Chapter 18 Section 3 Martial Arts Learning

Chen Xin, a Tai Chi master in the late Qing Dynasty, had this to say about the ancients' martial arts practice: "If you don't know the reason, you can extend your master; It will come with time." ("Tai Chi Chuan Pu" Volume 13 "Chen Pu: Chen Xin's Tai Chi Theory in the Late Qing Dynasty") This passage expresses the three most important things in learning martial arts, one is to worship a good teacher, The second is to make friends with martial arts and learn skills; the third is to study hard and practice hard to improve oneself. There are many schools of martial arts in ancient China. The family-style feudal patriarchal management system is implemented in the martial arts. For the apprentice, what he wants to worship is the "master", not the "master" who only has one skill. Appreciating the master and accepting apprentices means that in the future, the apprentice must "Teacher as a father", and the master should "treat the disciple as a son".For martial arts practitioners who are interested in martial arts, choosing a teacher is the first step in learning martial arts, and it determines whether they can lay a good foundation, so it is a very critical step.If a martial arts practitioner chooses a wrong teacher, he will be like Shi Jin in the novel. Before meeting the famous martial artist Wang Jin, although he practiced martial arts with seven or eight famous masters, he finally found that "I have learned many masters in vain. It’s not worth half a point”, or like the aforementioned Fenwei General Deng Zhan who was defeated by Wei Wendi Cao Pi using sugar cane as a sword, he couldn’t get the essence of sword skills.

The reason why generations of masters in the history of Chinese martial arts can achieve incredible martial arts realm is inseparable from their good at choosing teachers and diligent in learning.For example, Wu Shu, the author of the famous martial arts book "Arm Records", was trained under Shi Dian (?—AD 1635) (named Jingyan), a martial artist in the late Ming Dynasty who was proficient in marksmanship, and his skills improved by leaps and bounds.Similarly, the aforementioned Yang Luchan studied under Chen Changxing, a master of Chen-style Taiji, and Li Feiyu studied under Dai Wenxiong, a master of Xingyi, which laid the foundation for their future development.

People often use "read thousands of books and travel thousands of miles" to describe the way of learning of ancient literati.In fact, is it not the case for ancient martial arts practitioners?In ancient times, martial arts practitioners had the custom of leaving their masters to travel after learning a certain level, visiting famous masters all over the world, and making friends with martial arts, just like the saying in a martial arts proverb, "Kowtow in one place, learn art in a hundred places".This kind of "study tour" of martial arts is very important for the progress of martial arts practitioners. The reason why they want to "learn from a hundred places" is not only because Chinese martial arts culture has a strong regional color, and the types of boxing skills vary from place to place. Moreover, the means of communication in the society were not well developed at that time. If a person wanted to learn from others, he had to travel through mountains and rivers and study everywhere. Also, because many subtleties of martial arts cannot be explained in words, face-to-face demonstration teaching and discussions were required to realize the samadhi. , as Chen Xin, a Taijiquan master, said: "Each movement often cannot be expressed in thousands of words. Once you explain it yourself, it is very easy." On Boxing")

The tradition of "studying" for ancient Chinese martial arts practitioners began as early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.At that time, a group of martial arts appeared in the society who traveled around the world with swords, known as "rangers".These people possess unique skills and are full of arrogance.The reason why they roam around is of course to find opportunities to display their ambitions, but also to find teachers, visit friends, and learn martial arts.For example, singing the tragic poem "The wind is rustling, the water is cold, and the strong man will never return when he is gone", Jing Ke, who assassinated the King of Qin, went to Yuci to discuss swords with the martial arts hero Gai Nie before meeting Prince Dan of Yan, and then went to Handan Contest with swordsman Lu Goujian ("Historical Records Biography of Assassins").Seeking teachers and visiting friends, making family all over the world, this excellent way of learning Chinese martial arts has been passed down in one continuous line for thousands of years, creating generation after generation of masters of martial arts.This learning method of traveling around not only enables martial arts practitioners to avoid the adverse effects of "inbreeding" on the development of martial arts, but also enables them to understand the society and the people, so that martial arts and social life are closely integrated, and they can learn from it. Inexhaustible, inexhaustible nourishment.At the same time, it also spread martial arts among ordinary people everywhere.Therefore, many famous martial artists in the history of Chinese martial arts came from the bottom of society.As mentioned above, Li Feiyu, a master of Xingyi, used to be a vegetable farmer; Che Yonghong, a Baguazhang martial artist from Shanxi, was poor and out of school when he was young, and worked as a coachman for the rich; Yin Fu (1841-1909 AD), a Baguazhang martial artist from Hebei In his early years, he learned how to make scissors in the capital, and later sold sesame seed cakes and fried dough sticks as a career. After learning art from Dong Haichuan, he set up a hall in Chaoyangmen to teach apprentices; At that time, he sold bowls as a profession; Wang Zhengyi (1844-1900 A.D.), the "Five Kings of Big Swords", was an apprentice in a sesame seed shop at the age of 12. After he became an artist, he opened an escort agency and taught martial arts; Li Cunyi (1847-1921 A.D. ), who was born in poverty, used to help people drive cars for a living, learned martial arts from Liu Qilan, and opened an escort agency and accepted apprentices to teach martial arts after he became a master; Carpenter.

