YIQUAN COLLECTION OF ESSAYS 1996-2006 YIQUAN ACADEMY CONTENTS AUTHOR TITLE PAGE Cui Fushan I learned from Yao Zongxun 3 Han Luquan Zhan Zhuang and Shi Li 6 He Jingping Wang Xiangzhai – “Contradictions Old Man” 10 Leos Horky Pushing hands 15 Andrzej Kalisz Beijing Yiquan Research Association 23 History of yiquan 24 Kung-fu (wushu) 31 Master Yao Chengguang 34 Qi – magic power? 37 Rules of yiquan pushing hands competitions 41 Sensations and body reactions 43 Understanding yiquan – learning the whole 45 Wang Xiangzhai’s disciples 48 Yiquan anecdotes 49 Yiquan training methods 57 Yiquan – unity of health and combat practice 64 Zhan zhuang training for health 68 Liu Qian Yiquan helped me to recover 70 Shi Wan Will boxing helps people get stron and stay fit 71 Song Jilian Finding a teacher 74 Wang Xiangzhai About dachengquan (yiquan) 77 Benefit from practicing martial art 80 Knowledge and practice 85 Philosophical basis of yiquan 87 Therapeutical effects of zhan zhuang 90 Wang Yufang Introduction to zhan zhuang 92 Wang Brothers Our grandfather Wang Xiangzhai 96 Wei Yuzhu Memory of Yao Zongxun 99 Xie Yongguang Subtlety is the key 101 Master Yao Chengguang and Zongxun Wuguan 102 Master Yao Chengguang talking about shi li 105 About master Yao Chengguang 108 On principles of studying yiquan 111 Yang Visit to a master 115 Yao Chengguang Introduction commentary to “Chinese Yiquan” videos 119 Commentary to Jianwu (“health dance”) 122 About ideal and real pushing hands 124 Answering questions 127 Inaugurational speech, Yiquan Conference, 2002 130 Principles of yiquan tui shou training 133 Worldwide popularization of yiquan 136 Yao Zongxun General characteristics of yiquan 138 Zhang Chao I’m a beginner 144 2 CUI FUSHAN I LEARNED FROM YAO ZONGXUN Translated from chinese by Andrzej Kalisz At begining of 1980s, thanks to Bu Enfu's (famous master of shuai-jiao wrestling, winner of wrestling and boxing trounaments, student of Wang Xiangzhai) introduction, I had luck to learn yiquan from Yao Zongxun. Yao was over 60 y.o. at that time. He wore very simple clothes. He walked keeping his body straight, talked calmly, had looks of an well educated gentleman. His eyes were like two sharp swords. He had great knowlegde, but at the same time he was very open and friendly to everybody. I experienced his gentleness, but also some strictness. And if we talk about his abilities of using body, it would be difficult for anyone to compare with him. It was at beginning of 1982. I just finished doing zhan zhuang exercise. It happened that Bu Enfu and Ao Shipeng (who also was Wang Xiangzhai's student) were present there. I said: "I just keep doing yiquan's zhan zhuang, maybe I could try some tui shou too?" Yao Zongxun just finished instructing some other students and came to us. Bu Enfu said: "Zongxun, show some tui shou to Fushan, let him get the feeling". Yao agreed. He was over 60, was tall and thin, he didn't look strong. I was in my twenties. I was doing weigth lifting, practiced baguazhang, taijiquan and other kinds of wushu. I won Chaoyang district taiji pushing hands championship. I also got medals at Chaoyang district and Beijing championships in wushu forms. And moreover I learned from Bu Enfu, and I had deleloped some skill in shuai-jiao wrestling. I thought that Yao was a great fighter when he was young, but he wouldn't be so good at his present age. When we touched arms, I got impression that he was quite weak. I thought that if I used all my power, the old man wouldn't be able to oppose me. And I even started to fear that I could harm him, if I used too much power. But before I did anything, Yao, feeling my hesitance, said: "Use your whole power, your all abilities". Bu and Ao added: "Use your whole power, don't hesitate". I pushed Yao suddenly with my whole power, but my hand "landed in emptiness". I immedietely did a series of pushes, but none of them met any resistance, and I couldn't controll my body, feeling like a kite after the string breaks. Then I tried once more. I noticed that there is a tree behind Yao's body. I thought, that when I push suddenly with big power, Yao will not be able to escape, and he will hit the tree. I pushed. Before I was able to notice that Yao dodged to the side, my body was lifted upward and almost hit the tree. In panic I closed my eyes, and espected hitting the tree with my face. But then I felt that some power changed the direction in which my body was moving. I opened my eyes, and noticed that I just flied by the side of the tree, only touching it slightly with my clothes. I was sweating all over and feeling freeze. I could only say: "It was horror". Yao said: "Just calm down, it was nothing". Both Yao's skill and his wude (warrior's morality) impressed me. I said: "That's incredible, I wouldn't expect something like this from a man 3 