Four famous generals from China's distant past, including Yuchi Gong and Qin Qiong now worshipped as "Door Gods"
A couple of weeks ago I broke the
journey home from Chenjiagou, making a stop in Kota Kinabalu on Borneo island for
a week to visit relatives. One afternoon we took a drive to the small settlement
of Tuaran to eat the noodles the town is famous for. A couple of streets from
the restaurant was an
Calligraphy reads- "Jing Gang Subdues the Demon
unexpected bonus - replete with a colourful ten
storey pagoda, the splendidly named "Temple of Dragon
Mountain"! While the Malaysian-Chinese locals I travelled with described
it as a Daoist Temple, puzzlingly a large sign painted on a wall next to it
described it as Ling San Buddhist Temple?
Temple of Dragon Mountain
In the West it is often assumed
that there are clearly demarcated lines between China's different philosophies.
However, in the day to day lives of the Chinese the lines are in reality more
blurred. Walking through the
temple the philosophies of Daoism, Buddhism and Confucianism co-exist harmoniously:
statues of the Daoism's iconic Eight Immortals and various deified warriors
from the China's distant past; a giant smiling golden Buddha; figures from the
Buddhist classic Journey to the West including Tripitaka and his companions
the Monkey King, Sandy and Pigsy; and a statue of a benevolent looking Confucius
sitting solidly in a prime spot. These are accompanied by many images and
figures from fearsome Jing Gang subduing demons to murals of various dragons
and other colourful beasts, deities and young maidens.
I read an article recently by
Chen Jinguo, a scholar of the Chinese Folk Literature and Art Society, who
suggested that folk religion represents a core element of Chinese cultural
self-awareness. While Professor Han
Bingfang of the Institute for Research into World Religions at the Academy of
Social Sciences in Beijing went so far as to call Chinese folk religion the
"core and soul of popular culture".
Confucius
Chinese martial arts, including
Taijiquan, being an important component of Chinese culture have inevitably been
influenced by these forces. Taijiquan
is often simplistically referred to as a Daoist martial art. A cursory
examination of its names shows that it too draws from this common culture: the
Chen Family Rules are typical Confucian standards of idealised behaviour
adopted by many clan groups; the underlying philosophy of naturalness and of
using softness to overcome hardness are clearly drawn from Daoism; while the
postures in the form such as Jing Dang Dao Dui (Buddha's Warrior Attendant
Pounds Mortar) show the influence of Buddhism. What all three philosophies
have in common is the idea of an integrated universe balancing the three
components of "heaven, earth and man".
In November Chenjiagou is quiet. I've been coming to the village for over twenty years now, training in the Chenjiagou Taijiquan School with GM Chen Xiaoxing since 2003. The changes in the village year on year have been quite remarkable. That said, I was unprepared for the difference in the last twelve months: the centre of the village has become a green pedestrianised oasis; on one end of the village a new "mountain" has appeared; even the small dark room two doors down from Chen Xiaoxing's living quarters within the school has had a facelift, with a coat of paint, a mirrored wall and a pair of calligraphys hanging opposite to each other. That aside it remains the place where he teaches day in day out.
One thing that never changes is Chen Xiaoxing's demanding training regimen. Each morning the first session is scheduled for 8am and always begins with zhan zhuang (standing post). As Chen Xiaoxing likes everyone to be standing when he comes in, people usually start five or ten minutes earlier. The floor is paved with stone tiles each about a metre square. As students come into the room they fill up the squares on the floor with one person to each, lining up from the back of the room. By the time he enters everyone is already training. Student by student, Chen Xiaoxing then systematically adjusts the posture of everyone in the room.
Many people describe zhan zhuang as a type of standing meditation. In contrast, I remember Chen Xiaoxing joking some years ago that the thing his students feared the most was the standing. His corrections lead students into a deep and very demanding position - always sitting further back and deeper than their assumed position. Over the course of forty minutes or so the group do their best to maintain the posture. Within a short time some people's legs are shaking uncontrollably, other stronger and more experienced practitioners on the surface seem to hold their shape, but everyone imperceptively moves out of position. After ten or fifteen minutes Chen Xiaoxing returns and repeats the process again leading everyone to a place that tests their limits. The training is painful and mentally challenging and the results come millimetre by millimetre. Chen Xiaoxing brings the standing to a close with a clap of his hands and there is a palpable sense of relief as everyone moves about, some going out into the winter sun to bring some life back their aching legs.
