I'm taking an interest in learning about other styles and their principles for my own interest (not going to try to learn from a book, don't worry), I'm interested in learning more about Ba Gua Palm and was wondering if there's any reading material I could look at to learn about the style that's of merit?
My personal hero Wang Shu Jin wrote two in his lifetime that have been republished (and there is a DVD to accompany). I have both and recommend them 1) Linekd Palms - [ame="http://www.amazon.ca/Bagua-Linked-Palms-Shujin-Wang/dp/1583942645/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1408450712&sr=1-1"]Bagua Linked Palms: Shujin Wang, Kent Howard, Hsiao-Yen Chen: 9781583942642: Books - Amazon.ca[/ame] 2) Swimming Palms - [ame="http://www.amazon.ca/Bagua-Swimming-Body-Palms-Shujin/dp/1583942459"]Bagua Swimming Body Palms: Shujin Wang, Kent Howard, Chen Hsiao-Yen: 9781583942451: Books - Amazon.ca[/ame]
Furinkazan, Might be easier to start with some videos first particularly ones which have some explanation of body method, strategy, tactics, etc. Should work well as an adjunct to any book on this topic, not sure how much can be gleamed from the written record alone. Here are a few decent channels which have some quality ba gua (+ others) clips with some level of explanation:
These two are a couple of my favourites: [ame="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pa-kua-Chinese-Fitness-Defence-Defense/dp/1583941711/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=undefined&sr=1-2&keywords=robert+smith+pakua"]Pa-kua: Chinese Boxing for Fitness and Self Defence: Chinese Boxing for Fitness and Self Defense: Amazon.co.uk: Robert W. Smith: Books[/ame] [ame="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ba-Gua-Advanced-Knowledge-Internal/dp/1556432763/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1408474508&sr=1-1&keywords=john+bracy"]Ba Gua: Advanced Hidden Knowledge in the Taoist Internal Martial Art: Amazon.co.uk: John Bracy: Books[/ame]
I like Frank Allen's 'Whirling Circles of Bagua Zhang' [ame="http://www.amazon.com/The-Whirling-Circles-Gua-Zhang/dp/1583941894"]The Whirling Circles of Ba Gua Zhang: The Art and Legends of the Eight Trigram Palm: Frank Allen, Tina Chunna Zhang: 9781583941898: Amazon.com: Books[/ame] cheers Rob
Fu Zhen Song's Dragon Bagua Zhang by Lin Chao Zhen, Wei Ran Lin and Wing Rick (Feb 16, 2010) This book in Chinese (1991) is very simple but I think there are many additional information were included in the English. It is available in amazon. And the Bagua Dragon Palm pushing hand set is available in Youtube. The Pa Kua Chang Journal is also a good source of information of different styles of Baguaquan in China.
If you can find them books by Park Bok-Nam (Fundamentals of PaKua Chang Vol. 1 and Fundamentals of PaKua Chang Vol. 2) are good as well as several of the translations as well as a few other books on Bagua you can find Plum Publications. I have also been told that Tom Bisio's books are pretty good Bagua Books Translations
I like this book and there are companion video/dvd's if you're interested. [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Baguazhang-Theory-Applications-Yang-Jwing-Ming/dp/1594391130/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1409447043&sr=1-1&keywords=bagua+liang"]Baguazhang: Theory and Applications: Yang Jwing-Ming, Liang Shou-Yu: 9781594391132: Amazon.com: Books[/ame]
