Di Guoyong on Xingyiquan Volume I Foundations E-reader

Di Guoyong on Xingyiquan Volume I Foundations E-reader

ISBN 978-1-989468-13-5

Contributors Andrea Falk, Guoyong Di

Third Edition of Five Element Foundation

The 2020 Set Edition

Translated and edited by Andrea Mary Falk

Translation copyright © 2005 by Andrea Mary Falk

Third edition copyright © 2021

All Rights Reserved

Volume I of a three volume set. Volume I Foundations. Volume II Forms and Ideas. Volume III Weapons.

Translated and edited by Andrea Falk 2005 in Beijing, China, and Morin-Heights, QC, Canada.

With thanks for the assistance of Di Guoyong, Beijing, China.

Second edition by Andrea Falk, June 2009, Quebec, QC, Canada.

Third edition by Andrea Falk, 2021, Morin-Heights, QC, Canada.

The techniques described in this book are performed by experienced martial artists. The author, translator, and publishers are not responsible for any injury that may occur while trying out these techniques. Please do not apply these techniques on anyone without their consent and cooperation.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Di Guoyong was born in Hebei province in 1948 and moved to Beijing in 1960. He began his wushu life in 1963 with the well-known Zhao Zhong, apprenticing in Shaolinquan and Xingyiquan to improve his poor health. Later he also apprenticed to Wu Binlou to learn Chuojiao Fanzi, and Li Ziming to learn Liang style Baguazhang. His home in Beijing has given him access to the best martial artists throughout his life, until he has become one of those men that he emulated as a youth. He glows with the health and energy that training in the internal martial arts can bring.

Di Guoyong’s main emphasis has for years been Xingyiquan. The work that he does for Xingyiquan sounds like the work of many: founding member, first secretary general, and long-term president of the Beijing Xingyi Quan Research Association; national level one wushu judge; member of the official Xingyi forms development committee; organizer of national and international Xingyi and traditional wushu competitions; Xingyi teacher at Beijing University and other colleges; coach of fighting and forms champions; teacher also of students every morning in the park and of many foreign visitors; author of numerous published articles; presenter of a popular instructional video series; and presenter of an instructional Xingyi series shown on Chinese television. His love for and skill in martial arts, and particularly in Xingyiquan, stands out as a player, teacher, presenter, judge, organizer, researcher, and writer.

Di Guoyong never backs down from any question until he has reached three levels of why and this book reflects that attitude. He has combined his open and inquisitive mind with his years of experience to present the reader with a complete resource for training and teaching Xingyi.

Di Guoyong loves the written word and he loves to research every aspect of Xingyi through every means possible, whether modern or traditional. He never ceases to explore any avenue to learn more about martial arts theory and practice. This book represents the result of over forty years of his love, hard work, experience, and examination. It explains the whole of Xingyiquan – the shape and the meaning, the unarmed and the weapons, the practical and the theory, the training and the teaching, with his particular emphasis always on whole body power. He has tried to present the whole picture to the reader, to combine the form – xing – and the intent – yi – of Xingyiquan.

Andrea Falk, Morin Heights, QC, Canada, June 2005

AUTHOR’S PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION

I have just received Andrea’s email that the English translation of my book is almost done, and that she would like a new preface for this edition. The Five Element Foundation is the first volume of a three-volume translation of my original two-volume book Analysis of Xingyi fist and weapons . Due to the size of the original book, Andrea suggested that the English version come out in three volumes, separating the five element foundation techniques, the empty hand forms, and the weapons, to allow the English books to come out more quickly and reasonably priced, which I agreed was a good idea.

Andrea has trained with me since around the year 2000. From that time she has visited Beijing every year to study Xingyi with me and I have come to know her well. She was a bike racer as a youth, and came to the martial arts as a young adult in the 1970s. She was the first foreigner accepted by the Chinese National Wushu Association in the advanced degree program at the Beijing Institute of Sport. During a six-year relationship with the Institute she studied many wushu styles and weapons. She also was the first foreign woman to train sparring here. Andrea had studied Chinese before coming to China, and her language skills developed considerably during her years in Beijing studying wushu. After her return to Canada she continued to teach, research, and translate to spread Chinese wushu. She not only works continuously to popularize wushu, but she herself continues to train and examine what she has learned.

During the time that she has trained Xingyi with me I have found that, with her solidly built foundation in wushu, she learns quickly and knows how to train hard. She has an intuitive and intelligent grasp of any material. Her high level of Chinese ensures that we have no communication problems. Indeed, I have learned many things from her so that, as they say "teacher and student improve together’.

