Taijiquan - What ever happened to the 'Supreme Ultimate' martial art?

By Bryn Orr

Tai Chi - Taiji - Qigong - Martial Arts - Tai Chi Articles

Many modern practitioners of Taijiquan could not fight their way out of a paper bag! When was the last time you saw a newspaper report titled "Elderly Taiji practitioner thwarts vicious muggers", never! Why? Because through the course of the twentieth century, Taiji has gone from being the "Grand Ultimate fighting style" to a type of new age health dance. Many people are under the false impression that this is a result of its introduction to the Western world, when in actuality the styles degeneration began in China itself in the early part of this century. Several events (not necessarily listed in chronological order) led to this unfortunate outcome, the first was a meeting held between the patriarchs of the Yang, Woo, Wu and Sun styles of Taiji who decided to conceal the martial meanings of their art from all but their closest students and family members. The second event was the revision of the Yang style by Yang Cheng Fu, grandson of the founder Yang Lu Chan, during which time many of the more vigorous movements were removed from the form to make its health benefits available to the general public. But the final nail in the coffin was the introduction of Chen Man-Ching's version of Yang style Taiji which even further diluted Yang Cheng Fu's already revised form. The result of the popularity of Chen Man Ching's style is these stupid push hands tournaments where the winning strategy is to push your opponent over. Erle Montaigue states explicitly that there are no pushes in Taiji only dim mak strikes (attacks to vulnerable acupuncture points). Anyone who has been involved in a real fight (ie. where the opponent is filled with adrenalin and intent on inflicting serious injury) knows that pushing the guy either further enrages him or even worse, gives him the opening and opportunity to attack you.

The Yang Lu Chan style of Taijiquan differs from modern forms of this art in its obvious use of fajing (explosive movements) and because the original martial meanings of the form are largely intact. Yang Lu Chan himself (also known as Yang Lo Sim) was reputed to be able to kill an opponent with each step, which is a far cry from the "push" of modern Taiji. This ability comes from a combination of extreme technical prowess, qi (internal energy) development gained by many hours of standing qigong practice and an intimate knowledge of dim mak (point striking). For the remainder of this article I wish to discuss the origins, methodology and implications of dim mak, and its relevance to us as Taiji practitioners.

During the development of Chinese medicine and acupuncture in particular, many acupuncture points were discovered and which would harm or kill the patient rather than healing them. These early experiments are the origins of the deadly art of dim mak (also known as Dian Xue or Dian Da). Zhang San Feng (b. 1270) was reputed to be a Daoist mystic and is credited with inventing Taijiquan after his retirement to Wudang mountain. Whilst both of these claims are
controversial topics, what is certain is that Zhang contributed greatly to the development of dim mak during the Song dynasty (960 - 1279 AD.)

Tradition claims that Zhang combined his knowledge of Shaolin external gongfu and Daoist internal gongfu to create the ultimate style of self defence. By experimenting on animals and death-row prisoners, Zhang discovered that when certain points were struck they 'set up' other points, making them even more vulnerable than before. Contained within the original Yang style, which we all practice, is ample evidence of the use of 'set up' points, take the second move of the slow form as an example. In this move our left hand strikes into the cluster of points in the elbow crease (Lu 5, Pc 3, Ht 3) which 'set up' the point St 9 on the neck, which coincidently is the target for the edge of our right palm. The usual result of a moderate strike to this combination of points is loss of consciousness, a hard strike is potentially fatal.

Dim mak was further developed by Ming dynasty Daoist Feng Yiyuan. The book 'The secrets of Wudang boxing" claims that Feng taught Zhang San Feng, however this would appear unlikely as Zhang was probably already dead by the time Feng came on the scene. This book also tells us that there are five main methods for attacking dim mak points, these are: chopping with the side of the palm, thrusting with the fingers, slapping with the palm, hitting with the fist and seizing with the fingers. However Feng's main contribution appears to be the division of the 36 main points into 4 groups of points with similar effects, these are 9 death points, 9 pain points, 9 paralysing points and 9 neurological shutdown points. The use of these 36 points can be found throughout the Yang Lu Chan form and is the main reason that Yang Lu Chan and his family were known as the 'invincible Yangs'.

What can be determined from the above is that far from being a new age health dance, the real Taiji is indeed a 'Supreme Ultimate' system of self defence. Allan has often said that we
cannot do Taiji properly without understanding the martial aspects of this art and Erle Montaigue believes that the health benefits so many seek can only be found through performing the form as it was originally intended. So next time you practice your Taiji spare a thought for the martial applications of the form and the greatness of those who invented them.

Author: Bryn Orr

Article Source:http://members.aardvark.net.au/borr/beiji/






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