Present 42 forms Yang Style Taichi

I have bought a Taiji quan demonstration VCD while I was in China in 1997. I was outstation for 6 months and was dying to learn something. Tai Chi came into my mind after Tai Chi sword. The demonstration was done by a renounced Tai Chi champion from China, Chen Xi Tan. The narrator was the coriographer of the 42 forms modified from the original forms, Li De Yin, who came with a long list of title as Taiji Quan and sword judge for numerous ocassion.

I have not managed to view the VCD until last week. Probably it is luck that I did not do so. As I watched the demonstration, I found Chen's movement to be very smooth and steps very stable. His kick is very high where he uses his hands to touch the tip of the toe ( I always wonder why they have to do that ).

If I watched this many years ago, I might be impressed by their demonstration, not now after my completion of the 108 forms of original Taiji long fist from Wu Tunan. There are around 38 rules governing Taichi. Although the strokes shown were elegant, there are many rules that this demonstration have flunt. Here are a few of them:

(1) The strokes were basic and lack the focus on its internal requirement, such as stretching before the start, the entering of environment, the transfer of force from shoulder to palm, etc;

(2) The laogong does not match with the yongquan, which so far have been a requirement for stability, he can easily be drag off balance;

(3) The steps are huge, giving little tolerance for further moves forward, but probably this is Yang Deng Pu style;

(4) The strokes are strokes and lacks the support of the internal strength, therefore is weak if used for fighting;

There may be more and these are just some that I feel are flaws in the demonstration. Strictly speaking, I fail to see the practical side of this 42 forms. I strongly feel that it cannot at all be used in a duel as it failed many of the 38 clauses required for a strong offence. I seriously question the qualification of the so call judge for Tai Chi ( Li De Yin )to make alteration on Yang Style Taichi.

I have read somewhere on the internet about a comment on the sorry state of Tai Chi, which is reduced to merely for display and simple exercise for old folks. To think that it was once used by the formidable Yang Lu Chan who was invinsible with Tai Chi, he would have turned in his grave seeing what had happened to his creation.

Many Taichi thaught nowaday only remains with its skeleton, there is no flesh or organs attached to it. Many claim that you do not need to know about Qi because once you play Tai Chi, you will find the accumulation of qi. I beg to differ on such views. Prior to officially enrolled into a reputed school and witness what it can achieve, I tried to learn the just the strokes, it got me no where in strengthening my internal structures. Only through proper training that I manage to increase my qi and Tai chi become more enjoyable.

To me, it is now a waste of time in joining anyone in the park in the morning and follow their strokes, it would onlu be a stretching exercise, it would not improves on qi, neither would it be a practical martial arts for self defense. For those who are only teaching the strokes, their action would only lead to further deterioration in Tai Chi.

Baji Quan

This clip is on BaJi Quan. It is different from Tai Chi as it uses powerful strokes. In fact it is the opposite of Tai Chi.

I first chance across this form from a comics book " Gang Quan Er". It glorified the form and made me curious about Baji form. I have not heard about this prior to the comic book.

It turns out that the form did exist. It is not common in the Chinese community but seems to catch the interest of Japanese. From the way the comic book describes it, Japanese seems to hold this form with high regard, of reason I have not yet known.

The Gathering (1964 clip)

Clip 1 Taiwan (1964) 1 of 3



Clip 2 Taiwan (1964) 2 of 3



Clip 3 Taiwan (1964) 3 of 3

I stumble across these three clips on http://www.tube.com. I find it fascinating and worth sharing. The setting was 1964 and there was a gathering of martial arts expert in the scene. Each of them were displaying their skills in martial arts to 2 or 3 gentleman behind the table.

What interest me is what were the purpose of the gathering. The kung fu masters seems to have a lot of respect for the people behind the table. Questions popped into my mind," am I seeing a triad gathering?" "are they having some sort of election in the martial art world?" " are they there for publicity?"

There are too many forms of martial arts displyed and definitely not from the same klan. It is for me an eye opener and I feel that may be, just may be some of these forms has already gone extinct.

Wudang

Wudang has always been known in the Kung Fu novels and movies as one of the main origin of martial arts. Its fame is already at legendary level. However, little is really known about how good they are.

