Move out of my shadow

“Move out of my shadow” said teacher Huang Sheng Shyan.

In the practice of Taijiquan, a beginner has no idea of the principles of the Taijiquan classics and the set of movements (Taijiquan Form) to experience the principles.

He or she needs to look for a teacher to learn. For a beginner oral transmission is very important, you can’t learn from books or videos (they are only for references).

Look for a knowledgeable teacher not a famous teacher. A famous teacher is not necessarily knowledgeable. In the beginning your Taiji Form must be accurate to precision of your teachers form. The Form is a set of movements that you use to experience the Taiji principles. Inaccurate forms will hinder your ability to experience the principles. This goes for push hands as well. After the external movements is attained, a knowledgeable teacher will explain the internal process in the physical movements.

My teacher Huang Sheng Shyan said to me, “when you fully understand and are able to experience my teaching, you need to move out of my shadow. Only then can you further develop and refine your Taijiquan.”

A lot of practitioners are imprisoned by their teacher’s teaching. Any attempt to change is labelled as disloyal to the teacher. Grandmaster Cheng Man Ching developed his Taijiquan form which is different from Great Grandmaster Yang Cheng Fu. Teacher Huang developed his form from Cheng Man Ching. Although the sequences of Huang’s Taijiquan Form are the same as Cheng Man Ching the transitions in between movements is different. Despite this, Grandmaster Cheng Man Ching’s teacher is still Yang Cheng Fu, teacher Huang’s teacher is still Cheng Man Ching. Things should change for refinement but should not be changed just to be different. Refinement can only come when you fully understand and experience your teacher’s teaching, using that understanding as a foundation for further development. When you further develop and refine your Taijiquan then you are truly repaying your teacher.

A lot of practitioners like to claim that their Taijiquan form is exactly the same as their teachers and even try to mimic their teacher’s movements in pushing hands. Sad to say, it means that after so many years they have merely copied their teacher but not developed. A very famous Chinese painter Qi Bashi once told his students: “Don’t paint like me.” No one student can claim that they are the only student that the teacher truly imparted their teaching. Each of us can only say that we teach our individual understanding of our teacher’s teaching. It is important as a student that we must love and respect our teacher. Showing gratitude to his teaching by continuing to refine and propagate the art of Taijiquan.

黄性賢老师说：“從我的影子裏走出來。”

在太极拳的习练中，初学者对太极拳经,理论及体用招式（拳架）毫无概念，需要通过师承来学习。对初学者而言，口传心授至关重要——书籍影像仅能作为参考，无法替代师承。要寻访明师而非名师，闻名遐迩者未必真通晓拳理。初学阶段，拳架必须精确复刻师传，这套动作体系是体悟太极原理的载体，形态失真将阻碍拳理体认，推手练习亦然。待外形准确后，明师会阐释动作中的内在心法。

先师黄性賢曾告诫我：“当你完全理解并能践行我的教导时，须從我的影子走出去。惟其如此，你的太极拳方能精进升华。”许多习练者困囿于师承窠臼，任何变革尝试都被视为背叛师门。郑曼青宗师创编的拳架就与杨澄甫太师祖不同，黄老师又在郑氏拳架基础上发展——虽动作顺序相同，但招式转换已自成体系。即便如此，郑曼青之师仍是杨澄甫，黄老师之师仍是郑曼青。变革当为精益求精，而非标新立异。唯有在透彻领悟师承的基础上，以此为本继续发展，方能实现真正精进。当你推动太极拳演进时，才是对师恩最好的回报。

不少习练者标榜其拳架与师传分毫不差，推手时甚至刻意模仿师长动作。可悲的是，这恰说明经年累月他们仅止于复制，未曾真正发展。国画大师齐白石曾告诫门人：“学我者生，似我者死。”没有弟子能宣称独得真传，我们每个人传授的只是对师承的个体化理解。作为弟子，尊师重道至关重要，但报师恩的最佳方式，乃在于不断精进并弘扬太极拳艺。

Neutralizing - A reminder to practitioners

When Teacher Huang was learning martial arts under Grandmaster Zheng (Cheng Man Ching), he instructed my teacher that for four years, he could only practice neutralizing (化) and not attacking or issuing force (發). The understanding of the thirteen postures classics say, "Seek the straight within the curve." The opportunity to issue force comes from neutralizing.

