Scholar Boxer Translate by Marnix Wells

[JamesC]

Here (http://www.plumpub.com/sales/thoughts/bkthgts_changnaizhou.htm)

Just wondering if any of you guys have read it. I'm looking to get it if it's a good read.

[Three Harmonies]

I saw it at the bookstore and did not get it. Does not look that good, but I am not a Taiji freak either, so maybe it was over my head.
Jake :)

[JamesC]

Same here. I saw it at Hastings. I do like to read on the Internal martial arts, but I don't want to buy something that isn't accurate.

[Rockwood]

James C,

Marnix Wells has been living and traveling in Asia since the late 1960's researching Chinese martial arts, history, religion, music and culture. He has an advanced degree in Chinese language studies from Oxford. He is a bowed disciple of Ba Gua master Wang Shu Jin in Taiwan. So if you want to read something by someone who's been in the game for a while, I think you may find Scholar Boxer interesting.

The main text is a translation of an internal martial arts book by Chang Nai Zhou from the 1700's, before Tai Ji Quan's classics were written down. Part of the book is critiquing the Tai Ji writings in comparison to Chang's work, and what sources they both may have had. This is one of the first books to take a solid, realistic look at the writings and practices of the past with scholarship and historical accuracy.

This is not another "what I think about Tai Chee" book, nor is it written as "my teacher said that Zhang San Feng created it on a mountaintop". This is one of the more comprehensive looks at how martial arts were taught, practiced and recorded from an era when few books were in circulation. Martial arts books were banned from publication for a long time and this one was kept in private until the twentieth century.

Chang Nai Zhou's writings combine information about harnessing Qi energy, meridian theory, full contact fighting and weapons combat into one book. I think it's publication is part of a longer term process of westerner's (and Asians) looking deeper into the sources, peeling away the mythology and the assumptions, and starting an honest appraisal of the historical roots of the CMA and what they are realistically trying to achieve.

It's not the be all and end all, but its a crucial part of the puzzle that will be unravelling for a long time to come. It's not really about Tai Ji, much of the information in the book relates to Xing Yi Quan and other internal methods.

In conclusion, I'd say that this book is part of the process that will eventually bring to light what "internal" actually meant in the past, and what it means now. This question is not yet fully answered, and will take more time and investigation. Hopefully people will support this book and more like it will follow. If not, well we can just sit around and brag about how the old masters were invincible.

-Jess O'Brien

[JamesC]

Wow...Thanks for the summary. I'll definitely give it a read then. Thanks a lot.

[Wong Ying Home]

Good book well worth a read and addition to the library

[JamesC]

You guys recommend any other Internal Arts books?

I'm looking to get as much info as possible.

[Three Harmonies]

Save your money and get private lessons with someone who knows what they are doing!
Jake :)

[JamesC]

Who said that I don't have a teacher?

The question was whether or not it is a good read.

[Wong Ying Home]

The Chinese Internal Martial Arts Theory and Practice by Ken delves
ISBN: 0-9722150-0-x

Chinese martial arts training manual by Brian Kennedy and Elizabeth Guo
ISBN 1-55643-557-6

They are in my library and are a good read:)