I swear to always wear worn-out kung fu shoes.
Showing posts with label Daoist Martial Arts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Daoist Martial Arts. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Measurements of Practice
The old masters used to make their students swear to "always wear tattered sleeves."
I swear to always wear worn-out kung fu shoes.
I swear to always wear worn-out kung fu shoes.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Daoist Naming Conventions: Hidden Meaning in Movement Names, Part 3
Section III:
Internal Medicine
One of the main areas of study in Daoism is health and longevity. The Daoists have developed quite a collection of tools in this area.
Above is a picture of the Neijingtu, or “Internal Classic Diagram.” On the surface, we see a stylized map of a mountain range. If you look closely, you will see a map of the human body (the mountains represent the spine). This diagram very cleverly hides the secrets of Daoist internal practices.
The general imagery you should be thinking of is simply of a mountain with a moon above it. The mountain represents the spine, and the moon represents the head.
So, movements with names like “Moon Knocking on Mountain Gate” might have new meaning for you. “Ride Tiger, Push Mountain” or “Ride Tiger Back to Mountain” might now mean taking advantage of your opponent’s aggressive attack to attack the spine. Hold Moon to Chest might involve holding your opponent’s head to your core and breaking the neck or choking the opponent out.
Other more cryptic names may be referring to the classical names of acupuncture points or channels.
It’s important to remember that to a Daoist, it would be wasteful and poor Dé (efficient use of power) not to merge your healing work with your fighting work.
Daoist Naming Conventions: Hidden Meaning in Movement Names, Part 2
Section II:
Animal Styles
Just like Shàolín, the Daoist martial arts have animal styles. They tend to be much less imitative than Shàolín arts, and these days you won’t see many specific animal forms. You will find many movements with animals in them; especially white animals. The white animals seem to originate in the Kunlun? mountains, between China and Tibet.
The two main animals you will see are Dragon and Tiger. These represent the two main fighting strategies of the arts. Often a third animal, usually a bird, will represent the third strategy of escape.
Dragon is counteroffensive and clever. This is your first strategy; to neutralize your opponent’s attack and then respond.
Tiger is preemptive and dominating. It starts the fight and keeps the opponent one step behind.
These two animals tend to create each other: Counteroffensive turns into offensive, for example, and when Tiger fails to keep the initiative, she falls back on Dragon.
The Daoist arts usually generate their power from the ground, but there are times when this is not a good option; you have to pick up your feet and move, or you just don’t have a good foundation. This is where the footwork of the bird styles come in.
White Crane’s lower body skills teach how to fight from one leg, a situation which may come up every time you take a step. Its upper body skills are perhaps the most sophisticated in the Daoist martial arts, which is why you will see so many movements in Tàijíquán with White Crane names.
Phoenix teaches fast, moving footwork rather like Bāguàzhăng (Not a coincidence), and fast targeted jabs.
Other animals you may come across are:
White Ape, which teaches stamping power and “loose arm” skills. This animal is the main reason the Daoist martial arts look like they have Xíngyìquán mixed in.
White Snake, which teaches throwing techniques and grinding entries. (Think of White Snake Creeps Down.)
Dragon Horse, which teaches trampling techniques.
Keep all this in mind when you look at a movement named “Dragon Wanders, Tiger Sits,” for example. The movements might not look much like the animals, but the names have meaning.
Animal Styles
Just like Shàolín, the Daoist martial arts have animal styles. They tend to be much less imitative than Shàolín arts, and these days you won’t see many specific animal forms. You will find many movements with animals in them; especially white animals. The white animals seem to originate in the Kunlun? mountains, between China and Tibet.
The two main animals you will see are Dragon and Tiger. These represent the two main fighting strategies of the arts. Often a third animal, usually a bird, will represent the third strategy of escape.
Dragon is counteroffensive and clever. This is your first strategy; to neutralize your opponent’s attack and then respond.
Tiger is preemptive and dominating. It starts the fight and keeps the opponent one step behind.
These two animals tend to create each other: Counteroffensive turns into offensive, for example, and when Tiger fails to keep the initiative, she falls back on Dragon.
The Daoist arts usually generate their power from the ground, but there are times when this is not a good option; you have to pick up your feet and move, or you just don’t have a good foundation. This is where the footwork of the bird styles come in.
White Crane’s lower body skills teach how to fight from one leg, a situation which may come up every time you take a step. Its upper body skills are perhaps the most sophisticated in the Daoist martial arts, which is why you will see so many movements in Tàijíquán with White Crane names.
Phoenix teaches fast, moving footwork rather like Bāguàzhăng (Not a coincidence), and fast targeted jabs.
Other animals you may come across are:
White Ape, which teaches stamping power and “loose arm” skills. This animal is the main reason the Daoist martial arts look like they have Xíngyìquán mixed in.
White Snake, which teaches throwing techniques and grinding entries. (Think of White Snake Creeps Down.)
Dragon Horse, which teaches trampling techniques.
Keep all this in mind when you look at a movement named “Dragon Wanders, Tiger Sits,” for example. The movements might not look much like the animals, but the names have meaning.
