http://www.taichifinder.co.uk/baguazhang.html I found this link on my travels and found the site to be very informative. I hope you, like I, learn something from this to enhance your journey. For those of you curious in the origins of T'ai Chi there is an excellent synopsis on this site as well. Delve deep and enjoy.
That is an amazing article about bagua, one of the best summaries of the art that I've seen!! But I've got some criticism of the tai chi summary - putting the credit for creating the entire martial art on the shoulders of Chen Wangding is pretty irresponsible - he developed the art but when you talk about tai chi you have to mention the base. Tai chi is a culmination of many arts (especially wudang principles and exercises) and it is known that the chinese have been practicing moving qi gong and issuing power exercises for thousands of years. Also, tai chi fighting is based on knowledge of acupuncture points, and that is not new. Also, there's no way someone can effectively fight with a tai chi style after one year. Tai chi fighting comes from the subconscious and it takes much longer to get rid of old habits (and the trick to fa jing takes a lot longer to learn than a year!!). Sorry, I know this is supposed to be a bagua thread - I'll stop now!
Nzric I understand your comments are through and based on the EM system. But I feel that there is a popular misconception about Internals that it takes a long time to see any results.To become highly skilled at anything requires time and attention,but that is not to say individuals cannot apply principles direct to Fighting in a short period of time.In general Fighting is probally the simple element of any system,prefecting bodymovement ,power generation timing and distance will improve and evolve through effort and focus. Secondly Fajin(explosive principle),is only one jin(method/princple) out of a number that are common in many Traditional Internal MA. Unfortunaltly due to the amount of different TJQ and BGZ styles you may find base principles are shared,but the application and traininng methods differ dramatically.
I'm sure it comes down to the student and how much time they're willing to put in. Also, some people would have an easier time understanding the concept of 'rooting' and internal power than others. Ba gua is very counter-intuitive though - you're constantly turning your back on the opponent, spinning around and remaining within range. In a fight situation I think people return to what they know, that's why most fights are just about grabbing clothes, shoving and haymakers. So from that pov, it would take a while to build up the body knowledge to be comfortable relying on BGZ &/or TJQ. Then again, I agree that if anyone studies fa jing (and the thirteen TJQ postures, not to mention EM's favourite, Dim Mak) and understands the concept, it will give an instant benefit to their training. Also, all forms of BGZ would be great for anyone's internal health (all that twisting..)
Hey Jim I have meet Liu De Ming who teaches at Melborne Uni.He comes from the Beijing Tiyu Daxue,the place for Modern Chinese MA.He teaches stardarized Wushu from the PRC so there is a heavy emphasis on Form training and Phsyical movement.This is competition Wushu straight from the Motherland.Know mainly for his LiuHe BaFa and Ziran Men but he does do BGZ.Its petty common for PRC boys to be well versed in quite a few different stlyles. http://skaven.axg.net/wushu/main.html For a different veiw get down to some parks around any Chinese area and look for circle walkers.I am sure there would be a number of practioners (particularly amongst the Taiwanese comunity)who don't teach. Hope thats of some use. I read that your Teachers teacher was BGZ player.Do you know any particular details of the style?(lineage,country etc) Cheers
No, I wish! I only found out recently that he did. Apparently it was from an abbot in Manchuria in the 1930's...
The theory of yin yang Tai Ji started more then 4200 years ago. The theroy of Tai Ji fighting may be written by Zhang San Feng. Chen Wang Ting espoused "Tai Ji Quan" fighting sets around 1670's. He described to use Zhang to follow the opponent. The dubbing the name of Tai Ji Quan may be more a recent event.
A friend in kung fu told me about someone who became a seriously good fighter in the matter of a year, practicing bagua and taiji, I think. The guy used to be a skater, then got hooked on Chinese internal arts. He practiced 4 hours a day and after a year beat on my kung fu buddies (5-10 years experience) pretty bad =)
