Essence of Boxing Science Interview - Wang XiangZhai

Interview with Wang Xiang Zhai, founder of Yi Quan Qigong 

Wang Xiang Zhai (1885-1963)

In the early 1940’s Wang Xiang Zhai was interviewed several times by reporters from Beijing newspapers. Those interviews have been collected and reproduced in various books on Xing Yi Quan and Da Cheng Quan under the title Essence of Boxing Science.

Mr. Wang Xiang Zhai is the founder of Da Cheng Quan. He is well known and held in high esteem in Wushu circles in China. Recently he moved to Beijing. He has arranged a meeting time every Sunday afternoon from 1- 6 pm in Dayangyibin Alley for practitioners of different martial arts to exchange knowledge and opinions in order to carry forward and promote the martial spirit of China. Yesterday our correspondent called on him and together they had the following discussion.

Correspondent: I have always admired you for your superb skills of boxing. May I ask what your ambition is with regard to the boxing art?

Wang Xiang Zhai: I am indeed embarrassed when I am recommended by my friends as the representative of Da Cheng Chuan. I left my teacher in the year of Guang Xu Reign (1875-1908), Qing Dynasty, and since then I have traveled extensively in the vast areas north and south of the Yangtse River and have met with many great boxing experts of various schools and experienced untold hardships. My greatest gain in the past 30 years and more is that I have had many famous teachers and helpful friends, with whom I have held a lot of discussions, through which I have greatly improved myself. Therefore I count myself as a veteran boxer who has some knowledge of the boxing art. Of late, friends have given considerable publicity in newspapers to me and Da Cheng Chuan. In order not to be misunderstood by personalities of various circles who do not know the facts, I would like to make clear what I have thought in mind. I am now old and infirm without the slightest idea of seeking personal fame or gain. What I am anxious to do is to work in joint effort with my compatriots to carry forward the instinctive martial morality before I am too old to do anything, and to eradicate those heresies which harm others as well as myself. It is the last thing I would do to make others lavish praise on me and to win fame by cheating the public.

Correspondent: What is the basis of the art of Boxing?

Wang: What are the basic principles of the art of boxing? To this question, different people have different answers. Many people are fascinated to learn boxing routines, pay attention to patterns of movements, and to practice hits and beats. This, superficial as it may be, has been has been the popular concept of boxing for many years and has led many people astray.

Correspondent: It is said that Xing Yi, Ba Gua, Tai Ji, and Tong Bei are of the inner family boxing (Nei Jia Quan), but I am not clear about their branches and schools.

Wang: It is a prevailing idea that Xing Yi, Ba Gua, Tai Ji and Tong Bei are of Nei Jia Quan, but I am sorry to say that I don’t know how the names of the inner and outer families came about. So no comment can be made on this point. But by analyzing the master-hands of several generations one can see part of the picture.

Xing Yi Quan of the Orthodox school Xin Yi Ba (Heart-Directed-Movements) and Liu He Bu (Six-Direction-Steps) of Hunan province are of the same origin. When tracing the origin of Mr. Li Dai-dong (known as “Old Dai”) of Henan, you will see that he is the great–grandson of Mr. Li Zhi He, who was the teacher of Elder Dai Long Bang. The Yuans of Jiyuan named the boxing differently, but it is in fact the same school with Mr. Li as its founder. By changing Xin-Yi (Heart-Intention) into Xing Yi (Form-Intention), Mr. Dai did not betray the original meaning of Xin Yi, because boxing originated from Liu Fa (Six-Ways). Thus a connotation of the phrase quan quan fu ying, meaning “to adhere to someone or something most faithfully” was applied to this form of boxing. It must be noted that Xing Yi Quan in its orthodox form had no such thing as the Twelve Forms (Twelve Animals), though their should be twelve forms of the body. Nor did it have the theory of mutual promotion and restraint of the five elements.

