The Art of Taijiquan: An Examination of Five Family Styles

995 Pages·2017·10.06 MB·English

by  Andrew Townsend

The Art of Taijiquan An Examination of Five Family Styles Copyright © 2017 Andrew Townsend All
rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical
including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage retrieval system without the
express permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or
reviews.
ISBN-13: 978-1978071872
ISBN-10: 1978071876
For Grandmaster Dr. Jesse Tsao, whose knowledge, skill, wisdom, and
generosity of spirit are the inspiration for this book.
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Part One
Fundamentals of the Art of Taijiquan
Chapter One
The Development andEvolution of Taijiquan
Chapter Two
The Philosophical Foundation of Taijiquan
Chapter Three
The Theoretical Foundation of Taijiquan
Chapter Four
The Fundamental Principles of Taijiquan
Chapter Five
The Principles of Pushing Hands
Chapter Six
Chen Style TaijiquanPrinciples and Concepts
Chapter Seven
Yang Style TaijiquanPrinciples and Concepts
Chapter Eight
Wu Style Taijiquan Principles and Concepts
Chapter Nine
Hao Style Taijiquan Principles and Concepts
Chapter Ten
Sun Style Taijiquan Principles and Concepts
Part Two
Comparison of Postures
Chapter Eleven
Opening Posture
Chapter Twelve
Lazily Tying the Robes &Grasp the Bird’s Tail
Chapter Thirteen
Single Whip
Chapter Fourteen
White Crane Spreads Its Wings
Chapter Fifteen
Walking Obliquely and Brush Knee
Chapter Sixteen
Single Fist Punching Postures
Chapter Seventeen
Six Sealing and Four Closing
Chapter Eighteen
Cloud Hands
Chapter Nineteen
Parting the Wild Horse’s Mane
Chapter Twenty
Jade Girl Works the Shuttle
Chapter Twenty-One
Kicking Postures
Chapter Twenty-Two
Low Postures
Chapter Twenty-Three
Double Fist Punching Postures
Part Three
Fast Forms, Dual Practice, and Weapons
Chapter Twenty-Four
Fast Forms and Fa Jin Training
Chapter Twenty-Five
Dual-Person Training
Chapter Twenty-Six
Weapons Training
Appendix A – Chen Style Laojia Yi Lu Solo Form List of Postures
Appendix B – Yang Style Traditional Solo Form List of Postures
Appendix C – Wu Style Traditional Solo Form List of Postures
Appendix D – Hao Style List of Postures
Appendix E – Sun Style List of Postures
Bibliography
Preface
This book is the result of the convergence of a number of influences on my life in
general and my study of the martial art of taijiquan in particular. By both my
natural disposition and by my undergraduate and graduate education, I consider
myself to be a generalist. I like to look at individual trees and discern the forest. I
enjoy observing the tiniest details in nature and relating them to generalized
archetypes, such as watching a spider weaving its web and perceiving the similarity
in its shape to that of a tightly wound spiral galaxy. As the ancient Taoist sages
came to realize, from the observation and analysis of details general patterns
emerge. The ability to make the intuitive leap from the specific to the general has
always been one of my strengths and also a source of great personal satisfaction
and wonderment. When I meet other like-minded individuals, I usually feel a deep
sense of kinship and of shared respect.
Looking back now, some twenty-eight years later, I realize that all my early
taijiquan teachers were specialists rather than generalists. When I began studying
the art of taijiquan, I was fortunate to learn from several skilled Western teachers,
each of whom had studied under one of Professor Zheng Manqing’s Chinese
disciples. I later had the opportunity to meet and to attend workshops with some of
Prof. Zheng’s Chinese disciples: Abraham Liu, William C. C. Chen, and Ben Lo.
Later, I had the opportunity to study for three months with Master James Huang in
Honolulu, who had also studied with a disciple of Prof. Zheng in Taiwan.
Although these individuals were all skilled in Prof. Zheng’s style of taijiquan and
were each recognized as excellent pushing hands players, their perspective was
limited to this one narrow branch of Yang style taijiquan. On my own initiative, I
had made the effort to learn the Yang traditional long form. These teachers,
however, each informed me that practicing the traditional long form was
unnecessary, and that the thirty-seven movement Zheng Manqing form contained
everything that was essential to the mastery taijiquan.
To be quite honest, in the first four years of my taijiquan journey, I really had no
real awareness of the wider world of taijiquan. I now recognize that this was
typical of many taijiquan enthusiasts who began studying this art in the United
States at that time. Because Prof. Zheng Manqing had been one of the earliest
Chinese masters of taijiquan to immigrate to the U.S. and to popularize this art, his
influence and that of his disciples and their students dominated much of the
taijiquan scene in this country for several decades.