Disciples and students of GM Chen Xioaxing
After five or ten minutes' respite the class continues, now lining up facing the mirrors. For the next three quarters of an hour the training focuses on silk reeling exercises designed to instil Chen Taijiquan's spiralling movement. Chen Xiaoxing doesn't specify which drill students do and most stick to the single front reeling silk exercise or the double hand front to back exercise. Again he moves from person to person carefully moving students through the movement route - always holding the hips down and back so there is no respite for the legs. Correcting each person through touch, individually addressing their shortcomings: relaxing the chest, back or shoulders; ensuring the body doesn't lean in any direction; fixing any inconsistencies of coordination between upper and lower body; anything that doesn't conform to the standard he requires.
Shaolin fighter Yi Long feels the burn
Altogether this first part of the class training zhan zhuang and chansigong lasts about an hour and a half. Throughout the process the students do not talk or ask questions. Their job is to "listen" to and try to feel and understand the posture and movement method and to replicate it as closely as they can. On a blackboard fixed to one of the training room walls some previous student has written the phrase "through realisation not speech". This method of transmission through direct experience is fundamental to a true understanding of Taijiquan. In China there is a saying that to experience once is better than to hear a thousand times. Like the difference between someone describing a dish and actually tasting it for yourself. No matter how articulate the person, words can give some idea, but they can never transmit the experience of actually eating the dish. The same holds true for Taijiquan's method and expression. A short film last year featured Yi Long the Shaolin "Fighting Monk" during which he visited Chenjiagou. Delong is one of China's most famous and colourful fighters who last year lost a close decision in a bout with Thailand's famous Muay Thai boxing champion Buakaw. When his posture was adjusted by Chen Xiaoxing you could see him gasping in an effort to maintain the position.
Drilling single movements...
During the next hour and a half of the class the group separate to train whichever aspect each person wants to, either in the training room or in the yard outside - some training the different handforms, a few training push hands drills. This part of the class is more informal as Chen Xiaoxing wanders around often joking, sometimes offering pointers to the faults he inevitably finds. Now people can ask if there is anything they are not clear on - bearing in mind his lack of patience for stupid questions. One less experienced and over-eager student would often spend this time doing the forward and backward stepping push hands drill. Frantically bobbing up and down as he trained, ignoring the advanced students who laughed at his efforts and advised him there were no shortcuts and that gongfu couldn't be laid down in this way, prompting Chen Xiaoxing to say "don't tell people that I have taught you to do that"! Another often quoted expression is that "If you train quan without training gong, a lifetime of training will bear no fruit". They, for the most part, trained individual movements from the forms or carried on training the fundamental exercises. Slowly and systematically embedding the required shape, energetic state and movement method until it becomes the default state of the body. Without following this path an individual can fool themselves gaining false confidence by collecting a large number of applications. However, at the time their skills are needed, ultimately they will not work optimally when tested under pressure. The session finishes at 11am when everyone breaks to eat and rest. At 3pm the process is repeated...
Western students often find this approach problematic, as they are educated through a school system that values and rewards students who constantly raise their hands and ask questions. The paradox is that while seeming to ask fewer questions, most of the students in Chen Xiaoxing's class have a far greater awareness of Taijiquan's underlying theory and principles. While it may be difficult to put into practice, this theory has never been more readily available to students than it is today. One of the most frustrating part of teaching is the constant need to reteach people the choreography of forms that they simply don't train enough to become genuinely familiar. The preliminary stage of Taijiquan training requires students to drill the forms repetitively until the form is completely familiar. The next stage then is to dismantle the form, training each movement to conform to the requirements. This can only be done in a slow, meticulous and mindful way.
Chen Xiaoxing's65th Birthday
Afternoon training was suspended on the 23rd to celebrateChen Xiaoxing's 65th birthday. One of the things I love about him is his aversion to pomp and show. I remember celebrating his 60th birthday not in some fancy hotel, but in the main training hall of the school. This wasn't possible this time, as the hall now houses a full size boxing ring and a permanent raised tuishou platform. Instead we decamped to Chen Ziqiang's training centre. Like before students of the school waited on the tables and the food was cooked on the premises by instructor Wang Yan's father who is a chef and restaurant owner. The participants were an intimate group of disciples and close friends with not an official to be seen. Some of these guys have trained with Chen Xiaoxing since the 1980s and have their own schools being renowned teachers in their own right. But when they come back to Chenjiagou they still line up in the small dark room to train the fundamentals...
