Tiger Water Boxing and The Spirit of 100 Schools of Thought

Discussion in 'Internal Martial Arts' started by ANGELSGYMSINGH, Jul 26, 2011.

  1. ANGELSGYMSINGH

    ANGELSGYMSINGH Valued Member

    Preface



    Internal boxing is a martial discipline that provides a method of personal growth. The discipline is aimed at cultivating the intellectual, emotional and physical skills of life through martial arts practice. This book is about evolving a personal and advanced expression of this practice from a traditional style of internal boxing called Wu family Taiji Quan. If applied to an aspiring Internal Boxer’s regimen then he/she will have a blueprint curriculum to personally expand upon. This was my path after learning the Ying Jow Pai Association’s version of the Wu “Box” Style Taiji Quan method.

    The Wu Style practitioner who integrates the methods discussed in the chapters will acquire the martial essence, energy and vitality that will increase and not decrease with age. External (macrocosm) and internal (microcosm) awareness is the pivotal ability that reveals the power of Taiji Quan as an internal boxing system. This begins with committing to a process of internal alchemy and physical conditioning that is conducted with equal emphasis. The reader will awaken inner teachers and develop illusively powerful health, strength and stamina.

    Wu Style Taiji Fast Form and Straight Sword Practice by the Lake Video
    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUHMyl4wNMM"]‪Wu Taiji Quan Taolu & Jingluo Posture Application‬‏ - YouTube[/ame]

    Readers will acquire the ability to break breathing into parts that leads energy throughout the body. They will realize the importance of accessing and then surrendering to powerful forces: The void of Emptiness, the Unity of Opposites, the Three Treasures, the Four Variants of Taijitu, the Five Elements of Mental Intention (Xingyi), Six Gates of Grappling, the Seven Stars of Striking, the Eight Cosmic Changes (Bagua), the Nine Hand Cuts (Kuji Kiri) and the Ten Thousand things of Heaven and Earth. Finally with time, they will become the spiritual fulcrum that balances stillness and motion. The martial projection of this gift of wisdom will manifest as harmonies and methods that express externally what is sincerely felt internally. For me this sincere expression is reflected in form and functional movement as Tiger Water Boxing.

    Value regarding the book rests on my ability to convey methods that construct an integrative and advanced internal boxing, training strategy. These strategies will serve as a blueprint that can help traditionally trained internal martial artists teach themselves how to learn advanced internal boxing form and function skills. For Westerners who are not indoor disciples of a lineage transmission of Internal boxing these strategies will be very valuable: Again, they will awaken inner teachers that reveal sincere self-expression.

    The great swordsman Miyamoto Musashi was a great advocate of individual self expression in the martial arts. He stated that, for people of introspection, martial discipline cultivates behavioral wisdom as well as any other. For the practice of internal boxing this includes the study of a spirituality that is reflected in personal morality. Morality is the living expression of spirituality that can be learned through a regimental process. The practice of Taiji as a pugilistic system is directed towards achieving this goal.

    The way of the warrior does not include other Ways, such as Confucianism,
    Buddhism, certain traditions, artistic accomplishments, and/or dancing. But
    even though these are not part of the Way, if you know the Way broadly you will
    see it in everything. Men must polish their particular Way . . . When I apply
    the principle of strategy to the ways of different arts and crafts, I no longer have
    need for a teacher in any domain. (Musashi, Singh, p.18)

    The cultivation of internal boxing skill requires a commitment to developing martial discipline to the point of artistry. Taiji Quan or Pugilistic Taiji, as I practice it, is a singular system of internal boxing born from the philosophy of the prenatal, Taijitu-Bagua-Wuxing Trigram Circle. Arguably, most if not all, internal boxing styles owe their existence to this philosophy. The practice of it fuses the essence of Taiji, Bagua and Xingyi into a singular system of martial art practice. I wish that I could say that this is an original concept. It is not because the significance of Taiji Quan as a martial method is understood as the Supreme Ultimate Fist. The validity of this significance is dependent upon the singular system concept. The methods for becoming an adept of such a system have been secretly transmitted through monastery and family lineages in the modern era. This is especially true in the Eastern transmission of standardized, internal boxing form and function to the West.