There are no textbooks for ancient martial arts, and the written basis for people to practice martial arts is boxing records.Boxing manuals record the names and usages of boxing moves, one or two sentences per move, usually seven or five character sentences.Although boxing scores are valuable for martial arts transmission and learning, their popularity is very limited.This is mainly because those who can understand boxing manuals must be people with a certain level of culture. For example, Tang Shunzhi, the author of "Wu Bian", has "Wenjia Boxing Manual", and he can still recite more than 10 boxing names in his later years.However, in ancient China, whether it was the martial arts masters who taught martial arts or the students who practiced martial arts, most of them were low-educated or even illiterate people from the lower classes of society. Even if I have it, I can't understand it.In order to facilitate learning, Chinese martial artists have summed up and extracted many martial arts formulas from a large number of practices, such as "Fist Jue" is one of them, including the essentials of boxing movements, technical movement standards, The usage essentials of fist road, etc.All relatively mature martial arts schools generally have their own boxing formulas and boxing songs, such as "General Songs of Boxing Classics", "Songs of Fighters" of Taijiquan, "Songs of Thirteen Stances", and "Songs of Yang's Taijiquan"; Xingyiquan's key formula "Nine Songs"; Fanziquan's "Standing and Turning Fist Song"; Shaolin's "Twenty-six Key Points and Points" for Shaolin acupuncture; The classic "Twelve Duan Brocade Tujue" and so on.These verses are easy to understand, rhyme, cadence, easy to recite and remember, and played an important role in the popularization of martial arts.For example, during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Ge Hong, a master of health preservation and a master of martial arts, learned the formulas of archery, sword and shield, and single sword and double halberd under the guidance of a martial artist.Quanjue and boxing songs are the essence of various martial arts. They often use extremely concise language to highlight the core of martial arts. For example, the five characters "respect, tightness, diameter, strength, and cut" are the "heart formula" of internal boxing; "Apply, cover, correct, and swallow" are the "four-character secrets" of Taijiquan.It is precisely because of this that martial artists in ancient times would not easily show others their formulas, just as boxers often say, "The ancients passed on their skills but not their formulas".

In addition, due to the widespread spread of martial arts among the people, a large number of martial arts proverbs appeared.These proverbs are popular and concise. They are not only a summary of martial arts experience, but also a guide for practicing martial arts.The content of Chinese martial arts proverbs is extremely rich, involving all aspects of martial arts practice. "Spiritual Qigong", "do not move inside, do not send out"; about "eyes without spirit, fists without soul", "hands and eyes follow each other, hands to eyes"; about footwork "hands to feet do not reach When the hands and feet come together, King Kong will also fall", "If the steps are not stable, the punches will be chaotic, if the steps are not fast, the punches will be slow", "Big steps are not effective, but small steps are unstable"; Legs must be a daredevil", "It's useless if you don't slip, and you're as stupid as an ox if you don't slip"; Regarding martial arts, it is better to be less and better, "Don't be afraid of a thousand moves, but be afraid of one move", "Hundreds of tricks" It is better to practice once, and one specialization is better than a hundred exercises", "One move is fresh, and it can be eaten all over the world"; about winning by cleverness, there are "strength in punching is not strength, skill is not courage", "four or two strokes a thousand catties"; about martial arts equipment , there are "single sword to see the hand, two swords to see away", "the gun is afraid of shaking the head, the stick is afraid of changing the handle", "hooking the wave, the halberd poking the momentum"; Never leave your mouth", "Learn boxing for three years, throw boxing for three days", "One day of practice, one day of skill, one day of not practicing for ten days".

