everything wrote:for the bit about "internal" not having two people who agree, that's not true. if we look at what Sun said (Sun since he seems to have coined neijia) or what Wang Xiangzhai said, or what Yang Chengfu said, there is clear commonality. if we are talking about two random joe schmos, sure, everyone is clueless.
So here we are, and our teachers are retired. That means we're supposed to be the next generation. We are supposed to be the top masters. But the reality is that for better or worse "our generation", meaning specifically westerners who made a decent shot at getting into the game -- either weren't taught the real stuff or just didn't practice hard enough, or whatever, and now we have tai chi classes where you learn the sword form after the long form and never practice push hands. We are the new joe schmos. But some of us aren't. Unfortunately, in this day and age
showing up is 9/10ths of the law and you have people who are running schools but have poor form and no skills. It's a lament often heard by many but again, some of us are not Joe. How do you not be Joe, is simply by understanding the truth.
By the time of the Zhou Dynasty in 1000BC, the ancient arts of jiao3 di3, or "horn butting" had been refined into jiao3 li4 (wrestling). As recorded in early works such as the Li Ji (book of rites) these arts included not just strikes and kicks but joint locks and attacks on pressure points.
Within a scant few hundred years of this development, the Huangdi Neijing (Medical Classic of the Yellow Emperor) was published late in the Warring States Period (likely after the Zhou dynasty so after 220 BC) and possibly as late as the Han Dynasty (before 220 CE). Exactly at this time (140-220) we also encounter Hua Tou, who almost certainly knew the Huangdi Neijing well, it's inconceivable that he did not.
Now, in the background we have the development of the Daoyin Tu. Remember the development between Jiao ti and Jiao di? In 1606BC King Ma of Dai county was buried with a copy of the daoyin tu. Based of what we know of Daoyin and qigong today it is now possible to infer that the theory of qi circulation was applied to martial arts more than 3,000 years ago. Hua Tou's development seems to have been to extend the idea of daoyin into "qigong" -- but this is only on the surface. What Hua Tou is more likely to have done is to repackage daoyin and some kind of existing qigong into something suitable for sale to the public. For we also have unearthed at mawangdui books such as the Que Gu Shi Qi Pian (Fasting and taking Qi), which describes the how the methods of daoyin are used to guide qi. Also extant at Hua Tou's time are books such as the stretch book (yinshu, 186bc) which describe around 100 daoyin exercises.
"Breathing in and out in various manners, spitting out the old and taking in the new, walking like a bear and stretching their neck like a bird to achieve longevity - this is what such practitioners of Daoyin, cultivators of the body and all those searching for long life like Ancestor Peng, enjoy." (Chuang Tzu, circa 300BC). What began with Hua Tou flowered in the Sui and Tang dynasties, (581 to 907) where these practices became widespread in clinical application. We have many books from this period such as the "Zhu Bing Yuan Hou Lun" (General Treatise on the Causes and Symptoms of Diseases), which link the practices of daoyin to internal medicine (qi), accupressure and accupuncture. We also have dozens of books from this time period about Laozi massage, and Qigong prerscriptions for various diseases. It is interesting that these arts became so extremely popular exactly during the old days of the Shaolin temple. But historicity aside, the geography is interesting. Dengfeng, Shaolin, Chen village, etc. is at the center of the Xian-Shanghai corridor and the focal point of a great many events; the dispersal of Yue Fei's army into the mountains, Big scholar tree, look around and you will see closeby lots of familiar names from tai chi, xingyi and bagua legends. This area became a melting pot for theories and arts. Many stories exist of shaolin and other arts turning ecclectic, performing a survey of extant arts, and comign up with something new. But who was first? Maybe it doesn't matter who was really first, but for a moment let's return to Hua tou.
