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拳意述真

AUTHENTIC EXPLANATIONS OF MARTIAL ARTS CONCEPTS

孫福全

by Sun Fuquan [Lutang]

[published March, 1924]

[translation by Paul Brennan, April, 2013]

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拳意述真序

PREFACE [BY CHEN WEIMING]

孫祿堂先生以形意八卦太極拳術教授後學恐久而失其真也乃作拳意述真述先輩傳授之精意而加以發揮竣稿後命余序之三家之術其意本一大抵務勝人尚氣力者源失之濁不求勝于人神行機圓而人亦莫能勝之者其源則清清則技與道合先生是書皆合乎道之言也先生學形意拜李奎垣先生之門李之師為郭先生雲深而先生實學于郭從之最久幼棄其業隨之往來各省郭先生騎而馳先生手攬馬尾步追其後奔逸絕塵日嘗行百餘里至京師聞程先生廷華精八卦拳術董海川先生之徒也訪焉又絕受其術程先生賛先生敏捷過于人人亦樂授之蚤從郭暮依程如是精練者數年游行郡邑聞有藝者必造訪或不服與較而先生未嘗負之故郭程二先生賛曰此子真能不辱其師先生年五十餘居京師有郝先生為真者自廣平來郝善太極拳術又從問其意郝先生曰異哉吾一言而子通悟勝專習數十年者故先生融會三家而能得其精微筆之於書表章先輩開示後學明內家道藝無二之旨動靜交脩之法其理深矣其説俱備于書閲者自知之余因略述先生得道之由以見先生是書乃苦功經歷所得者非空言也

民國十二年歲次癸亥仲冬蘄水陳曾則序

After Sun Lutang had learned the boxing arts of Xingyi, Bagua, and Taiji, he feared that with the passage of time their genuineness would be lost. Thus he has produced this book, relating the essential ideas of previous generations of teachers so as to give them free rein. After he completed the manuscript, he told me to write a preface for it.

These three boxing systems are fundamentally the same in concept. Most emphasize using strength to defeat an opponent, thereby corrupting their own essential source. But by not seeking to defeat your opponent, your spirit is in motion and the mechanics of your movement are rounded, rendering the opponent incapable of defeating you. Your source thus remains pure, and by being pure, your skill conforms with the Way. Indeed, Sun’s books all conform with the messages of Daoism.

When he learned Xingyi, he did obeisance to Li Kuiyuan. Li’s teacher was Guo Yunshen, and Sun’s real learning is from Guo, for he followed him for the longest amount of time. When he was young, he abandoned his occupation and accompanied Guo around the provinces. When Guo rode his horse, he galloped. Sun grasped the horse’s tail and chased after it, running so fast that no one could have caught up, daily covering more than thirty miles.

Arriving in Beijing, he heard that Cheng Tinghua, a student of Dong Haichuan, was excellent at the Bagua boxing art. He visited him and fully received his art. Cheng helped him become more agile than ordinary people and was pleased to instruct him.

What Sun had earlier learned from Guo and later learned from Cheng, he refined over several years. When he went on his own travels, his skill was heard of wherever he went, and he was inevitably paid visits. He never refused a challenge and was never defeated. Therefore Guo and Cheng both supported him by saying: “This is a student who is truly incapable of humiliating his teachers.”

Once he was over fifty years old, he made his home in the capital. Hao Weizhen had come from Guangping. He was an expert in Taiji Boxing, and while Sun was discussing with him about its concepts, Hao said: “How strange. I said one thing about it and you realized all, surpassing my concentrated practice of decades.”

Therefore Sun harmonized the three systems and was able to obtain their essence. He committed them to writing, honoring previous generations and inspiring later generations, peerless in his aim of illuminating the methods and skills of the internal school. As to their method of movement and stillness cultivating each other, the principles are deep. Their teachings are well-presented in the book so that readers will easily come to understand them.

I have briefly related how Sun obtained these methods. Making use of what you find in his book, hard work will then take you through to attaining them, and these will not be empty words.

– written by Chen Zengze [Weiming] of Qishui [in Hubei], Dec, 1923

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[PREFACE BY WU XINGU]

祿堂先生旣著形意八卦太極三書行世嘉惠後學厥功匪淺然猶懼不知者以拳術為禦侮之具僅憑血氣之勇也於是有拳意述真之作凡拳中之奥義闡發無遺平日所聞之諸先生輩者一一筆之於書使好拳術者由此而進於道焉俾武術之真義不致湮没此先生之苦心也其以述真名者蓋本述而不作之意於此益見先生之謙德已

民國十二年歲次癸亥冬月吳心穀拜讀並識

Sun Lutang has authored three books on Xingyi, Bagua, and Taiji for the benefit of new generations of students, and his skills are not superficial. However, he worries that those who do not understand them will use martial arts as a tool to resist invaders only by way of reckless courage.

Therefore he has made this book so that the profound ideas within these boxing arts may be fully elucidated. Recorded in this book are the ordinary things he heard from all these teachers from the older generation, one after another, so that those who love boxing arts can from this advance to the Way.

In order that the true meaning of martial arts not fall into oblivion, he has taken great pains. The reason the title contains “Authentic Explanations” is because the basic intention is to pass these things on without embellishment, which further demonstrates his modesty and virtue.

– respectfully written by Wu Xingu, Dec, 1923

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拳意述真自序

AUTHOR’S PREFACE

夫道者。陰陽之根。萬物之體也。其道未發。懸於太虛之內。其道已發。流行於萬物之中。夫道一而已矣。在天曰命。在人曰性。在物曰理。在拳術曰內勁。所以內家拳術。有形意。八卦。太極。三派。形式不同。其極還虛之道則一也。易曰。一陰一陽之謂道。若偏陰偏陽皆謂之病。夫人之一生。飲食之不調。氣血之不和。精神之不振。皆陰陽不和之故也。故古人。創內家拳術。使人潜心玩味。以思其理。身體力行。以合其道。則能復其本來之性體。然吾國拳術。門派頗多。形式不一。運用亦異。畢生不能窮其數。歷世不能盡其法。余自幼年好習拳術。性與形意。八卦。太極。三派之拳術相近。研究五十餘年。得其槪要。曾著形意八卦太極拳學已刊行世。今又以昔年所聞先輩之言。述之於書。俾學者得知其真意焉。三派拳術。形式不同。其理則同。用法不一。其制人之中心。而取勝於人者則一也。按一派拳術之中。諸位先生之言論形式。亦有不同者。蓋其運用。或有異耳。三派拳術之道。始於一理。中分為三派。末復合為一理。其一理者。三派亦各有所得也。形意拳之誠一也。八卦拳之萬法歸一也。太極拳之抱元守一也。古人云。天得一以清。地得一以寧。人得一以靈。得其一而萬事畢也。三派之理。皆是以虛無而始。以虛無而終。所以三派諸位先生所練拳術之道。能與釋儒道三家。誠中。虛中。空中之妙理。合而為一者也。余深恐諸位先生之苦心精詣。久而淹没。故述之以公同好。惟自愧學術譾陋。無文。或未能發揮諸位先生之妙旨。望諸同志。隨時增補之。以發明其道可也。

民國十二年歲次癸亥直隸完縣孫福全序

The Way is the root source of the passive and active aspects, and is the essence of all things. When the Way was not yet expressed, it was suspended in the Void, and since the Way was expressed, it has been flowing within all things. [from Mengzi, chapter 3a:] “The Way is One, and that is all.” In Nature it is called “fate”. In people is called “nature”. In things it is called “principle”. In boxing arts it is called “internal power”, hence the “internal” schools of boxing arts, in which there are the three systems of Xingyi, Bagua, and Taiji.

Their postures are different, but at their limit is the Way of returning to emptiness, and in this way they are the same. It says in the Book of Changes [Great Treatise, part 1]: “The Way is the passive AND the active.” To incline toward the passive OR the active is wrong. Throughout your life, if your eating and drinking are not regulated, your energy and blood not harmonized, or your essence and spirit not roused, all these will put your passive and active aspects out of balance as a result. Therefore people long ago created the internal schools of boxing arts to get you to concentrate and ponder upon the theory and to get your body’s movements to conform with the Way, thus enabling you to return to your original essence.

In our nation’s boxing arts, there are so many schools, and their postures and applications are so varied. In a whole lifetime, you would not be able to even count them all, and even if given all the time in the world, we would not be able to exhaustively examine their methodologies. When I was young, I was fond of practicing boxing arts, and my disposition is toward the three systems of Xingyi, Bagua, and Taiji. I have studied for more than fifty years and have obtained their essentials. I have written books for each, which have already been published. Now I am also taking what I have been told over the years by previous generations of teachers and putting it all into a book so that students may obtain their authentic ideas.

The postures of the three boxing arts are different, but their theory is the same. Their applications may be different, yet they have controlling the opponent as their core, and so they defeat opponents in the same way. Within a single system of boxing, everyone’s explanations and postures are not identical, owing either to how they use them or just to differences from one person to another.

The methods of these three boxing systems begin with the principle of oneness, divide from there into the three distinct branches, then end up united again in the principle of oneness. Each of the three systems has its own way of oneness: Xingyi Boxing’s sincerity is a pure oneness, Bagua Boxing’s infinity of techniques is a returning to oneness, and Taiji Boxing’s embracing of original nature is a maintaining of oneness. It was said by men long ago [Laozi – Daodejing, chapter 39 / Zhuangzi, chapter 12]: “The sky obtains oneness by being clear. The ground obtains oneness by being firm. Man obtains oneness by being smart.” / “Obtaining the One, all things are accomplished.” The principle of the three systems is always to begin in emptiness and to end in emptiness. Therefore the way the teachers of the three boxing arts practiced can be equivalent to the three schools of Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism – with their special theories of sincerity, undifferentiation, and non-identity – merging to become one.

I deeply fear that all the effort those teachers put into perfecting these things will be wasted with the passing of time. Thus I transmit it to share with those who will appreciate it. However, I am ashamed of my own learning, how shallow, ignorant, and illiterate I am, and that I cannot give full expression to their wonderful ideas. It would be good if their methods can be further elaborated upon, and so I hope my comrades will make more information available as it comes to light.

– written by Sun Fuquan of Wan County, Hebei, 1923

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拳意述真目次

CONTENTS

第一章形意拳家小傳

Chapter One: Brief Biographies of Xingyi Boxing Teachers

李洛能先生

Li Luoneng [Nengran]

郭雲深先生

Guo Yunshen

劉奇蘭先生

Liu Qilan

宋世榮先生

Song Shirong

車毅齋先生

Che Yizhai

張樹德先生

Zhang Shude

劉曉蘭先生

Liu Xiaolan

李鏡齋先生

Li Jingzhai

李存義先生

Li Cunyi

田靜傑先生

Tian Jingjie

李奎垣先生

Li Kuiyuan

耿誠信先生

Geng Chengxin

周明泰先生

Zhou Mingtai

許占鰲先生

Xu Zhan’ao

第二章八卦拳家小傳

Chapter Two: Brief Biographies of Bagua Boxing Teachers

董海川先生

Dong Haichuan

程廷華先生

Cheng Tinghua

第三章太極拳家小傳

Chapter Three: Brief Biographies of Taiji Boxing Teachers

楊露禪先生

Yang Luchan

武禹讓先生

Wu Yurang [Yuxiang]

郝為楨先生

Hao Weizhen

第四章形意拳

Chapter Four: Xingyi Boxing

述郭雲深先生言 十四則

Guo Yunshen Said… (fourteen parts)

述白西園先生言 一則

Bai Xiyuan Said…

述劉奇蘭先生言 三則

Liu Qilan Said… (three parts)

述宋世榮先生言 三則

Song Shirong Said… (three parts)

述車毅齋先生言 一則

Che Yizhai Said…

述張樹德先生言 一則

Zhang Shude Said…

述劉曉蘭先生言 一則

Liu Xiaolan Said…

述李鏡齋先生言 一則

Li Jingzhai Said…

述李存義先生言 二則

Li Cunyi Said… (two parts)

述田靜傑先生言 一則

Tian Jingjie Said…

述李奎垣先生言 四則

Li Kuiyuan Said… (four parts)

述耿誠信先生言 一則

Geng Chengxin Said…

述周明泰先生言 一則

Zhou Mingtai Said…

述許占鰲先生言 二則

Xu Zhan’ao Said… (two parts)

第五章八卦拳

Chapter Five: Bagua Boxing

述程廷華先生言 一則

Cheng Tinghua Said…

第六章太極拳

Chapter Six: Taiji Boxing

述郝為楨先生言 一則

Hao Weizhen Said…

述陳秀峯先生言 一則

Chen Xiufeng Said…

第七章 形意拳譜摘要

Chapter Seven: Selected Highlights from Xingyi Boxing Manuals

第八章 練拳經驗及三派之精意

Chapter Eight: My Experience of Practicing Boxing Arts & The Essential Concept Within the Three Systems

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第一章形意拳家小傳

CHAPTER ONE: BRIEF BIOGRAPHIES OF XINGYI BOXING TEACHERS

[LI NENGRAN]

李先生諱飛羽。字能然。世稱老能先生。或曰洛能。洛農。老農。皆一音之轉也。直隸深縣人。經商於山西太谷。喜拳術。聞縣境。有戴龍邦先生者。善形意拳。往訪焉。覿面一見。言談舉止。均甚文雅。不似長武術者。心異之。辭去。他日倩人介紹。拜為門下。時先生年三十七歲也。自受教後。晝夜練習。二年之久。所學者。僅五行拳之一行。即劈拳。並半蹚連環拳耳。雖所學無多。而心中並不請益。誠心習練。日不間斷。是年龍邦先生之母。八十壽誕。先生前往拜祝。所至之賓客。非親友。卽龍邦先生之門生。拜壽之後。會武術者。皆在壽堂練習。各盡其所學焉。惟先生只練拳蹚半。龍邦先生之母。性喜拳術。凡形意拳之道理。並形式。無所不曉。遂問先生。為何連環拳只練半蹚。先生答曰。僅學此耳。當命龍邦先生曰。此人學有二年之久。所教者甚少。看來到是忠誠樸實。可以將此道理。用心教授之。龍邦先生。本是孝子。又受老母面諭。乃盡其所得乎心者。而授之先生。先生精心練習。至四十七歲。學乃大成。於形意拳之道理。無微不至矣。每與人相較。無不隨心所欲。手到功成。當時名望甚著。北數省人皆知之。教授門生。郭雲深。劉奇蘭。白西園。李太和。車毅齋。宋世榮。諸先生等。於是先生名聲愈著。道理愈深。本境有某甲。武進士也。體力逾常人。兼善拳術。與先生素相善。而於先生之武術。則竊有不服。每蓄意相較。輒以相善之故。難於啟齒。一日會談一室。言笑一如平常。初不料某甲之蓄意相試。毫無防備之意。而某甲於先生行動時。乘其不意。竊於身後即捉住先生。用力舉起。及一伸手。而身體已騰空斜上。頭顱觸入頂棚之內。復行落下。兩足仍直立於地。未嘗傾跌。以邪術疑先生。先生告之曰。是非邪術也。盖拳術上乘神化之功。有不見不聞之知覺。故神妙若此。非汝之所知也。時人遂稱先生曰。神拳李能然。年八十餘歲。端坐椅上。一笑而逝。

Li Feiyu, called Nengran – over the generations called Laoneng, Luoneng, Luonong, or Laonong, all turnings upon a similar sound – was from Shen County, Hebei. He was a merchant in Taigu County, Shanxi. Fond of martial arts, he heard that in the next county there was a Dai Longbang who was an expert at Xingyi Boxing, and he went to visit him.