One of the prominent features of ancient martial arts is that it places great emphasis on practicality and combat.Ancient martial arts practitioners "practiced three nines in winter and three volts in summer" by no means for the sake of learning three punches and two kicks, but for effective self-defense when they were bullied and powerful strikes when punishing evil.Compared with the martial arts performances that people see today, ancient martial arts may not get much applause from the spectators, but they are unstoppable when they try the enemy on the spot.In order to maintain the power of martial arts in actual combat and prevent it from devolving into "fancy fists and embroidered legs" that are not useful, there must be a special method to test the true degree of martial arts mastered by martial arts practitioners. Martial arts competitions and duel training are for martial arts practitioners. The most efficient way to test your skills.

As early as the Spring and Autumn Period, warriors had competitive activities to compete in martial arts in the spring and autumn: "In the Spring and Autumn Trials, the elites are the right ones." The arena gathered heroes from all over the world, and these people were highly skilled. It moves like thunder and lightning, and it sends out like wind and rain. Don't be in front of you, don't harm your back, come out alone, don't dare to stop Yu" ("Guanzi·Seven Laws").The early martial arts competitions were very cruel. For example, the fencing in the Warring States Period mentioned above could "cut the neck up and the liver and lungs down." King Zhao Huiwen's swordsmen had more than 100 casualties a year (" Zhuangzi·Speaking of the Sword").In the Song Dynasty, martial arts competitions were still quite dangerous. For example, when the fallen heroes Yang Zhi and Zhou Jin competed in the school field, the host Liang Zhongshu said bluntly: "Wufu competition, why worry about being disabled? But if you have the ability, you can shoot to death." .” (Chapter Thirteen)

Even in folk martial arts competitions, disability and death are also the business of the contestants themselves, and have nothing to do with others.For example, Yan Qing, a sumo wrestler in Liangshan, competed with Ren Yuan, a big man known as "Optimus Prime", in Mount Tai. The arrangement (referee) saw him as a "handsome young man", and wanted him to "save his life and return home", and advised him not to compared.Unexpectedly, Yan Qing's superb skills, using the "pigeon spinning" move, threw Ren Yuan off the stage, "fell faintly, and fell on the side of the offering stage, with only a little breath in his mouth" (Chapter 74).Although this kind of competition, which is almost the same as actual combat, often evolves into a struggle at the cost of life and death, it also plays the role of a martial arts touchstone. Closely follow the law of offensive and defensive fighting.

The purpose of sparring is not to win or lose, but to discover the weak links of martial arts practitioners through sparring, so as to take more targeted improvement measures.In addition, the martial arts proverb says: "Practicing boxing does not practice fighting, and there are few methods in front of the battle." Dueling training is to deliberately create a practice environment that is difficult, rigorous, and based on actual combat, so that martial arts practitioners can accumulate actual fighting experience and improve their resilience. ability, so that once you encounter an opponent, you will be at a loss and be at a loss, and you will have nothing to use when you have nothing to do.All kinds of martial arts in ancient times have their own set of training methods for sparring and sparring, such as "the spear has the pear spear, the sword has the big knife to catch the gun, the single sword breaks the spear, the fist has the fist, and the sword also has the sword. .”