Why neutralize? If we resist when the opponent's force comes, the opponent’s strength will find a point of leverage, leaving us no room to adjust or transform. The classic states:

"Keep this in mind at all times:

Remember: When one part moves, every part moves;

When one part is still, every part is still."*

Beginners only neutralize with their hands, but the space for hand-neutralizing is limited. A more advanced approach is to use the waist to lead the body, which in turn drives the arms—yet this still offers limited space and violates the principle in the *Song of Push Hands*:

*"Upper and lower follow each other—

Then the opponent finds it hard to advance."*

Thus, the entire body must neutralize. The lower body (legs) moves first (creating space), then the torso follows the lower body (creating space), and finally, the hands follow the torso. Only when the whole body moves can there be sufficient space for effective neutralizing.

*Yielding(走)* creates space for adjustment, while *"neutralizing" (化)* completely dissolves the incoming force or energy. Every direction has its limit, so one must not neutralize in just one direction—there must be folding (摺疊) and changes of directions (轉換). As soon as space is created, one must return to a safe position.

Not every neutralization must end with an attack—unless the opponent loses their center or their root is broken. The *Song of Push Hands* says:

*"With four ounces, deflect a thousand pounds—

But only if you first lead their force."*

Without leading (牽動), four ounces cannot deflect a thousand pounds. Without neutralizing, there can be no leading.

Everything has two sides—Yin and Yang. When Yang reaches its extreme, it becomes Yin; when Yin reaches its extreme, it becomes Yang. The attacker may seem strong and dominant, but in the next transformation, they will be at a disadvantage. The one who neutralizes may seem weak and at a disadvantage, but in the next transformation, they will gain the upper hand.

It is always better to shift from disadvantage to advantage—rather than from advantage to disadvantage.

- Jin

思師當在鄭太師門下學拳的時候，太師吩咐恩師四年內只能化不能攻和發。拳經說「曲中求直」。發的幾會是從化中求。為什麼要化？如果對方的力來我們頂，那麼對手的力量將有利用的地方，我們切沒有調整變化的空間。拳論曰「刻刻在心。

切記：「一動無有不動，一靜無有不靜 」。初學者人只是手化，手化的空間有限。在進步的是腰帶動身體帶動手臂。空間還是有限而且違反了打手歌的拳理「上下相隨人難進」所以應該是整體化。下盤（腿）先動，（創造一個空間）為身體隨下盤動，（創造一個空間）為手隨身體動。整體動才能有大的空間去走化。走是創造一個調整的空間，化是徹底消除了力量或勁。每個方向都有極點，所以不能向一個方向去走化，要有摺疊和轉換。一有空間就要返回安全位置。不一定每次化都要發，除非對手偏離中心或他的根被打斷了。打手曰「  牽動四兩撥千斤。」沒有牽動，四兩就不能撥千斤。沒有走化就不能牽動。任何事都有兩面，陰和陽。陽到極處變成陰，陰到極處變成陽。攻擊者似乎處於強勢和優勢地位，但下一次變化他將處於劣勢。化者似乎處於弱勢和劣勢地位，但下一次變化他將處於強勢優勢地位。最好是從劣勢轉變為優勢，而不是從優勢轉變為劣勢.

-其燃

Message to a Practitioner

The lockdown on international travel has been an interesting time for the family. Jin has been working nearly every day at our family Bao Bar because of the inability to teach. He often jokes that it feels like his life has gone 360 and he’s back working hospitality now (he was in the catering business before he took up Taiji). However, he still manages to find some moments to teach via Zoom calls with some students and a workshop in Wellington this weekend. He has even met a few other practitioners while practicing in the nearby park on his lunch break. When they asked if he knew much Taiji he just said a little bit haha.