When he met him for the first time, Dai’s speech and deportment were very elegant and he did not seem like a top martial artist, but his heart was not in favor of accepting Li and so he declined him. Another day, a friend introduced him as a favor. Li then did obeisance to Dai and became his student at the age of thirty-seven.

Once he received the instruction, he practiced day and night. For a whole two years, all he had learned was one of the five elements techniques, namely the chopping technique, and half of the Continuous Boxing set. Although what he learned was not much, he was not of a mind to ask for more. He sincerely practiced every day without interruption.

That year was the eightieth birthday of Dai’s mother, and Dai went forward to honor her with his good wishes. The guests that had arrived were not relatives and friends, but were Dai’s students. After she had been congratulated on her birthday, he gathered the martial artists and they all practiced in the birthday hall, each going through everything they had learned, except that Li was only doing half of the Continuous Boxing set. Dai’s mother was fond of boxing arts, and she understood all the principles and postures of Xingyi Boxing. Finally she asked Dai why Li had only done half the set, and he answered: “He has only learned that much.”

“This man has been learning for two whole years and he has been taught very little. He looks like he has become sincere and honest. He can be given this method. Diligently teach it to him,” she commanded. Being a dutiful son, he received his mother’s instructions and then taught Li everything he knew.

Li painstakingly trained until he was forty-seven, and then his learning was complete, the Xingyi Boxing theory attained in every detail. Whenever he competed with others, he always did whatever he felt like and his technique succeeded. He was then highly renowned, known of throughout several northern provinces. His students were Guo Yunshen, Liu Qilan, Bai Xiyuan, Li Taihe, Che Yizhai, Song Shirong, and others. His reputation kept growing and his theory kept deepening.

In the same county was a certain man who came top in the imperial military exams. His body was strong and he was an extraordinary man, also an expert in boxing arts. With Li he was simple and friendly, but of Li’s martial art he was secretly unconvinced. He always wanted to challenge others, but when he was on such friendly terms, he was too shy to say so. One day they were conversing in a room, talking and laughing like everything was normal. But he began to decide to test Li after all, and with the intention of catching him totally unprepared.

When he acted, he took advantage of the unexpectedness of it, sneaking up behind Li to clutch him and forcefully lift him up. And as he extended a hand, his body was already soaring diagonally upward, his head went into the ceiling, and then he fell back down with both feet standing on the ground rather than falling down.

He suspected Li of sorcery, but Li informed him: “It’s not sorcery, it’s just that at the highest level the boxing art is a spiritual skill. As it is unperceived, it seems miraculous and beyond your comprehension.” From that point, his contemporaries dubbed him “Magic Boxing” Li Nengran.

He was more than eighty years old when he died. Sitting on a chair, he smiled and passed away.

[GUO YUNSHEN]

郭先生諱峪生。字雲深。直隸深縣馬莊人。幼年好習拳術。習之數年。無所得。後遇李能然先生。談及形意拳術。形式極簡單。而道則深奥。先生甚愛慕之。能然先生。視先生有真誠之心。遂收為門下。口傳手授。先生得傳之後。心思會悟。身體力行。朝夕習練。數十年。能然先生。傳授手法二人對手之時。倏忽之間。身已跌出二丈餘。並不覺有所痛苦。只覺輕輕一划。遂飄然而去。先生旣受能然先生。所教拳術三層之道理。以至於體用規矩法術之奥妙。並劍術刀槍之精巧。無所不至其極。常遊各省。與南北二派同道之人交接甚廣。閲歷頗多。亦嘗戲試其技。令有力壯者五人。各持木棍。以五棍之一端。頂於先生腹。五人將足立穩。將力使足。先生一鼓腹。而五壯年人。一齊騰身而起。趺坐於丈餘之外。又練虎形拳。身體一躍。至三丈外。先生所練之道理。腹極實。而心極虛。形式神氣沉重如泰山。而身體動作輕靈如飛鳥。所以先生遇有不測之事。只要耳聞目見無論何物。來的如何勇猛速快。隨時身體皆能避之。先生熟讀兵書。復善奇門。著有解説形意拳經。詳細明暢賜余收藏。後竟被人竊去。不知今藏何所。未能付梓流傳。致先生啟逮後學之心。湮没不彰惜哉。先生懷抱絕技奇才。未遇其時。僅於北數省教授多人。後隱於鄉閭。至七十餘歲而終。

Guo Yusheng, called Yunshen, was from Ma Village, Shen County, Hebei. When he was young he was fond of practicing boxing arts. He trained for several years but got nothing out of it. Later he met Li Nengran and talked with him about the Xingyi boxing art. Its postures are very simple, yet its theory is profound. He adored it. Li saw he had a sincere heart and finally accepted him as his student, teaching him personally.

After Guo obtained the transmission, he contemplated its ideas until he understood them, and then his body acted according to them. Day and night he trained for more than ten years as Li passed on his techniques to him, so that when Guo drilled with a partner, he suddenly crowded the space and a body fell down more than twenty feet away. His partner felt no pain, only aware of a gentle flick, and Guo walked away with a swagger. Guo completed Li’s instructional course through the three-levels theory, and he achieved in form and function a profound standard of technical skill, as well as great skill in the arts of sword, saber, and spear, all of which he become quite perfect in.

He often traveled to various provinces, broadening his associations with people in both northern and southern styles who were of similar thinking, and he had many experiences. He once exhibited a test of his skill, calling for five strong men all at once to each hold a wooden staff and to press their points into his belly. The five men made their stances stable and pressed from their feet, then with a single bulge of his belly, all five of them shot upwards in unison and fell on their butts more than ten feet away. Also, when he practiced the tiger form, his body leapt beyond thirty feet.

The principle that he trained was for his belly to be completely solid but his mind be completely empty. His posture’s manner was as heavy as Mt. Tai, yet his body’s movement was as light as a flying bird. Therefore if ever he happened to be caught up in some incident by surprise, you only heard about it if you saw it for yourself, whatever it was, since when it happened he was so fierce and fast that at any time his body could evade it.

He was well-versed in military literature and was also an expert in unorthodox tactics. He wrote Explaining the Xingyi Boxing Classics with detail and clarity. It was given to me to treasure but was later unexpectedly stolen by someone. I do not know nowadays where it is and I am unable to send it to the publishers so it can be spread for the enlightening of later students. It has disappeared without trace, and this is a tragedy. [It seems possible that much of Sun’s motivation for making this book, which concentrates most of all on Guo’s teachings, was to make amends for losing that one.] His cherished skills and talents have not made it to today, and of the many people who have received his teachings, they are only in a few northern provinces.

He later shrugged off town life and lived in his native neighborhood. He was more than 70 years old when he died.

[LIU QILAN]

劉先生。字奇蘭。直隸深縣人。喜拳術。拜李能然先生為師。學習形意拳術。先生隱居田廬。教授門徒。聯絡各派。無門戶之見。有初見先生。數言即拜服為弟子者。先生至七十餘歲而終。弟子中。以李存義。耿誠信。周明泰。三先生。藝術為最。其子殿臣。著形意拳抉微。發明先生之道。

Liu Qilan was from Shen County, Hebei. Fond of boxing arts, he did obeisance to Li Nengran and learned the art of Xingyi Boxing. Liu shrugged off town life and lived in a farmhouse, and there he taught students. He associated with the various styles without being biased toward his own, and when martial artists met him for the first time, he would [defuse the need for a challenge] by immediately voicing much admiration for their students.

He was more than seventy years old when he died. Among his students, Li Cunyi, Geng Chengxin, Zhou Mingtai were the three most skilled. His son, Dianchen, wrote Selected Subtleties of Xingyi Boxing, which elaborates upon his method.

[SONG SHIRONG]

宋世榮先生。宛平人喜。崑曲。圍棋。性又好拳術。在山西太谷開設鐘表鋪。聞李能然先生。拳術高超。名冠當時。託人引見拜為門下。自受教後。晝夜勤苦習練。迄不間斷。所學五行拳。及十二形。無不各盡其妙。練習十二形中。蛇形之時。能盡蛇之性能。回身向左轉時。右手能攝住右足跟。及向右轉時。左手能攝住左足跟。回身停式。身形宛如蛇盤一團。開步走蹚。身形委曲灣轉。又如蛇之撥草蜿蜓而行也。練燕形之時。身子挨着地。能在板凳下邊。一掠而過。出去一丈餘遠。此式之名。即呌燕子抄水。又練狸貓上樹。此係拳中一着之名目身子往上一躍。手足平貼於墻。能粘一二分鐘時。當時同門同道及門外之人。見者固極多。現時曾親覩先生所練各式之技能者。亦復甚夥。盖先生格物之功甚深。能各盡其性故其傳神也。若此昔伶人某。與先生相識。云在歸化城時。親見先生。與一練技者。比較。二人相離丈餘。練技者挺身一縱。甫一出手。其身已如箭之速。跌出兩丈有餘。而先生則毫無動轉。只見兩手於練技者之身。一划耳。余二十餘歲時。住於北京。小席兒胡同。白西園先生處。伶人某與白先生對門居。聞其向白先生言如此。民國十二年一月間。同門人某。往太谷。拜見先生先。生時年八十餘歲矣。精神健壯。身體靈動。一如當年。歸後告於予曰。先生談及拳術時。仍復眉飛色舞。口言其理。身比其形。殊忘其身為耄耋翁。且歎後進健者之不如焉。

Song Shirong is from Wanping County [in Beijing]. He delights in hearing Kunqu opera and in playing encirclement chess, and also adores martial arts. In Taigu County, Shanxi, he opened a clockmaker’s shop. He heard Li Nengran was superb at boxing arts, considered at that time to be the best. He begged someone to introduce him, then did obeisance to Li and became his student. Ever since Song received instruction, he has trained hard day and night without interruption up to this day. What he learned was the techniques of the five elements and twelve animals, learning the subtleties of each to their fullest extent.

When practicing the snake technique, he can do it exactly like a snake. When twisting his torso to the left, his right hand can absorb to his right heel, and when twisting his torso to the right, his left hand can absorb to his left heel. When turning around and pausing in the posture, his body is just like a snake coiling into a ball. While striding through the movements, his body winds and turns like a snake wriggling through the grass.

When imitating the swallow, his body gets so close to the ground, he can slip through under a stool and come out more than ten feet away. The name of this posture is SWALLOW TAKES UP WATER. He also practices LEOPARD CLIMBS THE TREE (These relate to the individual techniques within the boxing art.), in which his body leaps up, his hands and feet both sticking to the wall, and he stays for a second or two. Such moments have been frequently witnessed, by his Xingyi colleagues and by practitioners from other systems. Nowadays there are a great many people who have seen with their own eyes his abilities in practicing the various postures. His study of the skills of the animals is so deep, he can in each fulfill its personality and thus transmit its spirit.

Long ago he was acquainted with a certain actor, who said: “While in Guihua [now called Hohhot in Inner Mongolia], I personally got to see him in competition with another. Both men were more than ten feet apart. The challenger extended his body and launched forward, shooting out a hand, but then the man’s body was already going away at the speed of an arrow and he fell down more than twenty feet away. Song had not moved at all except for a flick of his hands to the challenger’s body.” When I was in my early twenties, I had a stay in Beijing, at Bai Xiyuan’s house in Xiaoxi’er Alley. The actor and Bai lived opposite each other and I heard him tell this tale to Bai.

In Jan, 1923, a colleague of mine went to Taigu to do obeisance to Song, who is this year more than eighty years old. His spirit is as robust and his body as nimble as when he was in the prime of his life. When my colleague returned, he told me: “When Song talks about boxing arts, he is still enraptured. The theory that comes out of his mouth forms identically in his body. He has totally forgotten that his body is old, and his health does not seem to be declining at all.”