over 60 years old. Your movements are so free and natural, and so coordinated, just as if you were just dancing. You posses the highest level of neutralizing skill. Now I was able to feel what is real tui shou". Than I said: "When I did competition pushing hands before, when opponent grabbed my neck, it was difficult to do anything". Yao said: "So grab me that way". When I did it, Yao just slapped my arm, and my body lifted, uprooted, and turned half circle before I landed on my feet again". I asked; "Where does your power come from?" Yao answered smiling: "Of course, I'm not as strong as you younger people. I just used my whole body in a coordinated way, and I borrowed your force too". I said: "I don't understand how you borrowed my force". Yao asked: "Did you ever bounce a ball". I replied that I did. Then he asked what were 3 attributes of force. I said: "amount, direction, point of impact'. Yao said: "When you learn a martial art, you must think a lot". I will never forget his words. I really got benefit from them. Yao Zongxun not only had great skill in martial art, but he also had great knowledge of health aspect of yiquan. When some bump appeared at my belly, and I couln't do any more intense exercises because of pain, I visited many doctors, spent a lot of money, used a lot of medicine, but without result. I told Yao about this. He adviced that his friend doctor should see me. That doctor said, that surgery would be the best way. I told Yao what the doctor said, but I wouldn't got surgery. Yao said then: "If you really won't get surgery, the only way is trying using zhan zhuang". Yao arranged a posture for me, explained demands of exercise, and said: "You shouldn't worry, just eat normally, keep positive attitude. When you practice, don't think about your problem, use positive imaginations, so you feel happy, being in pleasant mood, then blood circulation will improve, metabolism will improve, immunity will be reinforced". According to what Yao said, I practiced zhan zhuang everyday. After zhan zhuang I did shi li. I used those kinds of mind activity which Yao suggested. I practiced everyday, no matter if it rained or if wind was blowing. When I only had time, I was going to the small park close to Nan Li Shi street, were Yao Zongxun used to teach. Sometimes, when I wasn't feeling comfortably during standing, Yao helped me to relax, by massaging slightly my body, when I kept standing. When I was able to relax, I was feeling as if my body was very light and floating in air. I also felt some warmth in my whole body. The longer I practiced, the more i liked it. One day it rained a bit. Not many people practice during such weather. But I went to the park by bus. Yao was already there. But there were not many other people. Yao asked: "Lately, while practicing, what you feel?" I said; "I feel great comfort, the bump became smaller, I don't feel any problem when doing more intense training". Yao said: "Good, you must still be careful with the more intense training, and when you practice, don't think that you practice, but make your practice a fun, but at the same time you must be concentrated, the more pleasant is your practice, the better". And I said: "It's raining, maybe you just shouldn't come during such weather?" Yao replied: "Other may not come, but I must come; if there is not any urgent matter, I will come for sure". I really admired his attitude. 4 After about half a year, the bump disappeared, and it never appeared again. Also stomach aches which I used to have regularly dissapeared completely. I will always be grateful to master Yao and will always admire his skill and character. When I learned from Yao Zongxun, it was turning point in my life. Learning martial art, I realized what's important in life, I became more open and active. I developed habit of thinking about problem, before making decision. It was very important for my life and my job. I'm more persevering, I don't give up before achieving intended goal. This is all related to my learning from Yao Zongxun. He was one of the greatest wushu masters, but he also had profound knowledge in fields of pedagogics, literature, psychology, medicine and many others. He was not only successor of Wang Xiangzhai, but he developed yiquan further, making a big contribution to the theory of martial art. Thanks to Yao Zongxun yiquan is blooming today. I hope that we all will work together for further development of this martial science. 