in the body. In fact, all styles, both internal and external, have martial qigong training. The external styles train the physical body and hard qigong first and gradually become soft and train soft qigong, while the internal styles train soft qigong first and later apply the built-up qi to the physical techniques. It is said: “Externally, train tendons, bones, and skin; and internally, train one mouthful of qi.”5 This means that it does not matter whether you are studying an external or an internal style; if you want to manifest the maximum amount of power, you have to train both externally and internally. Externally means the physical body, and internally means the qi circulation and level of qi storage in the body that is related to the breathing.
It is said: “The external styles are from hard to soft and the internal styles are from soft to hard; the ways are different but the final goal is the same.”6 It is also said: “External styles are from external to internal, while internal styles are from internal to external. Although the approaches are different, the final goal is the same.”7 Again, it is said: “External styles are first muscular strength (li) and then qi, while internal styles are first qi and later li.”8 The preceding discussion should give you a general idea of how to distinguish external and internal styles. Frequently, internal and external styles are also judged by how the jin is manifested. Jin is defined as “li and qi,”. Li means muscular strength. It is how the muscles are energized by the qi and how this manifests externally as power. It is said: “The internal styles are as soft as a whip, the soft-hard styles (half external and half internal) are like rattan, and the external styles are like a staff.” The concept of jin will be discussed next.
Martial Power—Jin
Jin training is a very important part of the Chinese martial arts, but there is very little written on the subject in English. Theoretically, jin can be defined as “using the concentrated mind to lead the qi to energize the muscles and thus manifest the power to its maximum level.” From this, you can see that jin is related to the training of the mind and qi. That means qigong.
Traditionally, many masters have viewed the higher levels of jin as a secret that should be passed down only to a few trusted students. Almost all Asian martial styles train jin. The differences lie in the depth to which jin is understood, in the different kinds of jin trained, and in the range and characteristics of the emphasized jins. For example, Tiger Claw Style emphasizes hard and strong jin, imitating the tiger’s muscular strength; muscles predominate in most of the techniques. White Crane, Dragon, and Snake are softer styles, and the muscles are used relatively less. In Taijiquan and Liu He Ba Fa, the softest styles, soft jin is especially emphasized and muscle usage is cut down to a minimum.
The application of jin brings us to a major difference between the Oriental martial arts and those of the West. Oriental martial arts traditionally emphasize the training of jin, whereas this concept and training approach is relatively unknown in other parts of the world. In China, martial styles and martial artists are judged by their jin. How deeply is jin understood and how well is it applied? How strong and effective is it, and how is it coordinated with martial technique? When a martial artist performs his art without jin it is called “flower fist and brocade leg”. This is to scoff at the martial artist without jin who is weak like a flower and soft like brocade. Like dancing, his art is beautiful but not useful. It is also said: “Train quan and not gong, when you get old, all emptiness.”9 This means that if a martial artist emphasizes only the beauty and smoothness of his forms and doesn’t train his gong, then when he gets old, he will have nothing. The “gong” here means “qigong” and refers to the cultivation of qi and its coordination with jin to develop the latter to its maximum and to make the techniques effective and alive. Therefore, if a martial artist learns his art without training his “qigong” and “jin gong”, once he gets old the techniques he has learned will be useless because he will have lost his muscular strength.
Often jin has been considered a secret transmission in Chinese martial arts society. This is so not only because it was not revealed to most students, but also because it cannot be passed down with words alone. Jin must be experienced. It is said that the master “passes down jin.” Once you feel jin done by your master, you know what is meant and can work on it by yourself. Without an experienced master it is more difficult, but not impossible, to learn about jin. There are general principles and training methods which an experienced martial artist can use to grasp the keys of this practice. If you are interested in this rather substantial subject, please refer to my book: Tai Chi Theory and Martial Power, published by YMAA.
Hard Styles, Soft-Hard Styles, and Soft Styles
Chinese martial styles can also be distinguished from the ways they manifest jin (martial power); they can thus be categorized into hard, soft-hard, and soft styles. Generally speaking, the hard styles use more muscular power. In these styles, the qi is led to the muscles or generated in the local area; then the muscles are tensed up to trap the qi there in order to energize muscular power to its maximum efficiency. In order to reach this goal, once the qi is led to the muscles, commonly the breath is held temporarily to trap the qi in the muscles. Then this muscular power is used for attack or defense. This kind of jin manifestation is like using a staff to strike. It is easy for a beginner to manifest hard jin. When this power is used upon an opponent’s body, external injury can be inflicted immediately. A typical hard style is Tiger Claw, which imitates the tiger’s use of strong muscular power for fighting. With hard jin, because the muscles and tendons are more tensed in order to protect the ligaments of the joints, few injuries are caused from power manifestation. Generally speaking, external styles are more likely to be hard styles.
The second category is soft-hard styles. In these styles, the muscles and tendons remain relaxed, and the movements are soft to allow the qi to move freely from the lower dan tian to the limbs. Just before the attack reaches the opponent’s body, suddenly the muscles and tendons are tensed. This kind of power is first soft and then hard. According to my own experience, this kind of power is like the strike of rattan. When this soft-hard power is applied to the opponent’s body, both external and internal injuries can be inflicted. The reason for softness at the beginning is to allow the qi to move freely from the lower dan tian to the limbs, and the reason for the hardening through tensing the muscles and tendons is to protect against pulling and damaging the ligaments in the joints. It also offers the attacker strong physical support for the power, which can be bounced back from the opponent’s body when the techniques are applied with enough speed and precision. Typical soft-hard styles are White Crane and Snake.
Finally, the third category is soft styles. In these styles, the muscles and tendons are relaxed as much as possible to allow the qi to circulate from the lower dan tian to the limbs for striking. However, right before contact with the opponent’s body, the physical body remains relaxed. In order to protect the ligaments in the elbows and shoulders from being pulled and injured, right before the limbs reach their maximum extension they are immediately pulled back. From this pulling action, the muscles and tendons are tensed instantly to protect the ligaments, and then immediately relaxed again. This action is just like the whipping of a whip. Although the physical body is relaxed, the power generated is the most harmful and penetrating possible and can reach to the deep places of the body. Therefore, internal injury or organ damage can occur. Naturally, this kind of jin manifestation is dangerous for beginners. The reason for the penetration of the power is the whipping motion. Theoretically speaking, when you propel a whip forward with a speed (v), and then pull back with another speed (v), at the turning point between forward and backward, the speed at which the whip contacts the target is 2v (Figure 1-4). From here, you can see that speed in whipping is the key to power penetration. This is like a surgical technology from the 1970s in which water from a high-pressure nozzle was used for cutting. Typical soft styles are Taijiquan and Liu He Ba Fa.
Figure 1-4. Whipping Speed
At this point, we can superficially perceive the internal styles or soft styles and the external styles or hard styles. Consider Figure 1-5. The left line represents the amount of muscular power manifested, and the right line represents the qi which is built up. From this figure, you can see that those styles which emphasize mostly muscular power or that use local qi to energize the muscles are toward the left, while those styles which use less muscular power are toward the right. Naturally, the more a style is toward the right, the softer and more relaxed the physical body should be, and greater concentration is needed to build up qi and lead it to the limbs.
