Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well.
Even though the weather is still very humid
and hot in some regions, in Montreal, Canada,
it is becoming cooler and cooler. Fall will
be here soon and we’ll get to enjoy Fall
Colours. In my opinion, Fall is also the best
season to strengthen our body. You can take
some tonic herbs, supplements, or some dietary
products such as Canadian Ginseng and Royal
jelly, so that you will be ready for the coming
winter:):):)
This is the seventh topic in contrasting the
three internal styles . Prior contrast videos
focused on specific physical areas of the
body such as knees, fist, footwork, Dantian
and so on.
From today, I will focus on rather abstract
topics. It is a higher level of discussion
since this approach will elaborate martial
principles, which are often intangible concepts.
In teaching, I always try to figure out ways
to help my students understand their practice
better by introducing and emphasizing some
important principles in expecting them to
apply these principles in their practice.
Based on my experience, higher level of practice
requires to understand some higher level of
knowledge beyond the physical movement. Those
knowledge are practice related principles
and will definitely help you reach a new level
in the long run. Principles matter in the
traditional training system.
So, topics covered in today’s video include:
1. Dong and Jing in Chinese philosophy,
2. Dong and Jing in Martial Art,
3. Dong and Jing in Internal Styles,
4. Demonstration,
5. Takeaways.
Again, this topic is a bit abstract, and it
requires basic knowledge and training experience
of more than one internal style, preferably
all three styles. Regardless, it should still
help you understand your practice better even
if you only practice one style.
So, let’s get started.
1. Dong and Jing in Chinese philosophy,
I have introduced the Yin-Yang concept in
my prior videos, especially my Xiu Dao videos.
Basically, as a fundamental concept in Chinese
philosophy and culture, Yin and Yang are two
inseparable and contradictory factors in the
universe. Since Yin and Yang can be used to
explain different characteristics of any entity,
very often, Chinese people apply this theory
to categorize and analyze different phenomena
and experiences in daily life.
One important theory in ancient Chinese philosophy
is Dong-Jing, which is considered as one of
the most disputable topics in Chinese history:
most Chinese scholars and philosophers in
the ancient times almost unanimously agreed
on Yin and Yang. But there has been a lot
of disagreement on Dong-Jing as well. So,
what is Dong-Jing?
According to ancient Chinese philosophy, Dong,
means movement while Jing means stillness.
Dong can also mean “having desire”, “action”
and ”vigorous and energetic”. Likewise,
Jing can also mean Stillness, means no desire,
no action, flexible and accommodating. This
topic is related to the question of whether
the world is in motion, dynamic, changing
or not. In ancient times, most Chinese philosophers
believed that there were no unchangeable things
in the universe, and everything was relative
instead of ultimate. Again, Lao Zi was the
first person who discussed Dong and Jing as
a philosophical topic. For example, he said
that Dong and Jing are interchangeable under
certain conditions.
So, basically, most Chinese philosophers in
ancient times believed that the cosmological
aspect of the universe was based on Movement,
or Dong. Only some believed the opposite .
Also, Dong and Jing concept, or Movement and
Stillness, has been applied in different areas
including art, literature, poetry and others
due to its core concept being related to Chinese
philosophy. For example, in traditional Chinese
poetry, Dong and Jing is a very popular method
to describe and express a specific meaning.
A pair of sentences is the basic unit to a
poem. So, very often, a poet may apply Movement
to one sentence and Stillness to the other
.
Let me take Wang Wei’s famous poem Autumn
Evening in Mountain as an example to explain
it. The third and fourth sentences in his
poem are Ming Yue Song Jian Zhao, Qing Quan
Shi Shang Liu, or “A silvery moon is shining
through the pines, The limpid brooks are gurgling
over the stones”. The first sentence “A
silvery moon is shining through the pines”
uses Stillness as its rhetoric. The second
sentence “The limpid brooks are gurgling
over the stones” uses Movement as its rhetoric.
As a result, the comparison between the Movement
and Stillness has created an even stronger
feeling and impression of the Stillness effect
in its reader’s minds. Of course, it is
an example of Yi Jing concept, or Aesthetic
Conception as well, which I introduced in
my prior video. Also, please see this painting
which was based on the poem. (point to the
painting).
So, Dong-Jing is an important as well as interesting
topic in Chinese culture. At this moment,
you may have a question for me: why is he
talking about this? Does it have anything
to do with the internal styles? To which I
would reply “Yes, of course”. Please keep
watching and I will explain it in the next
topic.
