Hold The Line
Posted: Mon May 08, 2017 8:11 am
hold the line
phrase of hold
1.not yield to the pressure of a difficult situation.
I think this phrase encapsulates an essential point of traditional martial arts. Do not make moves against the opponent without referencing the "line". What is the "line"?
The line is whatever you hold, or you could say, your positioning. While one foot advances the other can hold the line, while your arms attack, your torso can hold the line.
There are numerous methods, but one principle: hold the line. Chen Zhonghua has spoken of this "line" as a demarcation from wince we separate yin and yang. Looked at from such close proximity as your own body,
The "line" can become obscure, but, if we think of the "line" in terms the movements of ancient military units, its necessity becomes quite obvious. Imagine training the youth of a village to prepare for a bandit attack in feudal China
(images of Seven Samurai come to mind!). One might consider how, without the ability to form a line, to fight for ground and hold that ground once won, the villagers could be easily scattered, broken, picked off one by one. Imagine you perceive immediately that the daily actions associated with working in the village have already conditioned the villagers adequately for jabbing with the pointy end of a spear; However, when demanded to move in unison, to line up and step together with stability, gradually inching forward as a single solid wall of spears, alas! its impossible! So you set about instructing them in the discipline of stability, utilizing the training of low postures and segmented, disciples stepping in order to encourage the villagers to distinguish the "line" from their usual free and easy sense of movement. For some years this training is carried on with regular intensity until one day the bandits attack. Moving in loose formation they break on your unified villagers like water breaks on a rock. The villagers attack and move forward, attack and move forward, their attack is not them moving forward, they attack and they move forward, they hold the line and little by little that line moves forward they push the bandits back leaving them less and less and less ground.
The practical necessity of holding the line in large scale battle reveals an essential principle by which the individual body can become itself a well organized army.
It is truly a Martial Art.
phrase of hold
1.not yield to the pressure of a difficult situation.
I think this phrase encapsulates an essential point of traditional martial arts. Do not make moves against the opponent without referencing the "line". What is the "line"?
The line is whatever you hold, or you could say, your positioning. While one foot advances the other can hold the line, while your arms attack, your torso can hold the line.
There are numerous methods, but one principle: hold the line. Chen Zhonghua has spoken of this "line" as a demarcation from wince we separate yin and yang. Looked at from such close proximity as your own body,
The "line" can become obscure, but, if we think of the "line" in terms the movements of ancient military units, its necessity becomes quite obvious. Imagine training the youth of a village to prepare for a bandit attack in feudal China
(images of Seven Samurai come to mind!). One might consider how, without the ability to form a line, to fight for ground and hold that ground once won, the villagers could be easily scattered, broken, picked off one by one. Imagine you perceive immediately that the daily actions associated with working in the village have already conditioned the villagers adequately for jabbing with the pointy end of a spear; However, when demanded to move in unison, to line up and step together with stability, gradually inching forward as a single solid wall of spears, alas! its impossible! So you set about instructing them in the discipline of stability, utilizing the training of low postures and segmented, disciples stepping in order to encourage the villagers to distinguish the "line" from their usual free and easy sense of movement. For some years this training is carried on with regular intensity until one day the bandits attack. Moving in loose formation they break on your unified villagers like water breaks on a rock. The villagers attack and move forward, attack and move forward, their attack is not them moving forward, they attack and they move forward, they hold the line and little by little that line moves forward they push the bandits back leaving them less and less and less ground.
The practical necessity of holding the line in large scale battle reveals an essential principle by which the individual body can become itself a well organized army.
It is truly a Martial Art.