Saturday 1 August 2020

Sturdy Structure


拳怕少壯
The fist fears the young and robust1



膂力過人
An outstanding backbone strength2

打拳壯筋骨
Training strengthens fascias and bones.

刀越磨越亮,體越練越壯
The more is polished a knife the brighter it is, the more is trained a body the stronger it is.

冬養骨,夏伸筋
Winter to grow bones, summer to extend the fascias




The need to first transform the body, stressing on fascias and bones, which has already been described in length in this blog, is the basis of the external training of internal practices. 

Wednesday 22 July 2020

Strong and Experienced Youth


拳怕少壯, 棍怕老郎

The fist fears the young and vigorous, the stick the old gentleman.



身體力行
A body acts according to physical strengths1.


讀萬卷書不如行萬里路
It's better to walk thousands of miles than to read thousands of books2.




An old martial saying states that experience itself represents half, if not more, of the value of a warrior.

Tuesday 23 June 2020

Worlds Apart


拳怕少壯, 棍怕老郎
The fist fears the young and vigorous, the stick the old gentleman.



若能棍,則各利器之法,從此得矣1
As skilled with the stick, then the method for each sharp weapon is henceforth obtained.

赤手空拳
Unarmed and defenceless (empty hands and empty fists)





The first meaning brought by such a saying is, of course, that boxing and fighting with weapons are actually very different.

Tuesday 16 June 2020

Studying Old Sayings


理是功能之本,法是功能之基
Theory is the essence of capacity, method its foundation

一層功,一層理
A level of mastery, a level of theory




Before starting with the first one, just a few points to be clarified :

Tuesday 9 June 2020

Grinding



難得糊塗
Ignorance is bliss.

字字要咬出汁漿來
Every character must be chewed until its juice is out.



With still no time to do the necessary research and write long posts came the opportunity to experience a method used by old practices described in the second quote.