Steve James wrote:I think when the word "esoteric" is being used here, it applies to either the mystical, supernatural, magical or something non-physical. Sometimes, they're called the "woo woo stuff." But, that's not what the word means, and fwiw I'm pretty sure that SLT was not referring to those things when he (or someone) conceived the idea of neijia and waijia.
In fact, there has been no agreement on what "internal" meant to Chinese martial artists around the time of the Boxer Rebellion (c 1900). But, by 1915 --when Sun and others formed a martial arts society in Peking (maybe Jarek, Milo or Brian K will recall the specifics). That members of that society led directly to the creation of the Nanjing Institute in 1928.
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Anyway, I think it'd be best to quote/cite what Sun and the other martial artists of his time meant by "internal." That doesn't mean that people today are wrong. One can choose to agree or disagree.
The best thing is to look at what is left in writing, I do agree. The problem is that people are not interested about reading and don't care about facts.
Fact: This is what Sun Lutang quotes from his teacher:
"Song [Shifting] said: “Breathing is divided into internal and external, but in boxing arts there’s no distinction between internal and external. If you are good at nurturing energy, then it’s internal. If you’re not good at nurturing energy, then it’s external. Consider the phrase [Mengzi, chapter 2a] “good at nurturing one’s noble energy”. Surely it reveals the deeper meaning of the internal school. When practicing boxing arts, seek stillness through movement. In meditation arts, seek movement through stillness. "
And:
"My teacher [Hao Weizhen] once told me: “Right from the start, this art is the same as the ‘primal gateway’ of the elixirists.” I have been studying this art for several decades, but I would not dare to say that I have a true grasp of it. However, when considering its origins, it is truly interconnected with Xingyi and Bagua in terms of theory. It is only different in its movements and the names of its postures, while as for its qualities of nurturing energy and developing spirit, there is not the slightest difference."
It's clear from what SLT writes that there was already opinions on "Internal" and what it was general meant in his time and that his teachers had learned the same things he was teaching.
The connection is the character nei from neidan and neigong, as well as Daoism and daoist practice in general.
The Biography of Wang Zhengnan from 1676 also makes a direct connection between Daoism and Neijia (well it states that Zhang Sanfeng invented it):
"Although Shaolin boxing prowess is known everywhere, it emphasizes attack, giving opponents something to take advantage of. Hence there is what is known as the internal school, which defeats movement with stillness."
We also know that Chen Wangting, from his own writings, studied Daoism and Daoist practices, so even if one would agree with the Chen family version of history, there is still a direct connection with Tai Chi and Daoist practice right from the beginning.
So if one studies what is actually there left in writing, things that anyone can read, there should be little doubt that Nei in Neijiaquan is the same as in neidan and neigong and that internal practice was meant. I.e. martial arts that focus on a kind of internal development that was originally developed in the Daoist tradition of exercises. And there should also be little doubt that the tradition of internal practice of IMA is not a merely one hundred year old tradition even though the names and packages have changed.