[CHE YIZHAI]

車先生。永宏。字毅齋。山西太谷縣人。家中小康。師李能然先生。學習拳術。先生自得道後。視富貴如浮雲。隱居田間。教授門徒甚多。能發明之道者。山西祁縣喬錦堂先生為最。先生樂道。始終如一。至八十餘歲而終。

Che Yonghong, called Yizhai, was from a wealthy home in Taigu County, Shanxi. He learned boxing arts from Li Nengran. After he obtained the method, he looked upon wealth and rank as passing clouds.

He shrugged off town life and lived in the countryside, where he taught many students, and out of those able to expound upon his method, the best was Qiao Jintang of Qi County, Shanxi. Che found constant delight in Daoism. He was more than eighty years old when he died.

[ZHANG SHUDE]

張先生。字樹德。直隸祁州人。幼年好習武術。拜李能然先生為師。練拳並劍刀槍各術。合為一氣。以拳為劍。以劍為拳。所用之槍法極善。有來訪先生。比較槍法者。皆為先生所敗。先生隱居田間。教門徒頗多。門徒承先生之技術者。亦不乏人。先生至八十餘歲而終。

Zhang Shude was from Qi Prefecture, Hebei. When he was young he loved practicing martial arts, and did obeisance to Li Nengran for instruction. He trained in each of the arts of boxing, sword, saber, and spear, merging them into a single art, treating boxing as sword and sword as boxing, and his spear technique was superb. Visitors came to compete against his spear technique and they were all defeated by him.

He shrugged off town life and lived in the countryside, where he taught many students. There is now no lack of people carrying on his skills. He was more than eighty years old when he died.

[LIU XIAOLAN]

劉先生。字曉蘭。直隸河間縣人。為賈於易州西陵。性喜拳術。幼年練八極拳。工夫極純。後又拜李能然先生為師。研究形意拳術。教授門徒。直省最多。老來精神益壯。八十餘歲而終。

Liu Xiaolan was from Hejian County, Hebei. He was a merchant of the towns of Yizhou and Xiling. He delighted in martial arts and when he was young he trained in Baji Boxing, becoming very skilled. Later he did obeisance to Li Nengran for instruction and studied the art of Xingyi Boxing.

He taught a great many students in his home province. In his old age his spirit was increasingly robust. He was more than eighty years old when he died.

[LI JINGZHAI]

李先生。字鏡齋。直隸新安縣人。以孝廉歷任教授。性好拳術。年六十三拜李能然先生為師。與郭雲深先生相處最久。研究拳術。練至七十餘歲。頗得拳術之奥理。動作輕靈。仍如當年。先生云。至此方知拳術與儒學之道理。並行不悖。合而為一者也。先生壽至八十而終。

Li Jingzhai was from Xin’an County, Hebei. Because he was filial and upright, he was appointed as a professor. He loved boxing arts and in his sixty-third year he did obeisance to Li Nengran for instruction, spending the most of his time studying together with Guo Yunshen, training until he was past seventy years old.

He very much obtained the knack, his movement as light and nimble as one still in the prime of life, about which he said: “At this point I then understood that the principles of boxing arts and Confucian teachings are not exclusive to each other, but are in accord with each other.” He died at the age of eighty.

[LI CUNYI]

李先生。名存義。字忠元。直隸深縣人。輕財好義。性喜拳術。幼年練習長短拳。後拜劉奇蘭先生之門。學形拳意術。習練數十年。為人保鏢。往來各省。途中遇盗賊。手持單刀對敵。賊不敢進。或聞先生之名。義氣過人。避首者。故人以單刀李稱之。民國元年。在天津創辦武士會。教授門徒。誨人不倦七十餘歲而終。

Li Cunyi, called Zhongyuan, was from Shen County, Hebei. He treated wealth lightly and gave weight to honor. He was fond of boxing arts, and when he was young he practiced both Long Boxing and Short Boxing. Later he did obeisance to become Liu Qilan’s student and learned the art of Xingyi Boxing, training for more than ten years.

He became a bodyguard and went all over the provinces. Once when he encountered thieves in his path, he faced them with a single saber in his hand and they did not dare advance. Maybe they had heard of his reputation, for his spirit of righteousness conquered them and they avoided facing him altogether. Therefore people called him “Single Saber” Li.

In 1912, he established the Warriors’ Association in Tianjin, where he taught students and never tired of teaching. He was more than seventy years old when he died.

[TIAN JINGJIE]

田先生。字靜傑。直隸饒陽縣人。性好拳術。拜劉奇蘭先生為師。先生保鏢護院多年。生平所遇奇事甚多。惜余不能記憶。故未能述之。先生七十餘歲。在田間朝夕運動。以樂晚年。

Tian Jingjie is from Raoyang County, Hebei. He loves martial arts and did obeisance to Liu Qilan for instruction. He worked as a bodyguard for many years. Throughout his life he has encountered many strange incidents, but unfortunately I cannot recall them and therefore cannot relate them.

He is over seventy years old and lives in the countryside, exercising daily to delight himself in his old age.

[LI KUIYUAN]

李先生。諱殿英。字奎垣。直隸淶水縣。山後店上村人。幼年讀書。善小楷。性喜拳術。從易州許某學彈腿八極等拳。工夫極純熟。力量亦頗大。先生在壯年之時。保鏢護院。頗有名望。每好與人較技。時常勝人。後遇郭雲深先生。與之比較。先生善用腿。先生之脚方抬起。見雲深先生用手一划。先生身後有一板橙。先生之身體。從板橙越過去。兩丈餘遠。倒於地下矣。先生起而謝罪。遂拜為門下。侍奉雲深先生如父子然。後蒙雲深先生。教授數年。晝夜習練。將所受之道理。表裏精微。無所不至其極矣。余從先生受教時。先生之技術。未甚精妙。先生自得道後。常為書記。不輕言拳術矣。余遂侍從郭雲深先生受教。先生雖不與人輕言拳術。而仍練拳不懈。他人所不知也。先生至七十餘歲而終。

Li Dianying, called Kuiyuan, was from Laishui County, Hebei, from a village called Dianshang Behind-the-Mountains. When he was young he attended school and excelled in small-script calligraphy. He was fond of boxing arts and learned Tantui, Baji, and other styles from a man named Xu from Yi Prefecture. Li’s skill became very refined and his strength very great.

When he was in the prime of life, he was a bodyguard for government facilities and became very well-known. He was always fond of competing with opponents and frequently won. Later he encountered Guo Yunshen in competition. Li was an expert at using his legs. He lifted up his foot to kick and noticed Guo make a mere stroke with his hand. Behind Li there was a wooden stool, and he went over it and fell to the ground more than ten feet away. He got up and apologized for any offense, then did obeisance and became Guo’s student. He attended upon Guo as if they were father and son.

After meeting Guo, he learned from him for several years, training day and night. He received the theory and mastered it inside and out, complete in every detail, though when I received instruction from him, his skill was not yet so exquisite. After he obtained the method, he was often a clerk, but never discussed boxing arts casually. I was then attending upon Guo Yunshen and receiving instruction from him. Although Li did not talk about boxing arts with people, he still practiced his boxing without slackening, and other people did not even know it. He was more than seventy years old when he died.

[GENG CHENGXIN]

耿先生。名繼善。字誠信。直隸深縣人。喜拳術。拜劉奇蘭先生為師。學習形意拳。隱居田間。以道為樂。傳授門徒多人。七十餘歲。身體輕靈。健壯仍如當年。

Geng Jishan, called Chengxin, is from Shen County, Hebei. Fond of martial arts, he did obeisance to Liu Qilan for instruction and learned Xingyi Boxing.

He shrugged off town life and lives in the countryside, delighting in Daoism and passing on his skills to many students. Though he is now over seventy years old, his body is nimble and he is as robust as one in the prime of life.

[ZHOU MINGTAI]

周先生。字明泰。直隸饒陽縣人。幼年在劉奇蘭先生家。為書童。喜拳術。遂拜奇蘭先生為師。練習數載。保標多年。直隸鄚州一帶。門徒頗多。六十餘歲而終。

Zhou Mingtai was from Raoyang County, Hebei. When he was a boy, he was a personal servant in Liu Qilan’s household. Being fond of martial arts, he did obeisance to Liu for instruction. He trained for several years and then was a bodyguard for many years.

In the region of Mo Prefecture, Hebei, are many of his students. He died above the age of sixty.

[XU ZHAN’AO]

許先生。名占鰲。字鵬程。直隸定縣人。家中小康。幼年讀書。善八法。性喜拳術。專聘教習。練習長拳刀槍劍術。身體輕靈。似飛鳥。知者皆以賽毛稱之。後又拜郭雲深先生為師。學習形意拳術。傅授門徒頗多。六十餘歲而終。

Xu Zhan’ao, called Pengcheng, was from a wealthy household in Ding County, Hebei. When he was young he attended school and excelled at calligraphy. He was fond of martial arts, hired private instructors, and trained in the arts of Long Boxing, saber, spear, and sword. His body was as nimble as a flying bird, and those who knew him described him as “surpassing the feathered ones”.

Later he did obeisance to Guo Yunshen for instruction and learned the Xingyi boxing art. He taught many students and was above the age of sixty when he died.

–

第二章八卦拳家小傳

CHAPTER TWO: BRIEF BIOGRAPHIES OF BAGUA BOXING TEACHERS

[DONG HAICHUAN]

董海川先生。順天文安縣。朱家塢人。喜習武術。嘗涉迹江皖間。遇異人傳授。居三年。拳術劍術及各器械。無不造其極。歸後入睿王府當差。人多知其有奇技異能。投為門下受教者絡繹不絕。所教拳術。稱為八卦。其形式。皆是河圖洛書之數。其道體。俱是先天後天之理。其用法。乃八八六十四卦之變化而無窮。一部易理。先生方寸之間。體之無遺。是以先生行止坐臥。動作之際。其變化之神妙。非常人所能測也。居嘗跏跌靜坐。值夏日大雨墻忽傾倒。時先生趺坐於坑貼近此墻。先生並未開目。弟子在側者。見墻倒之時。急注視先生忽不見。而先生已趺坐。於他處之椅上。身上未着點塵。先生又嘗晝寢。時值深秋。弟子以被覆之。輕輕覆於先生身。不意被覆於床。存者僅床與被。而先生不見矣。驚而返顧。則先生端坐於臨牕之一椅。謂其人曰。何不言耶。使我一驚。蓋先生之靈機至是。已臻不見不聞。即可知覺之境。故臨不測之險。其變化之神妙。有如此者。中庸云。至誠之道。可以前知。即此義也。年八十餘歲。端坐而逝。弟子尹福。程廷華等。葬於東直門外。榛椒樹東北。紅橋大道旁。諸門弟子建碑。以誌其行焉。

Dong Haichuan was from Zhu Family Village, Wen’an County, Shuntian Prefecture [an old way to describe Beijing]. He delighted in practicing martial arts, and traveled as far as the other side of the Yangzte River in Anhui, where he gained instruction from a unique man. He stayed for three years, learning boxing arts, sword arts, and all kinds of weapons, attaining perfection in everything, and then he returned and entered into service as a manservant in Prince Rui’s [Su’s] residence. People often knew that he had rare abilities and were constantly prostrating themselves before him to receive instruction.

The boxing art he taught was known as Bagua [“Eight Trigrams”]. Its postures are all based on the numberings of the He River Diagram and the Luo River Document. Its essence is entirely the theory of the innate and the acquired. Its function is the eight by eight sixty-four hexagrams, changing without end, a part of the theory of the Book of Changes. Even down to an inch his form was without gap. Therefore whether he was walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, his transformations were magical, and he was an extraordinary person to behold.

While sitting in cross-legged meditation on a stormy summer day, a wall suddenly collapsed. He was at that moment meditating in a depression in the ground next to it. Dong had not yet opened his eyes, but his student nearby had seen when the wall collapsed, and in the instant he looked to his teacher, he found Dong had suddenly disappeared and was already sitting cross-legged in a chair somewhere else, and that on his body there was no dust.

While he was taking a nap in late autumn, a student went to cover him up, gently covering his body, and unexpectedly he had covered the bed only and Dong had vanished. He was startled upon turning and seeing him sitting in a chair and looking out the window. It is said the student’s words were: “No words can express my surprise.”

At the magical level Dong had reached, he attained a condition in which he neither saw nor heard and yet was able to be aware. Thus when he happened upon danger, his adaptation to it was as miraculous as in these instances. It says in the Zhong Yong: “By the way of total sincerity, one can know what is about to happen.” This is exactly the idea.

He died over eighty years old, sitting up. His students – Yin Fu, Cheng Tinghua, and others – buried him beyond the east gate, by the hazel and pepper trees to the northeast, beside the Red Bridge Highway, and they had a stone tablet made, recording his deeds.

[CHENG TINGHUA]

程廷華先生。直隸深縣人。居北京花市大街四條。以眼鏡為業。性喜武術。未得門徑。後經人介紹拜董海川先生為師。所學之拳。名為遊身八卦連環掌。自受傳後。習練數年。得其精微。名聲大振。人稱之為眼鏡程。無人不知之也。同道之人。來比較者甚多。無不敗於先生之手者。因此招人之忌。一日晚先生由前門返鋪中。行至蘆草園。正走時。忽聞後有脚步聲甚急。先生方一回頭見尾隨之人。手使砍刀一把。光閃曜目。正望着先生之頭劈下。先生隨卽將身往下一縮。倐忽越出七八尺。其刀落空。旋即回身。奪其刀以足踢倒於地。以刀擲之。曰朋友回家從用工夫。再來可也。不問彼之姓名。徜徉而去。當時有數人親眼見之。在京教授門徒頗多。其子海亭。亦足以發明先生技術之精奥者矣。

Cheng Tinghua was from Shen County, Hebei. He lived in Beijing, on Flower Market Street, and his profession was making spectacles. He was fond of martial arts but had no access to it until after an introduction to Dong Haichuan, to whom he did obeisance for instruction. The boxing he learned was called Continuous-Palms Swimming-Body Bagua. After receiving instruction, he practiced for many years, obtaining its refined subtleties, and became famous, known as “Spectacles” Cheng, and there was no one who had not heard of him. Many martial artists came to compete with him, but he defeated them all, and as a result – people quit challenging him.

