Brainless

讀書要講，種地要耪，練拳要想

Studying needs explaining, tilling land weeding, training boxing pondering.

Ninety per cent training for ten per cent thinking when starting, the opposite when very advanced.

Short Length

打拳要长，发劲要短

Long when practising boxing, short when sending out power

This issue has been extensively described in this blog in Training vs Fighting

Bending the Bow

未学功夫，先学跌打

Before studying skills one shall study acrobatics

百折連腰盡無骨*

A hundred twists linking the waist, a boneless utmost

These two quotes are a perfect example of what kind of suppleness was required in the old days for Martists. Basically, one had to push flexibility to its utmost limits. Therefore, a great part of the basic training was extreme flexibility. Still, it was not the only basic training for internal arts, the other one was posture, learning a correct alignment. In a sense, those two trainings were not only made to complement each other but also as antidotes. Indeed, for the least, correct alignment locks the body in certain angles, restraining its movements and therefore diminishing its flexibility while extreme flexibility puts the body in detrimental angles which may, in term, lead to injuries.

Heaven and Earth

頭頂青天，脚抓地；懷抱嬰兒，手托腮

The head carries the blue sky, the feet grip the earth; hugging a child, resting the chin in the hands*

Stretching the fascia lines from top to bottom.

Firmly Elastic

魄門亦為五藏使*

The Mortal Soul Gate is also of use for the five organs  

下收穀道，上提玉樓**

Down holding the Grain Path, up lifting the Jade House

As it has been already mentioned many times in this blog, adapting professional training made for physically and mentally strong teenagers to leisurely adults raises a lot of issues. It is interesting to notice that one of the first issues is actually the basic training for any style focusing on fascia elasticity: flexibility. As it was mentioned in the posts concerning such elasticity, flexibility for those old practices is not meant to acquire acrobatic skills, even when the results seem quite similar. Indeed, as acrobatic postures may look, they still have to follow a set of rules concerning body alignment, like tucking in the butt for example.

A Fleeting Light

彷彿若光，影逐形追

Seemingly as if a light, shadows one by one chasing shapes

追 chase (or run) after; pursue

形 form; shape

逐 pursue; chase; one by one

影 shadow; reflection; vague impression

光 light; ray; brightness; naked; nothing left

若 as if, like

彿 seemingly

彷 seemingly,: resembling

When trying to expand the meaning of the quote, the first thing that strikes the reader is that maybe the second part is written in the wrong order*. Hence, the whole quote has been reversed in the present post. Since this text is relatively old, a lot of what seems to be part historically part of Chinese culture may actually not be relevant.

Hitting a Wall

打人千萬，不如一紥

Countless hits cannot compare to one prick

Sharp beats blunt.

Right Intensity, Right Time

練功講究火候

Training is particular about the crucial moment

一日練一日功，一日不練百日空

A day spoil for a day training, a hundred empty days for a day without training

If there is an old method definitively lost in modern times, it is the idea of a crucial moment in training, basically having to do the right effort at the right moment. Indeed, modern training not practised on a 24/7 basis and not focusing on deeply transforming one’s body, such method has become obsolete. The timing issue is very similar to forging a sword, when and how are crucial, hence the use of 煉 instead of 練 in some texts regarding training.

And There Was Light

追形逐影，光若彿彷

Chasing after shapes and pursuing shadows, a light as if resembling seemingly

追 chase (or run) after; pursue

形 form; shape

逐 pursue; chase; one by one

影 shadow; reflection; vague impression

光 light; ray; brightness; naked; nothing left

若 as if, like

彿 seemingly

彷 seemingly,: resembling

Definitely one of its hardest to understand statements, the second part meaning being obscure for the least. A first understanding coming to mind is, of course, the necessity to be fast. But the text is also about method, how to address the search of knowledge. Indeed one shall first find answers in the shape, then understand what is more and more hidden or obscure to finally reach real knowledge or Enlightenment.