The most interesting thing about Hua Tuo in relation to the Shaolin story, is that he is suspected to have studied Ayurvedic medical techniques from buddhist missionaries in China, due to the proximity of said missionaries and similarity of his knowledge and teachings which seem to have retained an Ayurvedic quality to them. Hua Tuo lived in Jiangxi and Shandong provinces, both of which are to the east (and neighbor) Shanxi. Shandong, home of Shaolin, is just south of Shanxi, and Southwest of Shandong and Jiangxi. Together they form a somewhat circular clump and are basically all neighbors.
Thus, re-examining the Shaolin story, we see from historical record that the Shaolin monastery was built between 477 and 495 CE, that the first Abbot of Shaolin was Batuo, and that martial arts (fighting) of some kind was already a part of the monk's training because Huigang and Sengchou are known from the Buddhist canon to posess skills in martial arts. In 527 AD, Damo came to Shaolin to teach buddhism, and his disciple Huike was also a highly trained martial arts expert.
How and where these martial arts came from is also merely a matter of historical record. The records state the monks practiced at least the jiao li arts, and another art known as shou bu which basically amounted to a form of stand-up fist boxing. The origin of these arts is considered well-known in that they can be traced back to the ancient practices we have mentioned.To close off the Hua Tou-Shaolin period let us reiterate what we know -- what is pubic knowledge and see if the peices fit. By Damo's time, the monks had already developed an art called "Xin Yi Ba", which by historical record consisted of the practical movements of general farming and cleaning (such as carrying buckets of water, sweeping a broom, shoveling, etc) into a sort of fighting art that they used to defend themselves against wild animals. At the exact same time, by the end of the Northern Wei dynasty (around 495 CE), Shuai Jiao had been canonized into a form of 72 movements or throws and associated practices. It seems obvious now that the the 18 Lohan hands, which are themselves a condensation of previous arts, are a combination of the Jiao Li, Shou Bu and Shuai Jiao practices, which became the basic training for the monks at the time of Damo.
We also know that during this time Damo specifically instructed the monks in qigong and daoyin-like practices; the similarity to existing Chinese practices thus seen and confirmed, they were either the same or so similar to be the same in that anyone familiar with the existing Chinsee versions would have recognized exactly what was going on even if the practice was of specifically buddhist or Indian origin; Thus the specific Chinese advancements and techniques could be fully applied to the martial arts of the time.
What is truly remarkable is that these practices, like the five animal frolics and many other such practices) still exists today. We see from historical record that higher level martial arts generally operated on the basis of mastery of the core art (or similar core arts) of the daoyin exercises, which could be considered like jibengong, towards something like qigong, which was then practiced either as a separate set or integrated with beginner's forms. It in fact seems to be a development of qing dynasty arts that the qigong movements were eventually separated back out of the forms and taught separately whether or not qigong aspects remained in beginner's forms.
Fast forward 300 years. All of this became widely disseminated and the reputation of these arts and in this area grew. Now we come to Xu Xuanping. Around 800 AD, the philosopher Xu, Xuan-Ping is credited for developing a long Kung Fu of 37 forms, which included moves such as
• Play the Guitar
• Single Whip
• Step Up to Seven Stars
• Jade Lady Works the Shuttles
• High Pat on Horse
• Phoenix Flaps Its Wings
In this era sets of boxing named "Taiji Chang Quan", "Heavenly-Inborn Style", "Nine Small Heavens", and "Acquired Kung Fu" became popular in the area and show similarities to what later became Taijiquan. The principles of softness, sticking, adhering, and using the opponent's own momentum against himself were established in these precursory martial styles, not to mention the extant philosophical teachings of that time.