I found it quite facinating when watching this clip. The main body itself was all right, but there are a lot of interesting shots at the start. I kept wondering,"can this be true? It does seems impossible but the shots are evidence of the feat."

I feel that this clip is worth collecting and it is good to share. At least we all know that there is always a higher mountain somewhere.

Blue Mountain - Tranquility

Video 1. An edited clip on Blue Mountain

I did a business trip to Australia for their Gaming Expo 2006 during September this year. My usual practise for business trip was not to mix leisure with business. Most of the time, I would not entertain myself when I go on such trips and would stick to my tight schedule. This has something to do with my integrity.

This time, I kind of broken this rule since I managed to find a little time for myself. I went to visit Blue Mountain. It was quite a long journey, a two hours drive from sydney. The road to Blue Mountain was not very good for driving, not because of its quality, but I get a feeling of narrowness. Probably this is also because the car was quite big.

As I travelled towards my destination during in a spring afternoon, the air outside continued to feel cold. It is not to the level of freezing cold and is quite refreshing. In fact I have not enjoy this since my stay in England.

You would have no idea that you have reached Blue Mountain. When I reach Katoomba, the town situated in Blue Mountain, it looks just like any other town, quiet, few cars, and it is just next to the highway. As I continued to travel inwards, it turned into a residential area. It was only towards the end of the road that the scenary changed. No longer were there buildings, instead I was at the adge of a mountain over seeing a valley.

How should I describe the scene? I have seen the Grand Canyon on TV. What in front of me is exactly like the Grand Canyon, except that it was covered by vegetation. Trees filled the valley floor between the mountains. It is a beautiful sight for nature. It creates a strong strong urge in me to walk down to the valley, if not for the lack of time. The time afterall was 4:30PM, close to sunset, which was the purpose of my trip.

I love the place, and I envy those who choose to stay there. It may be a little inconvenient to get daily supplies, but the environment itself worth the cost. So shall I plan to move to such a tranquil place? May be it is time to do so. It may even extend my life span.

My Tai Chi Qigong demonstration

I was asked by my Tai Chi teacher to demonstrate my Tai Chi Qigong on stage for the Annual Dinner and Dance for Nam Wah Pai. The demonstration includes hitting my Dan Tien with a 2 ich pole, then my back, ribs, throat and forehead with 2 brooms sticks.

I was at first worried with the throat area as I found that it was a little weak. But I managed to go though the process. The video is a clip of my performance ( the third person ).

Faith

I have quite a good life so far. By that I mean that I have never encounter much hardship or face any life threatening situation. There may be some hiccup here and there but so far life have been quite good to me. I have never thought much about future and have been possitive with whatever happen around me.



Fig. 1 My darling Wallace

Yet things change with what happened recently, I am not the one directly affected but it still influence me a great deal. During my wife's labour on my second child Wallace, I saw death in the face. It suddenly strikes me that I cannot take things for granted and there is always a possibility that I might lose something dear to me.

I believe in Buddha and I am a Buddhist. All these while I have thought that it would be easy for me to "let go" since I have learnt much about Buddhism. Yet this event told me that I have not yet met the criteria as a true Buddhist. I am still much attached to this world. What if I lost both my wife and child in the process? Am I strong enough to face reality.

For the moment in the delivery room, I was at a total loss. It was as if my spirit left my body and not knowing what to do. I have accepted Buddhism as my faith when I was 20, yet I did little practising my faith, I depended on my " intelligent" to understand and did little to truly move towards wisdom.This incident seems to be a wakeup call for me. As a human, I am still weak spiritually and I am easily influence by my environment. It is high time for me to re-enter my faith and improve myself.

I just wonder if Wallace ( name of my baby ) is a sign given to me by the Buddhisavas, to tell me that it is time for me to continue my journey into Buddhism. At least I know very well at it is indeed a miracle that both my wide and kid turned out fine from the incident. What happened in the labour room has very high chance of meeting death and even if the persons survived, there would be permanant damages, yet this did not happen on my wife and so far my child has not shown any symptom of defect. My prayer is answered and it is time I fulfill my part of the bargain.