li jiong
07-18-2001, 12:28 PM
http://ssw.myrice.com/fenghuang.gif
Yiquan Full-Grown
My Sentiments on Reading Mr. Han Jingyu's,
Further Discussions on The Cognition of The Yiquan Cognition Method
By Li Jiong
(Edited by Bertram Chock)
Mr. Han's article, Further Discussions on The Cognition of The Yiquan Cognition Method, has already been translated into English for several months now and although I translated it, I still feel that I haven't caught all of its essence. However, I do have an apperception of it that I will discuss here to share with other fanciers of Yiquan.
I. The Theory is Now Mature and Harmonious
From ancient times to now, there has been no end of people with lofty ideals seeking diligently for truth within the martial arts. Some even didn't hesitate to give their lives to it and many of them achieved a very high level, finding something in different degrees which they could leave as valuable culture legacies to humankind. But all the while, there never came into being a systemic and unitive cognition of the all-pervading law. Each persisted toward a different end and came forth with many crossroads so that in modern times, our martial arts eventually became a standing joke to non-Chinese. Its international fame was inferior to karate, judo and taekwondo etc., to say nothing of Western boxing. Mr. Wang Xiangzhai felt keenly about this point, and so made a conscious and highly effective exploration on this side, syncretized the strongpoints of all kinds of martial arts schools, summed up the all-pervading law, and thereby, founded Yiquan which shook up the Chinese martial arts society. But because there was a lack in the method of cognition, he hadn't clearly differentiated between the intellectual approach and the intuitive approach, and in the end, he couldn't clear up contradiction in he theory to achieve its full maturity and harmony. Because of this, Mr. Xiangzhai called himself "old contradiction man" in his later years. He had a plaint: "It is a shame that I am clumsy and find it difficult to reach the peak of perfection; I expect my students to continue researching to succeed [where I haven’t]." thereby pinning his hopes on later generations. He also expressed that the martial art he founded dare not bear the name of "Dacheng” (complete consummation) and returned to using the
older name, "Yiquan."
Based on the efforts of two generations of Yiquan practitioners, again through unremitting exploration for decades, Mr. Han Jingyu gained a breakthrough on the cognition method at long last. Digesting the two ways of intellect and intuition, furthermore, he points out that one must clear up the contradiction of cognition in action via the vital transcendental wisdom, and accordingly, achieve final maturity and harmony in the theory. At the same time, one can better grasp its value and in fact, it is also the all-pervading law of humankind's cognition too. Being led by consciousness, one can burst both into the ways of intellect and intuition. The intuitive way is to all-around grasp the world including oneself all the time. The subjective and the objective are syncretized; it is a cognition way of flinging oneself into the reality, However, the intellectual way is an approximate way of seeking reality, namely, it is said that by means of the intellect, one can forever approach reality, but one will never achieve this reality. This is because it is a way of understanding by reflecting mirroring phenomena and then abstractly contacting it, thus it cannot help but lose a part of the full reality.
The evolving path of the intellect improved humankind's ability of expression greatly. It made exchanging and accumulating knowledge and thoughts become a possibility. But the intellectual way also has its limitations, due to its abstract distortions and stillness of symbolism. It differs with this always metabolic
changing world all along, just as Mr. Han's article said, "So if talking about intellectual cognition, all must still accept inspection of the objective actual world after all." If we persist in thinking that intellectual cognition is the last fixed truth,
instead of validating and developing it continuously in practice, on the contrary, it will become the shackle of our lives and we will cut our own throats.
Mr. Han's article advanced the cognition of martial arts science greatly. Of course, one's life practice is forever unending, and to practise the martial arts, we still need to train hard by ourselves.
