External Comes First

又有三步睡功夫。一曰仰臥，兩腿直，十足指回勾腰控，存想湧泉，雙手搭扣撐住；二曰左偏臥，頭枕左足尖，左手搬左足跟，右換如之；三曰伏臥，雙手抱頭，足跟朝天，十足指尖用力向地，存想泥丸。隨便臥時，頭腰腿要三直*

There are also the three "lying down" skills. First, the one on the back, legs straight, the ten toes hooking through the waist, keeping in mind the Gushing Spring (涌泉, acupoint located in the middle of the foot), the hands locked together to support; second, on the left side, the head lying on the extremity of the left foot, the left hand pulling the left heel, then doing exactly the same on the right side; third, on the stomach, two hands holding the head, the feet arch pointing towards the sky and the ten toes vigorously pointing towards the ground, keeping in mind the Mud Pellet (Upper Cinnabar Field also called sometimes the Third Eye). However one is lying, head, waist and legs have to be kept straight.

External Comes First is also a classic example of the oversight of heavy stretching as first training, because the reasons behind it are forgotten, it is a too strenuous exercise and it usually used to take only a couple of months since the students were normally teenagers.

Transforming First the Body

三年樁，兩年拳

Three years of postures, two years of boxing

百折連腰盡無骨*

A hundred twists linking the waist, a boneless utmost

練形者，又名曰展筋脫骨**
Who trains the shape, also called spreading out the fascias and bones coming off

Different athletes have different bodies. From a weightlifter to marathon runner, because the physical abilities required and the motion imposed are very different, the type of bodies are very distinct. Even for Martists, sometimes one can recognise who is practicing what just by looking at their bodies and how they move.

Train, Refine, Temper

練形術

Art of training the body

煉石補天

Refine the stone to repair the innate

千錘百鍊

After hard work and numerous revisions

練, 煉 and 鍊, are all pronounced liàn. They are all made of 柬, to select, but written with different radicals*. They all can be used as to describe one's training. Even if they seem interchangeable, those three characters actually refer to different parts of training in internal arts.

Foggy Heart

心靜气動

A still heart for moving vapours

二振气，三安和

Second rouse vapours, third calm and at peace*

The two main pillars of internal arts are the heart and the Qi, emotions and vitality. If one was to describe a high internal level, even though martial arts have little to do with meditation, it would be through two lotus postures. The first one would be a Martist at noon in the middle of a very hot summer in a very stuffy room.

Roots

法是功能之基

Method is the base of capability

Most of the Martists come to the practice for the wrong reasons, often attracted by their supposed past glory (after all, nobody was there). If one's aim is to become a warrior, only the army, the police or affiliated can offer the right environment, certainly not practices that cannot be used because the technology has rendered them obsolete and/or legislation illegal.

Ego

十個盤坐九個瘋

Ten sitting in the lotus posture, nine insane

滿則損，謙受益

The full can only deplete, humility is beneficial

Ego is a notion which is meant pop out at a time or another in one's training. It is often seen as a, if not bad, at least something that one should rein in or reduce. Among their many claims, martial arts are supposed to train one's ego.

Health

然而練筋易而練膜難，練膜難而煉氣更難也

However, it is easy to train the tendons but harder to train the membranes; and as hard as it is to train them, it is still harder to train vapours*

If you are to meet two sharpshooters and one comes with a weapon that seems a bit shady and especially not well taken care of while the other person with a perfectly maintained one, you may not know who shoots best but you will definitively know who is the professional. In the old days, the body was an essential machine for a Martist, it had to be kept fit and in perfect health.

气 Where is my Bowl of Rice?

練劍莫先於煉气*

Training the sword cannot be done without first refining the Qi

"Listen, swordmanship is the discipline and training of the Great Vitality. So you begin this study by training the ch'i by means of technique. After your beginning studies, you will discipline your ch'i, but move away from technique; yet, there should be no point where you try your hand vacantly. You should become mature in your discipline of ch'i, and master the mind"**

气 is a notion very particular to the Chinese culture, not only a polysemous word, but also a riddle to solve in the old practices. That makes it a complex and hard notion to deal with. But since it is, in most cases, an integral part of Chinese martial arts, leaving out this notion would be like wanting to make wine in France without taking into consideration the "terroir".

武術 War for Peace

故善攻者，敵不知其所守；善守者，敵不知其所攻*
That is why when one is skillful in attack, his opponent does not know where to defend; one is skillful in defence, his opponent does not know where to attack.

There are many names to describe martial arts 武(舞)技, 武道, 武功, 國術, 功夫... From nationalist pride to some special aspects of the training, they express different views. Still 武術 seems to be the most common denomination, and looking at its meaning beyond the simple "martial arts" translation is interesting because its shows the evolution, the misunderstandings and the ability for some schools to play with Chinese characters beyond their usual meaning.