One evening he was on his way back through the front gate of the city [beyond which his shop was situated], and as he was walking through Gourd Park, he suddenly heard behind him the sound of urgent footsteps. He turned his head and saw there was someone following him holding a large saber, eyes gleaming, looking to chop down at his head. He quickly shrank his body downward and leapt away seven or eight feet, the blade landing on nothing. Then he spun around, seized the saber, kicked the man to the ground, threw the saber away, and said: “Friend, go home, and after you have put some work into it, you can come back again.” He did not ask the other man’s name, but leisurely wandered away. There were on that occasion several people who had witnessed it.

In Beijing he taught many students. His son, Haiting, is also qualified to elaborate upon his profound skills.

–

第三章太極拳家小傳

CHAPTER THREE: BRIEF BIOGRAPHIES OF TAIJI BOXING TEACHERS

[YANG LUCHAN]

楊先生。字露蟬。直隸廣平府人。喜拳術。得河南懷慶府。陳家溝子之指授。遂以太極名于京師。來京教授弟子。故京師之太極拳術。皆先生所傳也。

Yang Luchan, was from Guangping Prefecture, Hebei. He was fond of boxing arts and obtained instruction from a member of the Chen Family Village in Huaiqing Prefecture, Henan. Then he made Taiji famous all the way to Beijing and came to the capital to teach students. Therefore the Taiji Boxing in the capital all came from him.

[WU YUXIANG]

武先生。字禹讓。直隸廣平府人。往河南懷慶府。趙堡鎮。陳清平先生處。學習太極拳術。研究數十年。遇敵制勝。事蹟最多。郝為楨先生言之不詳。故未能述之

Wu Yurang [Yuxiang], was also from Guangping and also went to Huaiqing, but to the town of Zhaobao, where Chen Qingping lived, to train in the art of Taiji Boxing. He studied for more than ten years how to subdue opponents. He made very many achievements, which Hao Weizhen spoke of but not in great detail, and so I am in no position to relate them.

[HAO WEIZHEN]

郝先生。諱和。字為楨。直隸廣平永年縣人。受太極拳術於亦畬先生昔年訪友來北京。經友人介紹。與先生相識。見先生身體魁偉。容貌温和。言皆中理。身體動止。和順自然余。與先生遂相投契。未幾先生患痢疾甚劇。因初次來京不久。朋友甚少。所識者。惟同鄉楊建候先生耳。余遂為先生請醫服藥。朝夕服侍。月餘而愈。先生呼余曰。吾二人本無至交。萍水相逢。如此相待實無可報。余曰此事先生不必在心。俗云四海之內皆朋友。况同道乎。先生云。我實心感。欲將我平生所學之拳術。傳與君願否。余曰恐求之不得耳。故請先生至家中。余朝夕受先生教授。數月得其大槪。後先生返里。在本縣教授門徒頗多。先生壽七十有餘歲而終。其子月如能傳先生之術。門徒中精先生之武術者亦不少矣。

Hao He, called Weizhen, of Yongnian County in Guangping Prefecture, received the art of Taiji Boxing from Li Yiyu [the major student of Wu Yuxiang]. Many years ago he came to Beijing to visit a friend, and through that person’s introduction I made his acquaintance. I saw that he had an imposing stature, but with mild looks, reasonable speech, and his behavior was amiable and casual. I for one always got along well with him.

Before long, he contracted very severe dysentery. Since this was the first time he had come to the capital and had not been there long, he had so far made few friends. The only one who knew him was Yang Jianhou, who was from his hometown. I ordered medicine for him and attended to him day and night. After more than a month went by, he had recovered.

He cheered me and said: “Before we were not best friends, and we met by chance. For treating me as you have, there is really no way I can repay you.”

I said: “Sir, you don’t need to be concerned about this matter. As it is said: ‘All in the world are friends, especially those who think alike.’”

He said: “I am sincerely touched. If you wish of me what I have learned in boxing arts my whole life, I will teach it to you. How does that sound?”

I told him: “Well, forgive me, but that’s exactly what I hoped you’d say.”

And so I invited him to live in my house, and I day and night received what he taught. After several months I had obtained the general idea, and then he returned to his home.

In his home county, there are many followers of his teachings. He was more than seventy years old when he died. His son, Hao Yueru, can teach his art, and there are many skilled students under him as well.

–

第四章形意拳

CHAPTER FOUR: XINGYI BOXING

一則

[GUO YUNSHEN SAID…] – Part 1

郭雲深先生云。形意拳術。有三層道理有。三步工夫。有三種練法。

The art of Xingyi Boxing has three stages of theory, three stages of skill, and three stages of training.

三層道理

The three stages of theory:

一練精化氣。二練氣化神。三練神還虛。練之以變化人之氣質復其本然之真也

1. Training essence and transforming it into energy.

2. Training energy and transforming it into spirit.

3. Training spirit and returning to emptiness.

(Such training transforms human temperament, returning you to your true nature.)

三步工夫

The three stages of skill:

一易骨。練之以築其基。以壯其體。骨體堅如鐵石。而形式氣質。威嚴狀似泰山。

一易筋。練之以騰其膜。以長其筋。俗云筋長力大其勁縱橫聯絡。生長而無窮也。

三洗髓。練之以清虛其內。以輕鬆其體。內中清虛之象神氣運用。圓活無滯。身體動轉。其輕如羽。（拳經云。三回九轉是一式。即此意義也。）

1. Changing the bones:

The training builds up your foundation and strengthens your body. Your bones and body will be as hard as steel and rock, but your posture and temperament will be as dignified as Mt. Tai.

2. Changing the sinews:

The training stimulates your tissues and lengthens your sinews, (A common saying goes: “Long sinews means great power.”) [i.e. Greater flexibility leads to greater power.] Your strength is integrated in every way and will develop limitlessly.

3. Washing the marrow:

The training cleanses you internally and relaxes your body. The appearance of one internally cleansed is that the movement of spirit and energy is rounded and lively, without any stagnation, and the body’s movement is as agile as wings. It says in the Boxing Classics: “The three turnings up to the ninth repetition makes a complete process.” This is exactly the idea. [Guo will explain this statement further below in section C.]

三種練法

The three stages of training:

一明勁。練之總以規矩不可易。身體動轉要和順而不可乖戾。手足起落要整齊。而不可散乱。拳經云。方者以正其中。即此意也。

二暗勁。練之神氣要舒展而不可拘。運用圓通活潑而不可滯。拳經云圓者以應其外。即此意也。

三化勁。練之周身四肢動轉。起落進退皆不可着力。專以神意運用之。雖是神意運用。惟形式規矩仍如前二種不可改移。雖然周身動轉不着力。亦不能全不着力。總在神意之貫通耳。拳經云。三回九轉是一式。亦即此意義也。

1. Obvious energy:

When training, always go by an unchanging standard. The movements of your body should be smooth and must not be awkward. The lifting and dropping of your hands and feet should be orderly and must not be in confusion. It says in the Boxing Classics: “Squareness is your alignment with your center.” This is exactly the idea.

2. Hidden energy:

When training, your spirit and energy should be comfortable and must not be restricted. The exercise should be rounded and lively and must not be stagnant. It says in the Boxing Classics: “Roundness is how you respond outwardly.” This is exactly the idea.

3. Neutral energy:

When training, your whole body and each of your four limbs must never be moving and turning, lifting and dropping, advancing and retreating with effort, but should be wielded with concentration of spirit and intention. Although wielded with spirit and intention, yet the postural standards in the previous level are to be maintained and must not be changed. Although the movements of your whole body are to put forth no effort, they also cannot be entirely without strength, for always there should be spirit and intention coming through. Again the idea is that “the three turnings up to the ninth repetition makes a complete process”.

一節 明勁

A. OBVIOUS ENERGY

明勁者。即拳之剛勁也。易骨者即煉精化氣易骨之道也。因人身中先天之氣與後天之氣不合。體質不堅。故發明其道。大凡人之初。生性無不。善體無不。健根無不固。純是先天。以後知識一開。靈竅一閉。先後不合。陰陽不交。皆是後天血氣用事。故血氣盛行。正氣衰弱。以致身體筋骨不能健壯。故昔達摩大師。傳下易筋洗髓二經。習之以強壯人之身體。還其人之初生。本來面目。後宋岳武穆王。擴充二經之義。作為三經。易骨。易筋。洗髓也。將三經又制成拳術。發明此經道理之用。拳經云。靜為本體。動為作用。與古之五禽。八段。練法有體而無用者不同矣。因拳術。有無窮之妙用。故先有易骨易筋洗髓。陰陽混成。剛柔悉化。無聲無臭。虛空靈通之全體。所以有其虛空靈通之全體。方有神化不測之妙用。故因此拳是內外一氣。動靜一源。體用一道。所以靜為本體。動為作用也。因人為一小天地。無不與天地之理相合。惟是天地之陰陽變化皆有更易。人之一身。旣與天地道理相合。身體虛弱。剛戾之氣。豈不能易乎。故更易之道。弱者易之強。柔者易之剛。悖者易之和。所以三經者。皆是變化人之氣質。以復其初也。易骨者。是拳中之明勁。練精化氣之道也。將人身中散亂之氣。收納於丹田之內。不偏不倚。和而不流。用九要之規模煆練。練至於六陽純全。剛健之至。即拳中上下相連。手足相顧。內外如一。至此拳中明勁之功盡。易骨之勁全。練精化氣之功亦畢矣。

The obvious energy is the boxing art’s hard energy. It is the method of refining the essence and transforming it into energy, and of “changing the bones”. If in your body the innate energy and the acquired energy are not combined, your physical constitution will not be strong. I will expound upon the method:

Generally speaking, a person is born with a good disposition and a healthy body, a firm grounding, and a purity which is innate. Then knowledge is opened up and intelligence closed off. Innate and acquired are not merged, the passive and active do not intersect, and what is always being applied to circumstances is acquired vigor. Thus even though your vigor may be flourishing, your real energy is weakened, with the result that your body is unable to be robustly healthy.

Therefore Damo long ago passed down to us the Sinew Changing Classic and the Marrow Washing Classic. Practicing by way of them will strengthen your body, returning you to your newborn state and your true self. Later in the Song Dynasty, Yue Fei expanded the ideas of the two classics and made them into three classics by adding the Bone Changing Classic. The three classics complete the boxing art, which is why I mention their rationale.

It says in the Boxing Classics: “Stillness is the fundamental form. In movement lies the function.” This art is different from the ancient Five Animal Frolics and Eight Sections of Brocade, whose training methods have form but no function.

Since this boxing art has the subtlety of limitlessness, it therefore begins with changing the bones, changing the muscles, and washing the marrow, so that “the passive and active are blended together, and hardness and softness are fully transformed”, and you will have a silence and undetectability, an emptiness coursing through your whole body, from which you will then possess the wonder of being magically unpredictable.

And so it is that this boxing art is a single continuum of both internal and external. Movement and stillness have the same source. Form and function have the same method. Hence it is the case that “stillness is the fundamental form and in movement lies the function”. Because a person is a lesser universe, you conform in all respects with the greater universe, except that when the universe’s passive and active aspects change, everything is changed by it [as opposed to changes in yourself which would have only local effects].

The human body conforms to the principles of the universe, and so if the body is weak and its energy is obstructed, can this not be changed? The method of changing is that weakness is changed to strength, softness is changed to hardness, and contrariness is changed to harmoniousness. Therefore the three classics are all about transforming your temperament to return you to your original state.

Changing the bones corresponds to the obvious energy in the boxing. It is the method of training the essence and transforming it into energy. Gather the scattered energy in your body into your elixir field. When it does not wander off-center, there is harmonizing without wavering. Use the standard of the nine requirements to refine it. [The nine requirements are listed in Chapter Three of Sun’s 1917 Bagua manual: 1. sinking your waist, 2. hollowing your chest, 3. lifting your rectum, 4. pressing up your tongue, headtop, and hands, 5. wrapping your elbows in, 6. loosening your shoulders, 7. hanging your elbows down, 8. shoulders and hips shrinking in, 9. clearly distinguishing lifting, drilling, dropping, and overturning.]

Train it until the six active meridians are fully purified and you have attained robustness. Within the boxing art: “above and below coordinate with each other… Hands and feet look after each other… Inside and outside are as one.” Reaching this point within the boxing art, the skill of the obvious energy is complete, as is the task of changing the bones, and the work of training the essence and transforming it into energy has also been accomplished.