Andrea is a most appropriate person to translate Chinese wushu into English. Firstly, her mother tongue is English. Secondly, she has studied, trained, taught, and researched wushu for many years, and understands the approaches of both student and teacher. Thirdly, her Chinese is excellent, especially the specialized vocabulary of wushu. My foreign students tell me that with these three strengths her translations are the best!

Every specialty has its own vocabulary. People outside the wushu circle cannot fully understand its vocabulary. People without training in wushu, without firsthand experience in performance, cannot properly understand and express this knowledge in words. People who do not understand Chinese culture cannot properly translate the theoretical aspects of wushu. To translate wushu writings, you need to understand the movements, the power, the applications, the theories, and the terminology, and be able to transfer this knowledge to English speakers. It is not an easy matter to do, but I believe that Andrea is able to do it, and furthermore, that she does it very well.

As this volume on the five element techniques goes to print, I would like to thank Andrea again for the work that she does on the translations. If readers come to understand and enjoy Xingyi more from reading this volume, and if it encourages them to delve deeper into Xingyi, then this is great for Xingyi, and great for Chinese wushu. I invite readers with questions from the book to simply contact me. I’ll do my best to answer your questions. My email is guoyong1948@hotmail.com.

Xingyi is a simple, powerful, and functional style. It completely combines the mind and the body. First you need to learn the movements. Once you are comfortable with them you need to change the emphasis to the intention behind the action. The quality of your intent determines the quality of your power is something that I emphasize throughout the book. Every individual has his or her own background, social history, educational level, habits and hobbies that make up their mental environment. You must find your own concepts that suit your national characteristics, customs and languages, to better accept, enjoy, and train the intent behind Xingyi.

The five element techniques are the mother fists of Xingyi. They are the foundation of the foundation. But you must first set the posts for the foundation with santishi post standing. This is the first step in training. The quality of your post standing will directly determine the quality of your five element techniques. Xingyi emphasizes the post standing to an extraordinary degree – the classics say, If you want to learn Xingyi you must stand for three years. In former times you were not allowed to learn the five elements before you had done three to five years of post standing. Times have changed and this is no longer a requirement, but you should remember the importance of its lesson. Every time you train, you must absolutely start each session with post standing.

Xingyi is particularly suited to Westerners. Westerners tend to be big, strong, relatively heavy, and tend to like straightforward movements. Xingyi is a simple, practical style with no wasted movement. It moves like a tank in a practical, straightforward, fearless way. Heavier players look like heavy tanks, while lighter players look like light tanks. I think if Westerners are introduced to Xingyi that they will love it, and that they will take to it and reach a high level of skill.

The more something is of the people the more it is international. Chinese wushu is like a flowing stream, its source is in China but it belongs to the world. I hope that wushu can bring health to the people of the world, and I hope that Xingyi can help to unite the many peoples of the world.

Di Guoyong, Beijing, China, June 28, 2005

AUTHOR’S PREFACE TO THE CHINESE ORIGINAL

I have tried to present in this book the whole contents of Xingyiquan: history, post standing, the five foundation techniques, the twelve animals, many traditional techniques and forms, and weapons. In my presentation of the traditional forms I have held completely to traditional practices. I have, however, added my own understanding of power and meaning gained over years of training and teaching. I have also included some writings based on my experience and research. I have tried to present more than just how to do the movements, and have described the origins and meanings of the techniques and explained the rhythm, breathing, and whole body power within them. Xingyiquan is characterized by whole body power, and I have tried to describe how to achieve this for each technique through detailed analysis and explanation.

Xingyiquan is not an imitative style, but combines the shape and structure of the images available to us in the world with the power available within the human body and mind. Nowadays in martial arts there is great emphasis on the ‘form ’ and less on the ‘meaning’. What type of meaning should we bring to practice, what type of meaning should we use to direct our training? We cannot leave out the meaning in Xingyiquan, because the definition of the style itself is form [xing] and meaning [yi] together. The ideas that we bring to our practice dictate the power [jin] that we will develop. The meaningful concepts that we bring to practice dictate the deep skill [gongfu] that we will attain.

The process of writing this book has been one of learning and improving for me, and has helped to deepen my understanding of Xingyiquan. Although the book has now been published I do not feel a lightening of my burden. The development of wushu gives us a great responsibility. The theoretical examination of Xingyi in particular falls far behind our need for knowledge if we wish it to develop further. I heartily wish that fellow martial artists, masters, and readers raise questions and opinions to help me improve and to help Xingyi develop.

