Posted
by PD on 12/1/2000, 3:47 pm
Hi AK, It seems that the two main representations of Zhang
Zhaodong’s bagua in Europe and the US are those taught by Jiang Rongqiao and Wang
Shujin. I have only seen Jiang’s form once and know little about his basic training,
emphasis etc so can’t really comment –maybe that’s your area? The main components
taught in Wang’s bagua (as taught by my teacher I should add since there slight
differences between the different disciples) are:
1. Standing post (zhanzhuang)
2.
Single movement practice (danlian) alone and with partner and stretching/strengthening
exercises
3. Circle walking with static upper body postures
4. Fixed step linking palms - eight palms changes aimed to train the eight basic
energies/powers/techniques (tui, tuo, dai, ling, ban ,kou, pi,jin)
5. The flowing dragon rambling body palm (long xing you shen zhang) which is fluid
step, faster, continuous and so forth – it follows the principle of‘…one gives
rise to two, two to three, three to the ten thousand things…’ (yi sheng er er
sheng san san sheng wanwu –) idea found in the Dao Dejing in that it goes from
very simple to very complex, adding complexity in each change.
6. Bagua ‘push hands’
7. Application, including fixed but heavy emphasis on free sparring and fighting
8. Weapons (double sword and staff)
Let me begin by saying that my impression of Master Wang’s teaching is that he
was very direct and taught by application and fighting. Forms, for instance, were
merely a way of developing certain powers, fluidity and qi in preparation for
fighting. Wang Shujin used very few techniques when fighting and those he used
were direct and extremely powerful.He was also left handed which surprised many
of his opponents as left handedness is most often ‘corrected’ in China in youth
as it is considered outside the norm. Even if many fighters develop both sides
in their practice, most have a strong side and a weak side, the strong side being
the right.Wang’s most powerful side was his left. His forms reflected his philosophy
of simplicity and basics and are, compared to other bagua forms, very simple and
sometimes bland in external appearance .They are, however, also very powerful
and practical. Students were taught by asking how to fight/defend themselves against
such and such an attack and by fighting other schools of martial arts in free
fighting tournaments. Wang encourage exploration of the basic principles of fighting
and was not a big proponent of fixed two-person sets.
Wang taught all three internal arts to students, beginning with Taiji, then xingyi
and finally bagua. In this sense he followed Dong Haichuan’s method of teaching
bagua only to those who already had martial arts skills, and also his own teacher’s
progression from xingyi to bagua. I’ve seen some films of Wang’s bagua application
and it certainly had a xingyi flavour to it. It was direct and without superfluous
movements. This was not only a result of his training but also his physical size
which made direct techniques and applications more natural to him than more twisting,
coiling and evasive etc.
I won’t go into the taiji and xingyi here but rather concentrate on bagua and
the basics as taught by wang. Please keep in mind, though, that taiji and xingyi
were taught first before bagua and thus may be considered kind of a basis for
wang’s bagua teaching, or at least a foundation all students who studied his bagua
had.
Wang’s bagua system starts students from stillness in zhan zhuang postures, first
double weighted and later 60/40 weighted. These are aimed at building roots, relaxation,
calm and qi. The second component, and one of the most important ones in terms
of power and martial application I think, is the practice of single movements.
These consist of palm, fist and leg exercises aimed at developing gong li, or
power. They are practiced first standing in 60/40 posture and then with moving
steps on a straight line. For example, left piercing palm (chuan zhang) will be
practiced 60 repetitions on the left and 60 reps on the right. There is an assortment
of these exercises such as piercing, slapping, shaking and the five elements of
xingyi and so forth. Especially in the beginning, I used to feel my arms were
about to fall off and my legs were like cooked spaghetti (not al dente!). These
exercises also build coordination and unity of the upper and lower body. We call
it jiu gong gui yi which means nine palaces return to one point, meaning the body
acts as one unit and all power is concentrated in any given technique, point.
