There isn’t a Chinese martial system today
in which “internal” part couldn’t be found .All CMA today offer not only a way
to increase combat efficiency of the practitioner but also a methods of “internal”
training for health purposes and personal development .Some systems are
completely dedicated to “internal” training disregarding fighting aspects of
the art. These “internal” aspects are explained through traditional Chinese philosophy
and medicine usually using concepts of Taoism , Confucianism and I-Ching . Some
people even use this “internal” part to prove superiority of their arts and
also originality claiming that systems in which “internal” part ( qi gong )
cannot be found are incomplete and not original ones. Using theories borrowed
from Taoist cosmology and I-ching , often making them more complicated and
harder to for understanding certain people are trying to put them self in a position
above all other martial arts practitioners trying to convince others how they
are the only ones who possess some exclusive knowledge and skills .
Is this really true ? Are the systems with “internal”
,”health “ part really more complete and more original?
Let’s see what historical facts have to say
about that.
During Ching dynasty martial arts looked
pretty much different than today . Purpose of martial arts was –fighting,
nothing more and nothing else . Main focus in training was weapon training, empty
hand systems either didn’t exist or they took small part in training , usually
at the very beginning of the training .Complete empty hand systems did not
appear until middle of 19th century when fire arms completely
replaced old weapons . People practiced martial arts during Ching dynasty for
purpose of pursuing a military , security or law enforcement career (have in
mind that law enforcement during Ching dynasty was quite different form today)
. Training was completely dedicated to fighting efficiency and no internal
training was involved in it. Qi gong was not an integral part of martial arts during
the Ching dynasty period, neither was part of martial arts during the rule of
previous dynasties. Vast majority of martial artist were illiterate and they
couldn’t understand today’s theories, neither they could teach someone
something like that. It was not before the very end of the Ching dynasty period
when “qi gong” started to be incorporated into martial systems and that trend
continued and accelerated during republican period. No one practiced martial
arts for health purposes before republican period and that trend was supported
by the government. By the end of Ching’s rule martial arts became popular among
wealthy social class of merchants who led the development of martial systems in
the direction of empty hands techniques and started to incorporate other things
in their training, like qi gong . It is pretty obvious that qi gong and martial
techniques developed separately and for a good reason, while qi gong is dedicated
to perseverance and prolonging life and maintaining good health, martial arts
have completely opposite purpose , destruction of life and health of the
opponent . One thing is also important , some method of training like some “iron
shirt” or similar methods (today wrongly marked as “qi gong” methods ) directly
shortened the practitioners life for decades , goal of this training systems
was purely martial and health of the practitioner was completely disregarded.
We have no evidence, written or any other kind that qi gong was integral part
of martial arts prior the republican era.
“Internal”, “soft”,” Taoist” ,Wudang and “external”, ”hard”, “Buddhist” Shaolin systems.
This classification first time was used (and invented) at Gou Shu academy by
Sun Lu Tang , Li Cun Yi and their close friends in the early 1920’s. Being practitioners
of Ba Gua, Tai Chi and Xing I (main representatives of “internal” styles)
leading people of the Gou Shu academy including Sun Lu Tang and Lu Cu Yi , for
purely marketing purposes separated their arts from all others by declaring them
“wudang internal stylys” while all the rest fell into category of external or
Saholin styles . This classification took deep roots and very soon led to a
constant duels between shaolin and wudang styles which became very serius in
the beginning of 1930”s . Today some people refer to Emei styles as something
between Shaolin and Wudang styles but we can’t find and classification nor
metion of “Emei” styles before cultural revolution in China.
More confusion comes from the fact that
many people use term Qi to describe biomechanical efficiency of “internal”
styles. There is nothing internal in Tai Chi , Ba Gua or any other “internal” style’s combat
techniques . We do not talk about Qi in its original meaning because there is
nothing internal in these techniques, it is simply a specific way of using the
body - skeleton, joints, tendons … There is nothing mystical in that , there
are no “energies” or anything that cannot be explained and measured by physics
, biology , kinesiology . ect. Simply a body used in certain way, joints and skeleton
have to assume specific posture ( alignment) in order to increase power or
eliminate (incoming)force . It is important to note that all martial arts systems
use this kind of biomechanical efficiency to the certain point , some more ,
some less .
It is important to note that "internal" or soft approach is rather new in Chinese martial arts and we can't find completely "internal" , soft systems before middle of the 19th century , despite of many "histories" where creation of many systems is put far back in the past .
It is important to note that "internal" or soft approach is rather new in Chinese martial arts and we can't find completely "internal" , soft systems before middle of the 19th century , despite of many "histories" where creation of many systems is put far back in the past .
Taoism , Confucianism , I-ching , Buddhism are used today to explain martial training , concepts and applications of techniques. It is common believe that martial arts were developed as Buddhist or Taoist arts but as we could see that is not true. Using , mostly Taoist teachings and I ching to describe martial arts are work of one man , Sun Lu Tang , the most influential martial artist of all times. He was not only an excellent practitioner of martial arts but also highly educated which was extremely rare at time. He had a knowledge , will and means to combine his martial experience with classical Chinese philosophy. When Ba Gua practitioners talk of their forms as physical embodiment of I Ching they quoting Sun Lu tang , Same goes for Tai Chi practitioners who say that their art is good for health and aligning their energies with energy of Tao. Same goes for Xing I practitioners who say that 5 forms of their art interact like 5 basic elements of Taoist cosmology . In several books published in the late 1920"s and 1930's , Sun Lu Tang formed modern view on martial arts , especially on Ba Gua , Tai Chi and Xing Yi , arts that he was master of . Before his books were published we can’t anyone who used traditional Chinese philosophy and traditional medicine to describe any martial art.
This is what history has to say about “internal”
and “externa’, Shaolin, Wudang and Emei
, Qi Gong and their relations and connections to martial arts .
Literature :
Literature :
"Chinese
martial arts : From Antiquity to 21st century" Peter A. Lorge
"China's
cultural heritage: the Qing dynasty" Richard.J Smith
"Chinese
history'"
Endymion P. Willkinson
"Warfare in
Chinese History" Hans J. Van de Ven,
"A Military History of China" Robin Higham
& David A. Graff
"Soldiers of
the Dragon: Chinese Armies 1500 BC–1840 AD" C.J.Pe
" Chinese Martial Arts Training
Manuals" Brian Kennedy & Elizabeth Guo
"Chinese boxing Masters and
Methods" Robert W.Smth
"The study of
Xing I boxing"
Sun Lu Tang
"The study of
Tai Chi boxing"
Sun Lu Tang
"The study of
Ba Gua boxing" Sun Lu Tang
"The true
essence boxing" Sun Lu Tang
"A study of
Shaolin and Wudang" Tang Hao
"Secrets of
Sholin boxing" Tang Hao
"The qi fist
classics" Tang Hao
"Taichi boxing
and Neijia boxing: Tang Hao
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