Figure 1-5. Hard Styles, Soft-Hard Styles, and Soft Styles
Four Categories of Fighting Skills
After many thousands of years of knowledge accumulation and fighting experience, martial techniques can be divided into four major categories: kicking (ti), hand striking (da), wrestling (shuai), and joint locking (qin na or chin na) (na).
Kicking is using the legs to kick the opponent’s vital areas, sweep the opponent’s legs, or block the opponent’s kick. Hand striking is using the hands, forearms, elbows, or shoulders to block an attack or to strike the opponent. Wrestling is using grabs, trips, sweeps, bumps, etc., to make the opponent lose his balance, and then to take him down. Finally, qin na itself has four categories of techniques, including sealing the veins and arteries, sealing the breath, cavity press, and joint locking.
Technically speaking, wrestling techniques are designed against kicking and striking; qin na techniques are to be used in countering wrestling; and kicking and hand striking are used to conquer the techniques of qin na joint locking. From this, you can see that all have special purposes and mutually support and can conquer each other. In order to make the techniques effective, all four categories of fighting techniques are required in any Chinese martial style.
Therefore, in order to become a proficient martial artist, you must learn northern styles and southern styles, allowing you to cover all ranges of fighting skills. You should also understand both internal and external styles. Although the basic theory of qi cultivation for both styles is the same, the training methods are often quite different. Learning both internal and external styles will offer you various angles for viewing the same thing. Most importantly, in order to make your martial arts training complete, you should learn all four categories of fighting techniques. These four categories should be included in any Chinese martial arts style.
The Dao of Chinese Martial Arts
As mentioned earlier, the word “martial” is constructed by two Chinese words “stop” and “weapons”, and when combined means “to cease the battle.” This concept is very important, especially in ancient times when there was even more violence and fighting between different races and nations than there is today. In order to protect yourself and your country, you needed to learn the martial arts. From this perspective, you can see that martial arts are defensive and are a way of using fighting skills to stop actual fighting. If you examine Chinese history, you will see that even after China had become a huge country and its culture had reached one of the highest levels in the world, it never thought of invading or conquering other countries. On the contrary, throughout its history, China has tried to prevent invasion by the Mongols from the north, the Manchus from the northeast, and many small incursions from Korea and the tribes to its west. Even though China invented gunpowder before the Song dynasty, it did not develop as a purely military power. If China had possessed the intention of conquering the world at that time, its military technologies were probably up to the task.
China’s most basic human philosophies originated with Confucianism and Daoism. These philosophies emphasize peace, harmony, and the love of the human race. War is necessary only when it is needed for self-protection. From this fundamental philosophy and cultural development, we can understand that almost all the Chinese martial arts techniques were developed under the motivation for self-defense, and not for offense. However, there is one style called Shape-Mind Fist (Xingyiquan) that was created by Marshal Yue Fei during the Chinese Southern Song dynasty (A.D. 1127-1280), which emphasizes attack. If we consider the background of the creation of this style, we can appreciate why this style was created for offense. At that time, the Mongols had taken over the northern half of China and captured the Song emperor. For survival purposes, a new emperor was established and the empire moved to the south of China. At all times, the Chinese were preparing against an invasion by the Mongols. Martial arts training was one of the most important aspects of the country’s affairs in order to survive. Xingyiquan was created as a military style, with which a person could reach a higher fighting capability in a short time. Xingyiquan trains forward movements instead of backward. Although the basic techniques are simple, they are powerful and effective. If you are interested in more information on Xingyiquan, please refer to the book Xingyiquan—Theory and Applications, published by YMAA.
According to Chinese philosophy, in order to achieve harmony and peace with your enemy, when there is a conflict, you must not merely conquer his or her body. True power or capability for fighting is in showing your opponents that they do not have a chance of victory. Therefore, after a physical conflict, there should be spiritual harmony with your enemy. Only then can peace be reached. Killing and conquest can only produce more hate and killing in the future. In China, the highest level of fighting is not fighting. If you can anticipate and avoid a fight, then you have won the war.
For example, there is a tavern near my studio. Occasionally, an inebriated person decides that he wants to come in and challenge the students in my school. Often, this will agitate them, and the younger ones want to fight. One time, a drunken Vietnam veteran walked into the school and challenged them to fight. Again, some students were agitated and angry. I told them I would handle it this time. I politely and carefully approached him, asked his name and if there was anything that I could do to help him. He told me how strong and great he used to be, how brave he was in the war, and how well he was able to fight. I listened and nodded my head to show my acknowledgment of his past glory. After he saw that I was actually listening to his story, his manner became gentler. Then I asked him to sit down and told him I was busy with class right now and that I would fight him after class if it were all the same to him. Next, I went to prepare some hot tea and gave it to him. I told him the tea would help him while he was waiting. Half an hour later, he woke up and sneaked out the door without being noticed. Since then, every time he passes the studio, he will smile and wave to me. Although we do not know each other deeply, at least we have become friends, and he understands that I recognize his honor. Since that night we have never had a problem with him. Another story was told to me by my Grandmother. A long time ago, there was a family that owned a small farm. The father worked very hard to make the farm successful so that he would be able to leave it to his two sons when he died. The elder son, who was married, was named De-xin, while the younger son, who was not married, was named De-yi.
One day, the father became very sick, and he knew that he would soon die. He gathered his sons together and said to them, “I wish to give this farm to both of you. Share it equally, and help each other to make it successful. I hope that it makes you as happy as it has made me.” With these words the father quietly passed away.
The sons divided the land equally and set about the task of building their own farms. Even though they had divided the land, they still cooperated, helping each other with the more difficult chores. However, not long after the father died, De-xin’s wife decided that she and De-xin had not received enough land. After all, De-yi was single and didn’t need as much land as they did. She began urging her husband to request more land from his brother.
Finally, after considerable provocation from his wife, De-xin demanded more land from De-yi. Because De-xin was much bigger and stronger, the only thing De-yi could do was to concede in angry silence and let his brother occupy more land.
However, De-xin’s wife was still not satisfied. When she saw how easy it was to get more land from her brother-in-law, she again urged her husband to demand more land. Again, De-yi could only consent to his brother’s demands. Still, De-xin’s wife was not satisfied, and finally she demanded that De-yi leave all the land to her and her husband.
De-yi requested help from his relatives and friends and begged them to mediate the conflict. No one would help. They knew it was unfair for De-yi to be forced off his land, but they were afraid because they knew of De-xin’s violent temper.
Finally, De-yi decided to take a stand for what he knew was right. He decided to stay, even though his brother wanted him to leave. For this defiance, De-xin beat him very, very badly. De-yi was finally forced to leave his home and become a traveling street beggar.
One day, while traveling in the Putian region of Fujian Province, he saw several Shaolin priests in town on an expedition to purchase food. He knew that the Shaolin monks were good in gongfu, and he thought that if he could learn gongfu, he could beat De-xin and regain the land that was rightfully his. He decided to follow the monks, and when they reached the temple he would request that they accept him as a student of gongfu.