二節 暗勁

B. HIDDEN ENERGY

暗勁者。拳中之柔勁也柔勁與軟不同。軟中無力柔非無力也。卽練氣化神易筋之道也。先練明勁而後練暗勁即丹道小周天止火再用大周天功夫之意。明勁停手。即小周天之沐浴也。暗勁手足停而未停。即大周天四正之沐浴也拳中所用之勁。是將形氣神。神即意也合住。兩手往後用力拉回。（內中有縮力）其意如拔鋼絲兩手前後用勁。左手往前推。右手往回拉。或右手往前推。左手往回拉。其意如撕絲緜。又如兩手拉硬弓。要用力徐徐拉開之意。兩手或右手往外翻橫。左手往裏裹勁。或左手往外翻橫。右手往裏裹勁。如同練鼍形之兩手。或是練連環拳之包裹拳。拳經云。裹者如包裹之不露。兩手往前推勁。如同推有輪之重物。往前推不動之意。又似推動而不動之意。兩足用力。前足落地時。足根先着地。不可有聲。然後再滿足着地。所用之勁。如同手往前往下按物一般。後足用力蹬勁。如同邁大步過水溝之意。拳經云。脚打採意不落空。是前足。消息全憑後脚蹬。是後足。馬有蹟蹄之功。皆是言兩足之意也。兩足進退。明勁暗勁。兩段之步法相同。惟是明勁則有聲。暗勁則無聲耳。

The hidden energy is the soft energy in the boxing. (Soft energy is different from weakness. In weakness there is no strength, but softness is not without strength.) It is the method of training the energy and transforming it into spirit, and of “changing the sinews”. To first train the obvious energy and then the hidden energy is the same idea as in elixirism in which the microcosmic breathing [breathing with the breath] “suppresses fire” and then the macrocosmic breathing [breathing with the whole body] is practiced.

With the obvious energy, your hands came to a halt, washed only by the microcosmic breathing. With the hidden energy, your hands and feet stop and yet do not stop, for they are washed by the macrocosmic breathing which expands in all directions. What happens when this energy is used in the boxing is that the shape, energy, and spirit (spirit meaning the intention) are merged.

When both hands put their energy into pulling back (inwardly having a contracting force), the intention is like pulling out a steel wire.

As for your hands putting their energy into one going forward and the other going back – when your left hand is pushing forward, your right hand is pulling back, and when your right hand is pushing forward, your left hand is pulling back – the intention is like tearing silk. It is also like your hands are drawing a stiff bow, for there should be an intention of putting energy into drawing it slowly.

When your right hand turns over and goes across outward, your left hand has an energy of wrapping inward, and when your left hand turns over and goes across outward, your right hand has an energy of wrapping inward – this is the same as when your hands are performing the alligator technique, or the wrapping technique in the Continuous Boxing set. It says in the Boxing Classics: “Wrapping is like binding up invisibly.”

When both hands put their energy into pushing forward, it is like pushing something heavy that is on wheels. There is an intention of pushing forward without moving it, or an intention of moving it but not moving it.

As for the energy of your feet, when your front foot comes down, the heel touches down first and must not make a sound, then the whole foot touches down, its energy like a hand going forward to push something down, while your rear foot’s energy goes into pressing, as if you were intent on taking a large step over a ditch. It says in the Boxing Classics: “Attacking with your foot, stomp with an intention of not coming down fruitlessly (applying to your front foot), its placement depending entirely on the pressing of your rear foot.” The act of a horse making a hoofprint is the intention of both feet.

When advancing and retreating, the footwork is the same for both the obvious energy and the hidden energy, except that it makes a sound in the case of the obvious energy and does not in the case of the hidden energy.

三節 化勁

C. NEUTRAL ENERGY

化勁者。即練神還虛。亦謂之洗髓之功夫也。是將暗勁練到至柔至順。謂之柔順之極處。暗勁之終也。丹經云陰陽混成。剛柔悉化。謂之丹熟。柔勁之終。是化勁之始也。所以再加向上工夫。用練神還虛。至形神俱杳。與道合真。以至於無聲無臭。謂之脱丹矣。拳經謂之拳無拳。意無意。無意之中。是真意。是謂之化勁。練神還虛。洗髓之工畢矣。化勁者。與練划勁不同。明勁暗勁。亦皆有划勁。划勁是兩手出入起落俱短。亦謂之短勁。如同手往着墻抓去。往下一划。手仍回在自己身上來。故謂之划勁。練化勁者。與前兩步工夫之形式無異。所用之勁不同耳。拳經云。三回九轉是一式。是此意也。三回者。練精化氣。練氣化神。練神還虛。即明勁暗勁化勁是也。三回者。明暗化勁是一式。九轉者。九轉純陽也。化至虛無。而還於純陽。是此理也。所練之時。將手足動作。順其前兩步之形式。皆不要用力。並非頑空不用力。周身內外。全用真意運用耳。手足動作。所用之力。有而若無。實而若虛。腹內之氣。所用亦不着意。亦非不着意。意在積蓄虛靈之神耳。呼吸似有似無。與丹道工夫。陽生至足。探取歸爐。封固停息。沐浴之時。呼吸相同。因此似有而無。皆是真息。是一神之妙用。也莊子云。真人之呼吸以踵。即是此意。非閉氣也。用工練去。不要間斷。練到至虛。身無其身。心無其心。方是形神俱妙。與道合真之境。此時能與太虛同體矣。以後練虛合道。能至寂然不動。感而遂通。無入而不自得。無往而不得其道。無可無不可也。拳經云。固靈根而動心者。武藝也。養靈根而靜心者。修道也。所以形意拳術。與丹道合而為一者也。

Neutral energy has to do with training the spirit and returning to emptiness, and is also called the work of “washing the marrow”. It is when hidden energy is trained to the point that it becomes so soft and smooth that it is called “when softness and smoothness have reached their extreme”, which is the conclusion of the hidden energy. The Elixir Book says: “When the passive and active are blended together, and hardness and softness are fully transformed, it is said the elixir has been cooked.” At the finish of the soft energy is the beginning of the neutral energy.

With further work, you are training the spirit and returning to emptiness, until distinctions of body and spirit are both obscured and you have truly merged with the Way, reaching a point of silence and undetectability which is called “shedding the elixir”. It says in the Boxing Classics: “The boxing is without boxing. The intention is without intention. Within no intention is true intention.” This is the point at which the neutral energy, the training of the spirit and returning to emptiness, and the marrow washing have all been achieved.

The neutral energy is not the same as practicing the scratching energy. [The characters for “neutral” and “scratching” are pronounced identically (“hua”) and would therefore be easily confused.] Obvious energy and hidden energy both have scratching energy. Scratching energy is when your hands come and go, lifting and dropping, all within short ranges, and so it is also called “short energy”. It is like your hand reaches out to scratch a mark onto a wall, then withdraws again to your body, and so it is called “scratching energy”. When training neutral energy, working the postures is the same as in the previous two stages, but the application of the energy is different.

The idea is as it says in the Boxing Classics: “The three turnings up to the ninth repetition makes a complete process.” The three turnings are: [1] Train the essence and transform it into energy. [2] Train the energy and transform it into spirit. [3] Train the spirit and return to emptiness. These correspond to the obvious energy, hidden energy, and neutral energy. The “three turnings” are the obvious energy, the hidden energy, and the neutral energy as a complete process. By “up to the ninth repetition” is meant doing it over and over again to purify the active aspect. The principle is to attain emptiness through these transformations and then there is a return of the pure active aspect.

When training, let the movements of your hands and feet be the same as when working the postures during the two previous stages. Always you should not use effort, but also you should not be idiotically vacuous about not using effort. [This seems to be a dig at those who, like a great many Taiji practitioners, get overly obsessed with the notion that you should use no effort at all. To actually use absolutely no effort at all means that you are lying on the ground drooling. The Xingyi mentality is a more balanced message that you simply should not use more effort than is necessary.] Your whole body, inside and out, is moving entirely by the use of true intention. The effort used in the movements of your hands and feet is something that is and yet seems not to be, is of substance but seems insubstantial. The energy in your body is employed but does not apply intention, and by not applying intention, the intention is then on the accumulating of naturalness of spirit.

The breathing seems to be yet seems not to be, and as with the elixirist practices, the active aspect generates perfect sufficiency. Think of it as sealing up a furnace to put the fire out, and then when cleaning it out [in order to start a new fire], it is the same kind of breathing, and since it seems to be yet seems not to be, it is always true breath. This is the subtlety of having singleness of spirit. Zhuangzi said [Zhuangzi, chapter 6]: “An authentic man breathes with his heels [as opposed to most people who breathe only with their throats].” It is this idea. It is not a stopping of the breath, however, for it should not be interrupted while practicing. When you have trained to the point of attaining emptiness, when body is without body, when mind is without mind, then distinctions of form and spirit are but subtleties, and you will truly be in a condition of merging with the Way, at which point you will be capable of being one with the Void.

Later, you will practice emptiness and merge with the Way. [After the three stages of refining the essence and transforming it into energy, then training the energy and transforming it into spirit, and then training the spirit and returning to emptiness, a fourth level is here introduced of practicing emptiness and merging with the Way. If the three stages can be thought of as beginner/intermediate/advanced, this fourth level could be thought as mastery. The three stages of obvious energy, hidden energy, and neutral energy could perhaps here be considered a concluded process, as in this fourth stage you seem to be transcending energy altogether and being exclusively of spirit.] Once you can be silent and still, then upon sensing anything, you connect with it. “There is no situation in which you will not succeed” [Zhong Yong], for you will obtain the method regardless of the circumstances, and everything you do will be right. It says in the Boxing Classics: “Solidifying your virtue and rousing your mind has to do with martial arts. Nurturing your virtue and bestilling your mind is a matter of cultivating the Way.” Therefore the Xingyi boxing art and elixirism merge to become one.

二則

[GUO YUNSHEN SAID…] – Part 2

形意拳。起點三體式。兩足要單重。不可雙重。單重者。非一足着地。一足懸起。不過前足可虛可實。着重在於後足耳。以後練各形式。亦有雙重之式。雖然是雙重之式。亦不離單重之重心。以至極高。極俯。極矮。極仰之形式。亦總不離三體式單重之中心。故三體式。為萬形之基礎也。三體式單重者。得其中和之起點。動作靈活。形式一氣。無有間斷耳。雙重三體式者。形式沉重力氣極大惟。是陰陽不分。乾坤不辨。奇偶不顯。剛柔不判。虛實不明。內開外合不清。進退起落動作不靈活。所以形意拳三體式。不得其單重之中和。先後天亦不交。剛多柔少。失却中和。道理亦不明。變化亦不通。自被血氣所拘。拙勁所捆。此皆是被三體式雙重之所拘也。若得着單重三體式中和之道理以後行之。無論單重雙重各形之式。無可無不可也

In Xingyi Boxing, the starting point is the “three-substance posture”, in which your feet should be single-weighted and must not be double-weighted. Single-weighted does not mean that one foot is touching the ground and the other foot is suspended in the air, but that your front foot can be empty or full while the greater weight is on your back foot. Later in practicing the various postures, there will also be double-weighted postures, but although they are double-weighted postures, they must not depart from a single-weighted center of balance. Whether it is a posture that is very tall, very short, leaned forward, or leaned back, never depart from the three-substance posture’s single-weighted center of balance. Thus the three-substance posture is the foundation of all the postures.

With the three-substance posture’s single-weightedness, you obtain a starting point of centered harmoniousness, the movements will be nimble, and the postures will be continuous without interruption. With a double-weighted three-substance posture, the postures will be heavy and the effort will be excessive. The passive and active aspects will not be distinguished, there will be no differentiating between the hexagrams of Qian and Kun [“Creative” and “Receptive”], no discerning between odd and even, no discriminating between hard and soft. Empty and full will not be clear, nor will there be clarity as to inwardly expanding and outwardly contracting, nor nimbleness in the movements of advancing and retreating or lifting and dropping.

Therefore if you do not obtain centered harmoniousness in Xingyi Boxing’s single-weighted three-substance posture, the innate and acquired will not intersect, hardness will increase and softness will decrease. In losing your centered harmoniousness, the theory also will not be clear, not to mention adaptation will be hindered, blood and energy will be obstructed because of it, and clumsy energy will tie you up. This is all down to a double-weighted three-substance posture getting in your way. If you obtain the principle of centered harmoniousness in the single-weighted three-substance posture, then whenever you put it into action, it will no longer matter whether a posture is single-weighted or double-weighted.

三則

[GUO YUNSHEN SAID…] – Part 3

形意拳術之道。練之極易。亦極難。易者。是拳術之形式。至易。至簡。而不繁亂。其拳術之始終。動作運用。皆人之所不慮而知。不學而能者也。周身動作運用。亦皆平常之理。惟人之未學時。手足動作運用。無有規矩。而不能整齊。所教授者。不過將人之不慮而知。不學而能。平常所運用之形式。入於規矩之中。四肢動作。而不散亂者也。果練之有恆。而不間斷。可以至於至善矣。若到至善處。諸形之運用。無不合道矣。以他人觀之。有一動一靜。一言一默之運用。奧妙不測之神氣。然而自己並不知其善於拳術也因。動作運用皆。是平常之道理。無強人之所難。所以拳術練之極易也。中庸云。人莫不飲食也。鮮能知味也。難者是練者厭其拳之形式簡淡。而不良於觀。以致半途而廢者有之。或是練者惡其道理平常。而無有奇妙之法則。自己專好剛勁之氣。身外又務奇異之形。故終身練之而不能得着形意拳術中和之道也。因此好高務遠。看理偏僻。所以拳術之道理。得之甚難。中庸云。道不遠人。人之為道而遠人。即此意義也。

Practicing the method of the Xingyi boxing art is very easy, and is also very difficult. It is easy in the sense that the postures are very easy, very simple, and are not disorderly. The movements throughout this boxing art are always such that a person can understand them without having thought about them and can perform them without having learned them. The whole body moves according to commonsense principles.

However, for one who has not yet learned the art, there are not yet rules for the movements of his hands and feet, and so he will be unable to do them in an orderly way. When instructing, it is nothing more than drawing out a person’s capacity to know without thinking, perform without learning, and execute postures with commonsense, and to introduce him to the standards by which the movements of his limbs will be kept in order.

If the practice is persevering and uninterrupted, perfection can be reached, at which point all the postures will conform with the Way. When other people observe you, with each movement and each stillness, each utterance and each silence, your spirit and energy will be subtle and unpredictable, and yet you yourself will not be at all aware of your perfection within the boxing art.

