friends and colleagues: John Lang, who diligently worked at every level of its preparation; James Klebau, a true professional, who caught the inner spirit of the forms in his fine photographs; Pat Kenny, who helped with the graphics; Bob Arief, A1 Carson, Jay Falleson, Steve Goodson, and Irene Pittman, who proofread and corrected the manuscript; Y. W. Chang, Ann Carruthers, Pat McGowan, Chris Bates, Richard Cress, Danny Emerick, and Ben Lo, who acted as sounding-boards; Anne Pavay and Alice Smith, who patiently typed the manuscript; Stephen Comee, who studies under Wang Shu-chin's successor and who worked hard as the editor and designer of this book; the Charles E. Tuttle Company, which agreed to publish this book; and all the masters and teachers of the Chinese internal martial arts who have given their time and instruction—without their generosity we would never have been able to study these arts. To all of these and to others who helped bring this project to fruition, the authors gratefully bow in deep thanks.
Robert W. Smith
Allen Pittman
Flat Rock, NC
| PART ONE | Introduction to Hsing-i Boxing |
The theory of Hsing-i is simple. The aim is to divest ourselves of what we acquire after birth and return to the origin (the oneness) through the Five Fists and the Twelve Animal Styles. All of these derive from one style. Keeping the mind calm and at the tan-t'ien (below the navel), we will come to the one.
—Master Liu Hsiao-Ian
1
What Is Hsing-i?
NAME AND THING
The name of this style of Chinese boxing, hsing-i ch'uan, literally means "the kind of boxing (ch'uan) in which the forms (hsing) are created by the mind (i)." In this "mind-formed list," the mind predominates over mere physicality and, harmoniously blending thought and action, expresses itself in moving forms and postures dating back some 400 years.
Hsing-i is one of the three traditional Chinese forms of internal boxing, the other two being T'ai-chi ("tie-jee") and Pa-kua ("bah-gwah").1 Each of the three internal arts is a distinct style of boxing, yet each shares with the others the fact that it is essentially a form of moving meditation. Boxing is something of a misnomer. Each of the internal arts is actually a self-contained and complete system of exercise that is permeated with functions combining grappling and striking, and that, through correct practice, is seen to be a superior system of self-defense. Each of them, through diligent practice, becomes a part of your life. Self-improvement on all levels—physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual—is the reason we train in an art: it is there if needed, but it is used only in the greatest extremity because of its inherent power. In a utilitarian society, this might seem a silly motivation—to learn something so that you will never have to use it. But Hsing-i is an internal art, and, as such, it is more concerned with life, health, and creativity than with death, competition, or destruction.
Indeed, none of the internal arts has free sparring, which is a type of competitive fighting and which is avoided in learning the internal arts. Rather, we box mainly with ourselves, and by learning the skill there is no need to contest it. George Mallory, who died on Mount Everest in 1924, once explained why men climbed mountains ("Because they are there") by asking, "Whom have we conquered?" and answering, "None but ourselves." Internal boxing is essentially a method of transforming the self. The traditional Doctrine of Three Layers (San-ts'eng t'ao-li) discusses this process of change in terms of Taoist philosophy, wherein it is thought that one's original state (hsu, or emptiness) is filled by a seed-essence (ching) at birth, and that this life essence is so transformed into intrinsic energy (ch'i) and further into vital spirit (shen) through practice that one returns to the original state of emptiness (hsu). It advises the student to change essence into ch'i, ch'i into spirit, and then to restore to spirit the original emptiness. Put simply, the boxing is at once the tool and the product of this creative process. Because it is creative, it cannot lead to destruction. True enough, the old masters met challenges. But more often than not they sent the challenger away a friend—happy because he had been soundly defeated, educated but not seriously hurt.
The most famous such match reportedly occurred in Peking between Kuo Yun-shen, the famed Hsing-i adept known as "the Divine Crushing Fist," and Tung Hai-ch'uan, the modern father of Pa-kua. Kuo tried unsuccessfully for two days to dent Tung's defense and on the third day was completely defeated by the Pa-kua master. The two became lifelong friends; indeed, so impressed were they with the art of the other that they signed a pact requiring students of each discipline to cross-train in the other. Thus, to this day, the systems are coupled, complementary, and taught together. In fact, the principles cited for Hsing-i in this book are equally applicable to Pa-kua.
Done correctly, Hsing-i strikes are extremely dangerous. That is why there is no sparring: if the punches are pulled or muted in any way, they are not Hsing-i. Thus, Western boxing and karaté cannot help the Hsing-i boxer to sharpen his skills. In this respect, Hsing-i is similar to the ancient forms of some Japanese martial arts, which have remained the same over the centuries because of their difficulty and intrinsically dangerous natures. If regulated, restricted, and made sportive, such arts, including Hsing-i and Pa-kua, lose their essence.
Hsing-i nonetheless proved its worth in regulated Chinese national boxing tournaments: its exponents led the winners of the tournaments held in Nanking (1928), Shanghai (1929), Hangchou (1929), and again in Nanking (1933). The most successful provincial competitions were conducted in Honan province by Ch'en P'an-ling, whose method we teach here.
Being a form of meditation, Hsing-i requires strong dedication to regular practice in a quiet place (Fig. 2). You must create for yourself a routine based on a quiet attentiveness, which may at first bore you. Ultimate skill comes from this quiet as much as from the physiological and psychological aspects of the exercise itself. When the silence releases its energy, a quiet mind is produced and your whole being becomes more active.
A system relying totally on body mechanics remains at the level of calisthenics and rudimentary fighting, Hsing-i trains the mind even more than it does the body. The mind wills and the body responds. There is a kind of reciprocity at work, for as the body is exercised dynamically and internally it returns health benefits to both itself and the mind. And the process continues, the mind being the master.
Springing from Taoist and Buddhist techniques, Hsing-i is cooperative, not competitive; it emphasizes being and becoming rather than thinking and doing. But it requires discipline and much hard work. Because Hsing-i gets little media reinforcement, you must motivate and sustain yourself. Progress will be slower than in the external arts, but since the skill you achieve comes from your mind and your internal organs, it will be deeper and will last longer.
HISTORY AND MASTERS
Traditionally, it is taught that Hsing-i was created by a general of the Northern Sung dynasty (960-1 127) named Yueh Fei; and some even credit its genesis to Bodhidharma, the monk who brought Zen from India to China in the sixth century—neither of these claims can be substantiated. Both are the stuff of legend.
What is known with certainty is that a man named Chi Lung-feng is the earliest recorded father of the art, but we know very little about him save that he was from Shanghai, excelled in spear-play, and learned .Hsing-i in the Chung-nan mountains of Shansi province between 1637 and 1662 from a Taoist hermit. Chi's top two students, Ts'ao Chi-wu of Shansi and Ma Hsueh-li of Honan, spread the art to others through whom the teachings have come down to the present in two lines