2. Dong and Jing in Martial Art,
Before we talk about Dong-Jing in the internal
styles , let me explain this concept in general
martial art practice. Dong-Jing, being a fundamental
philosophical concept, has been applied to
different fields, especially art. Of course,
martial artists adapted this concept for purposes
of their own practice as well.
In martial arts, we often notice this term
being used to describe a practice. However,
the meaning of this term has evolved over
time due to the evolution of the nature of
martial art training itself. Since martial
art training involves physical movement based
systems, the meaning of Dong and Jing has
been attributed to a new definition. From
now on, we will focus on the martial meaning.
In a martial context, Dong means “Dynamic”.
And Jing means “Static”. So, in martial
arts, People use Dynamic and Static to describe
the characteristics of a practice.
I am sure all of you understand the differences
between dynamic and static conditions in practice.
However, I’d like to further classify these
concepts into different categories.
Based on years of first-hand research and
teaching experience, I have classified the
concept of Dynamic and Static into three levels:
(1) Obvious Level.
(2) Subtle Level.
(3) Self-Cultivation Level.
(1)Obvious Level is the level that practitioners
focus on the differences between dynamic and
static characteristics in their movements.
If you move, it is considered dynamic while
if you maintain a posture without moving,
it is considered static. Since the difference
is so obvious, I call it “Obvious Level”.
To take this a step further, according to
the traditional standard, that slow, short-range
movements are also considered static while
fast, long-range movements are dynamic.. This
difference is also very obvious, so I classify
them at the Obvious Level as well.
(2) Subtle Level: at this level, even small
physical movements will be considered dynamic.
For example, in some standing postures, the
usual Static practice involves not only a
lack of physical movement, but also a lack
of mental intention. But, as long as you have
even a small subtle physical movement and
even a little intention to guide these subtle
movements, it will be considered dynamic although
the movements may be slow or short-range.
For example, when you stay in the Santi stance,
you can just relax the body and the mind;
however, at certain point you should add small
repetitive movements while maintaining the
overall stance, as if you are adjusting your
stance visually., actually, the practitioner
is adding the small adjustment as a practice
on certain aspects in order to gain certain
benefits in training. It is an advanced topic
and I may discuss it in the future. So, the
movements here are small and slow, yet fully
intentional. That is why I call it a Subtle
Level dynamic practice.
(3) Self-Cultivation Level:
This is another important aspect of internal
practice. If you have watched my intro videos
about the curriculums of the three internal
styles, you may recall that I always put Self-Cultivation
at the highest level of each style due to
the benefits provided by the style.
One can reach the benefit of self-cultivation
through practicing the internal styles. Yes,
it is not as fast and specific as with practicing
Xiu Dao which provides a great deal of benefit
if managed well.
At this level, one should focus on the real
static practice, which is a state having neither
physical movement nor mental intention! Later,
when the energy rises up, the practice becomes
a dynamic one. So, the difference between
static and dynamic lies in the state of the
energy activity! Not the physical one at all.
This is an advanced topic and I will explain
it more in my Xiu Dao videos in the future.
So, if you are interested, make sure to watch
my Xiu Dao videos.
So, to summarize, at the self-cultivation
Level, one should focus on the energy change
in the body in practice. The energy change
relies on the practice of being static!
Alright, so how about internal practice? How
do you apply Dong-Jing to the 3 internal styles?
Let me explain it in the next topic.
3. Dong and Jing in Internal Styles
I always say that an internal style system
is a Body and Mind System. (1)Mind here means
the attitude, the way we perceive our practice,
or what imagery we use in training and self-defense
. Especially the Imagery method that I emphasised
in prior videos can have a major impact on
our practice. (2) Body here means the adjustment
of movements in the process of realizing the
specific imagery. Imagery is the result of
our mental work and realized by our body.
This is why I’d like to say at this point
that our body follows our mind. Or the Mind
determines the body since the specific imagery
will determine body motion.
I intentionally wrote the title of this video
to focus on the Dong-Jing concept in a fight
situation. So, to help my students reach a
higher level in understanding the overall
fighting strategy among the three internal
styles, I created two proverbs and borrowed
one existing proverb to explain this concept.
Please keep in mind those proverbs are using
the Imagery theory to describe and guide the
practice. As always, I will read them in Mandarin
first, followed by the English translation.
In Madarin, they are:
Tai Ji Yi Jing Zhi Dong,
Xing Yi Di Dong Zhi Dong,
Ba Gua Yi Dong Zhi Jing.
In English, they are:
In Tai Chi, Static conquers Dynamic.