When he arrived at the temple, he requested to see the Head Priest. The Head Priest welcomed him and asked why he had requested the meeting. De-yi told the Head Priest his sad story and asked to be taught gongfu so that he could regain his land.
The Head Priest looked at him, pondered for a few minutes, and finally said, “De-yi, if you are willing to endure the painfully hard training, then you are accepted as a student here.” With deep appreciation, De-yi knelt down and bowed to the Head Priest.
Early the next morning, De-yi was summoned to the backyard of the temple. The Head Priest was standing in front of a young willow tree, holding a calf. He said to De-yi, “Before you learn any gongfu, you must first build up your strength. To do this you must hold this calf in your arms and jump over this willow tree fifty times in the morning and fifty times in the evening. De-yi replied, “Yes, master. This is a simple task and I will do it every day.”
From then on, De-yi held the calf in his arms and jumped over the willow tree every morning and every evening. Days passed, weeks passed, months passed, years passed. The calf grew into a cow and the small willow tree grew into a big tree. Still, De-yi held the cow in his arms and jumped over the tree.
One day, he requested to see the Head Priest. He asked, “Dear Master, I have held the cow and jumped over the willow tree for three years already. Do you think I am strong enough to train gongfu?”
The Head Priest looked at him and the cow. He smiled and said: “De-yi, you do not have to learn anymore. You have completed your gongfu training. Your strength is enough to regain your lost land. You should take this cow home with you and use it to cultivate your land.”
De-yi looked at the Head Priest with surprise and asked: “If I have not learned any martial arts, what do I do if my brother comes to fight me again for my land?” The Head Priest laughed and said, “Do not worry, De-yi. If your brother comes to fight you again, simply pick up the cow and run towards him. There will be no fight.”
De-yi half believed the Head Priest, but he also thought that perhaps the Head Priest was joking with him. He took the cow and left the Shaolin Temple. When he arrived home, he started to cultivate his land.
De-xin soon discovered his brother’s return. He decided to beat up his younger brother again and teach him an unforgettable lesson. After that, De-yi would never dare to return. When De-yi came to the rice field, he saw his brother running towards him, shouting in anger.
When De-yi saw his brother running toward him, he remembered what the Head Priest had said and immediately picked up the cow and ran towards his brother. This surprised and shocked De-xin. He just could not believe that his brother possessed such strength. He turned around and ran away, never to return again.
From this story, I learned two lessons. The first is that you need patience and endurance to succeed. Great success always comes from many little efforts. The second lesson is that the best way to win a fight is without fighting. Often you can win a fight with wisdom, and this is better than beating up someone.
I remember that my White Crane master told me something that affected my perspective of Chinese martial arts completely. He told me that the goal of a martial artist’s learning was not fighting. It is neither for showing off nor for proving you are capable of conquering other people. He said the final goal of learning is to discover the meaning of life. Therefore, what I was learning from him was not a martial art, but the way of life. I could not accept this concept when I was young. However, now that I am much older, I can start to understand what he meant at that time.
In the last twenty years, I have had many questions in my mind. Why are we here? What do we expect to accomplish in our lifetime? Do we come to this life as just an animal, without a deep meaning, or do we come to this life to comprehend and to experience the deep meaning of our lives?
In my opinion, there are many ways of understanding the meaning of life. You can learn to play the piano with all of your effort (energy and time). From the learning process, you learn to know yourself and to discipline yourself. Hopefully, you achieve the capability to use your wisdom mind to control your emotional mind and reach a high stage of spiritual understanding of your life. Often, whenever I listen to music composed by Beethoven, Mozart, or another great composer or musician, I am so touched and inspired. I always wonder how these people could create such a spiritually high level of music that has influenced the human race for hundreds of years. I deeply believe that in order for them to reach such a deep level of understanding, they must have gone through the same process of emotional and physical self-conquest. I believe that through music, these composers comprehended the meaning of their lives. Of course, the meaning may well be beyond our understanding; however, their spirit has inspired following generations.
Naturally, you may also learn painting or any art, which can cultivate your spirit to a higher level. It does not matter which way you choose; in order to reach a high level of spiritual growth, you must face your greatest enemy. This enemy is you. The only way to defeat this enemy is through self-discipline and an understanding of life.
Have you ever thought about why the highest levels of Chinese martial arts were always created either in Buddhist or Daoist monasteries? Why has it been monks who developed all these deadly martial arts? One of the main reasons, as explained earlier, was self-defense against bandits. The other reason is that through martial arts training, you learn how to use your wisdom mind to conquer or control your emotional mind. This is one of the most effective ways of reaching a high level of spiritual understanding of life.
I also remember a story told to me by my master about a very famous archer, Yang, You-ji, who lived during the Chinese Spring and Autumn period (722-481 B.C.). When Yang, You-ji was a teenager, he was already well-known for his superior skill in archery. Because of this, he was very proud of himself. One day, he was in his study when he heard the call of an oil peddler just outside his house. Curious, he went out of his house and saw an old man selling cooking oil on the street. He saw the old man place the oil jar, which had a tiny hole the size of a coin, on the ground and then use the ladle to scoop a full measure of oil and pour it from chest height into the jar without losing a single drop or even touching the sides of the hole. Yang, You-ji was amazed at this old man’s steady hand and the accuracy with which he was able to pour the oil into the jar. He asked the old man: “Old man, how did you do that?” (To call an aged person old man in China is not impolite, but a sign of respect.) The old man looked at him, the well-known teenaged archer of the village, and said: “Young man, would you like to see more?” Yang, You-ji nodded his head.
The old man then asked him to go into the house and bring out a bench. The old man placed a Chinese coin that had a very tiny hole in the center for threading purposes, on the hole in the jar. Then, the old man ladled a full scoop of oil and climbed onto the bench. Standing on the bench, he poured the oil all the way down from such a high place, through the hole in the coin and into the jar. This time, Yang, You-ji kept his eyes wide open and was shocked at the old man’s amazing skill. He asked the old man: “How did you do that? I have never seen such an amazing thing before.” The old man looked at him and smiled. He said: “There is nothing but practicing.”
Suddenly, Yang, You-ji understood that his archery was good because he practiced harder than others. There was nothing of which to be proud. Thereafter, he became very humble and practiced even harder. When he reached his thirties, he was considered the best archer in the entire country and was honored to serve the emperor as a bodyguard. But in his late fifties, he disappeared from the palace, and nobody ever knew where he went.
Twenty years later, one of his friends heard that Yang, You-ji was on Tian Mountain in Xinjiang Province and decided to find him. After months of traveling, he finally arrived at the mountain and located his friend. He stepped into Yang’s house and they recognized each other. However, when Yang saw his friend’s bow and arrow on his shoulder, he opened his eyes and said: “What are those funny things you are carrying on your back?” His friend looked at him and with mouth agape and said: “You must be the best archer existing today, since you have already gone through the entire experience of archery.”