Pre-party photo: L-R: David Gaffney, Chen Xiaoxing, Davidine Sim
Chen Wangting, creator of Taijiquan with his favoured weapon
Weapons training has always played an important part in the Chen training curriculum. At the time of its creation, Chen style Taijiquan was practiced essentially to develop the martial and military skills of the villagers of Chenjiagou. Without a doubt the training would have greatly enhanced the health of the Taiji boxers but this did not provide the main reason for practicing the skill. In Chen Wangting’s day guns had yet to make an appearance; traditional weapons were still being carried onto the battlefield and used in actual combat.
Today, the weapon routines of the assorted Chinese martial arts are considered by most people only from the perspective of demonstrating or exercising in the park. Viewing the Chen weapon forms in this way shows a superficial appreciation of their fundamental nature. Preserved within each of the Chen weapons routine is a complex martial training manual. As well as the flexible sinuous movements, the forms include numerous dynamic actions, swift changes in tempo, and fierce chopping, slicing or thrusting movements.
Viewed in the light of the whole system, weapons training add to the barehand training of the Chen Taijiquan exponent by magnifying certain requirements. For instance, the mind and intention must be extended all the way through the length of the weapon; movements must stay relaxed, agile and efficient at the same time as controlling a weighty object; and footwork must be lively and responsive to permit rapid changes in the actual fighting sequence. Within the training curriculum of Chen style Taijiquan numerous weapons are still practiced today, including sword (jian), broadsword (dao), spear (qiang), halberd (guandao), pole, double-sword, double-broadsword and double iron mace.
Short Weapons
The sword is one of the most ancient weapons in Chinese martial arts history. Archaeologists have uncovered swords from as far back as the Bronze Age. When the Terracotta Army was unearthed in the early Chinese capital Xian, a find dating back to the Qin dynasty more than two thousand years ago, the officers and generals were found carrying swords.
In Chen Taijiquan, the sword used is generally light in weight, with a flexible blade. For the Chen Taiji swordsman, success on the battlefield depended more upon skill, precision and speed. Chen Taijiquan contains one single straight sword form consisting of forty-nine postures. The forty-nine postures can be sub-divided into thirteen basic techniques: thrusting downwards (zha); level or upward thrust (ci); pointing by flicking the wrist (dian); chopping (pi); slicing levelly or obliquely upwards (mo); sweeping (sao); neutralizing in a circular path (hua); circular deflection with point uppermost (liao); hanging (gua); pushing up (tuo); pushing (tui); intercepting (jie); and raising opponent’s weapon overhead (jia)”.
The sword’s flexibility allows the proficient swordsman to inflict injury from a great range of angles utilizing many diverse techniques. Its great versatility has led to the saying that there is “no gap the sword cannot enter, and no gap that another can enter”.
Chen Xiaoxing training sword
The different weapons help to train the many diverse qualities essential in honing a “Taijiquan physique.” Practicing the Chen sword form allows an exponent to develop the ability to project energy in a relaxed manner to the tip of the sword. It also helps to create an efficient Taiji body, with repeated practice loosening the large joints such as the hips and shoulders, as well as helping to increase the suppleness of the wrists and hands.
Chen Family Temple mural - Broadsword
Another of Chen Taijiquan’s short weapons is the Broadsword. Easily distinguishable from the sword, which is double-edged and light, the broadsword is single-edged and heavy. The resultant strength of the broadsword led to cutting movements that are large, expansive and powerful in nature. In appearance, using the broadsword is said to be “like splitting a mountain.” In character, the Broadsword is traditionally compared to a ferocious tiger, with each movement being more direct and easily understandable than the straight sword. This is reflected in the Chinese martial arts saying “Dao like a fierce tiger, jian like a swimming dragon.”
The Chen Taijiquan Broadsword form is short in length and dynamic in nature. Although classified as one of the system’s short weapons, the broadsword can cover a surprisingly long distance by utilizing explosive leaping and jumping movements. Movements can be performed in different ways depending upon the ultimate objective of practice. Often the routine is executed with long, low stances as a way of conditioning the body, increasing one’s power and speed. As a means of overall body training, the explosive leaping and jumping movements much in common with modern plyometric training exercises used by many of today’s elite sports performers. Simply put the combination of speed and strength is power. For many years coaches and athletes have sought to improve power in order to enhance performance. Throughout the last century and no doubt long before, jumping, bounding and hopping exercises have been used in various ways to enhance athletic performance. In recent years this distinct method of training for power or explosiveness has been termed plyometrics (Flach, 2005: 14). In Chenjiagou, Taijiquan exponents have long understood this method of training to enhance the explosive reaction of the individual.