The Five Elements are only five terms representing five forms of force, not methods or routines of shadow boxing. I still remember instructions taught by my late masters about the five elements: metal, wood, water, fire and earth. ‘Metal’ refers to strength in the bones and muscles which are hard as diamond and can sever gold or iron. “Wood” refers to the force whose range of action is compared to the supporting shape of a tree. “Water” refers to the force which is like a surging ocean and a dragon swimming in the sea, penetrating everywhere. “Fire” refers to the force which, like gunpowder, explodes and burns with a mere touch of the hand. “Earth” refers to the solid, heavy composite force which seems to have been produced by the joint action of heaven and earth. This is what is called five elements combining into one, not the stuff of one form of boxing overcoming another form of boxing as some people are preaching these days. If one observes first and then thinks twice in actual fighting, it is almost certain he will be defeated long before he takes action at all.

Ba Gua Zhang (Eight Diagram Palm) was formerly known as “Chuan Zhang” (Palm of Sichuan Province). I once had an interview with Mr. Cheng Ting Hua. When he was performing art, he was, I recall, like a divine dragon roaming, winding and twisting in the sky. Such superb skills are really beyond the reach of us contemporaries. As to Master Dong Hai Chuan’s boxing, it is even more difficult to have a true understanding of his skills. Mr. Liu Feng Chun is a friend of mine. He has acquired remarkable skills, though his attainments are not so great as master Dong. Yet even then he is far superior to the practitioners of the “64 Palms” or “72 Kicks.” I hope that those who practice Ba Gua should concentrate on the single and double Chuan Zhang, try their best to perceive every movement. At the same time, they should make a penetrating study of the theory and put it into practice.

Among the disciples by direct line of Tai Ji Quan, I think the most outstanding master-hands are the Yang brothers, Yang Shao Hou and Yang Chen Fu. As an intimate friend of theirs, I know there is indeed some genuine knowledge of mechanics in Tai Ji Quan. However, out of one hundred practitioners, less than one knows its essence. Even if one may happen to know some of it, he cannot have a thorough understanding of the whole, because the basic way of perceiving the skill has long been lost, and therefore there is no mechanism of force to speak of in its legwork and footwork. The boxing in question in its original form had only three movements and was thus called Lao San Dao (Old Three Cuts). It was changed by Mr. Wang Zong Yue and increased to 13 forms, which was further abused to as many as 150 forms. That is one of the main reasons why this boxing has lost its quintessence. If it is practiced for the purpose of preserving one’s health, it will only restrain one’s spirit and energy and bring discomfort to the practitioner. If practiced for actual combat, it will only do harm to the limbs. Its other functions, if any, are nothing more than idling away the practitioner’s time and confusing his mind. As to its method of practicing, which is characterized by disorderly blows of the fist and the palm or kicks of the foot and leg, I must say it is really ridiculous. In confrontation with a master-hand, such a practitioner of Tai Ji Quan is sure to fail. Even its master-hand I am afraid, can do nothing with a quite commonplace adversary so long as the latter is not very clumsy. In short, this boxing has been abused to such an extent that it might one day become a mere rigid form like a chess manual. In the last twenty years, most of its practitioners are not aware of its falseness. Even if someone is clear-headed he does not know what he should actually do. As to ordinary students, most of them believe in what they have heard without using their own eyes. Thus Tai Ji Quan is in fact being pushed towards its graveyard. What a great loss! I sincerely hope that those competent followers of that boxing will straighten it out and make it systematic with a view to developing it in the future. Here I take liberty to make comments on Tai Ji Quan, and I don’t know whether my comments are appropriate. Pardon me if I am too outspoken. I think that one day those learners of Tai Ji Quan who have really gained something would agree with me in this regard.

Tong Bei Quan is very popular in North China, especially in areas around Beijing. But to my mind, most of the Tong Bei Quan practitioners I have met are not quite mature. There are some who seem to have got the essence of the theory, but their skills are far from being perfect. This may be due to the fact that they have not got the true teachings from their predecessors, who, I am sure, were certainly not like that. Some of the present practitioners of Tong Bei Quan are very skillful in certain movements, but taking as a whole they can hardly get on the right path.

Mei Hua Quan (Plum Blossom Boxing) or Wu Shi Zhang (Five Form Pile Exercises), has been passed down generation by generation. Its descendants in the direct line can be found in Henan and Sichuan provinces. This form of boxing is quite the same in essence as Wu Ji San Shou (Five Free Hand Skills) practiced in Xinhua, Qianzhou of Fujian province and Santou in Guangdong province. When applied to actual combat, it has its own unique merits, but it is one-sided and not very practical.

