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Practicing the Five Fists

Hsing-i's five basic forms are also called the five elements (wu hsing), after the five essential elements of traditional Chinese cosmology—metal, water, wood, fire, and earth. Each of these elements is capable of generating or destroying another element, as shown in the diagram below. The lines forming the pentagon indicate generation, while those forming the star indicate destruction.

The FIVE FISTS were originally arranged in the same sequence as the order of generation of elements from metal to earth, and some schools of the orthodox Chung-nan line, such as Wang Shu-chin's, still follow that order, each fist symbolizing an element that generates the next one. Sun Lu-t'ang, Yuan Tao, Chen P'an-ling, and others in the orthodox school, however, reversed the order of water and wood, placing CRUSHING before DRILLING (Table 2). Thus, that is the sequence we have presented here.

The FIVE FISTS are as natural as a baby's movements. But because they are natural, they are difficult for people in a tense world to learn, and, after long practice, they can be dangerous if not controlled. They are correlated with the five elements, the organs of the body, and the flow of ch'i as follows:

Table 2. The Five Correspondences

Fist	Element	Organs	Action of ch'i
1.	SPLITTING	Metal	Lungs,	Rises and falls like
	(p'i-ch'uan)		Large Intestine	an axe
2.	CRUSHING	Wood	Liver,	Expands and contracts
	(peng-ch 'uan)		Gall bladder	simultaneously
3.	DRILLING	Water	Kidneys,	Flows in curving eddies
	(tsuan-ch'uan)		Bladder	or shoots like lightning
4.	POUNDING	Fire	Heart,	Fires suddenly like a
	(p'ao-ch'uan)		Pericardium	projectile from a gun
5.	CROSSING	Earth	Spleen,	Strikes forward with
	(heng-ch 'uan)		Stomach	rounded energy

PREPARATION

The static INFINITY POSTURE (wu chi), a balance between suspension and rootedness, is the basis for Hsing-i movement. Your feet are at 45°, left foot facing front and heels touching, with the legs straight but with the knees slightly bent, and the pelvis is held in a natural position. Your head is suspended, allowing your spine to straighten. Relaxed shoulders that hang naturally in line with your hips allow the weight of your upper body to fall directly over your pelvic girdle and into your legs, creating the sense of "suspended by the crown of the head and rooted in the feet." Your mind and ch'i are centered in the tan-t'ien (Fig. 8).

BEGINNING

Stand in the INFINITY POSTURE and raise both arms out to the sides, palms down, twisting your torso slightly rightward (Fig. 9). Take your hands past your shoulders overhead, shoulder width apart, palms still down (Fig. 10). Continuing with your torso turned to the right, keep your knees together and sink your body as you lower your palms down the front of your body and close them into fists, while shifting most of your weight onto your right foot (Fig. 11).

Turn your waist leftward, DRILLING your right fist upward and forward (Fig. 12), palm up, to eyebrow level. Simultaneously, withdraw your left fist, palm down, to your left hip (Fig. 13). As you step forward with your left foot, DRILL your left fist upward (Fig. 14), open it, and strike with it over your retreating right fist, which open palm down near your groin. Your left foot is now on a line slightly to the left (about a fist's width) of your right heel (Fig. 15). The length of your advancing step should accord with your height.

You are now in the san-t'i ("three essentials") posture, the basic Hsing-i posture, which generates both the FIVE FISTS and the TWELVE ANIMALS (Fig. 16). Your head should press up as if balancing a book, your elbows and shoulders should be held down, and your knees should be well bent, thus lowering your hips, forming a crease where your lower abdomen and thighs meet (the inguinal area). Your weight should be distributed so that the rear leg supports 60% of it. Your left arm should be extended, the elbow slightly bent and the fingertips at eyebrow level. Your left hand should be open and stretched to form the "tiger mouth" as it strikes forward. Your open right hand should be held palm down, but the fingers pointed upward to protect the groin. Finally, your eyes look at your left index finger, gazing past it, focusing on a point ahead.

THE FIVE FISTS

1. SPLITTING FIST (P'i ch'uan)

The SPLITTING FIST moves directly ahead (Fig. 17). Continuing from san-t'i, as you shift your weight rearward, retract both of your hands into fists downward as if pulling on a rope (Fig. 18). Take a small step forward with your left foot, toed out at 45° and DRILL forward with both fists as you shift your weight onto your left foot. Your left fist leads your right fist, DRILLING, and ends, palm up, at eyebrow level. Your right fist touches your left forearm between the wrist and the elbow (Fig. 19).

Next, suspend your right foot at your left ankle (Fig. 20). Then take a full step forward with your right foot, pushing off your left foot. (Kuo Yun-shen said: "The rear foot holds strength as though you are going to leap off it across a ditch"; but step, don't jump.) Open your fists, palms down, SPLITTING your right hand over your retracting left, as all your weight shifts forward onto your right foot (Fig. 21). Next, follow-step a half-step forward with your left foot and shift 60% of your weight back to it (Fig. 22).

NOTE: All striking steps push off the rear foot and follow-steps are always half-steps.