No doubt I imagine that he has been keeping in touch with many of his students through instant messaging, Whatsapp or Wechat. Below is a translation of a message to a practitioner of Taiji. Jin thought it was worth it enough to translate and put on the site. Safe to say that in Taiji practice where your mind intention (Yi) is within your practice is very important. Hope the message below helps in your practice. - Andy

Message to a Practioner - Jin

When you practice the Taijiquan form, don’t forget to feel and experience the changes in the form, the synchronisation of your movements and be aware of your relaxation and sinking. You must bring all this into your partner work. In free partner works it is best to practise slow. When you practice slow you are able to feel whether you are synchronising with your partner’s movements and relax force. With continuous practice it becomes natural and in relation to your partner’s changes the speed of your changes is natural. The speed is not initiated by you. There’s no need to be excited or agitated in the practice of free partner work, it’s only a practice session, not a competition. You must practise until you achieve the relaxation of your “heart”. When the heart is relaxed your spirit will be relaxed, when the spirit is relaxed then your mind will be relaxed and when your mind is relaxed then your body will be relaxed.

First you must relax and loosen, only then can you have relaxation and sinking. You need to use your mind awareness to cultivate these. However, your mind awareness must not be too intense. Intense awareness is a “dead” mind and it will lead to stiffness. In the Taijiquan Form and push hands the movements are initiated by the base, the body and arms follow the changes of the base. Even in fixed steps free partner work one must follow the changes of your partner in sitting back and moving into bow stance. If you only use your hips and waist turning to initiate changes, then it’s only the upper body changing and then the upper and lower body are not moving in synchronisation.

In the practising of Hun Yuan (up and down) exercise the physical structure movement is relaxed from the base. The relaxation awareness travel from bai hui meridian point (on the crown of the head) flowing down to the soles into the ground, this is called relaxing and sinking in Taijiquan. When coming up, the physical bodies upward movement is initiated by the sole of the feet. The relaxation awareness rebounds from under the ground and travels upward to the bai hui meridian point. This process is to borrow the energy from the earth (fa jing) in the Hun Yuan, because there’s no arm movements involved you send the relaxation awareness to the bai hui meridian point. When there are arm movements involved in the five relaxing exercises, in the Taijiquan form and push hands your send the relaxing awareness into the fingertips. Your great grandfather use to say that when you sink you need to sink into the ground under your feet. When the awareness rebounds up it needs to rebound to the fingers tips. In the practise of Taijiquan if you only focus on relaxing and loosening instead of relaxing and sinking, you will have no root and relaxed force.

In all push hands you must have relaxation and sinking. If you move forward with only relaxation and without sinking then your following will not have sticking jing (force). If you move backward with only relaxation and without sinking you would only have yielding but no neutralisation (Moving backwards needs to contain yielding and neutralisation. Yielding is to extend the incoming force to weaken it, neutralisation is totally nullifying the force through sinking)

In the fixed partner work (push hands), your partner is Yang when he or she moves forward. You respond by moving back and become yin, weakening his incoming force. Once you have created space, you need to turn and change directions and become the initiator (yang) and move forward into a bow stance. Your partner responds by moving back and becoming Yin. In fixed partner work, one moves forward, the other moves back, two people, one yin and one yang. Yang is the initiator and Yin is been initiated. The speed of the person been initiated must synchronise with the speed of the initiator then you will have joining in the push hand. When you have joining force then you naturally have no resistance or disconnections.

When you have neutralisation and become the initiator that moment is your chance to issue your force. But if your opponent roots is still connected, don’t waste your time and attempt to fa jing because he is stable and able to adjust to your force. Fa jing should not occur unless he falls into emptiness or his root is broken. “In advance and retreat there must be folding, in moving forward and backward there must be changes of directions “. The chances of fa jing is sought in the neutralisation. “Seek the straight in the curves.”

Original Transcript:

當你練習拳架的時候，不要忘了感覺拳架裏的變化，動作的協調，鬆沉的意。要把這些帶進推手。在自由推手練習最好是慢。慢才能感受到有沒有對對方的動作和勁協調。練到時就會變得自然那時變化速度的快是自然隋着對手的速度不是自己做出來的。練習不是比賽所以不必緊張。要練到心鬆。心鬆神才能鬆，神鬆意鬆，意鬆體鬆。

先耍鬆開才能鬆沉，這些都要用意去養，不過意不能太重，意太重是死的意，身體會僵硬。太極拳無論是拳架或是推手都是下盤主動，身體和手都隨下盤變化。就是定步自由推動也要隨着對方弓腿坐後。如果只也腰胯转动只是上盤變化，就不是上下相隋。

