Cycles, Versatility

一层功，一层理

One level of skills, one level of principles

Old methods teachings are often compared to a spiral, repeating the same training but at a different level, hence the quote. As to demonstrate such method, the present blog has reached a time to start over, review some of the basics of internal practices with a deeper understanding.
This is a prerogative writing a blog can give over a book, writing over and over about the same things in disparate ways, allowing the author to follow an old teaching precept to never go to the point but give different versions of the same issue, the reader in this case (normally the listener in the oral tradition*) having to use his/her wits to find the right answer. In the old days, such answer had to be suitable to the student’s level at the time it was said, time is ripe being an essential tool a blog cannot unfortunately reproduce. Beginning a new cycle, the commencement of a never ending circle, has to start with trying to get a deeper understanding of the method internal arts were following, the oxymoron contained in the first two phrases of this sentence being one example. Internal arts were all about changes, another version of the capacities series revolves around the famous 易, change. Internal practices' theory was very versatile because its aim was not to find eternal truths but just the reality of an instant, a concept actually quite close to surviving as the rightness of what you did doesn’t matter, only the result, being still alive. The second key issue of internal practices, and probably the most forsaken one, is that training would drastically change along with one’s body deep transformation. Finally, it is important to understand that, in martial arts, theory being naturally “a set of principles on which the practice of an activity is based”, it has value only if one can attach a set of exercises, body transformation, combat implication (though traditionally fighting is seen as the reign of chaos, no theory except reaching a void should be followed)**. To avoid too long a post, the present one will deal with the first issue.

Internal arts never blindly follow any set principle for ever because they study change, hence chaos. Still, in chaos there may be a pattern***. To give the necessary leeway, oxymoron and multi-layer sayings, as already mentioned in this blog, were used. Another method was to create non-truths in opposing theory and result or take a statement and explain why it is correct only to, then, tell why it is wrong. 

I. Oxymoron and Multi-Layer

Contradictory statements and sayings with more than one level of understanding are the common lot of the study of old practices. The first and most important reason was already described in Method, self-discovery. Hence, solving an oxymoron or being able to decipher the different meanings and training avenues the same saying could lead to, was a way to promote self-discovery. Traditionally, when a student had a question, he would have to come up by himself with an answer using such tools. He would then ask his master if he/she was following the right path. It is unfortunate but only oral teaching can really fully ripe the fruits of such method, time is ripe, using a particular understanding to fit the level of the student at the time, being crucial.

The best known oxymoron in internal arts, certainly one a cornerstone of training is “without strength is the better strength” or “without strength but with strength”. Such oxymoron is actually also a multi-layer training where the student will find different interpretations as he/she progresses. Telling some of them contradicts the purpose of self-discovery, still it may be necessary from time to time to make a point. Without strength is the better strength may have the following meanings over time and the deeper one’s understanding goes:

• That it is not necessary to use and contract all the muscles.
• That one can find power within relaxation.
• That the tendons/fascias can provide a type of strength outside the muscles.
• That there is a way to have the muscles lax while tensing the fascias, creating an elastic power.
• That power, sometimes, also seems not to come from our visible and physical body, but to our health, being or not in shape.
• That, hence, vitality also plays a role in power.
• That health and vitality are linked with our age and our lifestyle.
• That our organs’ health plays actually a crucial part in one’s vitality
• And so on...

To get to such understanding, a teacher would, of course, tell whenever the time had come other sayings to direct the student to the next step.

Apart from directing the student, the teacher had also tools to see how far his/her understanding was.

II. Non-Truths

The best known non-truth may be the parabola of a farmer who lost his horse. Basically, the story goes on and on and every time something bad happens it has a good outcome (the horse comes back with another one) and reverse (his son breaks his leg trying to tame the new horse). Internal arts use such trick to have the student look further. Indeed, the teacher could tell one of his students: “Indeed you’re aligned, but you lost your connection”, or quite the opposite: “It is not because you are not aligned that you are not connected” (further posts may give the answer to such riddles). Of course, the emphasis on time is ripe remains of utmost importance, said too early in one’s training, a non-truth would lead to the wrong type of training. However one puts it, it remains quite impossible to stray from the oral method of teaching in the old practices, even video cannot replace it.

The second type of non-truths is to make a statement and ask the student to tell why such statement is correct, but also why it is wrong. This goes further and is a way to evaluate how far the student has gone in his understanding, which is how many times he can describe the statement as wrong or correct, but with, of course, a practical application, it’s not just philosophy here. Since the typical example is way too provocative for an open blog, the author has come with his own, much less interesting unfortunately, but one shall give, at least, one example. The sentence is, to keep on introducing a theme which will be developed in further posts: “To be connected, one has to be aligned”. Being able to tell in which ways such statement is, or isn’t, correct, is a good exercise to see how far one’s training has gone as far as the alignment and connection issues are concerned.

If theory and its principles were very versatile, it did not mean that anything, at any time, could be considered. Apart from the time is ripe issue already discussed, one had to strictly follow transformations in one’s body. Change, indeed, followed a certain pattern***, pattern which the student had to finally understand to become independent, being able then to become his/her own master.

*It may be important for the reader to understand that, unless otherwise specified, most of the sayings in this blog come from the oral tradition. If some, over time, became so known they hardly can be altered nowadays, most of the sayings, because of their orality, have, of course, greatly evolved through time and space. Indeed, in a country plagued by illiteracy and enjoying so many different dialects, it seems obvious that from a generation or a language to another, the same principles may have been explained in different ways, not to mention taking in consideration the level of both master and disciple. Hence, in an oral tradition, one can only reflect according to what the present times may give.

**Something quite similar to the distinction between applied sciences and basic science. 

***To describe the idea of pattern, the character 理 could have been used, as its original meaning was describing the veins of a jade, which one would go along in order to dissect it. As it will be explained in further posts, this particular meaning is quite useful when training posture.