When training for combat use, however, using very low stances, prevents the dexterity and fleetness of footwork required in a real conflict. The Taiji boxer focusing on training the applications within the broadsword routine would usually practice in a higher posture to enhance mobility. Consequently, to achieve both martial and conditioning benefits, practitioners in Chenjiagou have traditionally trained over a range of heights.
Chen Taijiquan Spear
Long Weapons
As well as its short weapons, Chen Taijiquan also has a number of weapons for long range combat, including the halberd, long pole and the “King of Weapons” – the spear. An often-cited phrase -“one hundred days to practice broadsword, one thousand days to practice spear” – reflects the intricacy and level of difficulty contained within the form.
Also known as the “Pear-Flower Spear and White Ape Staff” (Li Hua Qiang Jia Bai Yuan Kun), the Chen Taijiquan spear is trained through a form that includes the functions of both spear and staff. The routine dates back to Chen Wangting, making it one of the earliest Taiji forms. In his comprehensive review of Taijiquan, The Origin, Evolution and Development of Shadow Boxing, Gu Liuxin cites the evidence gathered by historian Tang Hao, who came to the conclusion that the texts of the famous Ming general Qi Jiguang had a profound influence on Chen Wangting’s creation of Taijiquan. Qi’s military training text, in turn, documented the spear techniques of the Yang Family 24-Spear Form. The Yang family in question refers to a renowned female warrior of the Song dynasty, who used the form to avenge the slaying of her male relatives, so should not be confused with the Yang Taijiquan family.
The earliest version of the Chen Taiji spear form followed the sequence of the Yang 24-movement
Ming General Qi Jiguang
form in both posture and name. Its uniqueness came as a result of the application of Taiji movement principles to the existing method. In the ensuing years, the Chen spear form has increased from 24 to 72 movements with the addition of a variety of staff movements.
Watching a skilled exponent performing the, its martial roots are immediately apparent. The overall tempo is forceful, direct and rapid with few movements being done slowly. Today it is highly unlikely that anyone would need to use the spear for its original combat purpose, yet the Chen family spear form remains a highly practical training tool. Spear practice enhances barehand skills by improving balance through the use of intricate and rapid stepping movements as well as developing upper body strength and overall flexibility.
Variously known as the “Spring and Autumn Broadsword,” the “Green Dragon Crescent Moon Broadsword” or simply the “Big Knife,” the halberd is one of the oldest weapons forms in the system. Characterized by strong and powerful movements, the halberd is a large and heavy weapon requiring a high degree of upper body strength and a stable root if it is to be manipulated freely. The Chen Taijiquan halberd trains the practitioner to move and be responsive in every direction. The halberd provides today’s practitioners with a tangible link to the earliest days of Chen Taijiquan. The favored weapon of Chen Wangting, it is recorded in the Genealogy of the Chen Family that:
Guandao training - Chenjiagou Taijiquan School
Wangting, alias Zhouting, was a knight at the end of the Ming dynasty and a scholar in the early years of the Qing Dynasty. He was known in Shandong Province as a master of martial arts, once defeating more than a thousand bandits. He was the originator of the barehanded and armed combat boxing of the Chen school. He was a born warrior, as can be proved by the broadsword he used in combat.
While the individual names of the weapon or hand forms describe the movements, the halberd form is unique. Each of the thirty movements of this form is given a seven-character song or poem. When taken in their entirety, they recount the story of General Guan, a famous warrior from the turbulent Three Kingdoms Period (A.D.25–220) of Chinese history. Consequently every time the form is practiced, his exploits are re-enacted.
Contemporary practitioners should not overlook the importance of the weapons routines as they offer a tangible link to past generations. The forms are at once practical and aesthetic. Artistically pleasing to watch, the weapons routines are physically complex and demanding to complete. Many of the weapon forms have changed little since the time of Chen Wangting. Consequently they provide a window to the origins of Taijiquan and represent an important legacy to today’s Taijiquan practitioner.
Chen Taijiquan Chen Xiangin meets MMA's Anderson Silva
I saw this interaction between UFC legend Anderson "The Spider" Silva and Chen Xianglin one of the branch instructors of the Chenjiagou Taijiquan School and a member of its fighting team and thought some of you might enjoy it.
Mixed martial arts website bloodyelbow.com reported recently that "the UFC is headed to Shanghai in November with Anderson Silva expected to headline in a bout with Kelvin Gastelum. The UFC is finally headed to mainland China five years after their first event in Macau, back in 2012".