Ba Fan, Mian Zhang, Pi Gua, Ba Ji, Da Gong Li, San Huang Pao, Nian Tui, Lian Quan, etc. all have their own merits and demerits, most of them are superfluous in firmness but inadequate in suppleness and lack of inward spiritual strength. As for Da Hong Quan and Xiao Hong Quan, Tan Tui, Chuan Jiao, Long Boxing and Short Boxing, and various other schools, I will not make any comments here.

Correspondent: What is your opinion on preserving the national art of boxing?

Wang:

It is really a pity that the boxing art of our country is now in a state of chaos, which can be summed up in one sentence: It has rejected the essence but assimilated the gross. Boxing arts from Japan and West Europe, though unique in some respects, are not based on the strength of the whole body. As mentioned above, Chinese Boxing is now in a chaotic state, and so it has to be straightened out and systematized with a view to carrying it forward. Who would take up this responsibility except us? This is why I, in spite of my shallowness, make such a forceful appeal to the general public.

Alignment with the Elements

 

What are your thoughts on global alignment? Comment below!

Central Principles of Daoism

Qi Magazine

Issue 59 | February 2002

By Adam Wallace

Daoist philosophy, which dates back almost 5,000 years, is so ingrained in Chinese culture that it forms the basis of its cosmology, sciences and medicine, folklore, mysticism, poetry, painting, calligraphy, martial arts, and Qigong

Daoism is not strictly a religion but a way of life which allows the follower to reconnect and live more closely with nature. Unlike religious worship of a Supreme Being, Daoism recognises a ‘supreme state of being’ which everyone can achieve through their own personal efforts. Dao is eternal, infinite, and beyond all time and space. It is the source of all being; the mother of the universe. It is the invisible thread which connects and permeates everything in existence. Laozi, the Sage, reluctantly termed it the Nameless (as well as The Unknowable, The Void, and The Way) as he knew words limit and Dao is limitless, beyond all description. Void is the very nature of Dao and to say that it exists is to exclude that which does not. Dao gave birth to One (the Universe or Unity), which created Two (Yin and Yang - the entire spectrum of complementary opposites including light and dark, male and female, mountains and valleys, etc.), which created Three (the Three Treasures -essence, energy, and spirit) which gave birth to the multitude of living things.

Dao is seen as a ceaseless flow, changing every moment. Yet the changes proceed in orderly cycles.We can predict day following night, the changing order of the seasons, and even Halley’s Comet which passes once every seventy-six years but other cycles are longer and harder to comprehend. Investigation into nature’s patterns allows us to predict events which is how the Daoist ‘Yijing’(or ‘Book of Changes’) was created. Daoists follow the principle of Non-action (Wu Wei) which is to act without forcing, moving in accordance with nature’s flow, and following the path of least resistance, like fish swimming with the current or a plant bending towards the sunlight. Stillness, which is central to Daoist philosophy, is to return to the original state of being. Meditation is the tool to achieve this. Activity should always alternate with periods of stillness and never be pushed to the point of strain. This is the principle of balance, necessary for a long and healthy life. The practitioner’s heart and mind should constantly remain calm. Anger, anxiety, desires, frustration etc. all disturb inner peace so it is best to reject them. The emotions should not be suppressed but transcended.The 5 Elements (wood, fire, earth,metal, and water), or five energies, exist everywhere in the universe. They are represented by the colours, directions, seasons, emotions, flavours, internal organs, climates etc. None is superior as each exerts a mutually creative(supporting) or destructive (restraining) influence upon the other. The Three Treasures have various manifestations within the cosmos. Within the confines of the human body Essence (Jing) is the seminal fluid and blood, Qi is vital energy, and Spirit (Shen) relates to the mind. These become weaker and coarser due to bad living habits and unrestrained desires, or lighter, purer and more refined if they are conserved and cultivated. Alchemy is the process of refining the spirit, generally disguised as the quest for converting base metals into gold. Daoists sought to refine a ‘goldenpill’ which bestowed perpetual youth, resistance to disease, and immortality(or immense longevity). Some ingested experimental compounds of cinnabar (sulphide of mercury), gold, silver, jade,pearls, silver, and even arsenic, many of whom died from poisoning. The highest form of Daoist alchemy is Qigong, which is natural and requires no external aid. The refining process involves conserving Jing, or bodily essences (the raw materials), and fusing it with Qi (the catalyst) through breathing practices and meditation, to develop Shen (unified mind, breath, and spirit).