There are many people involved in the writing of this book that I would like to thank. The editor of the Chinese edition, Zhao Xinhua, for his painstaking help. Liu Mingliang and Yang Shudong, for the many, many photographs that they took. My martial friend Kang Gewu, and former president of the national wushu association Xu Cai, for their prefaces to the original edition, which they took time out of their busy schedules to write.

Di Guoyong, Beijing, China, 2003

TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE TO THE BOOK SET

I wanted to translate this series of books because it fills in many gaps left by current books on Xingyi available in English. I have, since 2000, come to know Di Guoyong and his Xingyi well enough that I felt well qualified to translate his work with full understanding. The time between the original publication and the translation publication of the first volume was less than two years, and I hope to bring out the following two volumes a year at a time.

Translating this book was a new experience for me, marking the first time that the author was available to help me solve problems. This has been an exciting and fun collaborative writer-translator teacher-student team effort. The first time we met we were finishing each other’s sentences, and have continued this way ever since. I have occasionally added things that the author said in class but did not write in the book, without using the device of translator’s notes. These additions are what I have seen or heard Di Guoyong do or say while I trained with him or acted as interpreter in his classes.

This English edition is actually an improvement over the original, with all the mistakes taken out and a few things added. I have reorganized and edited some of the original text in a way that is (I hope) more useful to the reader. Most especially I made the introduction from comments made throughout the original, created the chapter on teaching to reduce repetition of comments made throughout the original, and considerably reworked the Appendix on the internal organs and added diagrams to it. I also made the glossary as is usual in my translations.

I would like to thank:

The author, Di Guoyong, for his knowledge of and enthusiasm for wushu, for his patient teaching, and for his help with the translation and easy agreement to my editing.

His daughter, Di Hua, for all her efforts with emailing.

My parents, William Andre and Mary Elliott Falk, for their painstaking proofreading. My students, Haim Behar and James Saper, for their knowledgeable help with Appendix I.

And, always, Xia Bohua and Men Huifeng, for teaching me Xingyiquan way back when.

Please forgive the odd placement of some of the Chinese characters; this is a quirk of the whacked-out computer program I work with. Any other mistakes in the book are mine alone.

Andrea Falk, Victoria, B.C., Canada, July 2005

TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION

With the publication of the third and final book in the series, I decided to reduce the font size in new print runs of volumes one and two to make the set a bit slimmer. This will use less paper while not reducing the contents of the books at all.

I made quite a few changes while I was in there tightening up the text. They were mostly formatting changes, catching mistakes, and some changes in terminology. The only actual content I changed was to add the extra words from Volume II to the glossary. I feel that the second edition is a great improvement but if you have the first edition there is no need to update it.

Andrea Falk, Quebec QC, Canada, June 2009

EDITOR’S PREFACE TO THE 2020 SET EDITION

All three books needed to be redone to enable print-to-order sales, but the original files of the books were lost. As I set up the books again, I went through them to standardise the formatting to make them a more cohesive set. The main changes I made were to move things around. This was in order to even out the sizes of the books as much as possible, because the printer had problems making books of widely different thickness come out with the same look. I tried to do the readjustment in accordance with learning and teaching progressions. I moved the twelve animals to Volume I, to include them as basic techniques to Xingyiquan. I put all the theoretical and teaching discussions, the Protect the Body partner form, and the glossaries to Volume II, making it the next level – learning empty hand forms, more applications, and more thinking about things. Volume III is now specific to the weapons.

I corrected some typographical errors, adjusted some translation, and made some editorial changes while I was doing this work. I had to work on the photos yet again, and one yet again impressed with Di Guoyong’s perfection and ease in all the movements and postures. If you already have the books, the original translation was solid, you do not need to buy the new set. This is the final edition of the set, and I really hope there are no remaining errors.

Andrea Falk, Morin-Heights, QC, Canada, January 2021

BACKGROUND

HISTORICAL ORIGINS OF XINGYIQUAN

Tradition has it that Xingyiquan originated with General Yue Fei (1103 - 1142) of the Song Dynasty. Recent research has questioned the truth of this tradition. General Yue Fei is a national hero because of his spirit, character, and nationalism, so it is possible that practitioners of Xingyiquan borrowed his name to gain more recognition for the style.

In recent years scholars have published much research into the origins of Xingyiquan. There are some differences of opinion, but the general consensus is that the Xingyiquan system grew out of Xinyi Liuhequan. That is, that Xingyiquan originated with Li Luoneng (c. 1808-1890) of Hebei province, on the foundation of Xinyi Liuhequan that originated with Ji Longfeng (1602-1680, also known as Ji Jike). Ji Longfeng taught Cao Jiwu (1662-1722), who taught Dai Longbang (c. 1713-1802), who taught Li Luoneng. This has been confirmed by the research of many scholars, most notably Huang Xin’ge, who spent many years on the topic and methodologically examined a huge number of historical documents. It seems quite certain that Ji Longfeng created Xinyi Liuhequan and Li Luoneng in turn created Xingyiquan.