Daoist Naming Conventions: Hidden Meaning in Movement Names, Part 1
Daoist Naming Conventions:
Hidden Meaning in Movement Names
by
Jonty Kershaw
www.brokencircle.org
Introduction
There is a lot of lost information in the world of the martial arts. Those of us who study it face the prospect of having to gather as much knowledge as we can from the meager sources available and sift through it, trying to find the secrets that even our own teachers might never have learned. This article is intended to help the searchers in their search.
One area that should be explored is the meanings of movement names. There is a rich hidden language here that can hint at or even fully explain the intention of the movements.
I have divided this article into three sections, based on the sources of the names. They are:
Proverbs and Sayings
Animal Styles
Internal Medicine
These naming conventions are specifically for the “Daoist Martial Arts” family. Other traditions such as Shàolín have their own naming secrets. I hope this article will inspire you to look a little more deeply in all of them.
Section I:
Daoist Proverbs and Sayings
The Chinese are famous for their proverbs and sayings, and the Daoists are no different. Here are some examples of movements named after Daoist sayings.
调花接干
Diào Huā Diē Gān
“Move Aside the Flowers to Reach the Trunk”
The Daoists have a number of expressions that refer to the structure of a tree, especially how much more important the trunk and the roots are than the branches and leaves.
This expression refers to brushing aside unnecessary details in order to focus on the truly important core of the issue. In the martial arts, this usually refers to a move that quickly dispenses with the opponent’s defenses to reach the torso.
(This phrase has often been mistranslated as something like “Transfer Flower, Connect to Wood.”)
揽牛尾
Lăn Niú Wĕi
“Grasp the Ox’s Tail”
In Daoist parable, there are stories describing how an experienced herder can steer a massive ox by simply controlling its tail. This is a beautiful example of Dé in action.
Movements with names like “Grasp the Ox’s Tail” or “Move a Thousand Head of Oxen With Only Four Tails” refer to moving your opponent’s entire body using the small joints. (The four tails would be your opponent’s fingers.)
Yáng Lùchán, the founder of Yáng Tàijíquán named his small-joint manipulations sequence 揽雀尾, “Grasp the Sparrow’s Tail,” probably to express how much more difficult the art of yielding is.
Stop the Cart at the Edge of Cliff
There are a number of proverbs and metaphors in China that describe your life as the path of a cart. Phrases such as “Following the path of the overturned cart” describe repeating someone else’s mistake.
Movements with names like these will usually involve changing direction or intention before failing.
Stir Clouds to Pass Through Fog
“Clouds” and “Fog”, like the flowers of our tree, are distractions or obstacles to be dealt with. (Think “Cloud Hands”)
Hidden Meaning in Movement Names
by
Jonty Kershaw
www.brokencircle.org
Introduction
There is a lot of lost information in the world of the martial arts. Those of us who study it face the prospect of having to gather as much knowledge as we can from the meager sources available and sift through it, trying to find the secrets that even our own teachers might never have learned. This article is intended to help the searchers in their search.
One area that should be explored is the meanings of movement names. There is a rich hidden language here that can hint at or even fully explain the intention of the movements.
I have divided this article into three sections, based on the sources of the names. They are:
Proverbs and Sayings
Animal Styles
Internal Medicine
These naming conventions are specifically for the “Daoist Martial Arts” family. Other traditions such as Shàolín have their own naming secrets. I hope this article will inspire you to look a little more deeply in all of them.
Section I:
Daoist Proverbs and Sayings
The Chinese are famous for their proverbs and sayings, and the Daoists are no different. Here are some examples of movements named after Daoist sayings.
调花接干
Diào Huā Diē Gān
“Move Aside the Flowers to Reach the Trunk”
The Daoists have a number of expressions that refer to the structure of a tree, especially how much more important the trunk and the roots are than the branches and leaves.
This expression refers to brushing aside unnecessary details in order to focus on the truly important core of the issue. In the martial arts, this usually refers to a move that quickly dispenses with the opponent’s defenses to reach the torso.
(This phrase has often been mistranslated as something like “Transfer Flower, Connect to Wood.”)
揽牛尾
Lăn Niú Wĕi
“Grasp the Ox’s Tail”
In Daoist parable, there are stories describing how an experienced herder can steer a massive ox by simply controlling its tail. This is a beautiful example of Dé in action.
Movements with names like “Grasp the Ox’s Tail” or “Move a Thousand Head of Oxen With Only Four Tails” refer to moving your opponent’s entire body using the small joints. (The four tails would be your opponent’s fingers.)
Yáng Lùchán, the founder of Yáng Tàijíquán named his small-joint manipulations sequence 揽雀尾, “Grasp the Sparrow’s Tail,” probably to express how much more difficult the art of yielding is.
Stop the Cart at the Edge of Cliff
There are a number of proverbs and metaphors in China that describe your life as the path of a cart. Phrases such as “Following the path of the overturned cart” describe repeating someone else’s mistake.
Movements with names like these will usually involve changing direction or intention before failing.
Stir Clouds to Pass Through Fog
“Clouds” and “Fog”, like the flowers of our tree, are distractions or obstacles to be dealt with. (Think “Cloud Hands”)
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