    In the 21st Century internal boxing is practiced by millions of people in the West, mostly as a transcendent exercise. It seems to attract people seeking a personal state of harmony and centeredness in an epoch of technological transcendence. If the essence of human transcendence was a benevolent process than the martial aspects of Taiji would not be necessary to embrace. But this is not the case. For this reason the martial elements of Taiji should be an essential part of internal boxing practice. The health and martial aspects allow for a circumspect study of human nature while acquiring the power to harm and heal. While gaining such ability one earns the right to broaden intelligence, to extend ones mortality, or to enhance ones awareness. In other words one gains a wisdom that is linked to ones spiritual growth.

    Push-hands Training for Combat Athletes with Chakra Entrainment Tone Video
    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6t6RDd63S5s"]‪Taiji Quan T'ui Shou: Pushhands Fundamentals for Combat Athletes‬‏ - YouTube[/ame]

    Spiritual growth explores the prudence of balancing technology wisdom and moral responsibility. This technology has and will quickly transcend human intelligence and physicality. However, it may occur without evolving the human ability to find a wisdom that instills an equally powerful, external compassion and internal harmony. Many Taiji and Qigong organizations believe that internal martial arts provide a connective unity that exists on a multicultural level. Can internal martial arts provide a disciplined path towards the balance previously discussed? If so, then its deepest secrets of practicing balancing violence and benevolence must be exhaustedly explored. This position is the moral impetus for writing this book.

    What will it mean for a Westerner to use these methods as a blueprint for learning the three great spiritual goals of sentient beings as taught by the practice of this martial art: Know thyself, be true to that knowledge and treat others as well or better than we treat ourselves? To answer this question one must reveal ones personal experience of surrendering to a grander sentient force: The Wondrous Teacher.

    The key to knowing why I exist was revealed to me through a study of the Sikh mantra describing the Wondrous Teacher or God. Living this mantra translates to me as seeing God in everything and in everyone but not exclusively in anyone. Before the mantra states that this knowledge is revealed through grace it states that God is self-illuminating. This statement is the key to unlocking the puzzle as to why I existed at all: I am a singularly insignificant yet individually precious part of a divine plan. I am part of God’s self illuminating plan to evolve or transcend. When I practice the Internal Boxing the ultimate goal is to surrender all that I am, all that I know about me as a piece of divine substance to the ultimate sentient essence: God.

    Does this mean that when I practice Internal Boxing I am practicing being God? No! It does mean that I am practicing a discipline borne from wisdom greater than my own in the effort to become harmonious with the inner and outer conflicts that produce change. I am compelled to travel this path by nature, with experiences that indicate I am capable of success and through decades of practice I have obtained a significant capacity for growth.

    It is generally accepted by people of duty, capability and capacity that the inner and outer worlds of human beings are intellectually, technologically and philosophically on the verge of growth; moreover, on the verge of change. The great inventor and futurist, Ray Kertzweil, believes that these areas of change will result in a Singularity: A point in the near future when changes in these areas are exponentially convergent and mind, machine and method are irrevocably and inseparably connected. Unfortunately, the down side to this epoch of singularity is that there are very few exponentially facilitating disciplines that transcend our slowly evolving sense of emotional vulnerability and physical limitation.

    Fear and the inability to realize dreams of altruism are resourced from these vulnerabilities and limitations. From Taiji we learn to develop of sense of will or intent to harmonize with the duality of our virtues and vices. From the Quan we learn to study the power our destructive nature. This latter exploration is done in a reflective manner that yields a spiritual maturity. The effort affords us the opportunity to leverage reason over madness and compassion over dominance.