There are essentially two goals in Daoism. The first involves living in accord with Nature. The second is the process of cultivation. The ego places a barrier between us and Dao so it must be dissolved until we become Selfless. This is to return to the Source, like a rain drop falling into the ocean. In death, the physical body (coarse matter) is discarded, like a snake shedding its skin, and if the consciousness (pure energy) has been developed to forge a strong ‘astral body’ it is free to become One with the Universe, and transcend death. So Daoists meditate to develop the mind in the quest for immortality, but a healthy body is necessary otherwise all the Qi is spent on healing, leaving none spare to develop the spirit. Speculation aside, on a truly practical level those who follow‘The Way’ and Daoist health regimens unquestionably attain longevity and in China 100 years in good health is tantamount to ‘Immortal.’

Relax your Mind, Establish Root, Cultivate Qi.

Qigong General Training by Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming

Every qigong form or practice has its special training purpose and theory. If you do not know the purpose and theory, you have lost the root (meaning) of the practice. Therefore, as a qigong practitioner, you must continue to ponder and practice until you understand the root of every set or form. Remember that getting the gold is not enough. Like the boy in the old Chinese story, you should concern yourself with learning the trick of turning the rock into gold. You can see that getting the gold is simply gaining the flowers and branches, and there can be no growth. However, if you have the trick, which is the theory, then you will have the root and you may continue to grow by yourself.

In Chinese qigong society, it is commonly known that in order to reach the goal of qigong practice, you must learn how to regulate the body (tiao shen, 調身), regulate the breathing (tiao xi, 調息), regulate the emotional mind (tiao xin, 調心), regulate the qi (tiao qi, 調氣), and regulate the spirit (tiao shen, 調神). Tiao in Chinese is constructed from two words, "言" (yan, means speaking or talking) and "周" (zhou, means round or complete). That means the roundness (i.e., harmony) or the completeness is accomplished by negotiation. Like an out of tune in piano, you must adjust it and make it harmonize with others. This implies that when you are regulating one of the above five processes, you must also coordinate and harmonize the other four regulating elements.

Regulating the body includes understanding how to find and build the root of the body, as well as the root of the individual forms you are practicing. To build a firm root, you must know how to keep your center, how to balance your body, and most important of all, how to relax so that the qi can flow.

To regulate your breathing, you must learn how to breathe so that your respiration and your mind mutually correspond and cooperate. When you breathe this way, your mind can attain peace more quickly, and therefore concentrate more easily on leading the qi.

Regulating the mind involves learning how to keep your mind calm, peaceful, and centered so that you can judge situations objectively and lead qi to the desired places. The mind is the main key to success in qigong practice.

Regulating the qi is one of the ultimate goals of qigong practice. In order to regulate your qi effectively you must first have regulated your body, breathing, and mind. Only then will your mind be clear enough to sense how the qi is distributed in your body and understand how to adjust it.

For Buddhist and Daoist priests who seek enlightenment or Buddhahood, regulating the spirit (shen) is the final goal of qigong. This enables them to maintain a neutral, objective perspective of life, and this perspective is the eternal life of the Buddha. The average qigong practitioner has lower goals. He raises his spirit in order to increase his concentration and enhance his vitality. This makes it possible for him to lead qi effectively throughout his entire body so that it carries out the managing and guarding duties. This maintains health and slows the aging process.

If you understand these few things you can quickly enter into the field of qigong. Without all of these important elements, your training will be ineffective and your time will be wasted.

Before you start training, you must first understand that all of the training originates in your mind. You must have a clear idea of what you are doing, and your mind must be calm, centered, and balanced. This also implies that your feeling, sensing, and judgment must be objective and accurate. This requires emotional balance and a clear mind. This takes a lot of hard work, but once you have reached this level you will have built the root of your physical training, and your yi (mind) can lead your qi throughout your physical body.

Regulating the Body (Tiao Shen, 調身)

When you learn any qigong, either moving or still, the first step is to learn the correct postures or movements. After you have learned the postures and movements, learn how to improve them until you can perform the forms accurately. Then you start to regulate your body until it has reached the stage that could provide the best condition for the qi to build up or to circulate.