練習渾元椿的時候，體是從腳掌鬆起，鬆的意念是從白會鬆沉下到腳掌下入地底下，這就是太極所講的鬆沉。上的時候身體是用腳掌運上，鬆的意從地底反彈上，一路上到白會。這就接地之力（發勁）。在渾兀椿因為手沒動就把意送到白會。在鬆身法，有手動的，在拳架，推手，意要送到手楷尖。你的外祖父時常說，意沉要沉到地底，上要上到揩尖。如果練拳只練鬆開不練鬆沉就不會有根，不會有勁。

在所有的推手要有鬆開和鬆沉。如果進只是鬆沒有沉那你的隋就沒有粘勁（在推手弓步就是隨）。如果退只是鬆沒有沉那只是走沒有化（退是走化，走是把對方的勁削弱，化是把他的勁完全消化）

在定步推手，對方進是陽，你退是隂，把他的勁消弱了，有了空間就轉變反主動進步弓腿你就陽，對方退他就是隂。在定步推手就一弓（進）一退，兩個人一隂一陽。陽是主動，隂是被動.一定要和主動的速度协调. 這才能連。 有了連自然不會頂和丟。

當你化了反主動就是你發勁的時幾，不過如果對方的根還在就不浪费你的时间去發他們。因为他很稳定并且對方能够對你的勁調整。除非他落空或者根斷了。「往復須有摺疊。進退須有轉換。」記得發勁的幾會是在化中求，「曲中求直」

Making full use of a situation in Yin or Yang

Hello all Taijiquan students of Europe UK and Singapore wishing you all well. There is a spike of the COVID-19 virus in Europe and UK and it seems that the second wave is hitting your countries. However, do not get disheartened. It is a natural cycle of changes, just like Taijiquan, Yin and Yang is about continuous changes. In Yin there’s Yang and in Yang there’s Yin. When the Yin reaches the extreme the next change will be the beginning of Yang and vice versa. It’s the ability to make use of the Yin and Yang situation that will show the true skill of a Taijiquan practitioner and just like we have rainy and sunny weather, we need both Yin and Yang. Do what you are able to do in a rainy or sunny day.

The COVID-19 pandemic has given me the time to reflect on the art of Taijiquan that I practise. In Taijiquan practise you cultivate and nurture the internal and train and strengthen the external. The internal is to nurture your emotional relaxation and calming your temperament so that you become a more grounded person. The external is to strengthen your physical fitness and stamina. From my observation, most Taijiquan practitioners including myself only focused on the internal training and neglected the external. Because of this I ended up very much overweight and lacked stamina. During these extraordinary times I have decided to focus on the external as well. I decided to walk for an hour every day and doing skipping in four sets: skipping 50 times each set. In skipping I am fortunate to have the guidance of my student Pete Dobson who is an ex boxing coach. He taught me the correct way of skipping. I also went back to my old routine of training Taiji and White Crane, giving me a total training time of four hours daily, seven days a week. It has produced amazing results, I have lost 20kg of weight and am now down to my ideal weight. Without that extra weight I am more agile and my stamina is great.

Taijiquan is a martial art. Unfortunately, and sadly, the martial aspect of Taijiquan is lost in the promotion of wushu Taijiquan, its focus only on beautiful movements executed elegantly. Even in traditional Taijiquan it ends in pushing hands and not proceeding into fixed and free san da (free fighting). Lately I have seen a lot of Taijiquan “masters” defeated by MMA fighters. From the video clips we can see those “master “are using push hands and the MMA fighters are using free fighting techniques. This is just like putting soccer players into a field and asking them to play with the rugby players using rugby rules. Most of these Taijiquan “master” only do push hands and know nothing about san da (free fighting) even an amateur boxer could easily knock them out.

The principles of push hands is sticking, joining, adhering, following, no disconnection and no resisting. Once into free pushing most practitioners in Taijiquan start to grab and wrestle, throwing the principles of push hands out of the window. My advice to genuine Taijiquan practitioners": In your free pushing, if you encounter someone doing this, knock them out with a punch or a kick and make sure they never forget the pain. If they don’t follow the rules of push hands, consider it a free fight. No point wasting your time with them.

