Writing And Chaos

一層功，一層理

A  level of skill, a level of theory

沉肩墜肘

浮肩昂肘

Sinking shoulders and dropping elbows.

Floating shoulders and soaring elbows.

以氣為主，以力當先

以氣為主，以理當先

Vapours direct, strength must come first.

Vapours direct, theory must come first.

There is a fencing manual, the Sword of Chaos, which embodies the internal arts influenced by the Taoist theory. It has already been quoted in this blog but it may be interesting to develop parts of it as examples of themes often recurrent in internal practices. Still, before doing so, following the last post on the Lady of Yue, one has to further understand what kind of writing is mainly found as far as martial arts are concerned and the issues brought along. 

I. Writing

Putting something in writing defies the purpose of the cornerstone of old practices, a method based on the principle that oral teaching inspires true understanding or 口傳心授 (literally the mouth passes on to the heart teaching). The fact, also, that most martial artists were not literate when not totally illiterate* and that Classical Chinese introduced quite a long period of diglossia did not, of course, give any incentives to stray from the oral method. Hence, until recently, there hasn’t been a lot of writing material as far as martial arts are concerned. Expanding on the traditional sayings and songs put into writing, the boxing manuals, containing more and more information, started to appear during the long process which led to the adoption of vernacular Chinese,白話文, as the main writing system.

1.1 Sayings and Songs

Martial arts more or less poetic sentences are often referred as 諺語, sayings, 口訣, rhymed pithy formula, or 歌訣, rhymed formulas (poems basically). Their main use is to create riddles and oxymorons to be solved. Though vernacular, they still represent, because of the multi-layer riddles and the themes, a special language which may not be understandable by the outsiders (hence sometimes the confusion with a more literary Chinese) and it is often their more polite version one finds put into writing**. Sayings and pithy formulas tend to limit themselves to one principle while songs may describe a whole style characteristics.

It is also interesting to notice that some styles had a song/poem for each of their forms, each posture having a name. There were at least two main reasons for it. The first was to describe what the posture represents in terms of principles or mental training like 霸王舉鼎, the Hegemon King holds up the cauldron. 

The Hegemon King 

Holds Up The Cauldron

The second was to check out one’s breathing. Indeed, able to speak aloud the name of each posture while executing the form is a great means to check if one is out of breath.

1.2 Boxing Manuals

Boxing manuals started to appear, for most of them, at the end of the Ming and the beginning of the Qing Dynasties, when vernacular Chinese was more and more used in writing. They have evolved, with time, from presenting a style main principles to more describing forms and fighting techniques using a more and more direct and less cryptic language. Their evolution has, of course, been greatly influenced by the loss of purpose of old martial arts as they started to be confronted to modern weaponry, firearms, and their slow reconversion into leisurely or for civilian practices.

Bringing writing in an essentially oral teaching method was not, of course, without issues.

II. Genuine Or Evolving?

With an ever-evolving oral tradition, whether influenced by the numerous dialects or the natural evolution of languages through times, the question of the authenticity of any such writing before modern times, or the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, can be seriously questioned. Furthermore, by setting in stone some principles through writing, the capacity to change those according to one’s level in his/her practice has been seriously hindered.

2.1 Genuine

The lack of original documentation that comes with the oral tradition makes it very hard to actually have any precise idea where and when some sayings and poems, even some of the boxing manuals, are coming from. Furthermore, disinformation, political and cultural agendas, self-promotion and so on, have definitely brought their share of forgery, fabricated and fictitious claims and texts. It is, indeed, very hard for anybody studying old martial art texts to settle on the genuine nature of them or part of them. Still, the issue may not be as problematic as it looks as far as training is concerned.

A lot of practices refer to legendary people as their founder in China, which obviously cannot be taken seriously. Stories of known masters often do not fit historical facts. But, as far as training is concerned, does it make any difference whether a style comes from an emperor or a beggar?

More troublesome, especially with the improvement of the flow of information, is the mixing of principles from other styles for the fear of looking less interesting or, even more, the faking of an old manual. Hence, unless having an original coming from a reliable source, it may be quite hard in some cases to decide whether a text is genuine or not. Still, in training, martists have the means to solve such issue. Indeed, what is important for one’s training is actually not whether what is handed down to them, orally or in writing, is genuine, but whether it is useful in their training at the particular time it is given***. Furthermore, hijacking, one of the methods used by martists, actually gives a lot of leeway, what matters again is not whether the principle is genuine or not, but whether it is of use. If zoomorphism is, of course, one of the best-known hijacking methods, it is far from being the only one. Even in zoomorphism, some animals are quite far away from the human body mechanics, like the crane, or even legendary, such as the dragon. Hence, giving meaning means more than the issue of authenticity.

2.2 Setting In Stone

Two examples can be used to illustrate how writing hinders the evolutive nature of principles in training.

a. Sinking Shoulder, Dropping Elbows

This sentence has become a mantra for internal practices. God forbids one shall go astray from it! Those who do so have to explain themselves in length to justify their cardinal sin. And the main reason is that it has been put in writing by some and extensively copied by others. Still, limiting oneself to such principle actually contradicts the internal method on, at least, these points:

• Sinking shoulders and dropping elbows is actually describing the result of a correct relaxation of the upper part of the body, hence not something to do but something which comes naturally as an effect of relaxation.
• Such principle belongs what was called “entering doors”, the initiation phase. Practically, they were used as a way to teach how to go from muscle contraction, where the shoulders cannot sink and elbows cannot drop, to relaxation where they can.
• The voiding method described earlier makes it that one will have to go through opposite principles for a while. It is basically a way to avoid that the shoulders lose their mobility by being always forced to stay down.
• The Feminine and Masculine theory leads to using, when the time is ripe, opposite principles in order to balance the body (pretty much the same idea as the previous point). Indeed, when one is practising the locks, the pressure to keep the shoulders totally locked down is such that one’s upper body may become stiff with time, even if relaxed. Training postures or techniques applying the opposite principles is a way to balance the upper body.
• Sinking shoulders and dropping elbows while straightening up the neck trains the upper cross close to the base of the neck by pulling the fascias horizontally with the arms and vertically with the neck. On the other hand, floating shoulders and soaring elbows while doing the rounded crotch, like in “Wei Tuo Presents the Pestle III”, trains the lower cross around the pelvis by pulling the fascias vertically through the arms and horizontally through the hips.