In still qigong practice or soft qigong movement, this means to adjust your body until it is in the most comfortable and relaxed state. This implies that your body must be centered and balanced. If it is not, you will be tense and uneasy, and this will affect the judgment of your yi and the circulation of your qi. In Chinese medical society it is said: “[When] shape [body’s posture] is not correct, then the qi will not be smooth. [When] the qi is not smooth, the yi [wisdom mind] will not be peaceful. [When] the yi is not peaceful, then the qi is disordered." You should understand that the relaxation of your body originates with your yi. Therefore, before you can relax your body, you must first relax or regulate your mind (yi). This is called "shen xin ping heng," (身心平衡) which means "body and heart [i.e., mind] balanced." The body and the mind are mutually related. A relaxed and balanced body helps your yi to relax and concentrate. When your yi is at peace and can judge things accurately, your body will be relaxed, balanced, centered, and rooted. Only when you are rooted can you raise up your spirit of vitality.


Three Levels of Qigong Relaxation

Relaxation is one of the major keys to success in qigong. You should remember that only when you are relaxed will all your qi channels be open. In order to be relaxed, your yi must first be relaxed and calm. When the yi coordinates with your breathing, your body can relax.

In qigong practice there are three levels of relaxation. The first level is the external physical relaxation, or postural relaxation. This is a very superficial level, and almost anyone can reach it. It consists of adopting a comfortable stance and avoiding unnecessary strain in how you stand and move. The second level is the relaxation of the muscles and tendons. To do this your yi must be directed deep into the muscles and tendons. This relaxation will help open your qi channels, and will allow the qi to sink and accumulate in the dan tian.

The final stage is the relaxation that reaches the internal organs and the bone marrow. Remember, only if you can relax deep into your body will your mind be able to lead the qi there. Only at this stage will the qi be able to reach everywhere. Then you will feel –transparent—as if your whole body had disappeared. If you can reach this level of relaxation, you can communicate with your organs and use qigong to adjust or regulate the qi disorders that are giving you problems. You will also be able to protect your organs more effectively, and therefore slow down their degeneration.

Rooting

In all qigong practice it is very important to be rooted. Being rooted means to be stable and in firm contact with the ground. If you want to push a car you have to be rooted; the force you exert into the car needs to be balanced by the force into the ground. If you are not rooted, when you push the car you will only push yourself away and not move the car. Your root is made up of your body's sinking, centering, and balance.

Before you can develop your root, you must first relax and let your body "settle." As you relax, the tension in the various parts of your body will dissolve, and you will find a comfortable way to stand. You will stop fighting the ground to keep your body up and will learn to rely on your body's structure to support itself. This lets the muscles relax even more. Since your body isn't struggling to stand up, your yi won't be pushing upward, and your body, mind, and qi will all be able to sink. If you let dirty water sit quietly, the impurities will gradually settle to the bottom, leaving the water above it clear. In the same way, if you relax your body enough to let it settle, your qi will sink to your dan tian and the bubbling wells (yongquan, K-1, 湧泉) in your feet and your mind will become clear. Then you can begin to develop your root.

To root your body you must imitate a tree and grow an invisible root under your feet. This will give you a firm root to keep you stable in your training. Your root must be wide as well as deep. Naturally, your yi must grow first because it is the yi that leads the qi. Your yi must be able to lead the qi to your feet and be able to communicate with the ground. Only when your yi can communicate with the ground will your qi be able to grow beyond your feet and enter the ground to build the root. The bubbling well cavity is the gate that enables your qi to communicate with the ground.

After you have gained your root, you must learn how to keep your center. A stable center will make your qi develop evenly and uniformly. If you lose this center, your qi will not be led evenly. In order to keep your body centered, you must first center your yi and then match your body to it. Only under these conditions will the qigong forms you practice have their root. Your mental and physical centers are the keys that enable you to lead your qi beyond your body.

Balance is the product of rooting and centering. Balance includes balancing the qi and the physical body. It does not matter which aspect of balance you are dealing with; first, you must balance your yi, and only then can you balance your qi and your physical body.