I personally would like to bring Taijiquan back into its a fighting art. It is not an easy task. Hopefully I am able to do it in my life time. Again, being a boxing coach, my student and friend Pete Dobson has provided me clues of how to box (punch) and footwork. I am working on how to implement it and still keeping the Taijiquan principles in it. Pete Dobson is one person that never followed fixed rules or ways of doing things, he always thinks outside the box. One thing I learned from him is that you require a lot of courage to think outside the box. When you do then you will discover new knowledge.

Pete in the gym - For an ex boxing coach he was good at thinking outside the box

As Bernard Shaw said:

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”

This pandemic has also allowed me to reflect my practice of the White Crane system taught to me by my teacher. More specifically my promise to him that I would continue the teaching of his White Crane system. Because of his commitment to Taijiquan he didn’t  emphasize imparting his White Crane knowledge, something that he regretted in his later life and he felt that he had let down his White Crane teacher.

I have spent this time refining my White Crane training and setting up a teaching system. When this extraordinary situation is over, I plan to teach my Teacher’s Whopping Crane system in Europe. Hopefully I will be able to impart my teachers white crane teaching over the next five years.

So, in any situation, life still goes on. learn to use the situation to your favour. Life is what we make it to be. Good health and stay safe.

Best regards,

Jin.

Thank you COVID19

“As in the Taiji principles when Yang reaches its extreme Yin will come. Meaning that when bad times turn worse it will reach a point where the next turn will be good. “

It might be strange to most people that I thank a virus that has killed so many people and brought chaos to every part of the world. The virus doesn’t discriminate against anyone, regardless of race, religion or country. This is something that we as a civilisation have failed to do. The virus is too small for the naked eye to see yet it is able to bring us “intelligent” humans to our knees, making us realise how powerless we are. It has given nature back to other species, wild animals creep back into cities and pollution clearing over the skies in China. Most important of all it has caused lockdowns in every country. Giving us time and space which we otherwise wouldn’t have in this busy society to reflect on ourselves.

In times of pandemics like these the last thing we need is fear. It is the time to apply the Taiji principles into practice. Interestingly, people who are tested with the virus are known as having “positive” results (Yang) and those without; negative (Yin). To us it means that Yang is destructive and Yin is survival. As in the Taiji principles when Yang reaches its extreme Yin will come. Meaning that when bad times turn worse it will reach a point where the next turn will be good. As in push hands respond to the situation as it changes. As the situation is continuously changing so must our response. Not reacting. Responding.

If you look at the Taiji figure of Yin and Yang you will notice in the Yin figure that there is a Yang spot. Subsequently in the Yang figure there is Yin. It means in the good times we must be aware of the bad situations that will come along and in the bad times it reminds us that there is always a light on the horizon. In the good and bad we must always maintain our central equilibrium so that we don’t get carried away in the good times and we don’t get distressed and lost in the bad.

The lockdown time created by the virus will be good for your self-reflection. In your Taiji practice this is the time to reflect on your own Taiji through the years of practice. Do you really read the Taiji Classics and take them seriously? Have you analysed what you have read or what has been imparted by your teacher? During this time, you may not have any push hand partners. Focus on your Taiji form. Bring your mind deep into your heart (conscience) and seek the movements from it. Manifest the movements into your external body. Your refinement in the form will filter into your push hands.

Teachers be grateful to your students and students be grateful to your teachers and fellow students. Without each other the art of Taiji would be lost and without each other we would not be able to progress and refine. Forget the titles of master or grandmaster. They are just like the wind. You cannot grasp it or hold on to it. Just enjoy being a student.

Take time to reflect on your life in the lockdown. For husband and wife, how many times have you said to each other “I Love You” or taken a holiday together? Don’t wait for retirement where you are either too old or too ill to travel. Children, when is the last time you visited your parents or taken them out for a meal? Friends or working colleagues, when did you last socialise with them or visit them when they were sick? Have you been unkind to your peers?

The virus pandemic has shown us how life could be over in a moment. Do what you want, visit whoever you want to and go whatever place you want to. Don’t say “wait” only to live and regret. Death is a necessary end for everyone but everyone has a different lifespan and we don’t know when it will come. Every morning when we wake up and we see the ceiling of our house… It is a bonus from God. Enjoy the bonus and make full use of it.