5 HAN LUQUAN ZHAN ZHUANG AND SHI LI Translated from chinese by Andrzej Kalisz Many articles have been published lately in which the aspects of health and combat in yiquan (dachengquan) are discussed. In 1/2000 edtition of "Wuhun" magazine I already wrote about health value of yiquan and about my personal experience in this field. This time I would like to talk about health and combat aspects of yiquan (dachengquan) from various points of view. I first went to Beijing to learn from master Yao Chengguang, because I had health problems. I wrote about it already in edition 1/2000. Some people think that health and combat aspect of yiquan are something different, and that you should choose one of them. This kind of attitude has not much to do with actual yiquan. Even less is there any division between "earlier practice of tendons and bones" and "later mental work". It's just people who didn't really learn yiquan as a complete system keep repeating statements which make no sense, because they see only one side of the whole. Learning yiquan from master Yao Chengguang, and practicing under his supervision, I was able to improve my health. I had opportunity to learn yiquan a bit deeper. I don't agree with what some say, that: "like Wang Xiangzhai, we should first train tendons and bones". Body is tendons, bones, blood, skin, hair etc. Practitioners of martial arts, regardless if it's "internal' or "external" are always training whole body. Of course "training of tendons and bones" is part of it. Without tendons and bones, how could we talk about human body? How could we walk, stand, stay alive? Talking about "training tendons and bones" is nothing more than just repeating wrong opinions, and eventually leading to creating wrong methods. This is not knowledge coming from serious study of yiquan. The training of chinese gymnastics athlethes is also being described as "training of tendons and bones". And training of chinese acrobates too. Who can compare with them? And what they do is a scientific training system, based on research of specialists in fields of biomechanics and sports. Their understanding of "training of tendons and bones" is more profound and scientific. When master Yao Chengguang is teaching zhan zhuang, he stresses, that the main thing in yiquan practice is unifying of posture and mental work. This has nothing to do with notions of those who say: "mental work is leading to mental disorder", "it causes a battle in mind". This has also nothing to do with standing for many hours and thinking only about feelings of warm, numbness, itching in some parts of body and in specific points. Wouldn't that be that mental disorder to which "mental work is leading"? Did those people learn yiquan as a complete system at all? Who they learned from? If you study something, a lot of time and patience is needed.The same is true about yiquan - the science which is linking together theory and practice. If someone is not serious about learning and his own practice, he won't be 6 able to understand the essence. Even Wang Xiangzhai and Yao Zongxun, who studied and practiced all their lives, didn't dare to say, that they got great achievement - dacheng, and they stressed, that "there is no limit in the study of martial science, so how could anybody talk about dacheng?" But now there are some, who just started studying yiquan, and never learned it in deep, but they maintain that they will "reveal secrets". They are irresponsible, misleading beginners. They went astray, and are leading others astray. Master Yao Chengguang is very rigorous while teaching. There are strict demands regarding body and mental work, no matter if it's zhan zhuang, shi li, steps, fa li, punching methods, tui shou or san shou. All his students have chance to experience this. Those demands regarding body and mind have absolutely nothing to do with wrong opinions about yiquan which are propagated by some people. Let's take as an example hunyuan zhuang - the first of combat postures. In so called health postures, the position of body is accompanied by some very gentle forms of mind activity, what makes body relaxed and mind becoming tranquile. They are used mostly by beginners and by those who practice to improve their health. From the point of view of yiquan as a martial art, so called health postures are just exercises which give you basis for more advanced practice. And hunyuan zhuang is an exercise which serves for seeking "holistic strength" - hunyuan li, and which gives you basis for combat oriented practice. As Yao Zongxun used to say; "If you want to learn the essence of martial art, you should start from zhan zhuang". In hunyuan zhuang you put your whole body into action - all muscles, joints, whole nervous system, and even the hair on your whole body. Using appriopriate mental work has effect on biology, increasing activity of nervous system, stimulating muscles and joints of all parts of body ("tendons and bones") - all simultanously. In this kind of exercise, when you keep certain posture, and your whole body is doing subtle movement, small movement or big movement, slow movement or fast movement, you seek and develop the hunyuan li. Isn't it the "training of tendons and bones" about which some "great experts" keep talking? Or maybe it's something without relation to "tendons and bones"? Actually "training of tendons and bones", which according to them is some "secret transmission", actually is nothing more than just very early, not mature teachings of Wang Xiangzhai, which are opposite to the essence of martial art as Wang understood it later. Wang himself criticized those views in later period and rejected them. It's just outdated and rejected methods, but now some start to advertise them as "secret transmission". Does it make any sense? It just makes people laugh! It's way of frauds trying to make money. When we talk about those wrong ideas about yiquan, the reason for their coming out is because some people don't know the contents of yiquan training well enough. They didn't learn it in deep, but they resolutely state that yiquan is just some "rough principle", while some other system is "subtle principle". When someone is not serious in study, he will not be able to learn anything deeper, not saying learning the essence. 7 Yiquan is a system of theory and practice. Practice is directed by principles and serves to check the principles. You never should do it by halves, watching only from one point of view. Development and training of hunyuan li needs patience, perseverance and great attention. You are experiencing simultanous subtle movements of all parts of body. Starting from lack of the feeling of strenght, gradually to getting the feeling. Everyday, every month, every year, there are more and more parts of body in which you get the feeling - the hunyuan li is developing. Beginners start from comparatively long, slow movement. When they have some basis, they start seeking hunyuan li in small movement, in subtle movement and also in fast movement. Huanyuan li is also called liumian li (force related to six surfaces). At first you are seeking it in basic directions: forward-backward, upward-downward, opening-closing. Then you do changes of directions in one exercise. Next step is simultanous seeking force in relation to six surfaces. So the process of developing hunyuan li is divided into simpler stages. This is not something which you can achieve in one day, but effect of systematic practice. Let's talk about shi li too. Shi li is "enlargement", "expansion" of zhan zhuang. As Yao Zongxun used to say: "You get to know the force by testing it". When you practice zhan zhuang, seeking hunyuan li, there are still many places in body, where you haven't got the feeling, so called "weak parts". In shi li there is "expading" - whole body coordinated participates in movement. The force of resistance is expanded in space. The imagined objects are enlarged and expanded. This helps developing hunyuan li, enabling getting rid of some insufficiencies (lack of proper feeling is some parts of body) - whole body is becoming more agile, moving more naturally, achieving the state when "the force is natural, form as if was there and wasn't there at the same time, mind contains universe". When in shi li "Intention is not broken, force is not lost". "Intention is born - force is born; intention is broken - force is stopped". You should ponder it, and experience it, practicing according to the principles. Let's take the quite basic dingbabu kaihe shi li as and example. Your arms are making movement of stretching to the sides and then pressing inward. Imagine as if there were many springs between your both arms (palms, fingers of both palms, elbows etc.) which you are slowly stretching and then pressing. There are also imagined springs between your fingers and a tree or wall far in front of you. When doing opening movement (stretching the springs between your arms), you are stretching those springs (fingers pulling backward), and when doing closing movement, at the same time your fingers are pushing forward, pressing on those springs. While doing opening, your body is slowly pushing backward and sitting down on back leg. You move from position when your weight is distributed 50% on your front and 50% on your back leg, to position where 30% of weight is on your front and 70% on your back leg. You are feeling resistance of a spring between you front knee and back hip, which is as if being stretched. Toes of your front foot are as if catching ground. You feel that you body is overcoming some resistance, as if moving in water or pushing a tree. When arms do closing movement, body is pushing forward, overcoming resistance (of water, tree, etc.). Weight is 8 moved from position 30/70 to 50/50. Front foot is slightly pressing ground. Back leg is pressing ground and straightening. There is feeling of springs between your both legs being pressed. Head is leading upward - you have feeling of stretching springs between your head