When I heard this story, I could not understand its actual meaning. Now, I begin to understand. Everything we have experienced before is just one learning process in reaching the spirit of our life. Once this learning is completed, the process of learning is no longer necessary and ceases to exist. It is just like the Buddhists who believe that our physical body is used only to cultivate our spirit; once we have reached a high level of spirit, the physical body is no longer important.
Learning martial arts is the same. You are using the way of learning martial arts to understand the meaning of your life. The higher you have reached, the better you experience the spirit which is beyond other martial artists. One day, you will no longer be able to train or perform martial arts. However, your understanding and spirit will remain, and you will retain your knowledge and spirit.
You should understand that the arts are alive and are creative. To Chinese philosophy, if an art is not creative, then the art is dead. It is also because the art is creative that, after hundreds of years of development and creation, there can be many styles of the same art.
One afternoon, I went to visit my master and asked him why the same movement was applied differently by two of my classmates. He looked at me and asked: “Little Yang? How much is one plus one? Without hesitation, I said: “Two.” He smiled and shook his head and said: “No! Little Yang, it is not two.” I was confused and thought he was joking. He continued: “Your father and your mother together are two. After their marriage, they have five children. Now, it is not two but seven. You can see one plus one is not two but seven. The arts are alive and creative. If you treat them as dead, it is two. But if you make them alive, they can be many. This is the philosophy of developing Chinese martial arts. Now, I am forty-two; when you reach forty-two, if your understanding about the martial arts is the same as mine today, then I will have failed you, and also you will have failed me.”
This also reminds me of a story I heard from Master Liang, Shou-yu a few years ago. He said he knew a story of how Master Zhang, San-feng taught the taiji sword techniques to one of his students. After this student completed his three years of taiji sword learning from Master Zhang, he was so happy and could perform every movement in exactly the same way and feeling as Master Zhang had taught him.
Then Master Zhang asked him to leave and practice for three years and then come to see him. The student left. After three years of hard practice, the student came to see Master Zhang. However, he was sad and ashamed to meet Master Zhang. He bowed his head down and felt so sorry. He said: “Master Zhang, after three years of practice, I am now very sad. The more I have practiced, the more I have lost the feeling I had three years ago. Now, I feel about a third of the forms are different from what you taught me originally.”
Master Zhang looked at him and said: “No good! No good! Go home and practice another three years and then come to see me.” The student left in sorrow and sadness. He practiced harder and harder for the next three years. Then he came to see Master Zhang again. However, he felt even worse than the first time he came back. He looked at Master Zhang very disappointedly. He said: “Master Zhang! I don’t know why. The more I have practiced, the worse it has become. Now, two-thirds of the forms feel different from what you taught me.”
Master Zhang again looked at him and said: “No good! No good! Go home again and practice another three years and then come to see me.” The student left feeling very, very sad. This time, he practiced even harder than before. He put all his mind into understanding and feeling every movement of the forms he learned. After three years, again he returned to see Master Zhang. This time, his face turned pale and he dared not look at Master Zhang’s face directly. He said: “Master Zhang! I am sorry. I am a failure. I have failed you and myself. I feel now not even one form has the same feeling as you taught me.”
When Master heard of this, he laughed loudly and very happily. He looked at the student and said: “Great! You have done well. Now, the techniques you have learned are yours and not mine anymore.”
From this story, you can see that the mentality of the arts is creative. If the great musician Beethoven, after he learned all the techniques from his teacher, never learned to create, then he would not have become so great. It is the same with the great painter Picasso. If he did not know how to be creative, then after he learned all the painting techniques from his teacher, he would never have become such a genius. Therefore, you can see that arts are alive and not dead. However, if you do not learn enough techniques and have not reached a deep level of understanding, then when you start to create, you will have lost the correct path and the arts will be flawed. It is said in Chinese martial arts society: “Sifu leads you into the door; cultivation depends on oneself.”10
When you learn any art, you should understand the mentality of learning is to feel and to gain the essence of the art. Only if your heart can learn the essence of the arts, then will you have gained the root. With this root, you can grow and become creative.
My master told me a story. Once upon a time a boy came to see an old man and asked him: “Honorable old man, I have heard that you can change a piece of rock into gold. Is that true?” “Yes, young man. Like others, do you want a piece of gold? Let me change one for you.” The boy replied. “Oh no! I do not want a piece of gold. What I would like is to learn the trick you use to change rocks into gold.”
What do you think about this short story? When you learn anything, if you do not gain the essence of the learning, you will remain on the surface, just holding the branches and flowers. However, if you can feel the arts deeply, then you can create. Feeling deeply enables you to ponder and finally to understand the situation. Without this deep feeling, what you see and what you are will be only on the surface.
Once there was a wise king in Korea who had a fifteen-year-old son. This son had grown up comfortably in the palace, with all of the servants’ attention. This made the king very worried, and he believed that his son would never be a good king whose concern was for his people. Therefore, he summoned a well-known wise old man living in the deep woods.
In response to this call, the old man came to the palace. After he promised to teach the prince to be a wise, good king, he took the prince to the deep woods. After they arrived in the deep woods, the old man taught the young prince how to find food, how to cook, and how to survive in the woods. Then he left the prince alone in the woods. However, he promised that he would come back a year later.
A year later, when the old man came back, he asked the prince what he thought about the woods. The prince replied: “I am sick of them. I need a servant. I hate it here. Take me home.” However, the old man merely said: “Very good. That is good progress, but not enough. Please wait here for another year, and I will be back to see you again.” Then he left.
A year again passed, and the old man came back to the woods, asking the prince again the same question. This time the prince said: “I see birds, I see trees, I see flowers and animals.” His mind had started to accept the surrounding environment, and he recognized his role in the woods. The old man was satisfied and said: “This is great progress. However, it is not enough, and therefore you must stay here for another year.” This time, the prince was not even upset and said: “No problem.” Once again, the old man left.
Another year passed, and the old man came back again. This time, when the old man asked the prince what he thought, the prince said: “I feel birds, woods, fish, animals, and many things around me here.” This time, the old man was very happy and said: “Now I can take you home. If you can feel the things happening around you, then you can concern yourself with the people’s feelings, and you will be a good king.” Then the old man took him home.
This story is only to tell you that when you do anything, you must put your mind into it, feel it, taste it, and experience it. Only then may you say that you understand it. Without this deep feeling and comprehension, the arts you create will be shallow and lose their essence.
I would like to point out something important. Normally, after more than thirty years of learning, studying, pondering, and practicing, all masters have experienced most of the possible creations of their art, and their understanding of it has reached to a very deep level. It is common that the master will keep this personal secret to himself until he has found someone he can really trust. This is often called the secret of the art.
There is another story which was told to me by Master Liang, Shou-yu. About fifty years ago, there was a very famous clay doll maker in Beijing. Because he was so famous, he had many students. However, it did not matter how, when people purchased a doll, they could always tell which ones were made by the master and which ones were made by the students. It also did not matter how the students tried and pondered, they could not catch the secret of their master. They continued to believe that their master’s dolls were better because he had more years of experience.