Looking back on my life, I feel lucky to have learnt Taiji from a good teacher. To be able to make it my profession and to have a group of good and dedicated students, a very good wife and children. Would I do something different if I was able to relive my life? Yes. I would like to have spent more time with my parents in their later years (I migrated to New Zealand) and also with my siblings. For over 23 years I have been conducting seminars in Europe. This is the first time that I have spent autumn in New Zealand since then. I spend about 5 months each time teaching in Europe which means although my wife and I have been married for 32 years we actually spent slightly over 19 years together. I miss seeing my children growing up and being able to fully fulfil the duties of a father. I am lucky to have a spouse that is not only a good wife but also a good mother. Hopefully in the remainder of my life I am able to make up for what I have missed.

One of the philosophies stressed by Zhuang Tzu is to always look deep into your heart (conscience) to find yourself. Your guru of life is in your heart. Not in the hands of self-professed holy men or gurus. Don’t look for what is far and neglect what is near.

- Wee Kee Jin

History of Master Huang Sheng Shyan Part II - White Crane and Chinese Medicine

Master Huang on a Waka (an indigenous NZ canoe). Huang had plans to retire to NZ, sadly he passed away before he could..

Teacher Huang’s martial arts journey begins with the Fujian White Crane. When he was a young boy his mother was assaulted by a man in their village and died of her injuries. Before her death she made him promise not to seek revenge. However, from this incident he realised that in order to protect himself he had to learn martial arts.

His first teacher was the renowned White Crane practitioner Xie Zhong Xiang who was 70 at the time. Xie Zhong Xiang is often attributed as being the teacher of Higashionna Kanryo who was subsequently the teacher of the founder of Goju Ryu karate, Chojun Miyagi. In Japanese he is referred to as Ryu Ryu Ko.

After a few years of personal tutelage Huang was sent to study full time for two years with Master Xie’s eldest disciple Chien Shih Ting. This was because Master Xie was getting too old to teach Huang. While learning from Chien, Huang had to wake up early in the morning and walk for two hours to Chiens house to train. In between training he would help Chien in the field farming as a form of payment for classes and food. As he was the most junior among Chiens students he had to cook for them.

When lunch time was approaching, he would cook while the others trained. While the seniors were having lunch Huang would do his training. Quite often after this training, he would return to the kitchen only to find that there wasn’t much food left for him. After this happened a few times Huang decided to start hiding some food out of sight from the seniors in order to ensure that he would not go hungry.

In 1930 Teacher Huang studied under another White Crane exponent: Master Pan Chun Nien. Master Pan was also a practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine, specialising in bone setting. Skills which he would also pass on to Huang.

According to Huang, of all his White Crane teachers Master Pan was the most relaxed. Master Pan also happened to be an opium addict. Whenever Huang had some extra money he would buy some opium for Master Pan. While on opium Master Pan would start showing and explaining the White crane in greater depth.

Master Pan was also responsible for stimulating Huangs interest in other Chinese martial arts. In pursuit of further knowledge, he moved to Shanghai where he began to teach the White Crane. When he first arrived two locals recognised that he was from a small city from the way he dressed. They pretended to offer help to Huang with the intention of robbing him. They started to lure him into a small alley however Huang realised the situation and turned around, proceeding to beat them up.

In 1934 at the request of Master Pan he came back to his hometown of Fuzhou to take part in the county martial art free fighting competition. He won this competition and would go on to represent his county for the Fujian Provincial competition. In this he came runner up. Losing by one point behind the winner Chang Jih Chang.

Chang Jih Chang was renowned for his leg sweeps and during the competition he used this technique on Master Huang. Though the leg sweep did not manage to sweep Huang off his feet it did cause severe injury to Huang’s leg. It would take two years before Huang fully recovered.

Huang continued to teach the White Crane during his time in Taiwan and also during the early years in Singapore (1950s – 1970s). Later on, he only focused on teaching Taiji. I was fortunate enough while under his personal tutelage in Taiji in the early 80s to learn the White Crane from him.