    Morning Internal Pugilistic Session by the Lake Video
    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGXxp759eB8"]‪Elemental Qigong & Taiji: Morning Form Exercises‬‏ - YouTube[/ame]

    A Sage once said that if a significant number of people on the planet practiced a little bit of certain disciplines then Nirvana or Utopia could be achieved: A little bit of Meditation or Prayer, a little bit of Pranayama or Qigong, a little bit of Yoga or Tao Yin and create an integrative exercise reflective of character that could be practiced as a part of ones daily life. If this perspective is to be made valid then it must begin with the individual. Then it must manifest as an idea that will destroy any blockage that prevents the individual from connecting and communicating and empathizing with all the hidden parts of his or herself. Once this happens they will become a light onto themselves but willing and able to accept and merge with the lights of others. The Sage knows that such a event can happen through a disciplined exploration of inner skill and outer application. The key to such a discipline is to help people overcome fear which always originates from a lack of inner and outer awareness.

    The Pugilistic Taiji method called Tiger Water Boxing is a disciplined exploration of inner and outer awareness. This book presents a personal method that can be suited to any basic Internal Martial Art method. The endeavor will not only elevate his/her internal boxing skill but cultivate and refine his/her essence, energy and vitality. It will do so in a way that is reflective of what is essentially insignificant but uniquely special about a human being’s mortal behavior and immortal wisdom. This wisdom is borne from the most precious gift given to human beings, imagination. From this gift dreams may come…


    In my dream a Cougar always scared me into forgetting I was responsible for protecting my loved ones. The dream had been reoccurring but unremembered until I became aware through internal alchemy practiced as an intrical part of my Taiji Quan regimen. The feeling that change and tenacity was more than a passing fancy of mood: It was an essential part of my existence that was more important than the appearance of predictability and compliance. Once I embraced this essence awoke to the mixture of animal and elemental spirits that lie dormant within: The Otter for playful curiosity, Dragon for change, the Lion or Tiger for tenacity and Water for transcendence.

    The playful curiosity of the Otter spirit guided me to the awareness of the other animal spirits slowly. Innately, I feared the responsibility of releasing a full expressing the Dragon, Tiger or Lion because I only understood the yang, the hard or the volatile aspects of these spirits. Finally after accepting the power of loss and submission as the foundation for a loss of essential fear, I found that the fear of expressing either animal spirit was essentially a fear of me. I felt fear of myself as a man and a husband, a father and a teacher, a soldier and a warrior. I was preoccupied with conquest and defeat of myself over others or by others. This preoccupation was difficult to articulate until I was able to still my thoughts and the actions they recorded to memory. Even then they could only be revealed through a inveterate dream that for years was lost to conscious scrutiny.

    After realizing that the dream was a recurring one, I never won more or surrendered more things in my life. After ten years the forms of the Dragon and the Lion spirits came into focus. After ten years they came into focus more tangibly through my body art drawings and intangibly through my martial art actions of internal alchemy. After training many students in the Art of Western Tai Chi Ch’uan I realized that all I was teaching was the spirit of fighting. I soon found out that the spirit of living was a grander view of the potential of internal martial arts. With this realization I knew it was time to pass on the responsibility of Master of Angel’s Gym. I found family and with it a place of reclusion that allowed me to cultivate the higher aspects of my understanding and expression of martial science.

    It was time to overcome my fear of self and through humility submit myself to learning another traditional style of internal boxing. This style would be completely different from my own system which brought me to deciding on studying the Chen Man Ching or Wu style of Taiji Quan. Both were off-shoots of the Yang Style which was the first traditional style that I learned over a decade ago. My personal adaptation of that style to Western martial styles was very close to the philosophy of the Chen style of Taiji Quan. The additional consideration was that now there was more of a need to study and practice the health and alchemy aspects of internal boxing.