The three main branches of Xingyiquan – ‘three streams from the same source’ – are commonly categorized by region: Shanxi, Hebei, and Henan provinces. The ‘source of the streams’ is Xinyi Liuhequan. At present, Henan province still refers to the style as Xinyi Liuhequan, and has essentially kept the original characteristics of Xinyi Liuhequan, most notably the chicken step and ten animals. Shanxi and Hebei provinces refer to the style as Xingyiquan and really represent one branch with only regional and stylistic differences, both coming from Li Luoneng.

By the Qianlong reign period of the Qing dynasty [1736-1796], Xinyi Liuhequan was already an established style with its own techniques and theory in Shanxi and Henan provinces. Li Luoneng studied Xinyi Liuhequan with Dai Longbang for ten years. Li Luoneng had trained in other styles and had a strong foundation in martial arts before studying with Dai, so after ten years of diligent analysis and practical experience he achieved a high level of skill in Xinyi Liuhequan. Li accumulated a great depth of theoretical and practical knowledge over several decades of training, and this gave him a level of mastery that allowed him to refine the style and germinate the idea of creating a new style from Xinyi Liuhequan – that is, to create Xingyiquan. By 1856 his style was spreading by this new name.

In classical Chinese there is only a small distinction between the meaning of the characters xin [heart, the emotional mind] and yi [will, the intentional mind]. So the name xin-yi was repetitive – heart also partially means will, and will contains heart in its meaning. Li Luoneng changed only one character xin [heart] to xing [form, shape, structure] to make the name xing-yi [form and intent] more meaningful.

Although there is a difference of only one character in the names xin-yi and xing-yi, this was a milestone of reform in martial arts history, and a beautiful new ‘martial flower ’ was created in the ‘martial arts garden’. Li Luoneng bravely undertook a systematic reorganization of Xinyi Liuhequan. He established a systematic training method with the santishi post standing as the basic training, the five element fists as the foundation, and the twelve animals as the advanced techniques. He based his system on a combination of the ancient Chinese traditional theories of yinyang and five elements [metal, water, wood, fire, and earth]; the Daoist life enhancing, training, and refining methods and theories; and martial arts internal refinement training. In this way he developed a three-level martial training (obvious, hidden, and transformed; to ‘train essence to transform energy,’ ‘train energy to transform spirit,’ and ‘train spirit to transform to emptiness ’). These aspects were new, and Xingyiquan towered in the martial world with its systematic approach to training and scientific (for its time) theory. Although the theoretical kernel did not depart from Xinyi Liuhequan, it made a qualitative leap to a higher level. Similarly, the later development of Yiquan on the foundation of Xingyiquan created a new style with its own training methods that emphasized will and spirit.

Of course, the establishment and spread of any style, the improvement of theory and enrichment of the technical system take several generations of work. The Xingyiquan now popular throughout China has evolved in theory and technique as the result of the continued innovation of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th generations. With further social advances and developments in scientific understanding, future generations will continue to make Xingyiquan’s theory and techniques even more systematic and modern and enrich all of mankind.

The author’s lineage in Xingyiquan: Li Luoneng (c. 1808-1890) to Liu Qilan (dates unknown) to Li Cunyi (1847-1921) to Shang Yunxiang (1863-1937) to Liu Huafu (dates unknown) to Zhao Zhong (1912-1978) to Di Guoyong (1948- ).

INTRODUCTION TO THE FIVE ELEMENT FISTS

The five element fists – split, drill, drive [or crush], cannon [or pound], and crosscut – are the basic techniques of Xingyiquan. Because they give rise to all other techniques the classic texts called them Xingyi’s ‘mother fists.’

The five element fists take their name from the Chinese five element theory – a key component of ancient Chinese philosophy. According to this theory, all phenomena of the world are composed of five basic interacting energies/substances – metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. This ancient scientific method explained the myriad phenomena by correlating them to the relationships between the five elements – how they formed and complemented each other, interconnected, and interacted.

[Editor’s note: There is no explanation of the cycles in the original book, so I have added this information and a diagram briefly here. Metal creates water, water creates wood, wood creates fire, fire creates earth, and earth creates metal. Metal controls wood, wood controls earth, earth controls water, water controls fire, and fire controls metal. This knowledge is probably assumed. The author does not emphasize the cycles because in actual application different techniques could combine and function equally well. He emphasizes rather the nature of the elements and the techniques, as you will see throughout the book.]