Brazilian mixed martial artist Anderson "the spider" Silva holds the longest title streak in UFC history, which ended in 2013 after 2,457 days, with 16 consecutive wins and 10 title defences of the UFC middleweight crown. He was described by UFC president Dana White and a number of mixed-martial-arts publications as the greatest mixed martial artist of all time.
Silva and Gastelum are currently in China promoting their upcoming bout. One of the most dominant strikers the sport has ever seen Silva's main martial art is Muay Thai, but he is a black belt in Taekwondo and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Judo.
After the press conference yesterday (25th Sept) for the upcoming fight the "Spider" met with Chen Xiangln for dinner and for a friendly exchange of skills. Chen Xianglin is one of the guys we've watched over the years emerging from the ranks of students and developing into an accomplished martial artist.
In the short clip of their meeting Silva's jaw visibly dropped at the explosiveness of Chen's short range fajin. What's the chance he'll add Chen Taijiquan to his repertoire?
Legendary MMA champion Anderson Silva experiencing Chen Taijiquan
Unveiling Chenjiagou's new statue of Chen Wangting
Chenjiagou is buzzing at the moment with the unveiling of a new and bigger
statue of Chen Wangting. At the same time, coming across the following quote by
Wang Xian made me chuckle: “What’s the biggest secret in Taijiquan – train,
train, train and train again. If you just look and don’t practice even Chen
Wangting couldn’t teach you”! A simple and unmistakable message that nobody
could fail to understand! Everybody gets the idea that superior skills require
bitter training. Ultimately every person makes a decision how hard they are
going to work and, by definition, the elite level is built on a commitment that
the masses cannot commit to. As bodybuilding legend and multiple times Mr
Olympia winner Ronnie Coleman puts it: “Everyone wants to be a bodybuilder, but
don’t nobody want to lift no heavy-ass weights”!
Joking aside, a serious obstacle faces many western students of Taijiquan
that cause many students to get a disproportionately small return in real Taijiquan
terms for their hard efforts. The various internal martial arts systems share
many training methods and theories which practitioners, while sweating and knocking
out the reps, often pay lip service to. Requirements such as:
Chen Xiaoxing - "without understanding China's
traditional culture you cannot go past a basic level"
Head held as if being suspended by a string
Eyes kept level
Tongue against the upper palate
Shoulders relaxed and elbows sunken
Chest relaxed and contained
Qi to dantian
Kua relaxed
etc. etc...
These are the core requirements. The problem is that the benefits of training
these aspects are not at all obvious. Many students are able to quote
these rules, but lose confidence in prioritising their attainment in their
daily training. The average Chinese student has less internal conflict when
their teacher asks them to follow these requirements. Not that there are no
lazy or impatient Chinese students, or that all Chinese students pay strict
attention to these details and don't get distracted by the more dynamic side of
Taijiquan. But these ideas are shared throughout Chinese culture. Many of
the same requirements underpinning Taijiquan are also central to the theories
of Traditional Chinese Medicine,painting and calligraphy etc. Even the ultra
stylised medium of Beijing opera requires performers to keep their kua level,
to sink qi to the dantian, lift the crown of their head etc. In an interview with Chen
Xiaoxing he went as far as describing the lack of understanding of traditional
Chinese culture as one of the most significant barriers for non-Chinese
students. Without this, he believed a person could never get beyond the basic
level of imitating the outside shape.
During the London Olympics I watched the weightlifting event. As one of the
Chinese contestants prepared to make his final lift his coach quietly said
"chen qi" or "sink your qi". At this pivotal moment he for
sure wasn't looking to make some kind of obscure philosophical point. The
advice carried a clear and understandable message to his lifter. The lack of
understanding this shared world view is a barrier that western Taijiquan
students must overcome if they are to be successful in their practice.
Chinese weightlifters understand what is meant by "sinking the qi"
It's always a pleasure to return to Poland. As usual Chen Ziqiang's week long series of workshops was ably hosted by Marek Balinski's Chen Taijiquan Academie in the suburbs of Warsaw. A recurring pointer over the different sessions was the need to be patient and to do the right thing. Haste, impatience and the urge to do it quickly- be it the handforms, weapons or push hands - only lead to poor realisation. Ultimately this kind of short-cut thinking kills any chance of developing authentic skill. Conversely, careful repetitive practice allows one to systematically train out any mistakes of structure or timing and coordination. To quote Chen Ziqiang, "Be patient. Do it right. If you do the right things, the right things happen".