    I decided that I would learn the Wu style due to its grappling more than striking emphasis and its seemingly simplistic approach to learning Taiji Quan. After learning the traditional forms and their applications I integrated everything that I had learned prior to learning the Wu Style and found that there were many pedagogical openings to develop a personal regimen that would advance the form a function of this style and fuse it into a singular, pugilistic system of internal boxing. In a sense this would become a spiritual process that would discover the profound wisdom of practicing a martial art that can help an individual cultivate the peerless skills of a Spiritual Warrior. This process of cultivation would come from the integration of differing martial philosophies, methods and expressions. For the spiritual warrior the capacity to integrate is more important than capability demonstrate the purity of traditional dogma. This is in the spirit of One Hundred Schools of Thought.



    The One Hundred Schools of Thought
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundred_Schools_of_Thought

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zlp5E0-fes"]‪Shui Zhang Quan Taolu: Water Palm/Fist Boxing Form (100 Schools of Thought)‬‏ - YouTube[/ame]

    The One Hundred Years of Though event was a feudal China event that brought together all of the great minds and masters of many disciplines to include martial strategy. The event is noteworthy for its intended goal to learn from differing methods and styles of approaching the same goal. Today we are in a epoch that lends itself to the Western and Eastern student’s need to integrate traditional wisdoms with modern situations of evolving combative strategies that present stand-up, clinch, takedown and ground fighting situations as a singular martial system. The West has begun re-mastering the external aspects of Pancration that make this modern martial art system so intimidating. However, the East has the traditional internal aspects of healing and strength that can prevent the practitioners of this circumspect system from sustaining long-term injury. The One Hundred Years of Thought event is the inspiration for the practice of Pugilistic Taiji, which can be applied to basics of any traditional or modern martial system to refine form, cultivate functional skill and maintain health.

    Tiger Water Boxing Qigong: A Practice of Essence Energy and Vitality Video
    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNeP6P6bcYo"]‪Hu Shui Quan Qigong Taolu: The Foundational Form‬‏ - YouTube[/ame]

    I am a practitioner of a Pugilistic Taiji style called Tiger Water Boxing: A Western martial artist’s interpretation of several traditionally Eastern methods of meditative alchemy, martial science strategy, preventive health and pugilistic posture. This means that I am a student of a radical method of scrutinizing the applied theory of traditional, Internal Boxing. By radical I mean from the root of Fu Xi’s pre-natal Taijitu, Bagua and Wujing Trigram is where the traditional Thirteen Methods of the Supreme Ultimate Fist or Great Extremes Boxing is originated. By radical I am obliged to accept that Taiji Quan, as a pugilistic or internal boxing practice, may have 13 expressions of alchemic alignment. Pedagologically, internal boxing has Thirty-Four Principles (Enabling Learning Goals) of doctrine, comprehension, application, analysis, sysnthesis and evaluation which refines internal skill and cultivates external expression. These principles have five terminal learning goals:
    1. One Essential Source – Wuji or the state of stillness is caused by the fusing of opposite forces called Yin and Yang.
    2. Two Diametric Forces – The Taijitu indicates the Separation of Yin and Yang to create the primal energy of dualing forces in motion.
    3. Three Immortal Treasures – internal alchemy refines Wuji Essence into Yin/Yang energy and this energy is cultivated into Spiritual Vitality.
    4. Four Elemental Phases – Spiritual vitality has a dualistic essence of greater and lesser manifestation: Greater Yin/Heaven, Lesser Yin/Water, Greater Yang/Terra, Lesser Yang/Fire.
    5. Five Elemental Movements – Proper movement training is dependent upon understanding that when yin/soft/slow/circular is exhausted then it must become yand/hard/fast/linear.
    6. Six Harmonies of Refinement – Internal and external skills are coordinated through mind over body, intent over mind, energy over intent, spirit over energy, emptiness over spirit.
    7. Six Gates of Grappling – Destroying the root of an opposing force is accomplished by refined grappling methods that allow the uprooting force to remain standing through executing: wardoff/heaven, rollback/terra, press/fire, push/water, splitting-twist/thunder, grasping-pluck/wind
    8. Seven Stars of Striking – Destroying the structure of an opposing force is accomplished by refining striking methods that allow the unstructuring force to remain structurally sound through executing offensive and defensive strokes.
    9. Eight Methods of Cultivation – Meditation, Stillness, Movement, Uprooting and Unstructuring is executed internally to find balanced harmony and executed externally for the purpose of restoring a balanced harmony in accordance with the Ten Thousand Things of Heaven and Earth.