At one point, I was studying in San Diego with a Westerner who was a direct
student of Prof. Zheng. I considered this to have been a step up from studying with
a student of a student of the Professor. A pushing hands friend told me about a
Chinese teacher who had recently moved to San Diego and who was, to quote my
friend, “the real deal.” He told me I had to check out this new teacher, but I felt that
I had finally “arrived” by studying with this well-known Zheng Manqing
representative.
Foolishly, I held out for several months before joining one of Master Jesse Tsao’s
classes at a local park. Upon meeting Master Tsao (who is now both a Grandmaster
and holds a doctorate in Wushu from Shanghai Sport University), I immediately
knew that I had, indeed, come upon “the real deal” in a taijiquan master. Not only
was Grandmaster Tsao’s skill of a caliber that I had never encountered, but his
range of knowledge and mastery of the martial applications of taijiquan far
surpassed any of the other teachers with whom I had previously studied.
When he came to the United States, Grandmaster Tsao had already studied
taijiquan for many years and had achieved a level of mastery in the Chen, Yang,
Wu, and Sun family styles of taijiquan that few individuals every attain. Moreover,
he was able to convey to his students the general principles of taijiquan that
transcended individual family styles. Here was another generalist – someone whose
skill I could marvel at, whose knowledge I could appreciate, and whose wisdom I
could admire and aspire to.
Over the years since, my appreciation of Grandmaster Tsao’s skill and knowledge
have only grown as both he and I have evolved and progressed on our own
individual taijiquan paths. I have continued to study with “Master Jesse,” as his
students fondly refer to him, and count him among my closest friends. During the
course of numerous weekend seminars and weeklong taijiquan summer camps, I
have seen him switch effortlessly between different family styles, answering first a
question on the traditional Yang style long form, next switch to the details of a
complicated Wu style sword form technique, and then demonstrate the difference
between the Chen style Old Frame Cannon Fist form and the New Frame version of
this fast, explosive routine.
Not only does Grandmaster Tsao know the details of dozens of empty-hand and
weapons forms, he is also able to demonstrate at speed the martial application(s) of
every posture in each of these forms. His martial skill is remarkable and yet his
personality is calm, gentle, kind, generous, and peaceful. He enjoins each of his
indoor disciples in their initiation ceremony to refrain from employing taijiquan
skill to injure others or to create discord within the larger taijiquan community.
In addition to his skill in both forms and martial applications, Grandmaster Tsao
whole-heartedly espouses the practices of qigong, Traditional Chinese Medicine,
and the concept of nourishing life (yangsheng gong). More than any other
individual whom I have met in my long and eclectic taijiquan journey,
Grandmaster Tsao embodies the essence of taijiquan as a primarily Taoist practice.
This latter aspect of his personality is, perhaps for me, the most appealing and
inspiring of all his many personal qualities. He is, for me, a true taijiquan
generalist.
It is the model of a taijiquan generalist, represented in the person of Grandmaster
Tsao, which served as the inspiration for this book. I already had studied the Chen,
Yang, and Wu family styles with Grandmaster Tsao for many years. Several years
ago, I made a promise to myself that I would extend my knowledge and
understanding to include the Sun and Hao styles as well. Learning the Sun style
was relatively easy, as I had Grandmaster Tsao’s DVDs and his personal
corrections to assist me. I also had access to Sun Lutang’s manual and that of his
daughter to provide me with technical details regarding the postures. I further knew
several individuals who had learned this style and also Sun’s xingyiquan whose
assistance proved invaluable.
The Hao style, however, was a greater challenge. I must admit that my practice of
this style is based upon video sources only, although I was fortunate to obtain a
copy of Danilo Marrone’s Hao Taijiquan Primer, which is based upon the writing
of Hao Shao Ru and provided much valuable information and numerous insights
into this relatively unknown style. In a way, learning the Hao style traditional long
form was made easier by the fact that I had already learned the Sun style long form.
Of course, this was actually working backward, as the Sun style is largely derived
from the Hao style. In the end, although I am by no means an expert in this style, I
believe that I was able to learn enough of the Hao style to at least be able to relate
this style to the four other major family styles.
Armed with at least a rudimentary level of skill and understanding in the five major