Teacher Huang had insisted that I learn the Fujian White Crane and made me promise that I should continue to teach his system of Whopping Crane. He felt that he had wronged his White Crane teachers by spreading the art of Taiji more than the White Crane. This is the reason why I continue to teach the White Crane and hold classes in the UK.

As stated previously, Master Pan had taught Huang traditional Chinese medicine and Huang also ended up specialising in bone setting. One particular story comes to mind that demonstrates his skill in bone setting and his approach: In his early days in Taiwan he had a patient come in requesting help for bone setting. This man had broken his leg and he had had his bone set by another Chinese physician. It had not been properly set and subsequently had healed incorrectly. The man was still limping. Hearing this Teacher Huang told him to come back the next day.

The next day Teacher Huang was waiting for the man at the entrance to the clinic with a stick in his hand. Without any warning he used the stick and struck the man’s leg, breaking the bone that had incorrectly set. Huang told the man that in order for him to reset the leg he had to break it first but if he told him earlier he would have been nervous about it and the wrong part of the leg might have been broken.

History of Master Huang Sheng Shyan (Huang Xing Xian)

Master Huang (Center) and the author (Wee Kee Jin) on the far right.

My teacher Huang Sheng Shyan was born in 1910 in the village of Qianyu (前屿). This village was located in the city of Fuzhou in the Fujian province of China.

At the age of 14 he learnt the Fujian White Crane from the renowned Whooping Crane master Xie Zhong Xiang. When the Japanese invaded China he joined a long Sabre guerrilla group to fight the invaders. Master Huang told me that the Sabre form performed by most martial arts is too flowery and contain a lot of unnecessary movements. He once showed me the Sabre Strokes that they used in close combat during the war and it only consisted of three simple strokes. That was all that was needed for fighting.

During one of his guerrilla campaigns he single-handedly captured a Japanese Sergeant in an ambush. His fellow fighters wanted to kill the Sergeant but Master Huang stopped them saying that killing should only be done in situations where it is absolutely necessary. If they kill the Sergeant in a situation where it wasn’t necessary then they would be acting exactly like the Japanese soldiers who were occupying China. After the war he ran into this Japanese Sergeant in Taiwan who expressed extreme gratitude to Master Huang for sparing his life.

In 1948 the internal political situation in China worsened. Because of this Master Huang had to leave his family in China and move to Taiwan. It was 40 years later that he would be able to see them again.

In 1950 he studied under the renowned Taiji Master professor Cheng Man Ching, this would be the beginning of his Taiji journey. In 1956 he was asked by Professor Cheng to either go to Japan or Singapore to teach Taiji. He chose the latter because of his experience and what he witnessed during the Japanese occupation of China. This was the start of the establishment of the Singapore Tai Chi Association.

In 1963 he left for Sarawak (West Malaysia) spreading the art of Taiji to various cities in Sarawak and Sabah and in 1970 he moved to Kuala Lumpur and there he spread Taiji to different parts of the Malay Peninsula.

In 1991 he returned to his home town and passed away at the age of 82 in December 1992.   

Creating space for yielding and neutralising

In the Chang San Feng Taiji classic it states: “When not in the right position or the right moment, and the body becomes disrupted, the fault should be sought in the waist and the legs.”

What does this principle want to reveal to us?

One of the messages it tries to reveal to us is how to approach the aspect of yielding.

What is yielding?

First, we must look at the following principle: “Leading with four ounces to deflect a thousand pounds”. For this principle to work one must use the principle of yielding to the incoming force. To yield is to walk along with the force, not to go against the force. By yielding one denies the force a place to be used and creates a space for one to readjust. If in the yielding one finds oneself having too little space to yield or readjust it is because the yielding is done by the hands or twisting the body while the base (lower body) is digging in.

In yielding one needs to create space by initiating the yielding from sinking. This in turns creates space for the legs to move and subsequently creates the space for the waist and hips to turn. This allows the body and arms to fold and change infinitely. The whole body synchronizes. Yielding is not just a regional action. As stated in the Taiji classic: “When you move and change, every part of your body is moving and changing. when you arrive, every part arrives.”

Yielding also does not occur in one direction. If you only yield in one direction there will eventually be a dead end. In yielding moving back (extending the force), turning (changing of its direction), folding (to stick and adhere), sinking (neutralising) must all happen simultaneously. So, in every yield one must move in four directions.

