Chen Pan Ling Taiji

[XiaoXiong]

I've recently started learning the form after a long time of just doing ji beng gong, tui shou, and a few apps. I was wonering if you guys had any videos you really considered good of it. I've seen everything on youtube, and the best I found was Wang Shu Jin, but I know there's gotta be other really good people doing this form on the net. Thanks in advance for any help with really any video of cpl taiji you like. Anecdotes are welcome!
J

[JessOBrien]

Hong Yi Xiang is on youtube doing the form. Kumar does a bit of it on his website. There are some others as well. But for remembering and training the form, none of these clips are much help...

-Jess O

[XiaoXiong]

Thanks Jess. I remember it fine and I am doing okay training it. I just wanted to see a cross section of stuff people like with in this style. It's interesting to see what kind of intent poeple put into different parts of the form. You are, I assume referring to the W.O.W. video with Hong?
J

[qiphlow]

what's the deal with this style of taiji? i tried to google, but didn't come up with much. what's the emphasis?

[JessOBrien]

Hi Xiao,

Yeah, I hear ya. There is a huge variety in the way it's practiced, that's for sure. Of course, that's Tai Chi for ya!! Students of the same teacher will almost always do it somewhat differently.

Last time Luo Laoshi was here he mentioned that Chen Pan Ling combined material from Chen, Yang and Wu styles of Tai Ji with Ba Gua and Xing Yi to create the form. You can see all of the Xing Yi five elements in there in various places. And I can see bits from the Yang and Wu Tai Ji that I've learned before. Plus there are some twisty moves that look seriously Bagua-y.

Cool form, I like it a lot. Glad to learn some of it during Luo's tours over the years, gave me renewed appreciation and enjoyment of Tai Ji.

-Jess O

[Buddy]

Luo said he saw a vid of CPL doing it somewhere. Jess, maybe you can ask him.

[TaoBoxer]

I have 2 complete performances by Col. YW Chang, one of CPL's top students. His sons have DVD's available, but..... caveat emptor.

Lewitt

[JessOBrien]

Ah, the Colonel was one of the guys who brought it to the US, right? That would be interesting to see.

Quite a few versions going around out there!

-J

[TaoBoxer]

Col Chang was a wonderful and generous man. I called him up one day and was like "Your teacher is very well respected. I'd love to meet you and see the Art." He invited me to come to his home and stay with him... It was great.

Jess, PM me if you'ld like...

Lewitt

[XiaoXiong]

That's awesome Tao. I am really diggin this training this form. I really need to get out and meet some more people. I'm gonna try to get up to Boston area soon. Gotta catch up with the family and check on Marcus, Leo, and Pete. It would be nice to meet some of the rest of you guys too.
J

[TaoBoxer]

Anytime man.... jsut let me know in advance...

Bill

[Buddy]

Bill has been a constant supporter of us and is a damned good guy. I cannot say enough good things about him. I'm thinking he and I and Dale need to form something like the New England Internal Martial Art Collective and bring Herb as a founder as well.

NEIMA?...how's it sound?

Bud

[Formosa Neijia]

I've recently started learning the form after a long time of just doing ji beng gong, tui shou, and a few apps. I was wonering if you guys had any videos you really considered good of it. I've seen everything on youtube, and the best I found was Wang Shu Jin, but I know there's gotta be other really good people doing this form on the net. Thanks in advance for any help with really any video of cpl taiji you like. Anecdotes are welcome!
J

WSJ's version is the best out there right now. Even with more videos, his would still likely be the best. His version is really good, so don't dismiss it.

As far as youtube goes, the CPL taiji from the official line is being held a bit too close to the vest. I won't speculate why that is, but it does seem to be the case.

Some things to keep in mind. One, CPL never says that there is BGZ or XYQ in the taiji form, at least as far as I know. He clearly stated in his taiji book that the form is from old Yang, Wun and Chen. He never says that he put XYQ or BGZ into it. The XYQ and BGZ parts have been added by Hong Yi-xiang's and WSJ's lineages because they were primarily BGZ and XYQ guys. This changes the picture significantly.

CPL meant for this form to be a national form with NO secrets. He wanted something that everyone could do. Something that did away with the keeping of secrets, as in the past. So he didn't want people adding things to it that he didn't put in there in the first place.

Having said that, adding the BGZ and XYQ gives it a nice touch. I've done a couple of different versions of the CPL taiji at this point and can say that some of the later additions are quite nice and I can see why they were added. WSJ's "dragon walking" palm change between the reps of "wild horse parts mane" are nice as is the addition of the half-step "grasp the bird's tail" sequence that shows some XYQ influence.

On the other hand, I think that CPL's form from his sons is quite nice and adheres a bit closer to what CPL had in mind. Since it doesn't have XYQ and BGZ influences, it retains more of the original TJQ flavor IMO. IMO some of the other versions that have the XYQ and BGZ influences can lose some of what the TJQ can teach you as that possibly gets subsumed within the other influences.

But when it comes to applications, I find that HYX's and WSJ's lineages have a pretty good grasp of the usage. XYQ and the BGZ are a bit more clear on the usage so those influences bring with them some strong apps. Does having a form that every one can do, as CPL intended, mean having slightly weaker applications? Perhaps.

From this picture people can hopefully tell why CPL TJQ is a bit under-represented on youtube, etc. Some people are also holding back out of respect as well, and that's appreciated.

Complicated picture, but there it is. Hopefully I'll have video of my version up by mid-October.

Dave C.

[XiaoXiong]

Interesting stuff Dave. I've actually only heard Luo Laoshi and Geo say that Cpl taiji is a combo of wu yang and chen taiji, and not xingyi or bagua. He was very pointed to make sure we understood certain distinctions from bagua and xingyi practice that has a great deal of similarity. I can see how it's very easy and confortable to do. I actually like that alot about it. The gong is very enjoyable.
J

[XiaoXiong]

Oh and also, I'm hardly dismissing WSJ's taiji. I think it's very good. It's the best taiji video I think I've seen as a matter of fact. I just hope to see more and better also! I guess if there's not much out there I'll have to be patient.
J