Perhaps the next major advancement was the dispersal of Yue Fei's army around 1100ad. As legend has it, shortly after 1100ad Yue Fei's army had dispersed into the mountains. The implication is that many of Shaolin's warrior monks were really military men who had joined the temple for various reasons. After he was betrayed by Qin, Yue Fei's body was given a ceremonial burial by cremation in the former capital of the Song;
Kaifeng, Henan. Sound familiar? This location is basically in a "peninsula" jutting north into shanxi-shandong area, placing Yue Fei's troops escape route directly into the hotbed of monastic qigong and martial arts practice. The troops likely would have been expecting to find solace there as well, considering one of Yue Fei's teachers was Zhou Tong, who is widely held to have been a Shaolin monk: Xingyi master Dai Longbang wrote the 'Preface to Six Harmonies Boxing' in the 15th reign year of the Qianlong Emperor [1750]. Inside it says, '... when [Yue Fei] was a child, he received special instructions from Zhou Tong. He became extremely skilled in the spear method. He used the spear to create methods for the fist. He established a method called Yi Quan [意拳]. Mysterious and unfathomable, followers of old did not have these skills. Throughout the Jin, Yuan and Ming dynasties few had his art.
At this point may we ask, what is Yi Quan?
Is it not merely Daoyin Tu held for longer periods of time? This art was known for thousands of years prior but who decided that there should be martial and health postures?
Isn't it more likely that an experienced martial artist could determine which postures were better for fighting than for health and vice versa, given that they were all designed for health? It seems now like such a trivial development, everything has been handed to you on a silver platter by this point but there is still so much more to the story. And I could retell the story completely with different details and it would reveal so much. But historical accounts are always so subjective, see how I am rambling subjectively? Well let me try and continue.
Some of Yue Fei's men would have flown to the nearby Wudang mountains bordering Henan, others to the nearby Shaolin on Mt. Song in central Henan; others perhaps to other local villages. One only has to look at a map to recognize several famous birthplaces and names which rise repeatedly again and again when discussing Tai Chi history. Names such as Xi'an, Luoyang, Zhengzhou, Hongtong (Scholar Tree in Shanxi), Shaolin, Wudang, Chen Village, and more.
Not 200 years later Chen Bu moves from big scholar tree in Shanxi to found Chen Village in 1374.
At this point, in the martial world, these theories and practices have been refining for hundreds of years.
By the Ming dynasty, the Li and Chen families (Li Zhai and Chen Wangting) had been studying at the Qianzai temple nearby. They had learned the 13 postures art from Dong Binggang who learned it from his father Dong Cheng. We also know, from record, that Dong Chang's two teachers were Zhang Wen-Kui and Guo Wan-Qing from Shaolin and that the arts Dong created were passed back and picked up by the Shaolin Temple shortly after their creation (in the late Ming/early Qing dynasty). We know as historical fact that shaolin boxing had been practiced in Chen village; arts such as shaolin red fist. Records of this temple indicate that a form of tongbei boxing was created out of shaolin red fist in the 1000 year temple by Dong Cheng. We also know Chen Juting learned tongbei boxing itself. In any case it is beyond obvious that the same repeated inputs were present over hundreds of years in a very small geographic area; shaolin and tongbei boxing, daoyin and qigong, the 13 postures, and shaolin and tongbei boxing. How they were originally combined is a mystery but perhaps it is not a mystery worth solving; for enter Chang Naizhou in the 1700s.
Chang Naizhou's art and writings still survive to this day. I won't discuss him much only to say he was a focal point for the art and theory of the internal school in a similar way to Hua Tou. He was somehow able to at least survey or figure out the main points of internal practice and reconstitute them into some kind of theory for the masses.