We reviewed the spear form over the course of two days going deeper into the essential points of the weapon. Despite it being an experienced group that knew the choreography well, he spent half of the first day working on three core basic drills which combined, trained the "martial flower" pattern. The martial flower synchronises fast and agile footwork with movements of the spear, "as if there were an axle turning two wheels closely on either side of the body". As mentioned in a previous post, people often incorrectly do this movement by turning the spear in front of their body as if paddling a canoe.
Students often get impatient during this kind of basic practice, but that is what gets results. Commenting on one over-zealous student moving furiously up and down the room: "Look at him spinning the spear around as if he knows what he's doing". Superficially the hand movements were OK, but the footwork was completely uncoordinated,
stepping back as if both feet were fixed on tramlines. Chen Ziqiang recalled how he was instructed to train the martial flower for two years before being allowed to begin learning the spear form. And to train the basics of the sabre for five years before learning the form. Training in this way ensured that the essential characteristics became default settings over which it was easy to learn the form correctly. Obviously this time scale might not be practical or possible for a middle-aged practitioner who enjoys Taijiquan as a hobby and trains a couple times a week. However, it does point to the importance of careful mindful practice and the fact that doing it correctly is far more important than doing it quickly.
Qinna training...
On a similar theme, during push hands training emphasis was placed on fixing the movement track until it is seamless. For instance, repeatedly training a single qinna with the idea of adding speed in the future when it can be applied instinctively without excessive or telegraphed movement. Going through the dingbu drill, carefully paying attention to the moments when you or your opponent were vulnerable to attack. Being mindful of changes in weight and the points where the opponent became double weighted and unable to take their foot off the ground.
In the beginning learners are naturally anxious to get everything, but at some point there's a need to realise that the best results only come if training is approached in a particular way. Above simply training hard (which is a given), what's needed is the mental capacity to take a step back and undoing mistakes. Adopting a state of relaxed mindfulness, in a sense, not trying too hard and not fixating on any one particular aspect. Many people may misinterpret this as advocating some kind of easygoing less than optimal approach. This is a serious misunderstanding. Relaxed in this sense doesn't mean just sloppily doing what you want, but building slowly from fundamentals and adding to them layer by layer - no matter how long it takes...
Many people approach Chen
Taijiquan’s “push hands” without really appreciating its subtleties and its
place within the training curriculum. Interestingly even the term “tuishou” or “push
hands” is a relatively recent term. Go back through the literature left by
earlier generations and the term more commonly used was “geshou”. The literal
translation of this is “putting hands”, but for readability in English we can
say “placing hands”. Think of the action of putting a glass of water onto a
table. Without paying attention and putting it down carefully we’ll either
spill the water on the way to reaching the table. Or, worse we’ll drop the
glass onto the floor if we release it too early. From this simple example we
can see that the distance, angle etc must be exact.
The following text is adapted
from Paul Brennan’s translation of Chen Ziming’s 1930s Taijiquan treatise.“…you will begin to sense that the subtleties
of the placing hands exercise come entirely from the ordinary practice of the
Taijiquan form. All of the principles within the form manifest from a balanced
energy. Placing hands is the application of that balanced energy.
Diligently practice the form.
Once you are accomplished at it, you will naturally be able to move on to
placing hands… In the beginning, work hard and unceasingly. But you must not
learn placing hands first as it will undermine everything you are working towards,
and for your whole life you will never be able to reach the heart of the art.
If you do not first learn the form, and you instead want to start with placing
hands exercise, you will be like an infant who learns to walk before learning
to stand – ie always falling over. To abandon the beginning in search of the
end is to start with the goal and neglect the work that will get you to it. If
you do not know what comes before and follows after, how can you be on the
right path? It is the form that is to be practiced first. People who first
learn placing hands are all impatient for quick results, and they do not start
with the form because they are all afraid of the hard work it entails and want
only comfort. Unable to face up to the proper sequence of training, they just want to jump ahead. It is
like wanting to draw lines and circles without the use of compass and square.
In this way, they all produce something that a true craftsman would deem
worthless”.
Chen Ziming "placing hands"
Even with the basis of good form skills students
must not become transfixed with the idea of pushing their opponent or forcing
their techniques on and “winning” the encounter. This is a serious
misunderstanding of the exercise. While it may seem to have been applied
instantaneously, an accomplished practitioner applying a technique goes through
the following four stages.