One day, this master became very sick and was dying. After he realized that he would die soon, he decided to reveal his last secret to his most trustworthy student. He summoned his student to his bed, and said: “You are the student whom I can trust most. You have been loyal to me in the past. Here, I would like to tell you the last of my secrets. But remember, if you keep this secret to yourself, you will always enjoy wealth and glory. However, if you reveal it to everyone else, then you will be as poor as others.” Then he asked this student to make a doll in front of him.
Not long after, this student had completed his doll. Although the doll was well made, it looked like a student’s doll instead of the master’s. Then, the master looked at the student and said: “The difference between your doll and my doll is the expression on the face. The expression of the face must be natural and delightful. This is the final trick for you to remember.” Then, he placed his index finger under the chin of the wet clay doll and gently pushed the chin slightly upward. Immediately, the facial expression of the doll changed and became very natural. Now, the doll looked like the master’s.
From this, you can see that normally a secret is hidden in the obvious place. A practitioner can realize this secret suddenly when time passes by through continued pondering and practice. It is said in Chinese martial arts society, “The great Dao is no more than two or three sentences. Once spoken, it is worth less than three pennies.”11
From these stories, you may have understood that the creation of an in-depth art comes from continued learning, pondering, and practice. Only then will the spirit of the art be high and the art created be profound.
Conclusions:
1 Chinese martial arts were created mainly for defense and not for offense.
2 The best fight is “the fight of no fight.”
3 The meaning of learning arts is to find and to understand yourself. With this understanding, you can promote the meaning of your life to a higher spiritual level.
4 The arts are creative. It is the same in Chinese martial arts. After you have learned and practiced for a long time, then you should blend what you have learned with your own ideas to make the arts even greater.
5 A deeply touching art is created from deep spiritual feelings. It is not an outward form. Forms are only the manifestation of the internal feeling.
6 The greatest secret is hidden in the most obvious place and can be obtained only from continued pondering and practice.
The Real Meaning of Taijiquan
People practice taijiquan for different reasons. Some practice for health or to cure an illness, and others for defense, relaxation, or solely for fun. However, when you approach the highest level of taijiquan, you will probably feel that the above reasons are not really important anymore. At this time, you must seek the real meaning of the practice; otherwise you will soon become satisfied with your achievement and lose enthusiasm for further research. You must ponder what is really behind this highly meditative art. Many religious Daoists practice taijiquan in their striving to eliminate their baser elements and become immortal. Many non-religious people practice taijiquan to gain a peaceful mind and reinvigorate their lives.
You should understand that taijiquan emphasizes meditation both in movement and in stillness. Through this meditation a taijiquan practitioner, like a Buddhist priest, trains himself to be calm and concentrated. It is possible to achieve a state of peace and centeredness, which allows you to judge things and events in a neutral way, without emotional disturbance. When your mind is truly clear and calm, the spiritual side of things starts to open up. You start to see more deeply into things. Skilled practitioners can sense a person’s intentions before they are expressed, and they often develop the ability to look more deeply into people and events in non-martial ways too. Many martial arts masters came to be considered wise men and were consulted for their insight into the meaning of human life, this world, and the universe. They learned to live in this world without confusion or doubt and to find peace and happiness. All of this comes through meditation and continuous pondering.
There is a song passed down since ancient times about the real meaning of taijiquan. It says:
1 “No shape, no shadow”. This means that when you have approached the higher levels of taiji meditation, you find your physical body seems not to exist—you feel that you are a ball of energy, part of the natural world and inseparable from it. Your actions and self are part of the natural order of things, fitting in smoothly and unobtrusively, seeming to have no independent shape of their own, casting no shadow.
2 “Entire body transparent and empty”. When you feel you are only a ball of energy, there is nothing in your mind, no desire or intention. Since your mind and ego are not there to interfere, you can see clearly and respond correctly.
3 “Forget your surroundings and be natural”. Once you are transparent you will easily forget your surroundings and your energy flow will be smooth and natural.
4 “Like a stone chime suspended from West Mountain”. This implies that your mind is wide-open, free, and unrestricted. Like a stone chime suspended from the mountain, all things are clear under you, while your mind is still controlled by you just as the thread suspends the stone chime.
5 “Tigers roaring, monkeys screeching”. When you move the energy you have cultivated, it can be as strong as a tiger’s roar and reach as far as a monkey’s screech.
6 “Clear fountain, peaceful water”. Even when your energy is strong, your mind is clear, still, and peaceful.
7 “Turbulent river, stormy ocean”. In taiji, if you have to use your energy it can be strong and continuous like a turbulent river or the stormy ocean.
8 “With your whole being, develop your life”. During all your practice and meditation, you must concentrate your whole attention in order to develop the highest level of the art. This dedication and concentration will carry over to the rest of your life, and the striving for perfection becomes the real inner meaning of taiji.
1-3. General History of Taijiquan
LECTURE
Taijiquan Lecture
Many people have learned Yang Style Taijiquan, but few really understand the history, background, and variations of the style. Often a person who has learned Yang Style Taijiquan will see forms that claim to be Yang style, but which look different from what he has learned. This sometimes causes consternation and doubt about which form, if any, is the correct ‘Yang style.’ A knowledge of the history can help to explain this discrepancy.
Historically, the most important aspect of taijiquan is its creation from the theory of yin and yang, including the way yin and yang are derived from wuji, defined as “no extremity”.
The concept of yin and yang was first detailed in the Book of Changes (Yi Jing) around 1122 B.C. This means that the theory behind taijiquan actually has historical roots going back more than three thousand years.
The manner in which the concept of yin and yang gave birth to taijiquan is unknown. However, since the theory of yin and yang has been such an all-pervading influence on Chinese culture and thinking since the Yi Jing, it is possible to piece together the history of taijiquan’s origin from the remnants of historical documentation that still exist.
