PA-KUA: Eight-Trigram Boxing
CHINESE MARTIAL ARTS LIBRARY
PA-KUA
Eight-Trigram
Boxing
Robert W. Smith
and Allen Pittman
CHARLES E. TUTTLE COMPANY, INC.
Rutland, Vermont & Tokyo, Japan
Disclaimer
Please note that the publisher of this instructional book is NOT RESPONSIBLE in any manner whatsoever for any injury that may result from practicing the techniques and/or following the instructions given within. Since the physical activities described herein may be too strenuous in nature for some readers to engage in safely, it is essential that a physician be consulted, prior to training.
Published by the Charles E. Tuttle Co., Inc.
of Rutland, Vermont & Tokyo, Japan
with editorial offices at
Osaki Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 141-0032
© 1989 by Charles E. Tuttle Co., Inc.
All rights reserved
LCC Card No. 89-51717
ISBN 0-8048-1618-2
ISBN 978-1-4629-0622-2 (ebook)
First edition, 1990
Seventh printing, 1998
[email protected] www.tuttlepublishing.com
PRINTED IN SINGAPORE
Contents
| Preface | |
| Acknowledgments | |
| PART ONE: Introduction to Pa-kua | |
| 1. | What Is Pa-kua? |
| Philosophy and Practice | |
| History and Masters | |
| 2. | Essential Pa-kua |
| Substance and Form | |
| Concepts Needed for Practice | |
| Notes on Practice | |
| The Teacher-Student Relationship | |
| PART TWO: Pa-kua Training | |
| 3. | The Basics |
| The Main Principles | |
| The Twelve Basic Principles | |
| The Ten Prohibitions | |
| “Internally Bound, Externally Stretched” | |
| The Nine Palaces | |
| Other Principles | |
| 4. | Walking the Circle |
| The Concept of the Circle | |
| The Eight Major Palm Shapes | |
| The Eight Changes | |
| •SINGLE CHANGE OF PALM | |
| •DOUBLE CHANGE OF PALM | |
| •HAWK SOARS UP TO HEAVEN | |
| •YELLOW DRAGON ROLLS OVER | |
| •WHITE SNAKE STICKS OUT TONGUE | |
| •GIANT ROC SPREADS WINGS | |
| •WHITE MONKEY PRESENTS A PEACH | |
| •WHIRLWIND PALMS | |
| 5. | Conclusion |
Preface
We wrote this book believing that there are many people who are interested in the Chinese internal martial art of Pa-kua (pronounced “ba-gwa”) as it was traditionally taught on the mainland.* Such people understand that this art is a meditative form of health and body management from which self defense spills over, rather than an aggressive combat form, of which the world already has too many. As a system of self defense, however, it is harshly effective.
Besides training for several years in Taiwan under the Pa-kua masters Hung I-hsiang and his brother Hung 1-mien, Mr. Smith was also fortunate enough to be allowed to study under Wang Shu-chin, Kuo Feng-ch’ih, Yuan Tao, and other masters. His training path is very clearly outlined in his Chinese Boxing: Masters and Methods (Tokyo, 1974) and other books. Some twenty years later, Mr. Pittman, one of Mr. Smith’s senior students, went to Taiwan seeking the old masters, but found that many had died. In Taipei, however, he came across a still hardy Hung I-mien, who invited him to share his home as a live-in student. After absorbing Hung’s Hsing-i and Pa-kua, he traveled south to Taichung to practice with the sons of the late Ch’en P’an-ling—Yuan-ch’ao and Yun-ch’ing—and the senior students of the late Wang Shu-chin.
From these experiences, the basic forms of these two master teachers as taught to the authors were assimilated and consolidated. This is the first time that they have been taught to the West in such minute detail. We hope that Western students will benefit from this exposition of teachings that were once only passed on to initiates deemed worthy of learning the styles and being entrusted with their transmission.
The Pa-kua forms given in this book are essentially those of Wang Shu-chin as elaborated in his Pa-kua lien-huan chang [Pa-kua Linked Palm] (Taipei, 1978; privately published). Also used as sources were the two books considered to be the best ever written on the art: Sun Lu-tang’s classic Pa-kua ch’uan hsueh [A Study of Pa-kua Boxing] (Peking, 1916) and Huang Po-nien’s Lung-hsing pa-kua chang [Dragon-Style Pa-kua Palm] (Shanghai, 1936). These are the orthodox, traditional methods long practiced on the mainland and in Taiwan—the authentic forms from which most other versions derive. They are being published here so that students can learn the real forms as opposed to the Americanized offshoots. These forms are designed to refine your nature, reform your temperament, and return you to your original self.
But it is a rash reader who thinks that by simply buying this book he or she will mysteriously be enabled to absorb the teachings it contains. To learn any of the three internal arts—Tai-chi, Hsing-i, or Pa-kua—requires commitment, not mere involvement. Being involved or committed is like ham and eggs: the chicken is involved but the pig is committed! This is not a coffee-table book—it should be sweat over and on. We have labored over its presentation, carefully