In Xing Yi, Dynamic conquers Dynamic.
In Ba Gua, Dynamic conquers Static.
Again, static and dynamic here are relative,
not absolute. In other words, there is no
absolute dynamic and static, those are a product
of contrasting.
Let me explain them one by one.
(1) In Tai Chi, Static conquers Dynamic.
If you watched my prior video about overall
movement patterns in fighting used by the
three internal styles, you may recall that
Tai Chi’s overall strategy is Yin Jin Luo
Kong He Ji Chu, or lead the attacking force
of the opponent inward and make it fall into
an empty place, then add your own force to
the withdrawing force of the opponent and
send it back. This is the overall strategy
in Tai Chi.
So, to achieve this result, Tai Chi practitioners
usually take a reactive approach in self-defense:
normally, wait for the opponent to attack
and then react to it. Therefore, one very
popular proverb, which I borrowed in this
video is this one: Wait for the dynamic and
react with static. Of course, we all know
that waiting until the right moment to react
requires a much higher level in practice or
it would be as fast as the proactive approach.
“Fast” here means “reckless”. There
are certain principles used in guiding this
practice, which will be introduced in the
future.
Now, let’s practice our imagination that
a Tai Chi practitioner maintains a static
approach to deal with a dynamic attack in
a self-defense situation.
Now, let’s move on to Xing Yi. It uses a
totally different approach compared to Tai
Chi.
(2) In Xing Yi, Dynamic conquers Dynamic.
To a Xing Yi practitioner, a typical fighting
strategy is to constantly attack the opponent
once the fight starts. Of course there is
a concept of Hou Fa Xian Zhi, or to fight
back after the opponent attacks first but
the fist reaches the opponent’s body first.
However, the overall imagery of Xing Yi fighting
is to dynamically apply different martial
skills to an opponent while expecting the
opponent to constantly change techniques.
This is why in Xing Yi , you always try to
imitate a self-defense situation in training,
so that you will be able to use the dynamic
v/s dynamic approach in a real self-defense
situation.
Another famous Xing Yi proverb to describe
this attitude and mentality is Da Dao Hai
Xian Man. The literal translation is “to
defeat the opponent who falls on the ground,
even so, it is still too slow”. In other
words, you are never satisfied with your own
speed, you can always be faster. It is an
interesting way to describe the overall Xing
Yi fighting mentality.
(3) In Ba Gua, Dynamic conquers Static. So
far, I think you can figure out by yourself
regarding the Ba Gua fighting strategy: a
Ba gua practitioner constantly changes position
and attack angles to the extent that the opponent
appears relatively static. Typical Bagua walking
and stepping patterns along with continuity
of movement help to achieve such a dynamic
approach.
Of course, nothing stops the opponent from
moving fast. But still, you practice Ba Gua
with the goal of stepping, evading and attacking
a lot faster than the opponent.. Sure, easier
said than done. To add to that, the fighting
strategy can change as well. The dynamism
in movement as well as strategy is a characteristic
of Bagua. This is why I say “In Bagua, Dynamic
conquers Static”.
So far, I believe you have a better imagery
for the three internal styles in fighting.
It reflects the concept of dynamic and static,
Movement and Stillness, or Dong and Jing!
4, Demonstration,
Yes, so let me correct his movement first.
So, go forward, then pushm, here, push out.
No need so low. And then the knee pushes a
bit more. Palm moves inward, look at here,
open here, here, straight, relax here. Then
at this moment, then put this kind of small
adjustment in, at the same time, head extends
upward while palm extending forward, yes,
then relax, contrast, the knee moves in the
same pattern, palm… head extends up, down.
That is good. Also, when you push forward
and this area extends backward. Then at a
certain point, just stop moving.
Then, adjust the posture by adjusting the
fingers, especially the index finger. Same
coordination. Same strength, then, here up
a bit ,here, back a little bit. Yes. Very
good.
5, Takeaways.
A lot of interesting topics have been covered
in this video. Like I said in the beginning,
this video did not talk about any specific
body parts or basic movements. Instead, I
focused on some imagery related topics.
(1)Dong, Jing and their meanings and implications
in Chinese philosophy and art have been introduced.
(2) Dong and Jing in Martial Art practice,
means Dynamic and Static,
(3) Specific Dong and Jing imagery in the
Internal Styles along with three proverbs
to summarize Dong and Jing in fighting have
been elaborated and demonstrated.
That ends today’s video. Thank you for watching,
see you next time. And enjoy your practice.