It is said that Taijiquan was created by Zhang, San-feng in the Song Hui Zong era ca. A.D. 1101. It is also said that techniques and forms with the same basic principles as taijiquan were already in existence during the Liang dynasty (A.D. 502-557), and were being taught by Han, Gong-yue, Cheng, Ling-xi, and Cheng, Bi. Later, in the Tang dynasty (A.D. 618-907), it was found that Xu, Xuan-oing, Li, Dao-zi, and Yin, Li-peng were teaching similar martial techniques. They were called thirty-seven postures (san shi qi shi), post-heaven techniques (hou tian fa), and small nine heaven (xiao jiu tian) that had seventeen postures. The accuracy of these accounts is somewhat questionable, so it is not really known when and by whom taijiquan was created. Because there is more formal history recorded about Zhang, San-feng, he has received most of the credit.4
According to the historical record Nan Lei Ji Wang Zheng Nan Mu Zhi Ming, “Zhang San-feng, in the Song dynasty, was a Wudang Daoist. Hui Zong (a Song Emperor) summoned him, but the road was blocked and he couldn’t come. At night, (Hui Zong) dreamed Emperor Yuan (the first Jin emperor) taught him martial techniques. At dawn, he killed a hundred enemies by himself.”12 Also recorded in the Ming history Ming Shi Fang Ji Zhuan is the following:
Zhang, San-feng, from Liao Dong Yi county. Named Quan-yi. Also named Jun-bao. San-feng was his nickname. Because he did not keep himself neat and clean, Zhang, La-ta (Sloppy Zhang). He was tall and big, shaped like a turtle, and had a crane’s back. Large ears and round eyes. Beard long like a spear tassel. Wears only a priest’s robe winter or summer. Will eat a bushel of food, or won’t eat for several days or a few months. Can travel a thousand miles. Likes to have fun with people. Behaves as if nobody is around. Used to travel to Wudang (mountain) with his disciples. Built a simple cottage and lived inside. In the 24th year of Hong Wuaround A.D. 1392, Ming Tai Zu (the first Ming emperor) heard of his name, and sent a messenger to look for him but he couldn’t be found. 13
The following was also recorded in the Ming dynasty in Ming Lang Ying Qi Xiu Lei Gao:
Zhang the Immortal, named Jun-bao, also named Quan-yi, nicknamed Xuan-xuan, also called Zhang, La-ta. In the third year of Tian Shun A.D. 1460 he visited Emperor Ming Ying Zong. A picture was drawn. The beard and mustache were straight, the back of the head had a tuft. Purple face and big stomach, with a bamboo hat in his hand. On the top of the picture was an inscription from the emperor honoring Zhang as ‘Tong Wei Xian Hua Zhen Ren’, a genuine Daoist who finely discriminates and clearly understands much. (Figure 1-6). 14
This record is suspect, because if it were true, Zhang, San-feng would have been at least 500 years old at that time. Other records state that Zhang, San-feng’s techniques were learned from the Daoist Feng, Yi-yuan. Another story tells that Zhang, San-feng was an ancient hermit meditator. He saw a magpie fighting against a snake, had a sudden understanding, and created taijiquan,
Figure 1-6. Zhang, San-Feng
After Zhang, San-feng, there were Wang Zong in Shanxi province, Chen, Tong-zhou in Wen County, Zhang, Song-xi in Hai Yan, Ye, Ji-mei in Si Ming, Wang, Zong-yue in Shan You, and Jiang, Fa in Hebei. The taijiquan techniques were passed down and divided into two major styles, southern and northern. Later, Jiang, Fa passed his art to the Chen family at Chen Jia Gou in Huai Qing County, Henan. Taijiquan was then passed down for fourteen generations and divided into old and new styles. The old style was carried on by Chen, Chang-xing and the new style was created by Chen, You-ben.
The old style successor Chen, Chang-xing then passed the art down to his son, Geng-yun, and his Chen relatives, Chen, Huai-yuan and Chen, Hua-mei. He also passed his taijiquan outside of his family to Yang, Lu-chan and Li, Bo-kui, both of Hebei province. This old style is called thirteen postures old form (shi san shi lao jia). Later, Yang, Lu-chan passed it down to his two sons, Yang, Ban-hou and Yang, Jian-hou. Then, Jian-hou passed the art to his two sons, Yang, Shao-hou and Yang, Cheng-fu. This branch of taijiquan is popularly called Yang Style. Also, Wu, Quan-you learned from Yang, Ban-hou and started a well known Wu Style.
Also, Chen, You-ben passed his new style to Chen, Qing-ping who created Zhao Bao Style Taijiquan. Wuu, Yu-rang learned the old style from Yang, Lu-chan and new style from Chen, Qing-ping and created Wuu Style Taijiquan. Li, Yi-yu learned the Wuu Style and created Li Style Taijiquan. Hao, Wei-zhen obtained his art from Li Style and created Hao Style Taijiquan. Sun, Lu-tang learned from Hao Style and created Sun Style.
All the above-mentioned styles are popular in China and Southeast Asia. Among them, Yang Style has become the most popular. In the next section we will discuss the history of the Yang Style.
1-4. History of Yang Style Taijiquan
LECTURE
Taijiquan Lecture
Yang Style history starts with Yang, Lu-chan (A.D. 1799-1872), also known as Fu-kuai or Lu-chan. He was born at Yong Nian Xian, Guang Ping County, Hebei Province. When he was young he went to Chen Jia Gou in Henan province to learn taijiquan from Chen, Chang-xing. When Chen, Chang-xing stood he was centered and upright with no leaning or tilting, like a wooden signpost, and so people called him Mr. Tablet. At that time, there were very few students outside of the Chen family who learned from Chen, Chang-xing. Because Yang was an outside student, he was treated unfairly, but still he stayed and persevered in his practice.
One night, he was awakened by the sounds of “Hen” and “Ha” in the distance. He got up and traced the sound to an old building. Peeking through the broken wall, he saw his master Chen, Chang-xing teaching the techniques of grasp, control, and emitting jin in coordination with the sounds “Hen” and “Ha.” He was amazed by the techniques and from that time on, unknown to master Chen, he continued to watch this secret practice session every night. He would then return to his room to ponder and study. Because of this, his martial ability advanced rapidly. One day, Chen ordered him to spar with the other disciples. To his surprise, none of the other students could defeat him. Chen realized that Yang had great potential and after that taught him the secrets sincerely.
After Yang, Lu-chan finished his study, he returned to his hometown and taught taijiquan for a while. People called his style Yang Style (Yang Quan), Soft Style (Mian Quan), or Neutralizing Style, (Hua Quan) because his motions were soft and able to neutralize the opponent’s power. He later went to Beijing and taught a number of Qing officers. He used to carry a spear and a small bag and travel around the country, challenging well-known martial artists. Although he had many fights, he never hurt anybody. Because his art was so high, nobody could defeat him. Therefore, he was called “Yang Wu Di” which means “Unbeatable Yang.” He had three sons, Yang Qi, Yang Yu also called Ban-hou, and Yang Jian also called Jian-hou. Yang Qi died when he was young. Therefore, only the last two sons succeeded their father in the art.
Yang’s second son, Yang, Yu (A.D. 1837-1890), was also named Ban-hou. People used to call him “Mr. The Second.” He learned taijiquan from his father even as a child. Even though he practiced very hard and continuously, he was still scolded and whipped by his father. He was good at free fighting. One day he was challenged by a strong martial artist. When the challenger grasped his wrist and would not let him escape, Yang, Ban-hou used his jin to bounce the challenger away and defeat him. He was so proud that he went home and told his father. Instead of praise, his father laughed at him because his sleeve was torn. After that, he trained harder and harder, and finally became a superlative taijiquan artist. Unfortunately, and perhaps not surprisingly, he didn’t like to teach very much and had few students, so his art did not spread far after he died. One of his students called Wu, Quan-you later taught his son Wu, Jian-quan, whose art became the Wu Style Taijiquan. Yang, Ban-hou also had a son, called Zhao-peng, who passed on the art.