II. It is a Simple and Shortcut Method
Guided by the right method of cognition, Mr. Han produced this simple and shortcut training method. It is as if he has built an expressway for us and this road uses "feeling" as the yardstick and the direction. It is divided into: 1, feeling relaxation; 2, feeling tension; 3, feeling relaxation and tension change each other; 4, feel the body relaxed and the mind tensed (cathexis), 5, to verify what you learned in tuishou, shizuo and health dance, these five stages. Each stage again emphasizes the four steps of: "Producing a feeling with a fixed method, giving up the method after getting the feeling, letting the feeling follow into everything, and personal feeling leads to complete awareness." In this way, the teacher needs only to teach the student a few simple actions and can pass on the proper "feeling" to the student, i.e. directly points out a state of movement that is born in the student's body, and allows the student to know this point distinctly by himself. Then the student can be directed by self "feeling" and continue his endeavor going forward on the highroad by himself.
III. It Explains the Fountainhead and Accordant Junction
From ancient times to now, the dissension between different schools has harped on all along. It is an intellectual obstacle in fact. Mr. Han took humankind's need as the cut-in point and put martial arts in the historical river from where they were produced and developed, in order to review them. From zhaoshi (fixed techniques of attack or defense) to taolu (series of skills and tricks, also known as forms or kata in Japanese), then again to neijiaquan (internal martial arts), in the end, all kinds of rivers converge to the sea of martial arts science. And this just corresponds to three stages of humankind's cognition. Thus, by differentiating and explainin "horizontally" two ways and "vertically" three stages (the "horizontal" two ways point to the way of the intellect and the way of intuition; the "vertical" three stages point to the three stages of cognition: know the objective, know yourself, and know the method of understanding), provide us a key to realize all kinds of Kung Fu. All the schools have their proffer to martial arts science at different stages from different points of view. In the end, everybody will consequentially come together to find the common and historical end-result. Just as thousands of rivers, each with its own headstream, some big, some small, some long and some short, in the end will join and become a part of the ocean; these schools will eventually become indistinguishable from one another any more.
All things are moving and changing and never stop; there is no need to seek something as insignificant as a fly. There is no supreme school, even more, there is no boxer that can never fail. If one doesn't follow the truth, however long one's fame and appearance persists, one will fruitlessly harm his own life and block other's progress. I'm afraid he will be unable to find the doorway to penitence in the end. Let us have less dissension between the different schools because of personal feelings, sequentially, centralize our energy to strive for the great future of martial arts science.
IV. A Meaning with Definitude
As for the meaning of Yiquan for mankind, Mr. Wang Xiangzhai always spoke of three points: one for health preservation; one for seeking truth; one for self-defence (combat). The functions of health preservation and self-defence of Yiquan are clear at a glance, and we needn't talk more of it, however, seeking what truth and what is its meaning, Mr. Wang hadn't explained these in detail. We gained the detailed solution in Mr. Han's article: it is humankind's intellectual striving and the end goal of this seeking is self-understanding and self-fulfillment. This seeking makes our spirit become self-sufficient, substantial, and make sense.
Of course, once it forms characters, it is just a step toward reality. Mr. Han also couldn't answer all the questions in one article. All things in the end must be corroborated in life's reality. After practising Yiquan, are you more healthy? Has your body's reaction become more nimble? Has the ability of controlling the areas of your body been strengthened? Have you progressed in push hands, combat and health dance? Has your mood been more happy? Has your spirit been free? Thus, you will clearly know whether your practice is right or wrong.
Making great efforts after three generations, finally, Yiquan has achieved a theory that is mature and harmonious; a shortcut training method that is simple, systematic and scientific, which explains and unites all kinds of martial arts styles; and a meaning with definitude. Yiquan has developed to this point, so we can say it has approached maturity. But as science, nothing other than usage can materialize its value, and the more people practise, the more valuable it is. If one day, all people grasp this sport, all souls are appropriately emplaced, and all bodies are kept away from illness, then at that time, we can call it "Dacheng" (complete consummation) and it will be worthy of the name indeed. Let us try hard together and wish that after this Tao has been around for a thousand years, no one will still stay imprisoned in a birdcage.
Mr. Han's article included so many things and I am not full of ability and insight. It is hard to avoid that my understanding is far from complete. Messieurs, please read it carefully and your gain will exceed mine naturally. I consider nothing but humanity's sacredness, therefore, I offer these foolish ideas and hope to elicit other's better ideas, and look forward to being taught by the wise.
