San Ti Shi????

[I-mon]

What does it (the name) mean? why is it called this?

[GrahamB]

Three bodies posture.

As for why? Count the 3s man..... it's all about the triangles....

[middleway]

As above.

nice Pic by the way! Tensegrity discribes that triangulation stuff pretty nicely.



“Dao generates One, One generates Two, Two generates Three and Three generates all the things of the world.”

So there are lots of 3s associated with this posture, some just to fit the Daoist thinking ... some very useful for training and combat.

3 = three body sectors (hands/arms, Body/torso, Root/legs)
3 = 3 links between the harmonies (hand - foot, elbow-knee, shoulder-hip)
3 = 3 concepts (Heaven, earth, man)
3 = 3 Bows
3 = Triangulation of and between body sectors and harmonies. So tip of hand/elbow/shoulder as a triangle for instance ... or foot/knee/hip.

Cheers
Chris

[DeusTrismegistus]

I always heard it called trinity stance. For the reason that it trains the three harmonies, both the 3 internal and 3 external.

[somatai]

it integrates , clarifies and develops the 3 primary energies of the body as well as the three primary anatomical sections.

[Bao]

I agree with the triangle. "Ti" means "body" in the sense that everything physical has a body. A chair has a "body". Three+body means to structure your body into threes - or triangular pattern.

"qi" and "jing" and also "heaven", "man", earth" are concepts that have many different interpretations depending on who use it, how and why. Therefore I believe that the name originally only refers to the physical structure.

[I-mon]

it integrates , clarifies and develops the 3 primary energies of the body as well as the three primary anatomical sections.

now perhaps you meant jing-qi-shen, but until I read Bao's post I thought you meant extension, contraction, and twisting...which I thought was nice as that's a lot like how my Santi feels at the moment.

[NoSword]

Morihei Ueshiba:

"The body should be triangular, the mind circular. The triangle represents the generation of energy and is the most stable physical posture. The circle symbolizes serenity and perfection, the source of unlimited techniques. The square stands for solidity, the basis of applied control."

[Bao]

Morihei Ueshiba:

"The body should be triangular, the mind circular. The triangle represents the generation of energy and is the most stable physical posture. The circle symbolizes serenity and perfection, the source of unlimited techniques. The square stands for solidity, the basis of applied control."

Damn, you don't need to make philosophy out of it.

According to science, the triangle is the strongest structure in the universe. Just look at the pyramids how long they have been standing there.

[somatai]

what is wrong with philosophy?

Imon, you are on to what I am pointing at,at the manifest level, I also included one level more subtle in terms of energy of manifestation or the "trinity energies"....it is not jing, chi, shen or heaven man earth, although, both those concepts also represent the power of the trinity, the reason it is called the trinity posture is philosophical, all things spring from 3 and if one understands the three basic energies, all things become possible.

[I-mon]

I read somewhere recently, possibly in a thread here, that the term "San Ti" come from one particular daoist or maybe chinese buddhist text? but I don't remember the thread (if it was here) or the name of the text, or the context or what the actual term means in that particular sentence or verse or whatever.

Anyone? Josh?

[somatai]

the trinity is universal and is the wisdom of numbers in all cultures

[Doc Stier]

Morihei Ueshiba:

"The body should be triangular, the mind circular. The triangle represents the generation of energy and is the most stable physical posture. The circle symbolizes serenity and perfection, the source of unlimited techniques. The square stands for solidity, the basis of applied control."

[Tesshu]

The guy I take my nickname from was a samurai who pointed out that a focussed mind is most important (next to other "most important things" ) He did a lot of calligraphy and once draw a picture about this. It was a person standing in a triangle. The base of the triangle being the vertical line from head (one corner) to the ground/feet (second corner) and the third point being the thing you focus at, your person (mind and ki) flowing towards that point.

Interestingly my teacher in TCC teaches to do the same in one of our stances. The triangle is not just inside yourself. Hence the clear direction of the usual San Ti Shi.

[everything]