Xue Sheng
All weight is underside
I came across something a little while back that made it obvious to me that I was training Xingyiquan incorrectly and that none of my sifus had ever really gotten into. I was training at multiple levels at the same time and not taking into account, even though I knew about Xingyiquan fascination with 3, the importance of 3 in Xingyiquan.
First although I am sure there are other ways to separate this I have heard more than once Xingyiquan has 3 levels of Students which are basically beginner, Intermediate and advanced but it also can have 3 levels of teachers as well which pretty much break down the same way Low level, middle level and high level.
Santi Shi is referred to in English as Trinity Posture or Trinity Pole posture. There is San Ceng Daoli (Principles of three stages), San Bu Gongfu (Three Step Skill), San Zhong Lianfa (Three Methods of Practice) Three Powers (San Li). Note that San Bu Gongfu and San Li are similar but from two different lineages, Che Yizhai is San Li where Guo Yunshen is San Bu Gongfu.
I discovered that I was one level and trying to combine 3 for training and it was not easy, not advancing well and not making sense. After I discovered this it got easier, started advancing and was making sense. As soon as I read about the three steps in development it got a lot easier and for those that train or trained traditional Xingyiquan I do not mean the training got easy I mean it got easier than what I was previously doing.
San Ceng Daoli is transforming vitality into Qi, Transforming Qi into Spirit and transforming spirit into emptiness. This also linked something else I have seen associated with Xingyiquan from the Heart of Perfect Wisdom Sutra or Heart Sutra; “Form is emptiness, Emptiness is form”.
San Bu Gongfu is Changing Bone to make it like Iron to make your base solid and your body strong. Changing Sinews make them long and increase strength and changing marrow to make it light so it appears pure and empty and without obstruction so your movements are like a feather. This can also be broken down into Heavy movement, light movement and agile movement
San Zhong Lianfa is Obvious power (Ming Jen), Hidden Power (An Jen) and Neutralizing Power (Hua Jen)
San Li is not much different than San Bu Gongfu and the same as San Zhong Lianfa. San Li is Obvious power (Ming Jen), Hidden Power (An Jen) and Neutralizing Power (Hua Jen) But Che Yizhai did not agree with San Bu Gongfu and took what he trained as San Li.
Now this all makes up Three steps of Development in Xingyiquan and it is broken down under Ming Jen, An Jen and Hua Jen with about 30 subcategories under each one and I am not going to get into all of them here but to give some idea you have under these the Principals of the three stages, kinds of power, capabilities, tempering, postures and breathing.
What I discovered was that my Taiji background was getting in the way as it applies to breathing and a few other things but most obviously breathing, particularly while in Santi Shi.
Ming Jen (which is my level in Xingyiquan) is suppose to breath with long breaths and it is expressed externally but I was attempting to breath at the level of An Jin which is soft and deep and it was making everything rather difficult. I was trying to train power in my form at the level of An Jin which is penetrating power (Tou Jin) when again I am definitely at the level of Ming Jin (if I can even call this a level that is) which is explosive power (Bao fa Jin). And the expression of power at my level is suppose to be Hard, Sudden and vigorous (Gang Meng) when I was going for Soft and Following (Rou Shun). My level of application ws fine sense I was focusing on attack which is correct for where I am.
The point of posting all this is to say oh well I’m an idiot.. actually no (some may think I am but that is not why I posted all this) that is not why but it was more to point out that many of us (obviously me) try and advance faster than we should or over estimate our abilities and this can lead to confusion and slow or no advancement and understanding in your chosen style. It helped me to stop and take a good hard look at what I was doing and to lok at that form the perspective of those that trained this much longer than I and were much better than, basically those old Chinese guys that did this before appear to know what they were doing after all.
First although I am sure there are other ways to separate this I have heard more than once Xingyiquan has 3 levels of Students which are basically beginner, Intermediate and advanced but it also can have 3 levels of teachers as well which pretty much break down the same way Low level, middle level and high level.
Santi Shi is referred to in English as Trinity Posture or Trinity Pole posture. There is San Ceng Daoli (Principles of three stages), San Bu Gongfu (Three Step Skill), San Zhong Lianfa (Three Methods of Practice) Three Powers (San Li). Note that San Bu Gongfu and San Li are similar but from two different lineages, Che Yizhai is San Li where Guo Yunshen is San Bu Gongfu.
I discovered that I was one level and trying to combine 3 for training and it was not easy, not advancing well and not making sense. After I discovered this it got easier, started advancing and was making sense. As soon as I read about the three steps in development it got a lot easier and for those that train or trained traditional Xingyiquan I do not mean the training got easy I mean it got easier than what I was previously doing.
San Ceng Daoli is transforming vitality into Qi, Transforming Qi into Spirit and transforming spirit into emptiness. This also linked something else I have seen associated with Xingyiquan from the Heart of Perfect Wisdom Sutra or Heart Sutra; “Form is emptiness, Emptiness is form”.
San Bu Gongfu is Changing Bone to make it like Iron to make your base solid and your body strong. Changing Sinews make them long and increase strength and changing marrow to make it light so it appears pure and empty and without obstruction so your movements are like a feather. This can also be broken down into Heavy movement, light movement and agile movement
San Zhong Lianfa is Obvious power (Ming Jen), Hidden Power (An Jen) and Neutralizing Power (Hua Jen)
San Li is not much different than San Bu Gongfu and the same as San Zhong Lianfa. San Li is Obvious power (Ming Jen), Hidden Power (An Jen) and Neutralizing Power (Hua Jen) But Che Yizhai did not agree with San Bu Gongfu and took what he trained as San Li.
Now this all makes up Three steps of Development in Xingyiquan and it is broken down under Ming Jen, An Jen and Hua Jen with about 30 subcategories under each one and I am not going to get into all of them here but to give some idea you have under these the Principals of the three stages, kinds of power, capabilities, tempering, postures and breathing.
What I discovered was that my Taiji background was getting in the way as it applies to breathing and a few other things but most obviously breathing, particularly while in Santi Shi.
Ming Jen (which is my level in Xingyiquan) is suppose to breath with long breaths and it is expressed externally but I was attempting to breath at the level of An Jin which is soft and deep and it was making everything rather difficult. I was trying to train power in my form at the level of An Jin which is penetrating power (Tou Jin) when again I am definitely at the level of Ming Jin (if I can even call this a level that is) which is explosive power (Bao fa Jin). And the expression of power at my level is suppose to be Hard, Sudden and vigorous (Gang Meng) when I was going for Soft and Following (Rou Shun). My level of application ws fine sense I was focusing on attack which is correct for where I am.
The point of posting all this is to say oh well I’m an idiot.. actually no (some may think I am but that is not why I posted all this) that is not why but it was more to point out that many of us (obviously me) try and advance faster than we should or over estimate our abilities and this can lead to confusion and slow or no advancement and understanding in your chosen style. It helped me to stop and take a good hard look at what I was doing and to lok at that form the perspective of those that trained this much longer than I and were much better than, basically those old Chinese guys that did this before appear to know what they were doing after all.
