Taiji, Bagua and Xingyi Compared

Hello.

The original post from Onyomi was probably a quote from Zhang Yun who was a student of the late Wang Peisheng who passed away in Aug. of last year.

Ziranmen asked if Onyomi had seen the 64 movement set. This is also known as straight-line bagua. We had a seminar with Zhang yuan and he taught the first four guas (basicly half of the 64 movement set) along with the 8 mother palms of Cheng style bagua and other cheng style bagua exercises.

I have the Liang videos and he 64 movements in Liangs videos are different. I have read that there are different versions of Liu Dekuans 64 form.

It is a very practical set.

Marty

 

I still don't get the difference between Ba Gua Zhang and Tai Ji Chuan.

They both seem the same from what I've read -- yield, not yield, use opponent's energy against him.

Or I read wrong.

It's mostly the Ba Gua stuff that is confusing me.

 

There are a lot of similarities between the internal styles but the energy, or flavour is different. Xing Yi is straight and direct, Bagua is more like twisting and drilling, and Taiji is more like, well... flowing?

Just try both and see.

Note that if you've done the Taiji 42 form it has sections of Sun style Taiji, which is actually a Taiji/Bagauzhang combined form. Most of the old grandmasters learnt from each other anyway so you'll find similar movements in most of the styles.

 

Ba Gua = like a whirlwind, you are constantly sucked into rotational forces and then spat out (after being hit a bunch of times!), The adepts body has great potential to rotate and spiral every joint which leads their movement.

Tai Chi = Like a Thunder cloud, Put your hand in a thunder cloud and you wont have anythingh to grab... but it is saturated with heavy power and can strike with enormous force. The adept will feel soft to the touch but with a very heavy dense underlying power.

Xing Yi = Like a huge steel ball rotating in every direction, You are constantly crushed and run over. The adept feels as hard as steel on the outside but as soft as cotton on the inside.

These are the basic differences in simple terms.

Cheers
Chris

 

Sounds good. I want to spar an Internal martial artist now lol.

 

xing yi = offense is the best defense, inside spirals/outside straight, advance/retreat

tai chi = defense is the best offense, outside spirals/inside straight, stand ground/neutralize

ba gua = use upper body like xing yi-constantly attacking, use lower body like tai chi-constantly neutralizing/evading, constantly reposition center for optimum angle

overall:
xing yi = overpower opponent advancing on his center
tai chi = neutralize opponent's attacks keeping your center
ba gua= outmaneuver and disable opponent moving your center to move his

very, very, very over-simplified. but fun to think about. in general, i see tai chi and xing yi as extreme opposites of internal martial arts, and bagua as the middle art that blends aspects of the two extremes. in other words: xing yi = yang, tai chi = yin, and bagua = yin and yang interplaying.