Post by eric on Dec 17, 2014 13:34:32 GMT
The following excerpt comes from Men's work on Baguazhang.
The last half of the passage I have left untranslated. It suddenly breaks into a highly abstract discursion, both metaphoric and metaphysical, about qi & spirit. While there may well be some practical insight therein, I am unable to draw it forth with my present understanding.
- Eric
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八卦拳陽火陰符形式
陽火陰符之理，即拳中之明動暗勁也，始終兩段工夫。進陽火，拳中之明動也，運陰符拳中之暗勁也，進陽火者，陰中陽返，進其剛健之德，所以復先天也，運陰符者，陽中用陰，運其柔順之德，所以樣先天也。進陽火必進至於六陽純全剛健之至，方為陽火之功。（盡）拳中明勁中正之至也，還陰符必運至於六陰純柔順之至，方為陰符之功畢，拳中暗勁和之至也，陽火陰符，功力俱到，剛柔相當，健順兼全，陽中有陰，陰中有陽，陰陽一氣。
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The Circumstance of Baguaquan's Yang Fire & Yin Accompaniment
As to the theory of yang fire and yin accompaniment, this refers to obvious force and hidden force found within the martial practice (literally, "the fist") as well as the sequence of these two stages of development. Entering into yang fire, this is the obvious movement within the martial practice; wielding yin accompaniment is the hidden force within the martial practice.
Upon entering into yang fire, from within the yin, yang returns; (one) enters into the martial potency of the firm and strong, thereby returning to pre-heaven.
When wielding the yin accompaniment, in the midst of yang, one uses yin, wielding its martial potency of moving smoothly with and softness, thereby nourishing the pre-heaven.
Entering into yang fire, one must arrive at the extreme of pure & complete firmness & strength [of the six yangs]; only then will one attain the development of yang fire.
Exhausting the extreme of the upright & centered obvious force within the martial practice, one returns to yin accompaniment; one must wield this accompaniment by arriving at the extreme of pure softness & smoothness [of the six yins]; only then will the development of yin accompaniment be complete with the harmony of the martial practice's hidden force reaching its utmost.
With yang fire and yin accompaniment, one will have the attainment of all developed strength. Firmness and softness will be mutually fitting. Strength and smoothness will be combined & complete. Within yang, there will be yin; with yin, there will be yang; yang and yin uniting in a single energy.
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Explanation of Terms Translated:
1. In old Chinese, the character "fu" 符 that I am translating as "accompaniment" had a more specific meaning of a tally/talisman that was split into pieces and united to make a whole (imagine you have the white half of the Yinyang symbol in your hand; the black half would be its "fu"). Hence, the meanings of "counterpart" or "complement."
2. Men does refer to Baguazhang here as Baguaquan, though this seems less significant in the Chinese than it may appear in the English. "Fist" was just a common means of referring to a martial type of practice at the time.
3. In this passage, it is worth noting that the various forces are categorized by two types: obvious force and hidden force. According to this passage, transforming force would then also be a type of hidden force. This makes some sense as transforming has no obvious emission. The Doctor distinguishes them more finely than this, suggesting that hidden force is more about weighing down upon and controlling the opponent.
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Present Perplexities:
1. I do not know whereto the six yins and the six yangs refer. It is quite possible Men Baozhen has a specific set of attributes in mind. It is also possible that the number is relatively unimportant and intended to suggest completeness.
2. I do not have a precise understanding of his reference of pre-heaven. Were I to hazard a guess, I would assume pre-heaven here is referring to the pre-heaven trigram arrangement wherein the Qian and Kun trigrams take center stage, being the purest examples of yang & yin. He Jinbao has suggested that this passage is stressing the importance of practicing the Lion & Unicorn animal systems. The Doctor has writing that similarly associates the Qian & Kun trigrams with pre-heaven as well as their relative theoretical importance among the 8 trigrams. By such understandings, lion could be said to have the most obvious force of the animals and unicorn the most transforming.