    Introduction to Tiger Water Boxing: Internal Pugilism Video
    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMF08CV0w-0"]‪Tiger Water Boxing (Hu Shui Quan): Internal Pugilism Training‬‏ - YouTube[/ame]

    Tiger Water Boxing is a internal pugilistic method that refines internal skill and cultivates physical expression. This method begins with embracing internal alchemy. Like the depictions Tiger Water boxing is born from discovering my prenatal essence. This began by practicing the alchemic practice of Stirring the Great Cauldron. The Lion or Tiger represents the heart-fire that is sent into the lower-abdomin called the Dan Tiem. The Dragon represents the water changed by the heat of that fire which allows one to become powerful through internal alchemy. In the martial postures one can observe the spirit of the Tiger or Lion. From the transitions between postures one can observe the spirit of the Dragon. From following the spirit of the predatory feline one loses doubt and fear, becoming a relentless and focused aggressor. From following the spirit of the mythical serpent one gains the intangible power of air and the illusive power of water. Both can give and take life.

    This book will give insights and some specific methods on how to find internal harmony, see it reflected in external manifestation and regulate its continued existance. This is the Tao of Martial Art practice. Desiring mastery of self along the path of internal boxing discipline , the dilligent should beware the karmic comsequences of undisciplined thought or action: One wants to ride the spirit of the Tiger and not have that spirit ride him or her. One wants to swim in the power of water and not drown in it.

    Tiger Water Boxing requires a prudence in the execution of internal of external skill. This is the reason for elaborating on the 8 Terminal Learning Goals for five chapters. The Spirit of the Tiger is a restless one, decisive in action and fixated when purposeful. Water always seeks the path most available and when pressured will create a path despite the threat of destruction. These elemental characteristics are examples of elemental phases of greater and lesser yin and yang forces. Learning a personal inner balance will lead to recognizing an existing external harmony of nature. With time and effort a method of maintaining and restoring balance and harmony will be developed.

    The key to developing balance is learning to integrate complimentary wisdoms from differing methods of disciplines that refine and cultivate human beings. This is possible even within the singular discipline of Internal Martial Arts. The spirit of such an approach has Eastern historical precidence. The event called the 100 Years of Thought, occuring during the fuedal period of China is an example of such integrative endeavors. The 100 Years of Thought (Contention) the chu-tzu pai-chia; (literally "all philosophers hundred schools") was a consortium of philosophers from halls of knowledge that flourished from 770 to 221 BC. It was an epoch of great cultural and intellectual expansion in China. The Tiger Water Boxing system honors the spirit of that great event.

    Refinement and Cultivating Sources
    The most influential literary resources for refining internal skill comes from Chen Tuan’s Dream Methods as described by Juan Li. It is also refined through learning the power of Pranayama, Stirring the Great Cauldron, Small Cosmos Circulation and birthing the Immortal Fetus as discussed by S. Siravanda, Kuan Yu Lu, Mantak Chia. The best visual demonstration of the external manifestation of these skills come from John Chang. Understanding the manifestation of the Wuji, the Taijitu, the Three Treasures and the Four Elemental Phases within the microcosm (internally) is made possible through studying these resources.

    Liuhebafa or The Six Internal Harmonies and Eight Internal Methods is a philosophy that is meant to cultivate an internal boxing adept's skills of expression. Historical research indicates that Neigong adepts from Taiji, Bagua and Xingyi all gathered together under Li Dongfong to cultivate their skills in this manner. It is said that they took the best from each style to create an external expression of their refined wisdom gained through Liuhebafa. After learning the standardized Wu Long and Fast Round Forms from the Ying Jow Pai Association (Sifu Don Walth/Grandmaster Lium Shem) I began to cultivate and refine what I learned from practicing Sifu Walth’s traditional teachings. The following wisdom were my guidelines to execute those teachings of form and function.