The famous Chinese military
strategist Sunzi stated that: “Victory comes from deep thinking, detailed
preparation and long calculation”. Chen Taijiquan’s systematic training
methodology takes into account every aspect of an individual. Its unique
training method was devised to unify body and mind and sayings such as
“concentrate on one thing lose everything” reflect an implicit understanding
that no single facet can be understood except in relation to the whole. Recognising
this practitioners work towards harmonising the opposing forces or aspects
within the body through the gradual realisation of Taijiquan’s “six harmonies”
– divided into three external and three internal harmonies.
Understanding and applying
the six harmonies is not easy, especially the three internal harmonies and
learners shouldn’t expect to achieve this overnight. To take them in turn, the
external harmonies refer to aspects of structure
and alignment and the coordination of the external aspects of the body. The
three external harmonies represent the connections between:
Hands – Feet
Elbows – Knees
Shoulders - Kua
The
realisation of the external harmonies is sometimes referred to as the skill of “everything arriving at
the same time”.
Working Towards Integration
Chen Xin
Broadly speaking we can say
that anything that leads us towards integrating the body and mind leads us
towards realising the six harmonies. Over the generations different ways have
been used to explain this process. For example, Chen Taijiquan
makes use of “three sectional movement” explained by Chen Xin as follows: “Jin
is divided into three sections, every section is interconnected [jin] moving
from section to section”. The following passage taken from the Chen family
classics explains how to use this theory to synchronise the whole body:
“In truth it can
serve the purpose by discussing them [the different parts of the body] by three
parts: the upper, the middle and the lower, or root, middle and tip. For the
entire body, head is the upper part, chest is the middle part and legs are the
lower part. For the face, forehead is the upper, nose is the middle and mouth
is the lower. For the torso, chest is the upper, stomach is the middle and
dantian is the lower. For the legs, kua is the root, knee is the middle and
foot is the tip. For the upper limb, arm is the root, elbow is the middle and
hand is the tip. For the hand, wrist is the root, palm is the middle and finger
is the tip, from which the case of the feet can be deduced. So there are three
parts from neck to feet. It is important to focus on the three parts in their
cooperation. If the upper is not clear, there will be no source, if the middle
is not clear, the internal body will be empty, and if the lower is not clear,
instability will occur. From this it is obvious that the three parts of the
body cannot be overlooked”.
The bow has the function of stretched power between two opposing forces.
Others use the idea of “Five
Bows” to explain Taijiquan’s internal power mechanics – simply put, bows have
the function of stretched power between two opposing forces.The body consists of five primary bows - the
torso, the arms and legs which, when combined, form the basis of focused whole
body jin. They allow the collective
force of the entire body to be emitted through one point, hence the saying,
“five bows combine into one”.
In practice it is important
to become more aware of movements opposing and complementing each other - recognising
the fact that if there is a motion upward, there will be a motion downward. If
there is a motion forward, there will be a motion backward.If there is a motion leftward, there will be
a motion rightward. This is reflected in advice passed down such as: “The heels
sink down while the achilles tendon lifts up.The kua loosen while the
lower spine lifts up.The shoulders relax while the neck lifts up”. Or
the “three liftings” of the internal martial arts which instructs practitioners
to use intention to lift the baihui, tongue and huiyin while everything else
sinks down.
To summarise harmonisation:
-No action in isolation
-When one part moves another part harmonises (upper/lower,
left/right, hand/foot/ qi/action etc)
While Taijiquan is
considered to be an “internal” martial art, there is a close relationship
between the external and internal aspects. So for instance, the process of
quieting the mind leads to the calming of the emotions and inevitably to the
relaxation of the body. In the early stages of training practitioners use the
external shape to lead the internal, eventually using internal energy to drive
the external shape.
Taijiquan’s three internal
harmonies are usually described as the harmonisation of one’s xin (heart/mind),
yi (intention), qi (intrinsic energy) and li (body strength). These are unified
through the connections of:
Xin – Yi
Yi – Qi
Qi – Li
Or alternatively:
Xin – Yi
Qi – Li
Jin (Tendons) – Gu (Bones)
Zhu Tiancai summarised the body’s internal connections as
a chain reaction:
1.Xin
is activated in instigating an action.
2.Yi
dictates the direction and power of the action.
3.Yi
sets in motion qi energy (that starts to move under the direction of yi).
4.This
in turn produces li or physical power.
Singapore 2002 pushing hands with Zhu Tiancai: "Intention dictates the power of an action"
Heart
and Intention
The xin represents the
centre of human feelings and emotions, from tranquillity, calmness and serenity
to anger, grief, disappointment and frustration etc. The yi, on the other hand,
refers to the logical decision-making mind. To cultivate mental unity both the
emotional mind as well as the logical mind must be present. Fully focused
energy can only be achieved with a decisiveness of purpose.