Because the movements are all based in commonsense principles, there is no forcing a person through what is difficult, and in that way practicing this boxing art is very easy. But as the Zhong Yong says: “Everybody eats and drinks. Few know how to savor.” What makes the art difficult is that a practitioner gets bored with the plainness and simplicity of the postures, feels that it is ugly to watch, until finally he gives up halfway. Or he hates that its principles are commonsensical, resenting it for having no fantastical methods. He fixates on using an energy of vigor and strives to show off with bizarre postures.

He can train his whole life and be unable to obtain the Xingyi boxing art’s way of centered harmoniousness. Because he wants something lofty and seeks something distant, he looks upon the principles as being remote, thereby making the art’s theory very difficult for him to grasp. The Zhong Yong says: “The Way is not far from people. It is their expectation of the Way that distances them from it.” This is exactly the idea.

四則

[GUO YUNSHEN SAID…] – Part 4

形意拳術之道無他。神氣二者而已。丹道始終全丈呼吸。起初大小周天。以及還虛之功者。皆是呼吸之變化耳。拳術之道亦然。惟有煅煉形體。與筋骨之功。丹道是靜中求動。動極而復靜也。拳術是動中求靜。靜極而復動也。其初練之似異。以至還虛。則同。形意拳經云。固靈根而動心者。敵將也。養靈根而靜心者。修道也。所以形意拳之道。即丹道之學也。丹道有三易。煉精化氣。煉氣化神煉神還虛。拳術亦有三易。易骨。易筋。洗髓。三易即拳中。明勁。暗勁。化勁也。練至拳無拳。意無意。無意之中。是真意。亦與丹道。煉虛合道相合也。丹道有最初還虛之功。以至虛極靜篤之時。下元真陽發動。即速回光返照。凝神入氣穴。息息歸根。神氣未交之時。存神用息。緜緜若存。念茲在茲。此武火之謂也。至神氣已交。又當忘息。以致採取歸爐。封固。停息。沐浴。起火。進退升降歸根。俟動而復煉。煉至不動。為限數足滿。止火。謂之坎離交妒。此為小周天。以至大周天之工夫。無非自無而生有。由微而至著。由小而至大。由虛而積累。皆呼吸火候之變化。文武剛柔。隨時消息。此皆是順中用逆。逆中行順。用其無過不及中和之道也。此不過略言丹道之概耳。丹道與拳術並行不悖。故形意拳術。非粗率之武藝。余恐後來。練形意拳術之人。只用其後天血氣之力。不知有先天真陽之氣。故發明形意拳術之道。只此神氣二者而已。故此先言丹道之大概。後再論拳術之詳情。

The method of the Xingyi boxing art is peerless, for it is nothing more than two things: spirit and energy. Elixirism is from first to last entirely about breathing. It begins with the microcosmic breathing, then the macrocosmic breathing, then achieves return to emptiness, each stage a transformation through breath. This boxing art’s method is likewise, except that it is the work of training your body by way of working its muscles and bones. Elixirism is the seeking of movement within stillness, and then when movement reaches its peak, it returns to stillness. The boxing art is the seeking of stillness within movement, and then when stillness reaches its peak, it returns to movement. While there are similarities and differences in the way they begin the training, their returning to emptiness is the same for both.

It says in the Xingyi Boxing Classics: “To solidify your virtue by rousing your mind is a matter of dealing with opponents. To nurture your virtue by bestilling your mind is a matter of cultivating the Way.” Therefore the method of Xingyi Boxing is the same as the learning of the elixirists. In elixirism, there are three changes: refining the essence and transforming it into energy, refining the energy and transforming it into spirit, and refining the spirit and returning to emptiness. The boxing art also has three changes: changing the bones, changing the sinews, and washing the marrow. The three transitions within the boxing art are: the obvious energy, the hidden energy, and the neutral energy.

Train until “the boxing is without boxing, the intention is without intention, for within no intention is true intention”. Also as in elixirism, the emptiness training and the merging with the Way are the same thing. Elixirism has the practice of “begin by returning to emptiness”. Once there is a peak of emptiness and stillness, then your primordial true active aspect activates. This will suddenly turn your light upon yourself, concentrating spirit into your energy points, and with every breath you will return to your source.

When spirit and energy are not yet joined, preserve your spirit and just work with your breath as if you will dwell in it forever, keeping your mind on it always. This is called the “martial fire”. Once spirit and energy are joined, you may then forget about the breath, so that it is now like you are sealing up a furnace to put the fire out, then cleaning it out in order to start a new fire. In advancing and retreating, ascending and descending, you are returning to your source. Wait for movement to happen and then work at it [“smelt it”], working it until it attains stillness, enough stillness to “suppress the fire”. This is called “fire and water envying each other” and is the work of using the microcosmic breathing to attain the macrocosmic breathing. [From there is achieved emptiness, from which is attained purity.]

Only from nothing arises something, from the insubstantial comes the tangible, from the small comes the large, from emptiness is there accumulation. Your transformations are always a matter of what stage your breathing is at. Whether civilness or martialness, hardness or softness, they may fluctuate as necessary, for in all of this, within going along there is going against and within going against there is going along. What is to be employed is a method of neither-excessive-nor-insufficient centered harmoniousness.

These have been just a few general words about elixirism. Since it and the boxing art run parallel rather than contrary to each other, the art of Xingyi Boxing is therefore not a crass martial art. I fear that later practitioners of it will only use the strength of their acquired vigor and not know of the energy of their innate true active aspect. Therefore in expounding on the method of the Xingyi boxing art, it is nothing more than these two things: spirit and energy. And having so far begun by discussing the general ideas of elixirism, I will now discuss the boxing art in more detail…

五則

[GUO YUNSHEN SAID…] – Part 5

郭雲深先生言。練形意拳術。有三層之呼吸。

第一層練拳術之呼吸。將舌捲回。頂住上腭。口似開非開。似合非合。呼吸任其自然。不可着意於呼吸。因手足動作合於規矩。是為調息之法則。亦即練精化氣之工夫也。

第二層練拳術之呼吸。口之開合。舌頂上腭。等規則照前。惟呼吸與前一層不同。前者手足動作。是調息之法則。此是息調也。前者口鼻之呼吸。不過借此以通乎內外也。此二層之呼吸。著意於丹田之內呼吸也。又名胎息。是為練氣化神之理也。

第三層練拳術之呼吸。與上兩層之意又不同。前一層是明勁。有形於外。二層是暗勁。有形於內。此呼吸雖有。而若無。勿忘勿助之意思。即是神化之妙用也。心中空空洞洞。不有不無。非有非無。是為無聲無臭。還虛之道也。此三種呼吸。為練拳術始終本末之次序。即一氣貫通之理。自有而化無之道也。

In practicing the art of Xingyi Boxing, there are three stages of breathing:

In the first stage, your tongue curls up to touch the upper palate, and your mouth seems open but not open, closed but not closed. Your breathing is natural and must not be concentrated upon. It relies on the movements of your hands and feet, using them to regulate the pattern. This stage is the work of training your essence and transforming it into energy.

In the second stage, the standards of your mouth’s quality of being open yet closed and your tongue touching the upper palate are the same as before, but the breathing is not the same as in the first stage. Before, the movements of your hands and feet determined the pattern, whereas now it is the breathing itself that is the regulator. Before, the breathing was a matter of nose [inhaling] and mouth [exhaling], whereas now the awareness only goes as far as in and out. In this second stage of breathing, pay attention to breathing within your elixir field, which is also called “infant breathing” [whereas it was in the first stage not to be concentrated upon at all]. Through this stage runs the principle of training your energy and transforming it into spirit.

In the third stage, it is different from the idea of both preceding stages. In the first stage, it is an obvious energy and it has an external form. In the second stage, it is a hidden energy and it has an internal form. In this stage, although there is breathing, it seems there is not. There is an intention of neither forgetting it nor assisting it. It is the wondrous effect of spirit transforming. Within the mind is emptiness. There is neither being nor not being, and without being or not being, there is silence and undetectability, the method of returning to emptiness.

These are the three stages of breathing in their sequence from beginning to end in the practice of this boxing art. There is here the principle of a single process running through it all: the method of something transforming into nothing.

六則

[GUO YUNSHEN SAID…] – Part 6

人未練拳術之先。手足動作。順其後天自然之性。由壯而老以至于死。通家逆運先天。轉乾坤扭氣機。以求長生之術。拳術亦然。起點。從平常之自然之道逆轉。其機由靜而動。再由動而靜。成為三體式。其姿式。兩足要前虛後實。不俯不仰。不左斜。不右歪。心中要虛空。至靜無物。一毫之血氣。不能加於其內。要純任自然虛靈之本體。由着本體。而再萌動練去。是為拳中純任自然之真勁。亦謂人之本性。又謂之丹道最初還虛之理。亦謂之明善復初之道。其三體式中之靈妙。非有真傳不能知也。內中之意思。猶丹道之點玄關大學之言明德。孟子所謂養浩然之氣。又與河圖中五之一點。太極先天之氣。相合也。其姿式之中。非身體兩腿站均當中之中也。其中。是用規矩之法則。縮回身中散亂馳外之靈氣。返歸於內。正氣復初。血氣自然不加於其內。心中虛空。是之謂中。亦謂之道心。因此再動。丹書云。靜則為性。動則為意。妙用則為神。所以拳術再動。練去謂之先天之真意。則身體手足動作。即有形之物。謂之後天。以後天合着規矩法則。形容先天之真意。自最初還虛。以致末後還虛。循環無端之理。無聲無臭之德。此皆名為形意拳之道也。其拳術。最初積蓄之真意與氣。以致滿足。中立而不倚。和而不流。無形無相。此謂拳中之內勁也。內家拳術之名即此理也其拳中之內勁。最初練之。人不知其所以然之理。因其理最微妙。不能不詳言之。免後學入於崎途。初學入門。有三害。九要之規矩。三害莫犯。九要不失其理。八卦拳學詳之矣手足動作。合於規矩。不失三體式。之本體。謂之調息。練時口要似開非開。似合非合。純任自然。舌頂上腭。要鼻孔出氣。平常不練時。以至方練完收式時。口要閉不。可開。要時時令鼻孔出氣。説話。吃飯。喝茶時。可開口。除此之外。總要舌頂上腭。閉口。令鼻孔出氣。謹要。至於睡臥時。亦是如此。練至手足相合。起落進退如一。謂之息調。手足動作。要不合於規矩。上下不齊。進退步法錯亂。撁動呼吸之氣不均。出氣甚粗。以致胸間發悶。皆是起落進退。手足步法。不合規矩之故也。此謂之息不調。因息不調。拳法身體不能順也。拳中之內勁。是將人之散亂於外之神氣。用拳中之規矩。手足身體動作。順中用逆。縮回於丹田之內。與丹田之元氣相交。自無而有。自微而著。自虛而實。皆是漸漸積蓄而成。此謂拳之內勁也。丹書云。以凡人之呼吸。尋真人之呼處。莊子云真人呼吸以踵。亦是此意也。拳術調呼吸從後天陰氣所積。若致小腹堅硬如石。此乃後天之氣勉強積蓄而有也。總要呼吸純任自然。用真意之元神。引之於丹田。腹雖實而若虛。有而若無。老子云綿綿若存。又云虛其心。而靈性不昧。振道心。正氣常存。亦此意也。此理即拳中內勁之意義也

Before a person has practiced boxing arts, the movements of his hands and feet have a disposition toward obeying his acquired nature, that which goes from robustness to aging to dying. Daoists reverse it to the innate by inverting the movement of Qian and Kun [“Creative” and “Receptive”] with the mechanism of turning the energies, striving for a longevity art. The boxing art does likewise. It starts with the way of following along with ordinary naturalness and then reverses the process, going from stillness to movement and then from movement back to stillness in the making of the three-substance posture.

In the posture, your feet should be front foot empty, rear foot full. Neither lean forward nor back, nor incline to either side. Within your mind there should be emptiness, perfect stillness, insubstantiality. The slightest bit of vigor cannot be added within. There should be pure, natural, soulful beingness. From touching this beingness, the training will sprout. This is the true energy within the boxing art – pure naturalness. It is also called “inherent human nature”, as well as the elixirist principle of “begin by returning to emptiness”, and is also the doctrine of “the brightness of perfection restoring you to your original state”.

As for the wonders within the three-substance posture, if you do not have the true teachings, you will not be able to understand them. The idea within it is like the elixirist’s “shadowy doorway”, is what the Da Xue calls “shining virtue”, is what Mengzi called “nurturing one’s noble energy”, and conforms with the He River Diagram’s central mark, the “innate energy of the grand polarity”. Within the posture, it is not your body and legs standing centered that makes it centered. Its centeredness is due to your abiding by the rules of the posture. Withdraw any hyperactive energy, returning it within, so that your true energy can be restored to its original state. There will then naturally be no extra vigor within, for within your mind is emptiness. This is what is called “centering”, and is also called the “Daoist mind”. You are to move in accordance with this.

The Elixir Book says: “Stillness is a matter of basic nature. Movement is a matter of intention. Subtlety is a matter of spirit.” Therefore when there is movement in the boxing art, what is practiced is called the “innate true intention”. The movements of body, hands, and feet then take shape, and this is called the “acquired [trained intention]”. The acquired conforms to standards and rules so as to imitate the innate true intention. Begin by returning to emptiness. End by returning to emptiness. It is the principle of cycling without end. It is the virtue of silence and undetectability. All these things together are known as the method of Xingyi Boxing.

