everything wrote:If someone (hypothetical student) wants to know what to do, it doesn't seem hard to use these descriptions that others have used. Their value is not based in some double blind science experiment defining something measurable with instruments - it is ART. No one will be as good as Lennon and McCartney by doing some better analysis.
Why is that hard to understand?
It's probably because letting go of tension in the form of useless thoughts is what is most difficult for people.
Just listening to the body and finding a feeling that isn't commonly talked about outside the arts is difficult for people.
This is the idea. And so it is said that nothingness and oneness are the root of sky and ground, the ancestor of the passive and active, the progenitor of all things, the “golden elixir”. It is also the internal power within Xingyi Boxing.
Most people do not know what this internal power is and tend to look to the body’s shape or appearance to get some idea, or that it might be a case of an effort in the mind or a movement in the belly, and they go on like this in countless ways, but it is all just tossing out a brick in response to a call for a tile, confusing the false with what is true. Therefore one who practices the boxing is like a cow hair [very common] while one who has succeeded in the method is like a unicorn horn [extremely rare]. You must examine this deeply. Then when going through your practice, the myriad techniques all come out of the three-substance posture. This posture is the gateway to the method, the main tool in Xingyi Boxing.
First there are the paths of food and breath coming in and going out, then there is the course of kidney energy ascending. It is the art of using the acquired to assist the innate, of the revolving of energy through the energy circuit. In the beginning of training the energy circuit, draw in fresh air through your nose and send it directly to your “sea of energy”. From there it courses through to your tailbone, then curls toward your lower back, where your kidneys are positioned. This place is indeed the origin of the innate condition, the source for all the organs, and thereby the kidney water is sufficient. It then ascends along the Du meridian to the acupoints on the head, returning to the nose. The tongue attracts the kidney energy and from there it descends, filling the lower abdomen, gradually entering the elixir field. These are the essentials, the secret, of the energy circuit. Do not treat it lightly.
everything wrote:I think that's way too down the logic and intellectual route. I know what it feels like to play the trumpet or guitar (albeit really, really badly). Same with every other trumpet or guitar player. I'm a math/logic/STEM guy, but those things don't help me much with that kind of experience. We can always write more clearly about what it feels like, but it doesn't really matter if no one plays it. And the feeling isn't going to be so different from human to human. For me, the (translated) words like "sink qi to dantian" are helpful once you get it as it's like "ah right ok". It's like (if you happen to be a drummer, which I'm not) when Ringo explains he's a left handed drummer playing a right handed kit. Every drummer who was right handed trying to "get" Ringo probably was like "ah okay." You can't explain that with a ton of words or measurements.
Trick wrote:A honest question, because I don’t know.... But why did SLT become famous and highly revered ?
Bao wrote:Trick wrote:A honest question, because I don’t know.... But why did SLT become famous and highly revered ?
I've heard that Sun Lutang was much of a politician, maybe in later life sometimes more politician than a martial artist, though he was very skilled and there were many stories about him. Already when he lived he was revered as a folk hero and become almost a semi-mythological person. But what he actually did amongst other things was that he had a bodyguard service where many of his students served. And he often lend his students to serve as security personnel on public markets in Beijing to protect the people from thieves, robbers and gangs. He had his school close to one of those markets, so they probably witnessed a lot of things going on. But he become a sort of protector of the people I guess.
Trick wrote:Was SLT involved in any religious activities/group ?
everything wrote:if there were a paint by numbers blues book .... ok, there isn't one because all of us would have said it already, it would be on youtube, etc., etc. even if there were, you still have to get the feeling for YOURSELF. even if someone had all the notation for a classical work, he or she still has to get the feeling or else the performance isn't really going to be very good art. for blues or some kind of improv, i would go further and say "put all your classical notation away". "sink qi", "let energy flow to elixir field", etc., is already a very clear instruction. if there were some better kind of notation, that would be good, but remember what Sun said above: it's not about some more clear instruction on body shape or appearance. that alone should help 95% of people, but they won't listen. for one thing, mechanics etc. are just that interesting as well as extremely relevant in normal arts and sports so it is extremely difficult to listen to what he said there. people kind of "get" Zen intellectually and that is in itself contradictory.
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