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Fang Ning On
Tai Chi Chuan Kung-Fu
Translated by Master Vincent Chu
It is common among martial artists to discuss their skills. The same is true of Tai Chi Chuan practitioners. We have seen a competition match where an older man defeated a younger man; we heard from our teachers and read from books how the Yang Family members' kung-fu was so good that they defeated hard style practitioners without any difficulty. When a young man is defeated by an older man, we say that the young man's kung-fu is not as good as an older man's. You may wonder how to measure kung-fu skills in Tai Chi Chuan. The following is my understanding and interpretation of how to measure different levels of Tai Chi Chuan kung-fu with my sixty years of practical knowledge.
Tai Chi chuan kung-fu is divided into ten levels. The first three levels are called lower level or what some people call the level of "entering the door" for this is the beginning of a journey of Tai Chi Chuan training. If a student has achieved the third level, he is considered to have entered the door of training. Fourth to sixth levels are called the middle level or what some people call "enter the door and go into the room". It is so-called because the student is no longer a beginner and all his instructions are taught in a closed space. Seventh level is the level for a Tai Chi Chuan practitioner to master. Eight to tenth levels are the higher levels and are commonly referred to as "reaching the peak and summit." Eighth level means one has reached the peak but not the summit. Throughout the history of Tai Chi Chuan, the number of people who achieve this level is very few, so few that we can count them without fingers. People who have achieved this level must have spent decades of diligent practice. For now, anyone who has achieved eighth level will be very famous not just in China but throughout the world if he wanted to show his skill to the public.
The following is a more detailed discussion on the ten levels of Tai Chi Chuan kung-fu. We all know that Tai Chi Chuan is an internal martial art and it is based on the philosophy of yin-yang(that is soft interacting with hard). The whole process of Tai Chi Chuan training is to break down the stiff and rigid body into a soft and relaxed body and then assemble this soft and hard body into a hard and solid body like steel. The Classics say that one should first seek the familiar and then try to understand the jing(internal power). From beginning to understand the jing, with practice the practitioner develops enlightenment. With the term "familier" the Classics refers to the concept of transforming the hard and rigid body into soft and relaxed body through push hands and the knowledge of these concepts is also called "entering the door" kung-fu. Therefore, it is taught orally. Of course, if one practices Tai Chi Chuan just for health, one does not need to practice push hands. However, if one practices Tai Chi Chuan as a martial art, one must practice push hands. Otherwise one is never considered to have entered the door. From push hands exercise, one slowly understands the jing. These are the first three levels of Tai Chi Chuan kung-fu.
From push hands exercise standpoint, the first three levels of kung-fu are the yielding or neutralizing of the opponent's energy. The Classic of Tai Chi Chuan Circle says that the retreat circle is easer to do than the advance circle. The first three levels are also called the retreat circle. In level one, most of the movements are composed of stiff and rigid energy, very little of yielding energy. In the second level, yielding energy increases and rigid energy decreases in all movements. This is the result of understanding the concepts of push hands exercises and getting familiar with the opponent's energy and movements. In the third level, all the movements are controlled mainly by the yielding energy and one begins to understand the jing. At this time, one does not just understand and know the jing but is able to maneuver in a circular motion to neutralize the coming energy.
The first three levels is for a student not familiar with the concept of circle to become very familiar with the concept of circle and can use this circle principle to adhere and follow the coming energy. When one understands how and when to use this circle to retreat, one is beginning to understand jing.
Fourth to sixth level kung-fu is working with the advance circle. Therefore, it is also called the advance circle training. When I speak of advance circle, it is not simply a response after retreat. It is in the process of retreating that your yielding energy adheres to the opponent's energy at all times and under this condition you are forced to advance. For in this situation, your advance maneuver threatens and can cause your opponent to lose balance and get defeated. Your offensive maneuver can be a strike or just fa jing(release energy) and can send the opponent flying. At this time, the student begins to develop fa jing or one inch fa jing techniques. Therefore, if a practitioner does not possess these fa jing or one inch jing techniques, one is considered not to have achieved the fourth level and has not entered the door.