The mental aspect of this training is very important. Wang delivered tremendously
painful and dangerous strikes and my teacher is the same. I was once hit by him
so badly I felt all my internal organs had been crushed. It wasn’t serious though
and after sitting down for a while, everything was fine but I did think I needed
to be rushed to hospital. My teacher did not use full force in any way and I hope
he never does. Anyway, jiu gong gui yi is an important part of Wang’s practice
and all the single movements are aimed at developing that kind of coordinated,
unified power for application. There are also single movements for kicking, mainly
low outer or inner kicks, the most common being at the end of Wang’s single palm
change with the first bai step. Again, Wang’s physique did not encourage anything
higher but kicking knees and shins is the most effective anyway and it doesn’t
affect your balance or defense either!
What is important to remember with the single movements is that they are not used
in isolation but rather combined in numerous ways. Thus, the basics are extremely
simple and straight-forward and also very thoroughly built in to the practitioner.
The real challenge is combining them creatively and effectively in practice! Nevertheless,
the foundation for that level is established through the zhanzhuang and danlian.
Which brings us to the circle walking. Again, Wang emphasised a natural gate rather
than toe first like many practioners do. We practice the circle walking in a circle,
in an eight crossing through the middle of the circle, and through the nine palaces
of the Luoshu. The eight is important in terms of application as it allows for
extremely fast deflection and circling to the outside of the opponent. Wang’s
circle walking is done from heel to toe,with the inner foot’s toes at an angle
inward (bai) and the outer foot toes also slightly inward (kou). It’s a very natural,
relaxed gate and, in my opinion, the most useful in sparring. I feel that the
more natural it is the more likely you are to use it in practice. We practice
walking at a middle level most of the time although when practicing the rambling
body palm it is often done with a high, mobile posture in order to allow lightning
fast changes and movement.
The linking form, as I mentioned earlier, is designed to develop certain energies.
The single palm change contains in itself four of them: tui tuo dai ling and is
therefore, as we know , the basis for all other bagua application. But the value
of the single palm change really goes beyond that. It helps develop two important
bagua fighting principles: evasion and palm change (meaning palm change in relation
to an opponents attack – that is getting either inside or outside an opponent’s
‘doors’ by quickly switching palms ). Wang’s single palm change is extremely practical
and therefore is less coiling than some other systems. It basically consists of
three stages: 1) covering (kou) which can be seen in the crouching tiger posture,
2) the beginning of the palm change which consists of forward movement and tui
+tuo and 3) the actual change of palms. This change can be more properly seen
in the rambling body palm. In the linking palms it is more static and difficult
to see.
Posted by PD on 12/2/2000, 2:21 pm
Hi again! Wang's changes in the Lianhuan form (linking palms) are there to build
the eight main powers of his ba gua and basic principles of application (primarily
through the single and double palm changes - they are the principle basis for
bagua application) rather than as definitive techniques to be used directly. I
would not take any of the forms as literal applications, but I try to avoid that
in taiji too contrary to many of my taiji friends. They don't necessarily work
as a whole. Wang Shujin intended each one to train a power and in the second form,
the youshen zhang, which is considered the 'moving form' (huo jiazi) in contrast
to the fixed form of the linking palms (ding jiazi) and the free changing form
(bian jiazi), we explore numerous ways these powers can be combined. Even the
Youshen zhang form cannot in any way exhaust the thousands of possibilities. It
just helps the student along the way and gives a good guideline to what is possible.
The theory of the Zhou Yi (Book of Changes) is extremely important, not so much
in detail, but as general principles that teach us that continuous change is at
the basis of our ability to adapt to our opponent and should be the basis of our
practice as a whole. The beauty of Bagua, at least at an advanced level, is the
practitioner's ability to adapt naturally and seemingly effortlessly to the opponent.
Just like with the eight trigrams which are combined to form hexagrams, so we
use the 8 powers found in the lianhuan form to produce practical combinations
in sparring. It is only limited by the individual practioner's creativity, experience
and ingenuity. I feel these principles are also very applicable to everyday life
situations, conflicts, decision making and so forth.
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