A prominent feature of ancient martial arts practice is that it is very closely integrated with the daily life of the practitioners. For example, when practicing martial arts, there is a saying that "it is better to get up early when practicing boxing, and to go to bed early is not bad for your body." It hinders the free and easy movement, which involves the clothes of the martial arts practitioners; there is also a set of particulars about what to eat to help practice martial arts, which in turn affects the diet of martial arts practitioners. For example, when practicing external skills, physical exertion is very large , it is necessary to eat and sleep enough to maintain sufficient physical strength; while practicing internal skills, it is necessary to reduce food and sleep, so as to refine and transform qi, and practice qi to transform spirit.Practicing martial arts also requires cultivating essence and love energy, "only one who loves essence like gold can be regarded as a martial artist", which is related to the sex life of martial arts practitioners.Not only that, practicing martial arts also directly affects people's spiritual life.Chinese martial arts theory believes that human body, mind and morality are inseparable.In order to achieve good practice results, practitioners must constantly cultivate their own healthy psychological qualities and improve their personality, such as being open-minded, being kind to others, treating others with courtesy, calmness, calmness, and so on.Psychological training and martial arts training are also extremely important training contents of Chinese martial arts.In this way, practicing martial arts has a profound impact on all aspects of the practitioner's daily life, from daily life, clothing and diet to speech and behavior, and how to treat others.There is a saying in kung fu practice that "easy bones, easy tendons, easy marrow", that is to say, practitioners have to go through a reborn hone before they can master real kung fu.Practicing martial arts is a long-term process, just like what martial artists often say, "Small success in three years, great success in ten years".When a person decides to practice martial arts, he embarks on a long-term life path of self-regulation, adjusting his daily life according to the requirements of practicing martial arts, and running through all aspects of his life through practicing martial arts.Therefore, in the eyes of a true martial artist, in order to practice superior kung fu, one must pay attention to walking, sitting, lying, walking, eating and drinking, and even urinating and defecating. (Volume 8 of "Tai Chi Quan Pu" "Yang Pu: The Old Pu of Yang Family in the Qing Dynasty") Therefore, real martial artists do not relax in their daily sitting, lying and walking, and require themselves to "sit like a bell and stand like a bell". Loose, walking like the wind, lying like a bow."Martial arts practitioners who are strict with themselves practice kung fu anytime and anywhere. For example, Tai Chi master Chen Changxing, when sitting, he is also imaginary and vigorous, with his upper body unbiased; , also imply Tai Chi.Cheng Tinghua, a master of gossip, makes glasses for a living, and is known as "Glasses Cheng".In order to practice leg skills, when polishing glasses every day, one leg is always in a half-squat position, and the other leg is placed across the knee of the supporting leg.Li Zheng, a Henan martial artist in the Qing Dynasty, worked as a bodyguard after learning Xinyiquan and other martial arts.In order to practice martial arts footwork, he often walks in front of and behind the dart car in the shape of a chicken.As for practitioners who sleep on bricks or wooden boards, it is even more common.Shaolin boxing has the requirements of "three essentials, five taboos and seven injuries", which also involves all aspects of life. The "Three Essentials" are: "One must be deep and prudent, the second must be precise and appropriate, and the third must be abstinence and love for fame"; Lie hunting] and so on, five avoid alcohol and sex"; "seven injuries" are: "One is close to color and hurts the spirit, two is angry and hurts the spirit, three is thinking and hurting the spirit, four is good and sad, five is good to drink and hurts the blood, six is ​​lazy and hurts the tendons, and seven is impetuous Hurt to the bone." Ancient martial arts also required practicing according to the changing laws of nature. Therefore, martial arts practitioners need to distinguish yin and yang, distinguish eight trigrams, know the five elements, understand meridians, adjust the rhythm of life and living environment according to the time, and pay attention to the time and direction of practicing.When is the best time to practice?The ancient health preservation theory believes that a day and night can be divided into 12 hours, namely Zi (23-1), Chou (1-3), Yin (3-5), Mao (5-7), Chen (7-9), Si (9-11), Wu (11-13), Wei (13-15), Shen (15-17), You (17-19), Xu (19-21), Hai (21-23).Among them, from midnight to before noon, there are six yang hours, when everything in the world is "angry", and you can benefit from practicing at this time.And from noon to before midnight, there are six yin hours, when the natural world is in "dead energy", and practicing exercises is useless ("Baopu Zi Nei Pian·Shi Zhi").Based on this theory, qigong martial artists determine the practice time of each sect and school according to the principles of traditional exercises and the operation rules of the meridian flow of qi and blood. For example, Shaolin martial arts emphasize Maogong: First do the Maogong, then do the lunchtime Gonggong before lunch, and finally the unitary Gonggong when the sun sets ("The Essence of Shaolin Boxing"). In ancient times, there was no table for practicing kung fu. When people practiced kung fu, a stick of incense was lit, and the length of the incense burnt (or the number of sticks) was used to calculate the practice time. If it cannot be determined, then take the two sticks of incense as the rule.” In order to achieve the best results, as early as the Han Dynasty, there were already regulations on the orientation of practicing kung fu. People have seen in the Mawangdui guidance map that the basic orientation of practitioners at that time was to face south and back north.The location of the exercise is directly related to the traditional theory of Yin-Yang and Five Elements, Eight Diagrams, and Ganzhi.When practicing martial arts in modern times, they advocated "don't face east in the morning, don't face west in the evening, don't face south in the afternoon, and never face north".Among them, not going north is entirely for political reasons, which means not surrendering to the Manchu Qing from the north.