Nevertheless, upon considering theory, we should also keep practical realities in mind. If Unicorn had no ability to attack an opponent, it would be martially useless on its own and not a complete animal system in its own right. Likewise, Lion, while powerful, should not be stupid in the application of its strength. Furthermore, while the Qian & Kun trigrams have a place of theoretical importance, each of the 8 trigrams is a complete system in itself, which means every trigram has elements of Qian & Kun. This is why the Doctor could start by learning Phoenix while others could possibly never learn Lion nor Unicorn yet still be quite proficient at using the art. While it can be extremely helpful to be familiar with multiple trigrams, if a practitioner only studied one, the practitioner would still be training the 8 trigrams' palm. For the generation of practitioners studying under He Jinbao, it does make sense to dedicate some serious time to the study of Lion; we could cite theory for this, but it also makes good practical sense to be familiar with the teacher's animal of choice, specialty & preference. Still, it is worth keeping in mind that while He Jinbao's favorite opening strike might well be rising sweeping, the Doctor's favorite strike for opening and setting up changes was the Phoenix arching chop; so too, practitioners might eventually develop their own individual preferences.
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Why This Passage Matters:
(The following ideas merely reflect my present & imperfect understanding)
1. What is it we are developing when training a martial art?
This has many possible answers depending on how you consider it, but, the passage above attempts to answer this question by the means of Yinyang theory, where force/strength is yang and skill is yin. In some sense, even the term "martial" "art" can be similarly understood.
2. The Alternating Emphasis yet Inseparability of Martial Strength & Martial Skill
For martial arts, both strength and skill are necessary. Skill, as He Jinbao has noted, is largely getting a good result on an opponent while using a minimal amount of strength. Accordingly, a difference in skill can be roughly measured by how smoothly one is able to dispatch an opponent who is using comparable or superior strength.
As Yinyang theory suggests, you cannot separate yin from yang. So too you cannot separate the strength of a technique from the skillful manner in which that technique is used. If one can lift a heavy weight, but not apply this strength in a martially effective way, we cannot only say that such an individual lacks martial skill, but also that his is not a martial strength (though arguably he has a greater pool of strength to draw from; he just hasn't weaponized that strength yet. It is likely that his strength is not comprehensive & thereby disproportionately weak in some necessary martial aspect and/or that he lacks the understanding of how to properly apply his strength to the martial purpose at hand).
Martial strength and martial skill complete each other. Yet, in the sense of development, they are not necessarily approached the same way.
3. Sequence & Priority of Development
Men Baozhen seems to clearly state that martial strength needs to be developed first.
After all, how can one worry about how to precisely and smoothly apply a strength if one has not developed that strength to begin with? Furthermore, the easiest way to end a fight is with a violent & decisive blow with a single point of contact. Therefore, this capacity must be developed first.
Even when one does rely on more circular, skill-based techniques such as soft, He Jinbao has made it clear that the foundation for skill is built in martial strength. He further noted that if one considers the Yinyang symbol, soft would take place in the black dot inside of the white half of the symbol. That is to say it relies on a foundation of strength and from amongst that foundation, at the decisive moment, it then uses that strength in a skillful, rounded & smooth manner to achieve its objective.
Hence, firmness, strength, force and large vigorous motions are developed first. Without some of this development, there will be no foundation for technical skill and even in the unlikely case where some skill might be developed absent strength, it would still lack teeth. YSB is also called the "hard palm" and a glance over the attacking methods reveals few where the method does not end attempting to inflict some form of injury upon the opponent; and even when conceptually an attacking method is not meant to hurt the opponent (such as removing), it it generally used to set up and follow with an injurious attack.
Still, skill has a large presence in the art. Even in the "yang" sense of strength, skill is to be found in the proper alignment of martial structure and the developed coordination necessary to generate full-body force. And yet, skill doesn't stop there. Consider again the Yinyang symbol, where He Jinbao has stated that the violent emission of a lion strike occurs in the white dot in the black half of the symbol. Even when one is doing a lion strike, the movement should be pregnant with skill, not merely at the violent conclusion of the movement, but all throughout. At a higher level, violent strikes should suddenly be issued from the full accompaniment and cover of competently applied skill. This makes the practitioner much safer and much more effective with the application of strength. Skill accompanies and makes the strength complete, refined and with deceptive purpose. While for reasons of development, a greater focus is first placed on martial force & strength, in usage, both aspects are found simultaneously, sequentially & mutually assisting.