and your feet. Everything is happening simultanously. You should have the feeling of resistance everywhere, carefully searching for it, "using mind and not force". Like masters of old used to say: "intention and force are as if floating in water", "when upper moves, lower is naturally following, when lower moves, upper is naturally leading". There is no place which would not participate in movement. When movement appears, there is no place where there wouldn't be some kind of movement. When movement stops, whole body stops. Opening and closing of arms is big movement, change of position of center of weight is small movement. If we talk about subtle movement, it's as if even hair on your body was linked to some springs and was doing slight movement. This is "intention always being born and never stopping, movement always being born and never stopping, force always being born, and never stopping". Gradually with time of practice you will achieve state when "intention is force, force is intention, intention and force are one". All movements are free and natural. "No matter if wind blows and waves hit, the victory comes as easily as a nice chat and a pleasant stroll". "Body and arms are embracing the wind and waves, and creating great storm, as easily as froze is crushing grass". Someone said: "But this way of practice would limit your natural freedom". As I know from my experience, if you practice according to the principles and demands of shi li, the feeling of resistance is gradually expanding for the whole body, hunyuan li is developing naturally. In each movement there is feeling of natural force. That man probably didn't learn yiquan as a system, but blindly followed some part of it, and he didn't achieve the results of seeking strength with the principle of "using mind and not force". What he got was result of practicing shi li in an improper way, and not result of proper practice of yiquan. In study materials and videos produced by master Yao Chengguang you will find explanation of deeper principles of yiquan. In this article I just mention them without going in depth. 9 HE JINGPING WANG XIANGZHAI - "CONTRADICTIONS OLD MAN" TALKING ABOUT BASIC PRINCIPLES OF ZHAN ZHUANG QIGONG Translation from chinese by Andrzej Kalisz "Emission of qi - preposterously called real tradtition" "Breaking old, establishing new, reaching higher levels" "Constantly seeking ballance in all kinds of contradicitons" Wang Xiangzhai was our country great expert of wushu and qigong, with lots of students. His qigong concepts received recognition during conference on health practices which was conducted in Baoding in Hebei province in November 1961. With time his zhan zhuang method has become very popular. But because some instructors were not able to understand properly theoretical principles of zhan zhuang method, they mixed zhan zhuang with so called "emission of qi", calling it real tradition of zhan zhuang, while it is a big mistake and is opposing basic principles of the zhan zhuang method. This created a lot of misunderstandings. Actually Wang Xiangzhai's zhan zhuang, which is kind of medical qigong, has it's own specific theoretical principles and practice methods, with strong basis in science. To help practitioners properly understand and master zhan zhuang methods and principles I'm offering this article. Hope it will help to avoid situation when wrong concepts are further transmitted. 1. ZHAN ZHUANG AND CONTROLLING BALANCE Zhan zhuang is a method in which practitioner is constantly solving situation when various kinds of unbalance are appearing at various time in body, improving the ability of immediate adjusting and controlling ballance. Wang Xiangzhai was saying: "There is no absolute balance, when we talk about balance, we talk about ability of controlling balance at this point of time". He said: "The illnesses are caused by loosing balance in organs and their functions; it is like in martial art - it is possible to make opponent fly back, when his ballance is broken. Zhan zhuang is a method toadjust and control balance". So regulating and controlling balance is the main question during all stages of zhan zhuang practice. Wang Xiangzhai also talked about "three round" training method. The "three round" are "spirit round", "intention round", "force round", demanding: "spirit not flowing outside, intention not being revealed, force not going over tip". The core of this theory is keeping balance of "centered, round harmony". Controlling balance is not something stable and not changing. But it means that practitioner, during the practice progress, is constantly breaking the old balance and establishing a new balance. In this proces of "breaking old, establishing new" the practitioner's abilities are constantly growing and developing, so he moves from low level to 10