In this fourth to sixth level kung-fu, training involves collecting all the limber body parts and beginning to form firm body parts and from one inch fa jing into even smaller unit of fa jing techniques. Common people generally withdraw their arms one or two feet to reserve power and then punch forward. This is called one foot fa jing technique. At the fourth level, one does not need to withdraw the arms and hands. At this level, a simple fa jing technique cause the opponent to fly. This is the sign that he has entered the door and begins to go into the room. At this time the practitioner should feel the legs and feet are much stronger and are rooted. After one has achieved the fourth level and higher, one is at a very delicate time. The classic calls this as one day's worth of practice and one day's worth of skill. This is also the time when the practitioner has entered the door and has gone into the room. The classic also calls this the time of "no rest and keep practicing." The classic says that in order to learn correctly, one must begin by oral transmission. When a student has achieved level four, he has completed the oral transmission period. Although the student does not practice push hands exercises this time, practice of the solo form can improve Tai Chi Chuan kung-fu. Of course, with a teacher's guidance, the student's progress is much greater.
When a student has achieved level six, he has entered the room and understands the knowledge. Now he is beginning to understand how to let oneself go and follow the opponent's energy and apply energy any way he likes. From my sixty years of practical experience, level seven is the key level in which one is going from middle kung-fu into higher kung-fu transition. It is the level of using the mind to control all movements any way one likes. When a student completes this level, the student has also completed the advance circle. The next step is no circle. It is also for the student to practice one inch fa jing technique to small units of fa jing techniques. At this time, one should find that part of the body is soft and every part of the body is solid. Every part of the body can yield and every part can fa jing. Therefore, depending on which part of the body is in contact with the opponent, that part of the body will strike the opponent.
From push hands application standpoint, the first three level are outer circle yielding while fourth to fifth levels are inner circle yielding. The sixth level is yielding with the body. That means one leads the opponent's energy close to the body and then maneuver the body for yielding. This technique is called "separation of the flesh." Level seven is no circle strike. Besides the three ways of yielding as described above, one can lead the opponent's energy to come close to the body and counter strike without yielding. This technique is called "point strike." At this time, you cannot see the hands move because when the hands touch, it is a strike. When the hands stick, it is also a strike. In this point of contact, it is composed of strike and fa jing and it can be either soft or solid, it can be yield or fa jing. You can say that it is soft and you can say that is is solid.
Levels eight to ten are advanced Tai Chi Chuan kung-fu. Because I have not achieved this yet, I cannot define what it is. From what I heard from my teacher and sixty years of practical experience, anyone who has achieved this level can do wonderful things. This is what the classics commonly refer to when it says, "the opponent does not know me but I know the opponent." The body is so sensitive and light that one cannot add one feather, fly and mosquito cannot land on the body. When an opponent punches the body, the opponent is already injured and is flying backward but you did not see my improvement. Any movement can cause the opponent injury and bleeding. Of course, in martial arts taining, There is no such thing as the end state. The more your practice, the better the skill. Skill is infinite. Tai Chi Chuan practitioners past and present have achieved skill that most people do not believe was humanly possible.
Tai Chi Chuan Discussion
a. History
When I arrived in America last year, I saw that many Americans wished to learn Tai Chi Chuan. It is a good sign that the ancient Chinese culture is gradually being accepted by western society. If you say Tai Chi Chuan, many Americans are aware of its health benefits. Although Tai Chi Chuan is popular in America, there are two issues connected to Tai Chi Chuan that the people are not so familiar with:
1. Tai Chi Chuan is a martial art
2. Tai Chi Chuan is not only for seniors to practice for health. It is better to start when one is young.
With its unique, soft, circular and balanced movement and even breathing, it is easy for the body to relax, free from stress and good for joint disease exercise. However, since it is so soft and slow, how could it be a martial art? Very few people can answer this question properly. Actually, Tai Chi Chuan is a part of Taoism. It is also a high level martial art. It was created by Taoist Chang San Feng, who lived in Wudang Mountain in the late Song Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty. Thus, practitioners the orthodox Tai Chi Chuan belong to Wudang School. Wudang School Tai Chi Chuan internal martial art enjoyed the same fame as Shaolin School external martial art in Chinesehistory.