Yiquan Forum (http://pluto.beseen.com/boardroom/w/50768/)
Yiquan Full-Grown
My Sentiments on Reading Mr. Han Jingyu's,
Further Discussions on The Cognition of The Yiquan Cognition Method
By Li Jiong
(Edited by Bertram Chock)
Mr. Han's article, Further Discussions on The Cognition of The Yiquan Cognition Method, has already been translated into English for several months now and although I translated it, I still feel that I haven't caught all of its essence. However, I do have an apperception of it that I will discuss here to share with other fanciers of Yiquan.
I. The Theory is Now Mature and Harmonious
From ancient times to now, there has been no end of people with lofty ideals seeking diligently for truth within the martial arts. Some even didn't hesitate to give their lives to it and many of them achieved a very high level, finding something in different degrees which they could leave as valuable culture legacies to humankind. But all the while, there never came into being a systemic and unitive cognition of the all-pervading law. Each persisted toward a different end and came forth with many crossroads so that in modern times, our martial arts eventually became a standing joke to non-Chinese. Its international fame was inferior to karate, judo and taekwondo etc., to say nothing of Western boxing. Mr. Wang Xiangzhai felt keenly about this point, and so made a conscious and highly effective exploration on this side, syncretized the strongpoints of all kinds of martial arts schools, summed up the all-pervading law, and thereby, founded Yiquan which shook up the Chinese martial arts society. But because there was a lack in the method of cognition, he hadn't clearly differentiated between the intellectual approach and the intuitive approach, and in the end, he couldn't clear up contradiction in he theory to achieve its full maturity and harmony. Because of this, Mr. Xiangzhai called himself "old contradiction man" in his later years. He had a plaint: "It is a shame that I am clumsy and find it difficult to reach the peak of perfection; I expect my students to continue researching to succeed [where I haven’t]." thereby pinning his hopes on later generations. He also expressed that the martial art he founded dare not bear the name of "Dacheng” (complete consummation) and returned to using the
older name, "Yiquan."
Based on the efforts of two generations of Yiquan practitioners, again through unremitting exploration for decades, Mr. Han Jingyu gained a breakthrough on the cognition method at long last. Digesting the two ways of intellect and intuition, furthermore, he points out that one must clear up the contradiction of cognition in action via the vital transcendental wisdom, and accordingly, achieve final maturity and harmony in the theory. At the same time, one can better grasp its value and in fact, it is also the all-pervading law of humankind's cognition too. Being led by consciousness, one can burst both into the ways of intellect and intuition. The intuitive way is to all-around grasp the world including oneself all the time. The subjective and the objective are syncretized; it is a cognition way of flinging oneself into the reality, However, the intellectual way is an approximate way of seeking reality, namely, it is said that by means of the intellect, one can forever approach reality, but one will never achieve this reality. This is because it is a way of understanding by reflecting mirroring phenomena and then abstractly contacting it, thus it cannot help but lose a part of the full reality.
The evolving path of the intellect improved humankind's ability of expression greatly. It made exchanging and accumulating knowledge and thoughts become a possibility. But the intellectual way also has its limitations, due to its abstract distortions and stillness of symbolism. It differs with this always metabolic
changing world all along, just as Mr. Han's article said, "So if talking about intellectual cognition, all must still accept inspection of the objective actual world after all." If we persist in thinking that intellectual cognition is the last fixed truth,
instead of validating and developing it continuously in practice, on the contrary, it will become the shackle of our lives and we will cut our own throats.
Mr. Han's article advanced the cognition of martial arts science greatly. Of course, one's life practice is forever unending, and to practise the martial arts, we still need to train hard by ourselves.
II. It is a Simple and Shortcut Method
Guided by the right method of cognition, Mr. Han produced this simple and shortcut training method. It is as if he has built an expressway for us and this road uses "feeling" as the yardstick and the direction. It is divided into: 1, feeling relaxation; 2, feeling tension; 3, feeling relaxation and tension change each other; 4, feel the body relaxed and the mind tensed (cathexis), 5, to verify what you learned in tuishou, shizuo and health dance, these five stages. Each stage again emphasizes the four steps of: "Producing a feeling with a fixed method, giving up the method after getting the feeling, letting the feeling follow into everything, and personal feeling leads to complete awareness." In this way, the teacher needs only to teach the student a few simple actions and can pass on the proper "feeling" to the student, i.e. directly points out a state of movement that is born in the student's body, and allows the student to know this point distinctly by himself. Then the student can be directed by self "feeling" and continue his endeavor going forward on the highroad by himself.