Nowhere is this more
important than in the arena of combat where conflicting thoughts and feelings
can easily lead to an unsuccessful outcome. Here xin is needed to summon up
courage and fighting spirit and yi to make clear judgements and logical
decisions. To paraphrase 14th generation master Chen Changxin, when
facing an opponent “stand like a living dragon and then crush him like plucking
a weed”.
An article published on Taiji
Yiren, a Chinese site created to promote Taiji culture, reported the response by
Chen Zhaoxu to the question – “How do you train this martial art”? Chen Zhaoxu
(the eldest son of Chen Fake and father of Chen Xiaowang and Chen Xiaoxing)
answered, “You have to fangsong (loosen) the “four big pieces” in the
body”. That is the two shoulders and the two kua.
His younger brother Chen
Zhaokui expanded on this, advising practitioners of the need to pay attention
to relaxing the chest as only if your chest relaxes can your shoulders relax.
He gave the example of push hands: “During push hands, the first thing is to
control someone’s shoulders. If your shoulders are not flexible, you are actually
locking yourself”. He went on to suggest that once you’ve solved the problem of
the shoulders - that is they are flexible and can execute full rotation – even if
someone locks you from behind,
Chen Zhaokui - "First thing is to control an opponent's shoulders"
you can reverse the attack and escape. Chen
Zhaokui spoke of the relationship between the shoulders and the kua: “Relaxing the
chest and shoulders facilitates the folding movement of the torso and
that has a direct relation to the kua being relaxed.
Sun Lutang - "First solve the problem of the shoulders and kua"
Sun Lutang, the renowned
internal martial artist and creator of Sun Style Taijiquan believed that, such
was the importance of these four joints that in the early stages of training
learners should focus upon them above everything else: “The key is in the
shoulders and kua. In the beginning don’t think about anything else – just
solve the problem of these two parts”. He advised learners to constantly think
about how to relax and sink (ie don’t lift) the shoulders. This focus should be
carried over to encompass one’s daily activities – “In your everyday life think
about sinking your shoulders and dropping your elbows. [In time] you’ll see an
obvious change”. Sun Lutang was of the opinion that a lot of people who have
trained gongfu for many years have not succeeded in opening their kua. Concluding that this was a serious failing
that he believed meant that no matter how much effort they put in, without addressing this
shortcoming, whatever they you train will be incorrect”.
Sun cautioned practitioners
to be patient, advising them to only move on to other aspects of training when
this basic requirement was achieved. Relaxing the shoulders and the kua is crucial
if one is to develop an integrated body and from that point start to open
up and stretch the rest of the joints: “After your shoulders and kua open other
things are not so difficult. If you are diligent and persevere your body will
start to change shape – you might even get unexpected results”.
Taijiquan teachers often use
the expression - “be strong in eight directions”.But what does this actually mean in practice?
Fundamental to understanding how the Chinese understand dynamic processes is
coming to terms with the character shi
which can be loosely translated as the “configuration of energy”, or we could
say latent energy. In texts from as far back as the Warring States and Qin
period the term shi can often be
found paired with the character xing,
“external shape”. For example, a boulder has a shape. If it is balanced at the edge
of a cliff it is said to have shi.
The term is used widely in the Chinese tradition to describe the manifestation
of energy from potential. China’s most revered military strategist Sunzi
described the potential of a rock perched on the edge of a cliff and the devastating
power that could be released from this quiet and harmless state. The art of war
teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy not coming, but on our
own readiness to receive him; not on the chance of him not attacking, but
rather on the fact that we have made our position unassailable. Similarly,
Taijiquan appears quiet on the surface, but a highly trained practitioner seeks
to be in a place of balance where they can instantly react to a force coming
from any direction.
Sunzi would have seen the potential of this
rock perched high above the Grand Canyon
perch
John Hay (1994) in his
introduction to Boundaries in China describing
shi wrote: “Its boundaries are
therefore in time as well as space; they are never geometrically precise.
Instead of exterior planes, they have a changeable envelope of textured
energy”. Little wonder then that western Taijiquan players often misunderstand
their Chinese teachers. During one training camp in Chenjiagou a student asked
whether a particular movement was peng
or lu. The answer he received was,
“It could be peng and it could be lu”. That is, it had the potential to be
either depending upon the intention at that moment. The student walked away
confused and disappointed that they had not received a “straight answer”.