Wei Tuo Presents the Pestle III

• In the method where one goes from straightness to roundness and finally to the locks, straightness, once the upper body has learned to be totally relaxed, actually follows the principle of floating shoulders and soaring elbows in order to be able to stretch even further the arms and the chest. In other words, when training “Wei Tuo Presents the Pestle II” one firstly learns to relax the upper body until the shoulders naturally sink and the elbows also naturally drop. Once reached, then one will have to make them very slightly float and soar in order to stretch even further.

Wei Tuo Presents the Pestle II

• Finally, the “spreading strength from the back” or the whipping techniques trained in many styles often follow the rule of floating shoulders and soaring elbows when hitting, sinking shoulders and dropping elbows when bringing the hands back.

But, one day, the basic principle of sinking shoulders and dropping elbows was put into writing and, with time, it has become a mantra, almost a religious rule one shall strictly observe.

b. Theory or Strength

Take two close formulas: vapours direct, strength must come first and vapours direct, theory must come first. These sentences are so close that people tend to separate them into the eternal right/wrong classification. From writing setting in stone some principles and hindering changes, the trend goes further on by imposing some and rejecting others, restraining even more the freedom which allowed old practices to pursue multiple avenues of research. As forms are more and more standardised, principles also become a set of very rigid rules to apply to the masses at any time. This is very far away from the “time is ripe” method.

Those two formulas actually represent two different things, the last is a style general approach while the first a specific method.

The external comes first principle has already been developed in this blog.  “Vapours direct, strength must come first” speaks of power, which is made of strength, the fascias, and vitality, the organs and the vapours they produce. 內氣為君，外形為臣, "Internal vapours are the monarch, external shape the minister", is another formula connected to such principle.

The second formula is, on the other hand, very similar to 一理二氣，理者為君，氣者為臣, first theory, second vapours, theory is the monarch, vapours are the minister****. “Vapours direct, theory must come first” is a kind of provocative statement for a style. Indeed, who cares about vapours and theory when the aim is to fight? Still, it follows the idea of internal practices that understanding further body mechanics and vitality will improve greatly one’s skills as far as fighting is concerned.

Therefore, these two statements, though very close, deal with totally different themes and should not be exclusive of one another, there is no right or wrong, just what’s opportune or not.

Writing, though probably an interesting way to keep a very interesting part of the Chinese culture, has unfortunately accelerated the depletion of martial arts started as they lost their purpose when firearms appeared. It remains interesting to study some of them for they have kept some of the themes and understandings of martial training and are sometimes quite good mnemonic tools. The Sword of Chaos may be one of them, and parts of it will be introduced in further posts.

*難容：武人村夫學書語. "Intolerable: those warriors and countryman who study the language of books", 義山雜纂, 李商隱, Yishan’s Medley, Li Shangwen.

**The more vulgar version of the first quote is actually 見什麼人，穿什麼褲衩兒 “Meeting a type of person, wearing a type of underpants”. Then one had to guess, what it meant not only for fighting but for training as well. In other words, one had to answer another sentence, 見, to meet, becoming 練, to train, 人, person, becoming 拳, fist, and so on... The oral transmission allows the use of quite foul, if not offensive, speech. This is meant as a way to shake the student, hence making an even stronger point. It is obvious that writing cannot have such a useful means of transmission.

***功到取成 is another martial saying around the idea of fetching only when time is ripe (not to be confused with 功到自然成, constant effort yields sure success). As far as teaching is concerned, it points out the need to say the right thing at the right time. This is also what makes writing inappropriate, giving useless clues to students because they haven’t reached a sufficient body transformation to be able to understand and execute. On the opposite side, masters, as a way to refuse to give further information, often give the image of those stones which, though immersed in rivers, keep their heart totally dry.
****This sentence is actually also a good example of how sayings in Chinese martial arts have more than just one understanding. To stress out that theory ("A set of principles on which the practice of an activity is based") comes first, one can translate 一理二氣，理者為君，氣者為臣 as such. Still, another interpretation could take into account the meaning of 理 as structure, texture, that one can also find in Chinese medicine (such as 肉理, 腠理 or 湊理, for skin, flesh and internal organs texture or veins). Such meaning is important in dealing with fascia training. The, then, 一理二氣，理者為君，氣者為臣, "First structure, second vapours, structure is the monarch, vapours are the minister" would become an oxymoron with 內氣為君，外形為臣, "Internal vapours are the monarch, external shape the minister". This would constitute a trio linking posture through 外形, fascias through 理 and internal organs through 氣. Furthermore, the opposition between 理 and 力 in the two sentences of the third quote could be seen of a hint of a more external based training for 力 and internal for 理. This is quite similar to the 術 taken in his "technique" meaning for external styles but as "art" (seen in the capacity to change) for internal ones.