Once the incoming force is rendered void and null spaces are created. This is the point of neutralising. When this occurs, one must take lead of the situation and come back to a position that is safe. Not every yielding will create a situation where one can issue the force or take someone out. That only happens when the opponent is disconnected. If the person is still connected they are able to readjust.

So how do we yield and break the connection of the opponent? The reason that they are still connected is because after the neutralising, one did not draw them into emptiness or after neutralising one does not manage to draw their root off the ground. The priority in yielding is to get back to a position where one is safe and in an advantageous position.

 Thus, the principle of “When not in the right position or the right moment, and the body becomes disrupted, the fault should be sought in the waist and the legs.” Reveals to us that in yielding and neutralising, one needs to sink and move the legs and the waist to have the space to carry out the task.

Building a Connection

Taijiquan is not simply relaxing, sinking and being grounded. It is about developing; the right structure; the right sequence of movements to connect the structure; the right timing of the movements; and the mind awareness (Yi) to travel through the movements.

 A structure without the sequence of movements is like an electrical cable without the copper wire inside the plastic tube. Without the mind awareness (Yi) even the correct structure with the right sequence and timing of the movements, is like the wire not having a current passing through it.

Connecting the Base and Arms
Often the movements of the base (feet, legs & hips) and the arms are co-ordinated but unconnected, and therefore incorrectly act independent of each other. The connection between the base and arms is in the body's torso and needs to be cultivated using the mind awareness (Yi) to create a melting sensation through the body as it leads the force from the feet to the finger-tips. 

When initially practised it is difficult to recognise anything happening but after a few years of training it is possible to feel even very small muscles in the body change as the mind directs. Eventually the base movements will actually produce the movement in the body which in turn will produce the movement in the arms, both during sinking and issuing.

It is easier to first cultivate the body connecting the base and arms in static foot positions and repetitive movements such as in Master Huang's relaxing exercises before involving the stepping and changing postures of the Form. Later work it with the addition of an external force in the controlled environment of fixed pushing-hand routines, before attempting it in the free pushing, where the external force direction and speed is not restricted.

Once the whole body is continuously connected, and the timing becomes almost natural, neutralising would involve allowing an incoming force to pass through you into the ground where it would be combined with the energy of the earth and rebounded in greater magnitude back to the source of the incoming force. This "interception" does not require you to initiate any issuing as your body will have become a medium for the forces to pass through unimpeded.

Develop a Good Attitude to Learning Taijiquan

Master Huang Xing Xian once suggested that a student should be prepared to look over the mountain for a good teacher, and a teacher should be willing to travel the oceans for a good student". Both efforts reflect a good attitude.

Empty Your Cup
The first requirement to learning something new is to let go of what you already know. Only when your cup is empty is there space to add something further. Fully absorb the purpose and function behind the new lessons, before relating them back to the classics. If it fits with your understanding of the principles then incorporate it into your ongoing practise, otherwise let it go. It might be contrary to your present direction, or it might only have some relevance later, on your Taiji journey.

Practise
Students seldom give a teacher the chance to teach, by not practising what was previously taught you don't have the foundation to be taught the next things. Just attending classes or workshops does not mean that you will become good at Taiji, results come from practise.

 Accept the Keys
When someone teaches you they are imparting a method of training, or offering you a key to the door. To open the door and enter the room, you need to practise to develop a foundation of what was taught. During the next stage of training the teacher's guidance can present you with another key. However if the you haven't walked through the first door, this new key will be of no use. 

Enjoy your Training
Initially it is necessary to establish a regular daily training routine to develop self discipline. However you must soon find enjoyment in your practise and therefore develop the want to train, otherwise you will build up mental resistance that will prevent the subtler depths of Taiji being apparent.

Become your own Teacher
The Taiji journey begins with a teacher being required to build the foundation, or as the classics put it "to come through the door,  you need  oral transmission".  But once the foundation is solid, and a clear direction is set you can still progress even without your teacher. Then when a certain level is reached, a new dimension of understanding will open up, and begin a process of exploration and discovery that can be continued for the rest of your life.

Always remain a Student
As a teacher it does not mean that you have stopped practising. "Teacher" is only a form of address, we are all just students, always learning and practising.