During the middle of Qing Dynasty, in the cold weapon period, Great Great Greatmaster Yang Lu Chen, the first generation of Yang Style, inherited the real skill of Tai Chi Chuan. With his unique and high level skill, he defeated all other martial art practitioners. He was known as the "Invincible Yang" and was invited to the army training center to teach the warriors by working as general instructor. Yang Lu Chen's two sons Yang Ban Hou and Yang Jian Hou, his grandson Yang Cheng Fu, three generations, possessed invincible skill in Tai Chi Chuan.
b. Fa Jing
What skill makes Tai Chi Chuan so famous among the martial art world? The answer is Fa Jing or issue power. Yang Family Members used this Kung Fu to defeat all challengers and made Tai Chi Chuan famous. That is the real Tai Chi Chuan skill.
Push Hand exercise in Tai Chi Chuan is the basic training to get into the martial art. During Push Hand practice, people generally observe two people trying to neutralize the other’s attack. There are very few people who have actually observed the execution of the Fa Jing technique and so most are unaware of the Fa Jing skill in Tai Chi Chuan. Fa Jing means issue power; it is like shooting an arrow. The opponent who receives it will seem to suddently fly away or jump back several yards. The amount of Fa Jing issued depends on the practitioner. Some practitioners can push the opponent back more than ten yards. Fa Jing is the core of the Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan. They not only neutralized the opponent's hard attack but counterattacked, but used Fa Jing to repel the opponent far away. There is no other martial art as powerful as Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan that can repel and opponent so far away.
In America today, there are very few masters that possess Fa Jing skill and few American Tai Chi Chuan practitioners have any knowledge of this skill. Due to lack of information, people disregard Tai Chi Chuan as a martial art because of the soft movements they observe. Tai Chi Chuan is indeed a martial art. Among the many different family styles of Tai Chi Chuan, Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan, with its unique procedure and very regular form "one inch difference makes a thousand mile lost" can help the practitioner to develop and at last to have this unique Fa Jing. If you have not got a real Yang Style master, you can not get in to the door of Fa Jing. It does not matter how long you have practiced Tai Chi Chuan, even your whole lifetime.
C. Internal Martial Art
Why is it that people called Tai Chi Chuan as an internal martial art and Shaolin Kung Fu as an external martial art? Tai Chi Chuan begins with big circle, then after many years of practice, the circle will be become smaller. Practicing Tai Chi Chuan begins from big circle to middle circle then to small circle and finally, the small circle becomes one point and no more circle. At this stage, any part of the body can neutralize the opponent's attack and issue Fa Jing within a point. This is so small that it is but a touch. For external martial art such as Shaolin Kung Fu, when a practitioner attacks, one's power appears outside for people to see. As in internal martial art, when a practitioner attained no circle stage, one can use power for Fa Jing without any external movement for people to see. From outside perspective, it looks as if one does not move but the opponent retreat. For this reason, the power used by the Tai Chi Chuan practitioner is not visible therefore people called Tai Chi Chuan as an internal martial art. Today, there is very few Tai Chi Chuan practitioner attained this no circle high stage and skillful in Fa Jing without movement. For lack of skill, demonstration and information, people do not know why Tai Chi Chuan is called internal martial art.
D. Ten Level of Tai Chi Chuan Kung Fu
Actually, Tai Chi Chuan skill is divided into ten levels. I have written an article "Fang Ning On Tai Chi Chuan Kung Fu" to explain this subject. The first three levels are called the low level it is also known as the entering the door Kung Fu. Mainly work on retreating circle to neutralize the opponent's attack. The Tai Chi Chuan Classics said "It is easy for retreat circle and difficult for advance circle". Four to six levels are the advance circle. In this level, practitioner follow the real master will get the Fa Jing at the fourth level. It is an "inch" Fa Jing. The circle become smaller and smaller at last he will enter the seventh level. This is equivalent to a practitioner is going through the door to inside the room. This is a correct procedure to get into high level. For my personal experience in this stage of no circle, one touch can send people away. All part of the body can issue Fa Jing without any movement. It is a wonderful skill. When a practitioner can do this, we can say that he is really master Tai Chi Chuan. This is the goal for all Tai Chi Chuan practitioners. Of course, all of this must devote one's mental and physical labour and better yet, to get a real teacher who can really perform this skill. If you do not see such skill from your teacher, how can you expect to learn it! Wishing every Tai Chi Chuan practitioners to be healthy and happiness.
By Grandmaster Fang Ning
Composed by Dimitri Mougdis
at the Internal Arts InstituteHobe Sound, Florida
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