The third son of Yang, Lu-chan was Yang Jian (A.D. 1842-1917), also named Jian-hou and nicknamed Jing-hu. People used to call him “Mr. The Third.” He also learned taijiquan from his father since he was young. His personality was softer and gentler than his brother’s, and he had many followers. He taught three postures—large, medium, and small—although he specialized in the medium posture. He was also expert in using and coordinating both hard and soft power. He used to spar with his disciples who were good at sword and saber, while using only a dust brush. Every time his brush touched the student’s wrist, the student could not counter, but would be bounced away. He was also good at using the staff and spear. When his long weapon touched an opponent’s weapon, the opponent could not approach him, but instead was bounced away. When he emitted jin, it happened at the instant of laughing the “ha” sound. He could also throw small metal balls called “bullets.” With these balls in his hand, he could shoot three or four birds at the same time. The most impressive demonstration he performed was to put a sparrow on his hand. The bird would not be able to fly away because, when a bird takes off, it must push down first and use the reaction force to lift itself. Yang, Jian-hou could sense the bird’s power and neutralize this slight push, leaving the bird unable to take off. From this demonstration, one can understand that his listening jin and neutralizing jin must have been superb. He had three sons: Zhao-xiong, Zhao-yuan, and Zhao-qing. The second son, Zhao-yuan died at an early age.
Yang, Jian-hou’s first son, Yang, Zhao-xiong (A.D. 1862-1929), was also named Meng-xiang and later called Shao-hou. People used to call him “Mr. Oldest.” He practiced taijiquan since he was six years old. He had a strong and persevering personality. He was expert in free fighting and very good at using various jins like his uncle Yang, Ban-hou. He reached the highest level of taijiquan gongfu. Specializing in small postures, his movements were fast and sunken. Because of his personality, he didn’t have too many followers. He had a son called Yang, Zhen-sheng.
Yang, Jian-hou’s third son was Yang, Zhao-qing (A.D. 1883-1935), also named Cheng-fu. People called him “Mr. The Third.” His personality was mild and gentle. When he was young, he did not care for martial arts. It was not until his teens that he started studying taijiquan with his father. While his father was still alive Yang, Cheng-fu did not really understand the key secrets of taijiquan. It was not until his father died in 1917 that he started to practice hard. His father had helped him to build a good foundation, and after several years of practice and research, he was finally able to approach the level of his father and grandfather. Because of his experiences, he modified his father’s taijiquan and specialized in large postures. This emphasis was completely reversed from that of his father and brother. He was the first taijiquan master willing to share the family secrets with the public, and because of his gentle nature he had countless students. When Nanking Central Guoshu Institute was founded in 1928, he was invited to be the head taijiquan teacher, and his name became known throughout the country. He had four sons, Zhen-ming, Zhen-ji, Zhen-duo, and Zhen-guo.
Yang Style Taijiquan can be classified into three major postures: large, medium, and small. It is also divided into three stances: high, medium, and low. Large postures were emphasized by Yang, Cheng-fu. He taught that the stances can be high, medium, or low, but the postures are extended, opened, and relaxed. Large postures are especially suitable for improving health. The medium posture style requires that all the forms be neither too extended nor too restricted and the internal jin neither totally emitted nor too conserved. Therefore, the form and jin are smoother and more continuous than the other two styles. The medium posture style was taught by Yang, Jian-hou. The small posture style—in which the forms are more compact and the movements light, agile, and quick—was passed down by Yang, Shao-hou. This style specializes in the martial application of the art. In conclusion, for martial application the small postures are generally the best, although they are the most difficult, and the large posture style is best for health purposes.
To summarize:
1 Chen Style Taijiquan was derived from Jiang Style. Before Jiang, the history is vague and unclear.
2 Chen Style Taijiquan was divided into two styles: old and new. Chen, Chang-xing learned old style and later passed it down to Yang, Lu-chan. New style was created by Chen, You-ben.
3 Yang Style Taijiquan was derived from Chen Style Taijiquan fourteen generations after the Chen family learned from Jiang.
4 Chen, You-ben passed his art to Chen, Qing-ping who created Zhao Bao Style.
5 Wuu, Yu-rang obtained the new style from Chen, Qing-ping and the old style from Yang, Lu-chan and created Wuu Style Taijiquan.
6 Li, Yi-yu learned Wuu Style Taijiquan and created Li Style Taijiquan.
7 Hao, Wei-zhen obtained his art from Li Style Taijiquan and started Hao Style Taijiquan.
8 Sun, Lu-tang learned from Hao Style Taijiquan and began Sun Style Taijiquan.
9 Wu Style Taijiquan was started by Wu, Quan-you who learned from Yang, Lu-chan’s second son Yang, Ban-hou.
10 Yang Style Taijiquan has been famous since its creation by Yang, Lu-chan in the early part of the 20th century.
11 Yang, Cheng-fu’s taijiquan is not the same as his father’s, uncle’s, or brother’s. He modified it and emphasized large postures and improving health.
You should now understand why there are so many variations within the art, even within a style such as the Yang Style. After so many years and so many generations, countless students have learned the style and have made many modifications in light of their own experiences and research. It is understandable that a student today might learn taijiquan and find that his or her style is different from another claiming to be from the same source. No one can really tell which one is the original style, or which is more effective than the others. Observations from nature and contemplation of the Dao can help you to determine a style’s emphasis—either for healing or self-defense—but it is purely a subjective, human determination whether one is in fact “better” than any other. This is a deeply profound area of the art. Self-defense and good health are indeed closely related concepts, separated only by a philosophical frame of mind. Ultimately, such comparisons of techniques are meaningless. It is the time, consistency, and quality of your practice that matters. If you can understand this, even as you strive for deeper mastery of your chosen art, then you have already reached a profound understanding of Dao.
1-5. Taijiquan and Health
LECTURE
Taijiquan Lecture
Since ancient times, taijiquan has been recognized as one of the most effective ways of maintaining health. However, this treasure was not revealed to the general Chinese public until the beginning of the 20th century. Since then, taijiquan has become widely accepted as the most popular martial qigong exercise for health. This section will compare taijiquan with other martial qigong, to provide an idea of its relative effectiveness for improving health and preventing disease.
First, you should recognize that taijiquan is a qigong practice, even though it was originally created for self-defense purposes. Second, taijiquan was created based on the theory of yin and yang, the most basic natural concept in the Dao, or “natural way.” It is because of this that the balance of the yin and yang remains the most important goal of all practice. It is also because of this that the body’s healthy condition, which depends on the balance of yin and yang, can be attained. Third, taijiquan was created in the Daoist monastery, where the final goal of training was spiritual enlightenment. Because of this, the meaning of life was constantly pondered, and a peaceful, harmonious environment was created, both externally and internally. The product of this environment, taijiquan, is a calm and peaceful mind and a relaxed, healthy body. These elements are the critical keys to health both mentally and physically.
Because taijiquan is a qigong training, it was developed following the natural cultivation and training procedures of qigong—also known as the five regulations (wu tiao). Here, we will summarize how this training path can be beneficial for human health.
Regulating the Body (Tiao Shen). The first step in learning taijiquan, other than learning to do the movements accurately, is the emphasis on physical relaxation. In order to obtain a deep level of relaxation, you must first relax your mind. Moreover, you must feel the balance of your body and maintain your physical and mental centers. In order to reach this goal, you must practice until you have strengthened and firmed your legs and torso. This key to maintaining your spiritual center is to first stabilize your mental and physical centers.