This theory permeated and enormously influenced every aspect of society, so it was natural that the martial artists who developed Xingyiquan should combine the theory of the five elements with martial techniques. Once they simplified their martial techniques and discarded non-functional moves they pared down to five techniques. They then integrated the resulting techniques with their knowledge of body mechanics and Chinese medical theory to explain martial theory and combat methods. They named the resulting techniques the ‘five element fists.’

The five element fists are not just five different techniques, five types of applications, and five post standing methods but more importantly, are five methods of generating power and five ways to train the power generation of Xingyi.

Split (splitting fist) hits mainly forward and down, a vertical downward moving power. [To complete split, the body compresses then lengthens to assist the downward force.]

Drill (drilling fist) hits mainly forward and up, a vertical upward moving power. [To complete drill, the body settles to assist the upward force.]

Drive (crushing fist, thrusting punch) hits straight forward, a straight and level power. [To complete drive, the body expands on the straight line.]

Cannon (pounding fist) drills one hand up to deflect as the other hand punches straight forward, a diagonal power that is effective in all directions. [To complete cannon, the body compresses and expands in a diagonal form.]

Crosscut (crossing fist) pulls one hand back as the other hand knocks across and forward, a horizontal power that covers all directions from the centre, and it is the key power. [To complete crosscut, the body compresses and expands in a diamond form.]

Each technique hits with whole body power, each shows a complete integrated force. Launched power almost always flows forward, outward, and from the root to the tip of the body. The five techniques form one integrated system, and each one isolates an important power so that you may master it. With mastery you can use the techniques freely and naturally. [Editor’s note: Note that the author emphasizes action and power flow, which is under-emphasized by some due to Xingyi’s tradition of post standing training. For each technique the body needs to generate and balance a distinct power. The body compresses and expands in specific directions to create and launch the power and to counterbalance the forces issued for each technique. This pre-loading is a subtle and functional action – there is no extraneous movement in Xingyi. Compression is often done for the ‘defensive’ initiation of the action, and release from the compression launches the ‘offensive’ landing of the action. The author explains this in more detail throughout the book.]

POST STANDING

INTRODUCTION TO POST STANDING, ZHUANG GONG

Post standing is the foundation of martial arts. Martial arts classics say: If you desire to learn martial arts you must start with post standing. Xingyiquan is no exception, to the extent that some masters say that to properly learn Xingyi you must stand post for three years. Post standing serves to build a foundation for the skills needed in Xingyiquan and to strengthen the body for its demands. [Editor’s note: Xingyi is a fast style that hits or throws hard. Xing is structure and action – the way the body stands and moves. Standing is done to improve internal power, but also the lines of power, speed and accuracy of the actions, as explained below. Sometimes people underestimate the speed and agility of Xingyi because of its characteristic static training method.]

The first goal is to learn and master the basic body positions for Xingyiquan, such as holding the head up, keeping the chest contained, dropping the shoulders, sinking the elbows, and so on. Once one gains this kinesthetic awareness one gradually develops deep understanding with unremitting practice.

The second goal is to increase leg strength and the strength of the tendons and ligaments surrounding the knees.

The third goal is to master the requirements of all the distinct shapes and body positions. Standing for a long time sets the body into the correct position. The beginner learns to self-correct and gradually builds correct and unchanging positions. This creates a solid foundation for future learning of movements and skills, and the body will naturally hit the correct positions when moving into the stances.

The fourth goal is to regulate the central nervous system and the whole body. Post standing trains the ability to focus and empty the mind of random thoughts, to focus completely on the task at hand. Concentration is on relaxing every part of the body and on regulating the breath. This type of training benefits the circulatory system, improves the metabolism, regulates the qi and blood, and improves the immune system, thus aiding one to gain a long healthy life. At the same time, it improves the ability to fight by training a focused combative spirit. [Translator’s note: I, along with many translators, have chosen not to translate qi into English. Qi is the energy, life force, or power that circulates throughout the body and keeps us alive. Qi is both energy and the substance that contains this energy, and includes both the life force that you are born with and the life force that you develop through training. Balanced, flowing, and strong qi causes and shows health, while unbalanced, blocked and/or depleted qi causes and shows less than full health.]

Post standing in Xingyiquan includes primordial post standing, meridian post standing (or santishi), descend the dragon post standing, subdue the tiger post standing, and pounding post standing. Each standing method serves a particular goal through different positions and focus. Xingyiquan masters