    Internal Boxing for Combat Athletes Video
    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnCG6FzU9A4"]‪Pugilistic Taiji Quan: Internal Boxing for the Combat Athlete‬‏ - YouTube[/ame]

    Wu Mengxia’s annotations on the Nine Pugilistic Songs of Yang Family Taiji Quan are the best guide for the refinement of movement and grappling/striking cultivation. One should first have a firm understanding of the treatise written by Master’s Chen, Feng, Wang and Li. Without ignoring the effectiveness already found in the original literature one must still have an individual interpretation of these treatises. It is important to learn how to explore the wisdom of these treatises as they are not normally taught to students outside of the inner circle of lineage practitioners. The Ying Jow Pai Association’s Taiji Quan program is no exception to this observation. The following songs are the sources of pugilistic guidance that will be discussed in this book:
    1). The Thirteen Method Training Song
    2). The Thirteen Method Dilligence Song
    3). The Eight Word Method Song
    4). The Empty & Full Song
    5). The Confounding Round Song
    6). The Yin & Yang Song
    7). The Five Character Song
    An internal boxing adept is skilled at integrating the internal and external concepts of these seven songs. This is done through scholarship, practice and application of internal boxing treatise, alchemy and martial sciences that have developed from this Fu Xi’s foundational source. Whether one has learned a Taiji Quan style deriving from a Family or Monastery lineage every student diligently pursue this integration skill in the effort to become peerless boxers. Although the task of learning such skill is arduous the goal is to reach simplicity of execution.

    Simplicity will be result of refinement and cultivation of internal skill and external prowess. Such prowess is capable of harming or healing, destroying or creating the Ten Thousand of Heaven and Earth. Simplicity of form and function, a wisdom earned through the trial and error of sampling and exploring many disciplines, will help one become a capacitor capable of restoring harmony within and without. This book describes the complicated process of integrating internal and external boxing knowledge knowledge into a simply system of execution.
    Tiger Water Boxing Form: A Tiger Den Story Video
    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQ92VAkBwCk"]‪Hu Shui Quan Taolu I: A Tiger Den Story‬‏ - YouTube[/ame]
    Tiger Water Boxing Form and function is a result of simplicity. Chapter One discusses the origins of the general history and science of Pugilistic Taiji Quan. It will also discuss my development through the engaging nature of the art to include the integration of the Vedic and Taoist disciplines. The chapter basically outlines the discussions that will be explored in the book. Chapter Two discusses the specific purpose, alchemy, physiology and martial application of internal skill. Chapter Three discusses the purpose, power and evolution of pugilistic, form training based on the Five Training Goals. This chapter specifically discusses the necessary movements of Large and Small Frame forms as they apply to meditative and combat situations. Where the Large form is meditative in nature the small form is combative in nature. The Combat form execution includes the need to identify, practice or incorporate stationary, linear and circular movements that could be used in realistic situations. In Chapter Four training exercises are discussed and the Songs of pugilism are explored as a guide to discuss the application form in functional, T’ui Shou and San Shou training. Additionally, it suggests methods of harming and healing in an attempt to expose the adept to the awesome responsibility of practicing Tiger Water Boxing.

    The revelation of the animal spirit that comes from the integration of the Nine Training Goals is discussed. Nine is a significant n:umber in mathematics and the cosmological allusion that there is alchemic value in the understanding of the number for adept wishing to increase internal skill.
    Tiger Water Boxing Form: The Tiger Den Lineage Video
    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8ldS53xFbc"]‪Hu Qigong & Hu Shui Quan Taolu II: A Tiger Den Lineage‬‏ - YouTube[/ame]
     

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