Cycles, Evolution

理是功能之本，法是功能之機*

Pattern is the foundation of capacity, method its pivot.

One of the reasons, but not the only one, of the versatility of the internal arts’ theory, is that training has to adapt its principles according to one’s body deep transformation. To do so, apart from the hijacking method already described many times in this blog, characters with more than one meaning or rewording a saying were amongst the means used to achieve multi-layer understandings.

Chinese characters often have more than one meaning, sometimes some of their meanings can even be hard to precisely define. Martial arts language overuses this, allowing more than one interpretation for one saying, or one character, in order to fit the evolving necessities of one’s training. Hence, a lot of sayings in martial arts cannot be translated per se, because finding a wording that would include all the known interpretations and leave open even other ones, is almost impossible in English. Hence, the precise training context in which a saying is used is the key to interpret it. Furthermore, for the purpose of describing the hardly describable in words, some characters were used as metaphors, having even in a less precise meaning, like the infamous 气**, allowing the student to further his/her understanding by searching for even deeper meanings around the same character. Finally, another way to fit the new requirements of a more advanced training is to use the same saying format but change its wording (which is an extension of the possibility to change words in Chinese sayings, 谚语), as the first quote is an example.

To keep it simple, the post will give an example of the use of the different meanings of a character going from straightness to roundness, a theme already developed in this blog, and sayings linked by their phrases frame, introducing some principles behind the internal version of the iron vest, which is to be later developed.   

I. 挺

Let’s take the simple rule to be straight : quite a few practices, while training, describe the need of some parts of the body to be straight, often using the term 挺***. Let’s limit the example to one of them, the back. Translating 背要挺 by “the back has to be straight” is right. A lot of practices, indeed, emphasise on having a straight back. Still, there is a character, 直, which also means straight and normally more used as far as straightness is concerned. So, why internal arts, and some other practices, stress on using 挺 instead?

One of the first reasons is that 挺 for internal practices refers more to the capacity to be erect, hence not only straight but also stiff. Indeed, when practising what used to be called the firm forms, or 刚拳, the need for the back, and even the whole body, to become erect at a certain moment is also relayed by using 挺. Being erect, or stiff, means then to be rigid just for an instant. Hence, in some texts, 挺 is replaced by 停, “to stop, halt, pause” because, indeed, one of the ideas behind the dichotomy between firm forms, 刚拳, and supple ones, 柔拳, is that the former train step by step motion while the latter fluid one. Hence, 团挺, “rolling into a ball then becoming erect” for the firm forms motion, is opposed to 伸缩, “stretching out then drawing back” for the supple form motion. Therefore, while practising firm forms, there is a halt where the back becomes straight and rigid while only the need to be straight remains if one practice supple forms****.

挺 goes even further with its meaning “to stick out” like in 挺胸, “throwing out one’s chest”, which basically in this case means to bulge. Indeed, the rounded back is one of the results of the deep body transformation one is looking for in internal practices. In this sense, 含胸拔背, “containing the chest and pulling out the back” leads to the upper part of the back literally bulging. In a way, instead of throwing out one’s chest, one has to throw out its back.

Apart from finding a character which can express different levels of training, the martial arts language would also change a saying wording in order to link different type of training.

II. 抖震顫為本，拍叩戳為根

“Rouse, shake and shiver are the foundation, pat, knock and poke the roots” is a saying used when training the iron vest in internal arts. It describes an internal process in its first phrase, a certain way to move the body to make it rouse, shake and quiver. Rouse, shake and quiver are still often found in some internal practices as a special training, most of the time with no reference to their link with the iron vest training. The second phrase is about the external part, hitting the body in different ways, and is often known as 拍打功, the slapping and beating skill which represents the iron vest training in most people’s mind*****. Such saying is actually coming from 精氣神為本，手脚眼為根, “essential liquids, vapours and spirit are the foundation; hands, feet and eyes the roots.” When one is starting training, he/she is usually told: “essential liquids, vapours and spirit are the foundation; hands, feet and eyes the roots”. Such sentence stresses on some of the cornerstones of internal training. Vitality is the most important thing and essential liquids, vapours and spirit, training focused on the internal organs and the liquids they produce (to make is simple), how to transform them into vapours and then spirit is what the first part refers to. The second part actually stresses on the fascias by mentioning what is considered as their ends, hence the external training. Furthermore, such saying is the first one of what could be called the foundation and roots series, further on describing the essentials of one specific training.

Therefore, the title of this paragraph defines a more specific way to train once the body has reached a certain transformation. Basically from the three stages described earlier in this blog where one goes from straightness to roundness and finally the locks, there are three new ones following when the student is able to lock his/her whole body, called bamboo, iron and cotton. For each, the wording for what constitute the foundation and what are the roots will be described or, more traditionally, the student is asked what shall be the main characteristics of this new training.

Finally, using the same pattern to describe different principles in training was just another mnemonic tool.

It is important to understand that the examples given are certainly not written in stone, quite the opposite actually. Indeed, one has to always keep in mind that such old practices were an oral teaching, with all its benefits and drawbacks. For this, the examples given just represent an oral transmission amongst many others, which, of course, has evolved through times, oral language being much faster in its changes than written one° and space, which means from a dialect to another°°. Hence, the same principles may have been described and studied with different words and sayings at other times and through a local dialect (sometimes not even Sinitic).

*To be compared with 理是功能之本，法是功能之基, “theory is the essence of capacity, method its foundation.” To be also compared with 練功講究火候 ”Training is particular about the crucial moment.”

**The vast array of possible meanings some notions represented by a single character have indeed fuelled never-ending quarrels amongst Chinese specialists. It has also led, whether from sharing what new research and changing perceptions may have uncovered, or, unfortunately, academic factionalism, trends, the will to establish oneself as an authority, the English-French rivalry during imperialism and so on..., to an impressive number of translations for the same texts. The first chapter of the Dao De Jing, hence, knows at least one hundred translations in English alone... If this often led to heated arguments between specialists, as far as martial arts are concerned, an interpretation is admissible, whether common or original, only if it has, for the least, a concrete impact in one’s training.

***Nowadays the word 挺直 may be more used.

****Traditionally both supple and firm are trained in internal practices, being complementary and certainly not exclusive from each other. Sometimes, instead of separating them into distinct forms, they may be mixed in the same routine containing both supple moves and firm ones.

*****The slapping and beating skill is also a known health practice in China with numerous books written about it. Two of its main aims are to reinforce fascia elasticity and to reactivate the flow of vapours. 痛则不通，通则不痛, “aching then (not un)obstructed, unobstructed then not aching” is one of the principles surrounding such health practice.

°This is obvious for anyone old enough to experience the new words invented and old words put aside as generations go by. For the sake of giving an example, the character 處 (sue3) in Hong Kong Cantonese, meaning “place, point” and used to form numerous words such a where, everywhere, here, there..., still quite used in the sixties and seventies has been almost totally replaced by 度 (dou6) at the turn of the century, if not even earlier.

°°Not to mention again that some styles may have more than one name due to their close but different pronunciation between Mandarin and a local dialect, sometimes the meaning of transliterated names of routines in English can only be found if one goes back to the dialect of the province it was coming from.