This boxing art firstly stores true intention and energy until full enough that you are in a neutral position, not leaning in any direction, harmonizing without wavering. There is no form and nothing seen, and this is called the internal energy within the boxing art. (Internal boxing arts are so named because of this principle.) At the beginning of training the internal energy within the boxing art, a person will not understand the theory. Because the theory is so subtle, it has to be explained in detail so as to avoid sending students down the wrong road. In the beginning of learning, there are the standards of the three harms [sticking out your chest, lifting your abdomen, forcing the energy] and nine requirements. The three harms are not to be violated and the nine requirements are principles not to be neglected (as explained in [Chapters Two and Three of] A Study of Bagua Boxing). When the movements of the hands and feet conform to a standard, and when the three-substance posture is not neglected, being the foundation, all is being regulated.

When practicing, your mouth should seem open but not open, closed but not closed, as is natural. Your tongue touching the upper palate, breathing should be done through your nose. During ordinary time when you are not practicing, or once you have finished practicing, your mouth should be closed and must not be open, and you should constantly maintain nose-breathing. When talking, eating, or drinking, you can open your mouth, but beyond these, it always should be that your tongue touches the upper palate, your mouth is closed, and the breathing is being done through your nose. If you are conscientious about this, then it will still be so even when sleeping.

Practice until your hands and feet conform with each other, and lifting and dropping, advancing and retreating, are as one. This is the breath being regulated. But if the movements of your hands and feet do not conform to a standard, there will be no uniformity above and below, your footwork when advancing and retreating will be disordered, your breath will be drawn in unevenly and come out very coarsely, and as a result your chest will feel clenched. All this is because when lifting and dropping, advancing and retreating, your hands and feet are not conforming to a standard. This is the breath going unregulated, and as a consequence, both the boxing techniques and your body will be incapable of fluency.

The internal energy within the boxing art is when you take charge of your disordered external spirit and energy, applying the standards within the boxing art to the movements of your hands, feet, and body. Within going along, there is going against. Withdraw it into your elixir field to join with the primordial energy there. They go from nothing to something, from the abstract to the tangible, from emptiness to fullness, and both are gradually stored up and made complete. This is the boxing art’s internal energy. The Elixir Book says: “By way of ordinary breathing, we seek the exhaling of the authentic man.” As Zhuangzi said [Zhuangzi, chapter 6]: “An authentic man breathes with his heels [as opposed to most people who breathe only with their throats].” It is also this idea.

The regulating of breath in the boxing art is according to the accumulating of the acquired passive breath. If it gets to the point that your lower abdomen is hard as stone, this then is the acquired [active] breath accumulating forcefully. Always the breathing should be pure and natural. Use the primordial spirit of true intention. Draw it into your elixir field. Although your belly is full, it seems empty, and though having something, yet seems to have nothing. Laozi said [Daodejing, chapter 6]: “Continuously storing…” It is also said [in Xu Congshi’s commentary to Three in Agreement]: “Empty your mind and your native intelligence is no longer obscured. Stimulate your Daoist mind and the true energy will be permanent.” It is also this idea. This is the theory of the internal energy within the boxing art.

七則

[GUO YUNSHEN SAID…] – Part 7

形意拳之用法。有三層。有有形有像之用。有有名有相無迹之用。有有聲有名無形之用。有無形無相無聲無臭之用。拳經云。起如鋼銼。起者去也。落如鈎竿。落者回也。未起如摘子。未落如墜子。起如箭。落如風。追風趕月不放鬆。起如風。落如箭。打倒還嫌慢。足打七分。手打三。五行四稍要合全。氣連心意隨時用。硬打硬進無遮攔。打人如走路。看人如嵩草。胆上如風響。起落似箭鑽。進步不勝。必有寒食之心。此是初步明勁。有形有相之用也。到暗勁之時。用法更妙。起似伏龍登天。落如霹雷擊地。起無形。落無踪。起意好似捲地風。起不起。何用再起落不落。何用再落。低之中望為高。高之中望為低。打起落如水之翻浪。不翻不躦。一寸為先。脚打七分手打三。五行四稍要合全。氣連心意隨時用。打破身式無遮攔。此是二步暗勁形迹有無之用也。拳無拳。意無意。無意之中。是真意。拳打三節不見形。如見形影不為能。隨時而發。一言一默。一舉一動。行止坐臥。以致飲食茶水之間。皆是用。或有人處。或無人處。無處不是用。所以無入而不自得。無往而不得其道。以致寂然不動。感而遂通也。此皆是化勁神化之用也。然而所用之虛實奇正。亦不可專有意。用於奇正虛實。虛者。並非專用虛於彼。己手在彼手之上。用勁拉回。落如鈎竿。謂之實。已手在彼手之下。亦用勁拉回。彼之手挨不着我的手。謂之虛。並非專有意於虛實。是在彼之形式感觸耳。奇正之理亦然。奇無不正。正無不奇。奇中有正。正中有奇。奇正之變。如循環之無端。所用不窮也。拳經云。拳去不空回。空回總不奇。是此意也。

There are three stages of applying techniques in Xingyi Boxing:

[1] A technique has shape and image. [i.e. You know it is there and you can see it is there – corresponding to obvious energy.]

[2] A technique has a name and an image, but leaves no trace. Or it makes a sound and has a name, but has no shape. [i.e. You know it is there but cannot sense it is there – corresponding to hidden energy.]

[3] A technique has neither shape nor image, and is silent and undetectable. [i.e. You neither sense it is there nor even know it is there – corresponding to neutral energy.]

It says in the Boxing Classics: “Lift like a steel file (lifting is when going out). Drop like a hooking pole (dropping is when withdrawing)… When it is not yet at the point of lifting, it is as though it is picking up. When it is not yet at the point of dropping, it is as though it is weighing down… Lift like an arrow and drop like the wind. Chase the wind and pursue the moon without letting up. Lift like the wind and drop like an arrow. Knock him down, bewaring of being slow… The feet are seventy percent of the attack, the hands thirty percent of the attack. The five elements and four limbs should merge and work as a whole. The energy connects with the mind and is used according to the moment. Firmly advancing attacks will go unimpeded… Fight opponents as if you are taking a stroll. Look upon them as if they are but weeds. Your courage rises like the wind whipping up. Lift and drop as if arrows are drilling in. If you advance and lose, it must be that you lost your nerve.” This is the first stage, the obvious energy, in which a technique has shape and is visible.

When you reach the point of hidden energy, technique increases in subtlety. “Lift like a crouching dragon climbing to the sky. Drop like a thunderbolt striking the ground. Lift without a shape. Drop without a trace… Send your intention out like wind rolling over the ground… If the lift did not lift, what would be the point of lifting again? If the drop did not drop, what would be the point of dropping again? Within going low, look toward going high. Within going high, look toward going low… Lifting and dropping are like water in overturning waves… There is neither overturning nor drilling unless preceded by a small step… The feet are seventy percent of the attack, the hands thirty percent of the attack. The five elements and four limbs should merge and work as a whole. The energy connects with the mind and is used according to the moment. Attacks that collapse his posture will go unimpeded.” This is the second stage, the hidden energy, in which a technique has no shape and leaves no trace.

“The boxing is without boxing. The intention is without intention. Within no intention is true intention… Attacking with your fists, be invisible in all three parts, like looking at something and not being able to see even its shadow. [i.e. Whether your fist is extending, retracting, or twisting, it is all too quick to see.]” It will come out according to the situation. With each utterance and each silence, each action and each movement, and whether walking, standing, sitting, lying down, even into your eating and drinking, technique will always be there. Whether there is an opponent or not, at every point there will be technique, and thus “there is no situation in which you will not succeed”, for you will obtain the method regardless of the circumstances. Once you can be silent and still, then upon sensing anything, you will connect with it. All of this applies to the neutral energy, in which technique has become neutrality of spirit.

Furthermore, techniques have emptiness and fullness, craftiness and straightforwardness, which must not be specific intentions. When applying craftiness and straightforwardness, emptiness and fullness, in the case of emptiness for instance, it is not really a matter of specifically applying emptiness upon the opponent. When your hand is above his and you put your energy into pulling back, “dropping like a hooking pole”, this is called fullness. When your hand is below his and again you put your energy into pulling back, so that as his hand closes in it does not get to touch your hand, this is called emptiness. There is no focus of intention on being either empty or full, it is a matter of how you are being affected by the opponent’s posture. This is also the case with the principle of craftiness and straightforwardness.

The crafty is not without the straightforward. The straightforward is not without the crafty. Within the crafty there is the straightforward. Within the straightforward there is the crafty. The alternating of the crafty and the straightforward seem to cycle without end, and so their applicability is limitless. It says in the Boxing Classics: “Once your fist has been sent out, it should not withdraw emptily, for if it is withdrawing emptily, it is never being crafty.” This is the idea. [To make this more explicit, the five elements techniques each extend a hand while the other hand withdraws. The extending hand is clearly attacking, and so it can be called “straightforward”. The simultaneous action of the withdrawing hand goes comparatively unnoticed as an offensive tactic, and so it can be called “crafty”.]

八則

[GUO YUNSHEN SAID…] – Part 8

形意拳術。明勁是小學工夫。進退起落。左轉右旋。形式有間斷。故謂之小學。暗勁是大學之道。上下相連。手足相顧。內外如一。循環無端。形式無有間斷。故謂之大學。此喻是發明其拳所以然之理也。論語云。一以貫之。此拳亦是求一以貫之道也。陰陽混成。剛柔相合。內外如一謂之化勁。用神化去。至於無聲無臭之德也。孟子云。大而化之。之謂聖。聖而不可知之。之謂神。丹書云。形神具杳。乃與道合真之境。拳經云。拳無拳。意無意。無意之中。是真意。如此者。不見而章。不動而變。無為而成。寂然不動。感而遂通也。老子云。得其一而萬事畢人得其一謂之大拳中內外如一之勁用之於敵。當剛則剛。當柔則柔。飛騰變化。無入而不自得。亦無可無不可也。此之謂一以貫之。一之為用。雖然純熟。總是有一之形迹也。尚未到至妙處。因此要將一化去。化到至虛無之境。謂之至誠。至虛至空也。如此大而化之之謂聖。聖而不可知之之謂神之道理。得矣。

In the Xingyi boxing art, the obvious energy is the work of the lesser learning. In advancing and retreating, lifting and dropping, turning to either side, it pauses in its postures, and so it is considered the lesser learning.

The hidden energy is then the way of the greater learning. “Above and below coordinate with each other… Hands and feet look after each other… Inside and outside are as one.” There is cycling without end, postures without pauses, and so it is considered the greater learning. Below are a few references to further elaborate upon this reasoning in the boxing theory:

It says in the Lun Yu [4.15, 15.3]: “A single idea runs through it.” This boxing art also strives to have the principle of a single idea running through it. Passive and active are blended together. Hard and soft are merged with each other. Inside and outside are as one. This is the neutral energy. Using spirit to neutralize and dispel distinctions, you will attain the virtue of being silent and undetectable.

Mengzi said [Mengzi, chapter 7b]: “When a great man transforms us, he is called ‘wise’. When a wise man is beyond comprehension, he is called ‘divine’.” The Elixir Book says: “Once the distinction between physical and spiritual has been utterly blurred, you are in an authentic state of being merged with the Way.” It says in the Boxing Classics: “The boxing is without boxing. The intention is without intention. Within no intention is true intention.” In this way, though you are unseen, yet you make a mark, and though you do not act, yet you have an affect. It is by having no agenda that you succeed. By being silent and still, then upon sensing anything, you connect with it.

Laozi said [Zhuangzi, chapter 12]: “Obtaining the One, all things are accomplished.” When a person obtains the One, this is called greatness. In the boxing, when the energy of “inside and outside are as one” is used while dealing with an opponent, then when it is time to be hard, there is hardness, and when it is time to be soft, there is softness. By transcending and adapting, “there is no situation in which you will not succeed”, no matter what it is.

This is the “single idea running through it” – the use of the One. Even though you are skillful, it is always the One that is manifesting. If you have not yet attained this level of subtlety, you must therefore send in the One to neutralize distinctions until at last you have achieved a state of emptiness. This is called “perfect sincerity” or “perfect emptiness”. In this way is realized the principle that when a great man transforms us, he is called “wise”, and when a wise man is beyond comprehension, he is called “divine”.

九則

[GUO YUNSHEN SAID…] – Part 9

拳術之道。要自己煅練身體。以却病延年。無大難法。若與人相較。則非易事。第一存心謹慎。要知己知彼。不可驕矜。驕矜必敗。若相識之人。久在一處。所練何拳。藝之深淺。彼此皆知。或喜用脚。或善用手。皆知其大概。誰勝誰負。尚不易言。若與不相識之人。初次見面。彼此不知所練何種拳術。所用何法。若一交手其藝淺者自立時相形見絀。若皆是明手。兩人相較。則頗不易言勝。所宜知者一覿面先察其人。精神是否虛靈氣。質是否雄厚。身軀是否活潑。再察其言論。或謙或矜。其所言與其人之神氣。形體動作。是否相符。觀此三者。彼之藝能。知其大概矣。及相較之時。或彼先動。或己先動。務要辨地勢之遠近。險隘廣狹死生。若二人相離極近。彼或發拳。或發足。皆能傷及吾身。則當如拳經云。眼要毒手要奸。奸即巧也脚踏中門雖裏躦。眼有監察之精。手有撥轉之能。足有行程之功。兩肘不離肋。兩手不離心。出洞入洞緊隨身。乘其無備而攻之。由其不意而出之。此是近地以速之意也。兩人相離之地遠。或三四步。或五六步不等。不可直上。恐彼以逸待勞。不等己發拳。而彼先發之矣。所以方動之時。不要將神氣顯露於外。似無意之情形。緩緩走至彼相近處。相機而用。彼動機方露。己即速撲上去。或掌或拳。隨左打左。隨右打右。彼之剛柔。己之進退。起落變化。總相機而行之。此謂遠地以緩也。己所立之地勢。有利不利。亦得因敵人而用之。不可拘着。程廷華先生亦云。與彼相較之時。看彼之剛柔。或力大。或奸巧。彼剛吾柔。彼柔吾剛。彼高吾低。彼低吾高。彼長吾短。彼短吾長。彼開吾合。彼合吾開。或吾忽開忽合。忽剛忽柔。忽上忽下。忽短忽長。忽來忽去。不可拘使成法。須相敵之情形。而行之。雖不能取勝于敵。亦不能驟然敗於敵也。總以謹慎為要。

It is the way of boxing arts that you should first train your body in order to prevent disease and prolong life. In this there is no great difficulty, but competing with opponents is not an easy matter. The first thing to keep carefully in mind is that you should know both self and opponent. You must not be arrogant, for with arrogance you will surely lose.