Once you have reached the goal of relaxation, you have achieved the most basic condition for your health. If you can relax deeply in your body, the blood and qi circulation can flow smoothly. This will make cell replacement in the body occur without error. Maintaining cell replacement in the body is the key to health and longevity
Regulating the Breathing (Tiao Xi). Once you can relax physically, then you must pay attention to your breathing and come to a full appreciation of how your body absorbs oxygen and expels carbon dioxide smoothly and profoundly. Every cell in the body requires oxygen. If you can take in oxygen smoothly and abundantly, you will provide a crucial ingredient for the creation of new cells in your body. In addition, through deep breathing, you can help to eliminate dead cells from your body through exhalation (carbon dioxide). The carbon in our exhalation originates from two sources: one is from the biochemical combustion of the food we eat, which is primarily composed of carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, and oxygen. The other source is from our body’s own decay and replenishment. Every cell in our body has a lifetime (e.g., a skin cell is 28 days). Amazingly, a trillion (1012) cells die in our body each day.15 When these cells die, the body must eliminate them and their constituent carbon molecules. Each of our exhalations is a part of this ongoing process.
In order to increase your lung capacity and slow down your breathing, it is necessary to practice either your qigong or taijiquan with an emphasis on the breath. No matter whether you use regular or reverse abdominal breathing, it is necessary to use as much of the lungs’ volume as possible without tensing up. Notice that if you inhale to the full capacity of your lungs, you will feel a tightness right under your sternum and possibly into your back and abdomen. You want to avoid this feeling of tightness while still using as much of your lungs’ capacity as possible. A good method of practicing is to simply focus on your breathing, filling the lungs from the bottom to the top, and emptying them from the top to the bottom. Remember to avoid tension and to let the breath flow in and out in a controlled, smooth, soft, and uniform manner.
In addition, the breathing helps to prepare you for the next stage of regulating the mind. The breath is a pathway linking the external and the internal universes, and you can use it to guide yourself to this deeper level of existence. The speed, depth, and quality of your breathing will have a direct impact on your taiji, your mental and emotional states, and your physical and energetic bodies. Therefore, in taijiquan practice, you must learn how to breathe deeply and correctly.
Regulating the Mind (Tiao Xin). The mind is the general who directs the body’s battle against sickness. If the command post is disordered and the general is confused, naturally the battle will be lost. Remember, in Chinese culture the mind is viewed as having two distinct aspects. The first is the yi, or wisdom mind. The wisdom mind is responsible for the intellect and the higher mental functions, but it is somewhat sterile. The second aspect of the mind is the xin, or emotional mind. The emotional mind encompasses all emotional states and passions. It is the originator of desire and aggression and from it flows all actions and intentions manifested to the physical world. However, it is also selfish and fearful, and if not properly regulated by the wisdom mind, it will lead you to destructive purposes and possibly even self-destruction. Regulating the mind means learning how to calm down your emotional mind and strengthen your wisdom mind. Throughout this process, you must constantly conquer yourself and ponder the meaning of your life. The goal of regulating the mind is to lead you into a deeply profound, peaceful, and harmonious state. Once you are in this state, you can use your whole mind to lead the qi and circulate it through the entire body. From this training, you build clear connections between the mind, body, and qi.
Regulating the Qi (Tiao Qi). As mentioned previously, if you have a peaceful mind, a relaxed body, and correct breathing, you can lead the qi to anyplace in your body. For a martial artist, the first step is to lead the qi to the limbs to energize the muscles there for defensive purposes. The result of this is the production of strong internal power called jin.
For a person who is training only for health, the mind can be used to circulate the qi in the body through Small Circulation (Xiao Zhou Tian) and Grand Circulation (Da Zhou Tian) meditation practice. If you are interested in knowing more about jin and qi circulation, you should refer to additional books and videos published by YMAA.
Regulating the Spirit (Tiao Shen). The final stage of taijiquan practice is regulating the spirit and strengthening the spiritual center. In this training, you use your mind to lead the qi though the thrusting vessel (chong mai), that is, the spinal cord to the brain, energizing it and opening the third eye for enlightenment. Since this subject is very profound and of interest only to the most advanced taiji practitioners, it will not be explored further in this work.
From the above, you can appreciate the reasons why taijiquan can reward you with a healthy body, both mentally (yin) and physically (yang). If you practice for only a few minutes every day, you can bring your mind to a peaceful and harmonious level and open your perception to an entire new world of living energy.
1-6. What is Taijiquan?
LECTURE
Taijiquan Lecture
Let us see what is Taijiquan, as it was written down in the past. First, we must define what we mean by “taiji.” It is stated in Wang, Zong-yue’s Taijiquan Classic:4,16
“What is taiji? It is generated from wuji and is a pivotal function of movement and stillness. It is the mother of yin and yang. When it moves, it divides. At rest it reunites.”
According to Chinese Daoist scripture, the universe was initially without life. The world had just cooled down from its fiery creation and all was foggy and blurry, without differentiation or separation, with no extremities or ends. This state was called “wuji” that literally means no extremity, no dividing, or no discrimination. Later, the existing natural energy divided into two extremities, known as yin and yang. This polarity, or tendency to divide, is called taiji, which means grand ultimate or grand extremity, and also means very ultimate or very extreme. It is this initial separation that allows and causes all other separations and changes.
From the above, you can see that taiji, which is derived from wuji, is not yin and yang but is instead the mother of yin and yang. How then do we interpret and define “grand ultimate” as the characters for which taiji is usually translated? And how can we apply this concept to taijiquan practice? Let us turn to the beginning movement of the taijiquan form for an illustration that reveals the answers to these questions.
When you stand still, before you start the sequence, you are in a state of wuji, that is, a state of formlessness. Your mind should be calm, quiet, peaceful, and centered. Your mind, and hence your qi, should focus at your energetic and physical center, i.e., your lower dan tian or center of gravity. Your body is relaxed, with no intention. Your weight is evenly distributed on both legs.
However, once you generate the intention to start the sequence and you begin to move, you are in a state of taiji (i.e., yin and yang start to be differentiated to perception). As the form continues, you shift from side to side, from foot to foot, and each part of your body becomes at times alternately substantial and insubstantial. The taiji in the taijiquan form is thus actually the intention or the motivation generated from the mind that causes the yin and yang to be discriminated. It is this mind that shapes reality. It is this mind that guides us to a deeper and more profound understanding. And it is this living and active mind that continues to achieve further perceptions of yin and yang. From this, you can see why taiji is called “grand ultimate,” and why the mind is the Dao in taijiquan practice. Therefore, taijiquan is primarily an art of the mind.
Through the mind’s action, the entire art becomes alive. Once you start a motion it is possible to modify or redirect it, but this modification is possible only after the motion has been started. If one change is made, others can be made, and each change opens up other possibilities for variation. Each factor in the situation introduces other factors as possible influences. The initial motion made all other motions possible, and in a sense “created” the other motions. The Chinese express this by saying that taiji is the mother of yin and yang: “Taiji begets two poles, two poles produce four phases, four phases generate eight trigrams (gates), and eight trigrams initiate sixty-four hexagrams” (Figure 1-7).17
Figure 1-7. The Eight Trigrams are derived from Taiji