Qigong has always been an important part of Chinese martial arts training. Without qigong training, a martial artist will have lost the origin of martial power, and what he or she uses will be only muscular power. This will make Chinese martial arts no different from the Western fighting arts. The most unique elements of Chinese martial arts are in qigong training and the buildup of internal energy (i.e., qi). From this, you will begin to understand the way of your life more deeply.

Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming, is a renowned author and teacher of Chinese martial arts and Qigong. Born in Taiwan, he has trained and taught Taijiquan, Qigong and Chinese martial arts for over forty-five years. He is the author of over thirty books, and was elected by Inside Kung Fu magazine as one of the 10 people who has "made the greatest impact on martial arts in the past 100 years." Dr. Yang lives in Northern California.

Relaxation: using metal to cool fire (Qi Mag 1995)

Qi Magazine - Issue 17 (1995)

Relaxation, Focus and Meditation

These terms are widely known, but alas, widely misunderstood. This misunderstanding can have quite marked effects on your practice. So now it's time to clear up all the confusion.

The concept of relaxation often seems to be a problematic linguistic distinction between Western and Chinese cultures. In the West, relaxation seems to be almost wholly associated with sleep and unconsciousness. To the Chinese, especially to those associated with the martial arts or meditation, relaxation has some quite specific qualities. 

The first quality of relaxation is simply 'not tense', which does not mean 'limp' or 'floppy.' You quite often see this mistake in Taiji classes, when the teacher tells students to "relax" or be "soft." In fact, what the teacher is usually trying to tell the students is that their movements are too rigid, that they should be more fluid, flexible and light, rather than hard, heavy and stiff.

Unfortunately, when the teacher says "relax" the students don't just become limp they also tend to half-shut their eyes and go into a mental mode that can only be equated with that of a sleep walker or zombie. This is not too much of a problem when students are meditating because all they do is waste their own time, but so far as martial arts are concerned, this attitude is a positive liability.

This problem is compounded by the Western misinterpretation of phrases like "without force," "no mind," "empty mind," "go with the flow" and so on. "Going with the flow" for instance may well include a certain 'acceptance' of situations but it doesn't mean accepting a punch of the nose. "Going with the flow" means not using 'direct' resistance. You don't let things just happen to you and nor do you necessarily meet them head on like two rams clashing their horns together; instead you simply step off the line, avoiding hard attacks or even helping them on their way. Likewise, keeping an 'empty mind' does not mean being vacant. It means that you should got concentrate on particulars above the 'gestalt.' In other words you should not be concentrating so hard on your technique that you miss what the other person is doing to counter you.

When you understand how these ideas apply to the martial arts it is relatively easy to apply the same principles to meditation. Relaxing does not mean letting your postures collapse or going to sleep. It means letting go of tension, deepening and slowing your breathing. When your breathing relaxes your heart will naturally slow as well. Five element theory explains this as using metal to cool fire.

Keeping an empty mind means not concentrating on particular things. If you imagine that your body is like a theatre stage, your organs are like the dancers and your mind is like the lighting. The idea is that you watch everything that happens rather than focusing your mind on one thing like a spot light; because when you focus say on your heart, the rest of the stage goes dark and the liver might fall over. In this way you can let your mind be like a lantern shining on now.

With regular practice the energy of your body becomes smooth and your organs become healthy. It is easy to see and deal with problems before they become too advanced. As your meditation improves, your skills of concentration and relaxation will benefit your martial arts and also improve the quality of your whole life. 

-by Glenn Gossling

Wang XiangZhai: Five Elements

I remember well the words of my late teacher:

Metal means the strength contained in the bones and the muscles, the mind being firm like iron or stone, being able to cut gold and steel. Wood has the meaning of the bending but rooted posture of a tree. Water means force like the waves of the vast sea, lively like a dragon or a snake, when used, it is able to pervade everything. Fire means strength being like gunpowder, fists being like bullets shot out, having the strength to burn the opponent’s body by the first touch. Earth means exerting strength heavy, deep, solid, and perfectly round, the qi being strong, having the force of oneness with heaven and earth. 

This is the syncretism of the five elements. It has nothing to do with one technique overcoming another technique as the modern people claim. If one first sees with the eyes, then thinks of it again in the mind, and then launches the counter-attack towards the enemy, it is very seldom that one will not get beaten up.