If you have known someone for a long time in the same place, you know what style he practices and the depth of his skill. Both of you know each other, whether one likes to use one’s feet or is good at using one’s hands, you both have the general gist of each other, and so who would win or lose would be rather difficult to say.

If you do not know a person and are meeting for the first time, you will not know of each other the style practiced or the techniques used. When you compete, the instant you stand to face each other is not sufficient to determine one another’s depth of skill. When two people are apparently adept, it is very difficult to say who will win.

Therefore you should know when first meeting your opponent to begin by examining him. Is his spirit nimble or no? Is his energy abundant or no? Is his body lively or no? Then examine his speech – modest or arrogant? Do his [1] speech, [2] spirit and energy, and [3] body movements all tally with each other? Observing these three things, you will have a general idea of his skills and abilities.

When competing, whether he moves first or I move first, I must distinguish the situation we are in, whether we are far from each other or near, whether the ground is uneven or smooth, whether the area is spacious or confining, what positions would be most hazardous and most safe. If we are very close to each other, then whether he attacks with fist or foot, either way it can injure me.

It is just as is said in the Boxing Classics: “Your eyes should be venomous. Your hands should be treacherous (treacherous meaning skillful). Your foot should dash in right through the center of his doorway. Your eyes should be good at scrutinizing. Your hands should be capable at deflecting away. Your feet should be skillful at covering distance. Your elbows should not leave your ribs and your hands should not leave your center. When going out to attack his gaps, follow closely with your body. Attack where he is unprepared and appear where he does not expect.” The idea here is “using speed when near”.

When we are far apart from each other, whether by three or four steps, or five or six steps, or whatever, I must not go straight up to him. I beware the opponent and wait for him to tire himself out. Shooting out my fist is not as good as letting him attack first. When I then take action, I should not let my spirit and energy manifest outwardly, and so I appear to have no intention. I slowly go to the opponent until we are near each other and watch for an opportunity to make use of. Once he takes action, opportunity then manifests and I quickly pounce on it.

Whether using palm or fist, I follow him to the left and strike to the left, or follow him to the right and strike to the right, depending on his hardness or softness. I advance and retreat, lifting and dropping adaptively, always watching for the opportunity and acting according to it. This is called “using slowness when at a distance”. My own position has advantages and disadvantages, but so does the opponent’s, which is what I make use of. I must not be restrictive as to my techniques.

Cheng Tinghua also said as much: “When competing with an opponent, I observe his hardness and softness, and whether he has great strength or a treacherous skill. When he hardens, I soften, and when he softens, I harden. When he rises, I lower, and when he lowers, I rise. When he lengthens, I shorten, and when he shortens, I lengthen. When he opens, I close, and when he closes, I open. Whether I suddenly open or suddenly close, or suddenly harden or suddenly soften, or am suddenly above or suddenly below, or suddenly shorten or suddenly lengthen, or suddenly come back or suddenly send out, I must not get restricted by fixed techniques, I must observe the opponent’s situation and act according to it. Then even if I cannot defeat him, at least I cannot suddenly be defeated by him. It is always important to pay careful attention.”

十則

[GUO YUNSHEN SAID…] – Part 10

拳經云。上下相連。內外合一。俗云上下是頭足也。亦云手足也。按拳中道理言之。是上呼吸之氣。與下呼吸之氣相接也。此是上下相連。心腎相交也。內外合一者。是心中神意下照於海底。腹內靜極而動。海底之氣。微微自下而上。與神意相交。歸於丹田之中。運貫於周身。暢達於四肢。融融和和。如此方是上下相連。手足自然相顧。合內外而為一者也

It says in the Boxing Classics that “above and below coordinate with each other” and that “inside and outside are merged into one”.

It is commonly said that “above and below” refer to the head and feet, but it is also said that it indicates the hands and feet. According to the theory within the boxing art, it is the air breathed above and the air breathed below that are connecting with each other, and this then is the meaning of “above and below coordinate with each other” – the heart and kidneys [i.e. the elements of fire and water] are interacting.

When inside and outside are merging into one, the mind centers itself and then the spirit and intention go down to the root chakra. [The actual name in the text is Hai Di, which means “Under the Sea”, another name for what is more commonly called Hui Yin, “Gathering Place of the Passive”. Hai Di is the Chinese name for the first or root chakra, called “Under the Sea” because it is placed below the Qi Hai, or “Sea of Energy”, which is approximately equivalent to the sacral chakra. All in all, the area intended can also be thought of simply as the perineum.] Within the abdomen, once stillness reaches a peak, there is a movement. Energy at the root chakra gently goes upward from below to interact with the spirit and intent, then returns to be within the elixir field. It then moves through the whole body, smoothly flowing into the four limbs.

If it is done in this way, above and below will coordinate with each other, hands and feet will naturally look after each other, and there will be merging of inside and outside to become one.

十一則

[GUO YUNSHEN SAID…] – Part 11

練拳術不可固執不通。若專以求力。即被力所拘。專以求氣。即被氣所拘。若專以求沉重。即為沉重所捆墜。若專以求輕浮。神氣則被輕浮所散。所以然者。練之形式順者。自有力。內裏中和者。自生氣。神意歸於丹田者。身自然重如泰山。將神氣合一化成虛空者。自然身輕如羽。故此不可以專求。雖然求之有所得焉。亦是有若無實若虛。勿忘勿助。不勉而中。不思而得。從容中道而已

When practicing boxing arts, you must not have so much determination that it obstructs you. If you are obsessed with seeking to have strength, you will get jammed up by it. If you are obsessed with seeking to have energy, you will get clogged up by it. If you are obsessed with seeking to be heavy, it will weigh you down. If you are obsessed with seeking to be light, your spirit and energy will wander off.

Therefore the way to go about these things is to practice the postures smoothly, and then naturally there will be strength. When there is centered harmoniousness within, it will naturally produce energy. When your spirit and intention return to your elixir field, your body will naturally be as heavy as Mt. Tai. When your spirit and energy merge into one and transform into emptiness, your body will naturally be light as a feather.

Thus you must not obsessively seek, even though there may be something to be gained through the seeking. Look upon that something as if it is nothing, treating its substantiality as insubstantial. Neither forget about it nor assist it. Do not strive for it and you will hit the target. Do not fixate on it and you will obtain it. Being patient and balanced is all you need.

十二則

[GUO YUNSHEN SAID…] – Part 12

形意拳術之橫拳。有先天之橫。有後天之橫。有一行之橫。先天之橫者。由靜而動。為無形之橫拳也。橫者中也。易云黃中通理。正位居體。即此意也。拳經云。起無形。起為橫。皆是也。此起字是內中之起。自虛無而生有。真意發萌之時。在拳中謂之橫。亦謂之起。此橫有名無形。為諸形之母也。萬物即含育於其中矣。其橫則為拳中之太極也。後天之橫者。是拳中外形手足。以動即名為橫也。此橫有名有式。無有橫之相也。因頭手足。肩肘胯膝名七拳外形七拳。以動即名為橫。亦為諸式之幹也。萬法亦皆生於其內也。

In Xingyi’s crossing technique, there is the “innate” crossing [i.e. its internality], the “ acquired” crossing [i.e. its externality], and the crossing as a singleness of action [i.e. internal and external combined].

The innate crossing goes from stillness to movement, and is the formless crossing technique. The crossing technique is in the central position. It says in the Book of Changes [hexagram 2 explanation]: “The gentleman takes yellow [the color associated with the center, i.e. centeredness, and which corresponds to the element of earth and thereby to the crossing technique] as his guiding principle, which corrects his behavior and affects his very being.” This is exactly the idea. It says in the Boxing Classics to “lift without a shape” and that “lifting is crossing”. This is always the case. (This use of “lifting” has to do with lifting internally, in which something is generated from nothing. When the true meaning of it sprouts, it is in the boxing called “crossing” as well as “lifting”.) This crossing has name but no shape. It is the source of all the postures. All things are contained within it. The crossing technique is thus the grand polarity [taiji] within this boxing art.

The acquired crossing is the external form of the hands and feet within the technique, an action called “crossing”. This crossing has both name and posture, but it is without a crossing appearance because head, hand, foot, shoulder, elbow, hip, and knee outwardly form as the “seven fists” [and so there appears somewhat more of a forwardness to the technique than a sideways]. This action called “crossing” is the trunk of all the postures [which branch from it]. Though they are many techniques, they are all born from within this one.

十三則

[GUO YUNSHEN SAID…] – Part 13

形意拳術。頭層明勁。謂之練精化氣。為丹道中之武火也。第二層暗勁。謂之練氣化神。為丹道中之文火也。三層化勁。謂之練神還虛。為丹道中火候純也。火候純而內外一氣成矣。再練亦無勁。亦無火。謂之練虛合道。以致行止坐臥。一言一默。無往而不合其道也。拳經云。拳無拳。意無意。無意之中是真意。至此無聲無臭之德至矣。先人詩曰道本自然一氣遊。空空靜靜最難求。得來萬法皆無用。身形應當似水流。

In the Xingyi boxing art, the first stage is obvious energy, which is called “training the essence and transforming it into energy”, and for the elixirists is the “martial fire”.

The second stage is hidden energy, which is called “training the energy and transforming it into spirit”, and for the elixirists is the “civil fire”.

The third stage is neutral energy, which is called “training the spirit and returning to emptiness”, and for the elixirists is when the fire has been “cooked to purity”. Once the fire is purified, inside and outside become a single continuum.

Training further until there is no energy and no fire is called “training the emptiness so as to merge with the Way”. The result of this is that whether walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, with each utterance and each silence, in everything you do you will merge with the Way.

It says in the Boxing Classics: “The boxing is without boxing. The intention is without intention. Within no intention is true intention.” In achieving this, you will attain the virtue of being silent and undetectable. An ancestor’s poem goes:

The method is essentially naturalness, a single energy flowing along.

Your state of emptiness and stillness is the hardest thing for the opponent to read.

He can try countless ways of attack but all of them will be useless,

for your body’s shape responds just like a river current.

十四則

[GUO YUNSHEN SAID…] – Part 14

拳意之道。大槪皆是河洛之理。以之取象命名。數理兼該。順其人之動作之自然。制成法則。而人身體力行之。古人云。天有八風。易有八卦。人有八脉。拳有八勢。是以拳術。有八卦之變化。八卦者。有圓之象焉。天有九天。星有九野。地有九泉。人有九竅九數。拳有九宮。故拳術有九宮之方位。九宮者。有方之義焉。古人以九府而作圜法。以九室而作明堂。以九區而作貢賦。以九軍而作陣法。以九竅九數。九數者即九節也頭為稍節心為中節丹田為根節手為稍節肘為中節肩為根節足為稍節膝為中節胯為根節三三共九節也而作拳術。無非用九。其理亦妙矣。河之圖。洛之書。皆出於天地自然之數。禹之範。大撓之歷。皆聖人得於天地之心法。余蒙老農先生。所授之九宮圖。其理亦出於此而運用之神妙。變化莫測此圖之道。夫婦之愚。可以與知與能。及其至也。雖聖人亦有所不知不能矣。其圖之形式。是飛九宮之道。一至九。

The reasoning of martial arts concepts is mainly the theory in the He River Diagram and Luo River Document, drawing from their representations and classifications of things, with their numbering and principle equally emphasized. They accord with human movement in its naturalness, and so they supply a standard by which the human body is to perform.

Just as ancient people said that “the weather has the eight winds” [Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Medicine, chapter 4], or the Book of Changes has the eight trigrams, or a person has eight pulses, so too in boxing arts there are eight dynamics, and thus in boxing arts there are the transformations of the eight trigrams. The eight trigrams signify roundness. The sky has nine levels of sky, the stars are spread in nine expanses, the ground has nine layers of strata, the human body has the nine orifices and nine counts, and so too in the boxing arts there are the nine “palaces”, and thus in boxing arts there is the compass of the Nine Palaces. The nine palaces signify squareness.

Ancient people used nine sections of government to make a surrounding law, nine rooms to form a courtyard, nine administrative districts for the collecting of taxes, nine armies to deploy a defense, nine orifices and nine counts to make a boxing art. (The nine counts are the nine sections: the head is a tip, the solar plexus is a middle, the elixir field is a root, the hand is a tip, the elbow is a middle, the shoulder is a root, the foot is a tip, the knee is a middle, the hip is a root. Three by three totals a count of nine sections.) [The nine orifices are the eyes, ears, nostrils, mouth, urethra, and anus.] All of these use nines, for the principle is so wonderful.

The He River Diagram and Luo River Document both come from the natural mathematics of the universe. In the cases of both Emperor Yu’s Model [Book of Documents, chapter 32] and the calendar of Great Nao [traditional founder of the sixty-year cycle], th