How do we know this is true? Well, everything so far is just a statement of historical record. But we also know now that "...that those uncertain parts of Chen Ji’s and Chen Xin’s books were from the Tongbei gong manual (Tongbei Reeling Boxing) of Qianzai Temple." because we have those manuals now too. We also have records of how the six harmony spear from xingyi was taken by the Chens and incorporated into their art, and all of this makes perfect logical sense because if you overlay the stories of xingyi, bagua and taiji together they all operate in the same general geographic area; for example DZQ writes;
From Wang Village to Yangcheng County in Shanxi and the border with Bo’ai County in Henan it is just a short distance. If Wang Zongyue were to go to Henan on business, this would be the only possible route. Because of this, it is perfectly reasonable to suspect that Wang passed by Qianzai Temple, where he passed on his “13 Soft hands” to the Daoist Dong Bingqian. He also passed through Zhaobao Village, only 40km from Bo’ai (there was a Shanxi Hall there in pre-modern times), where he encountered Jiang Fa, mourning his parents’ death, and took Jiang Fa with him back to Wang Village in Shanxi where he taught him the “13 Postures Boxing.” -- Dai Zhi Qiang on Mon Jun 09, 2008 3:51 am (RSF)Also,
What Dong Haichuan concealed was this training progression and its methods. [...] Thus, his different students themselves created different sets [...] yet, this is just a difference in palm techniques and not in basic methods and training progressions. [...] This sequential progression shows the tightly-knit, systematic, and scientific nature of this complete system of martial arts training.Stephen Yan writes,
"Letters by the late headman of Jun Village in Shanxi, Ji Genquan, visits to the present headman, Ji Zhenjiang, and conversations with old village folk, stated that Ji Longfeng made more than one trip to the Henan Shaolin temple.
There are 2 routes between Jun village and Shaolin. The first is through Pu city. Pu city is only one pass away from Bo’Ai county in Henan, and there is a valley in the Taixing mountains near Pu. Merchants used this pass to travel between Henan and Shanxi in the old days.
The other route is crossing over Zhongtiao mountain, across the Yellow River, to the “three gorges”. This route is short, but crosses treacherous terrain.
During the end of the Ming dynasty, when Ji lived, the area was overrun with bandits. Ji, a doctor was worried of bandit raids and decided to study the martial arts to protect his home.
On his first visit to Shaolin Si, Ji may have taken the first route, through Pu city and up to Shaolin.
At that time, the most important styles in Shaolin Si was Shaolin Taizu Chuan, Shaolin Hong Chuan and Shaolin Pao Chuan.
Bai Yufeng's Wu Xing Di Tang Chuan (5 element tumbling boxing), created during the Yuan dynasty, had probably already been disseminated to the masses.
At this time, Ji Longfeng had not yet gained any true inspiration, however, the path to Shaolin runs past the QianZhai Temple in Bo’Ai county.
Priest Dong of QianZhai, was famous for his Shi San Shi Rou Shou (13 soft hands) and Tongbei. Dong's liu he chang (six harmony spear) was especially intricate.
[...] Arriving at Shaolin Si, Ji's “6 harmony spear” skill was incomparable, the abbot begged Ji to stay at the temple to teach. (this was recorded in the Ji Family Chronicles. In the Shaolin temple's archives, there is a spear manual titled, "Teacher Ji's Spear Manual) Shi Yong Wen, originally from Shaolin, still has it in his care. (The author has visited Shi Yong Wen in Kaifeng, Henan to authenticate the manual.)
The manual in question is exactly the same as the “Xin Yi Liu He Chang” manual in the author's possession. From this, we can see that Shaolin treated Ji respectfully and called him Ji Lao Shi (teacher, Ji). Therefore this story matches up with the story in the Ji Family Chronicles." (emphasis mine).
All of this completely explains why the Chen's art was changed in accordance with Qi Jiguang's book, it was a natural development like a software upgrade, as were the developments near Chen qingping's time.
But moreso, it should show that the foundational practice and lingua franca of all these arts is basically a highly standardized body of knowledge. I think that in reality when you see two people disagreeing over what internal means you are, as you said, really watching two uninteresting joe schmoes whinging. There is a lot to learn here, just my two cents.
p.s. for Formosa Neijia, the above is why I do not consider there to be a major difference between scholar and martial qigong in theory, while there is such a difference in practice. I think its more like, it's the same idea but you need to focus on your goals, if your goal is martial development stick to the postures that flow or gel better with your underlying folk art.