III. It Explains the Fountainhead and Accordant Junction
From ancient times to now, the dissension between different schools has harped on all along. It is an intellectual obstacle in fact. Mr. Han took humankind's need as the cut-in point and put martial arts in the historical river from where they were produced and developed, in order to review them. From zhaoshi (fixed techniques of attack or defense) to taolu (series of skills and tricks, also known as forms or kata in Japanese), then again to neijiaquan (internal martial arts), in the end, all kinds of rivers converge to the sea of martial arts science. And this just corresponds to three stages of humankind's cognition. Thus, by differentiating and explainin "horizontally" two ways and "vertically" three stages (the "horizontal" two ways point to the way of the intellect and the way of intuition; the "vertical" three stages point to the three stages of cognition: know the objective, know yourself, and know the method of understanding), provide us a key to realize all kinds of Kung Fu. All the schools have their proffer to martial arts science at different stages from different points of view. In the end, everybody will consequentially come together to find the common and historical end-result. Just as thousands of rivers, each with its own headstream, some big, some small, some long and some short, in the end will join and become a part of the ocean; these schools will eventually become indistinguishable from one another any more.
All things are moving and changing and never stop; there is no need to seek something as insignificant as a fly. There is no supreme school, even more, there is no boxer that can never fail. If one doesn't follow the truth, however long one's fame and appearance persists, one will fruitlessly harm his own life and block other's progress. I'm afraid he will be unable to find the doorway to penitence in the end. Let us have less dissension between the different schools because of personal feelings, sequentially, centralize our energy to strive for the great future of martial arts science.
IV. A Meaning with Definitude
As for the meaning of Yiquan for mankind, Mr. Wang Xiangzhai always spoke of three points: one for health preservation; one for seeking truth; one for self-defence (combat). The functions of health preservation and self-defence of Yiquan are clear at a glance, and we needn't talk more of it, however, seeking what truth and what is its meaning, Mr. Wang hadn't explained these in detail. We gained the detailed solution in Mr. Han's article: it is humankind's intellectual striving and the end goal of this seeking is self-understanding and self-fulfillment. This seeking makes our spirit become self-sufficient, substantial, and make sense.
Of course, once it forms characters, it is just a step toward reality. Mr. Han also couldn't answer all the questions in one article. All things in the end must be corroborated in life's reality. After practising Yiquan, are you more healthy? Has your body's reaction become more nimble? Has the ability of controlling the areas of your body been strengthened? Have you progressed in push hands, combat and health dance? Has your mood been more happy? Has your spirit been free? Thus, you will clearly know whether your practice is right or wrong.
Making great efforts after three generations, finally, Yiquan has achieved a theory that is mature and harmonious; a shortcut training method that is simple, systematic and scientific, which explains and unites all kinds of martial arts styles; and a meaning with definitude. Yiquan has developed to this point, so we can say it has approached maturity. But as science, nothing other than usage can materialize its value, and the more people practise, the more valuable it is. If one day, all people grasp this sport, all souls are appropriately emplaced, and all bodies are kept away from illness, then at that time, we can call it "Dacheng" (complete consummation) and it will be worthy of the name indeed. Let us try hard together and wish that after this Tao has been around for a thousand years, no one will still stay imprisoned in a birdcage.
Mr. Han's article included so many things and I am not full of ability and insight. It is hard to avoid that my understanding is far from complete. Messieurs, please read it carefully and your gain will exceed mine naturally. I consider nothing but humanity's sacredness, therefore, I offer these foolish ideas and hope to elicit other's better ideas, and look forward to being taught by the wise.
Yiquan Forum (http://pluto.beseen.com/boardroom/w/50768/)