There Are Plenty of Secrets , livre ebook

Xlibris AU - Andrew McPherson

Découvre YouScribe en t'inscrivant gratuitement

Je m'inscris

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

91 pages

English

Vous pourrez modifier la taille du texte de cet ouvrage

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

A propos
Informations
Extrait

Description

This book looks at the origins and the developments of tai-chi chuan as seen and described by the famous Chen man ching and Master Huang Shen xian. Andrew McPherson also provides the reader with much needed context and explanation of this much-misunderstood Martial Art. In fact, as Mr. McPherson explains, it is more than a Martial Art, in reality.

Sujets

health

Science

Informations

Publié par	Xlibris AU
Date de parution	24 février 2022
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781669886471
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	2 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0250€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

THERE ARE PLENTY OF SECRETS
ANDREW McPHERSON

Copyright © 2022 by Andrew Mcpherson.
Library of Congress Control Number:
2022902608
ISBN:
Hardcover
978-1-6698-8649-5

Softcover
978-1-6698-8648-8

eBook
978-1-6698-8647-1

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 02/23/2022

Xlibris
AU TFN: 1 800 844 927 (Toll Free inside Australia)
AU Local: (02) 8310 8187 (+61 2 8310 8187 from outside Australia)
www.Xlibris.com.au
823496
CONTENTS
Preface
Introduction

Chapter 1What is a Master?
Chapter 2The Unifying Principle
Chapter 3Internal and External
Chapter 4The Ba gua
Chapter 5Modern Research
Chapter 6Critique of Master Huang’s writings

Chapter 1To practise tai chi in an economical way
Chapter 2The benefits of practising tai chi
Chapter 3The methods of learning tai chi chuan
Chapter 4Tai chi chuan’s advanced level of learning
Chapter 5The key points of tai chi chuan
Chapter 7Review of Master Huang’s writings
Chapter 8Other Considerations
Chapter 9Conclusion

List Of Terms
About the Author
PREFACE
Firstly, and foremost, I would like to thank my wife. Secondly, I must thank so many others who have helped with the production of this book. These include Anne Chalmers, and her daughter Emily (who did the remarkably good artwork for the book), and Michael and Sabrina Wang (who gave invaluable advice and help re the original translations). While, there are undoubtedly others, who I have not mentioned, I want to give my best to them as well.
I felt, and still feel, this is an incredibly important book, which covers much that others do not. Hence, I hope the reader reads this book over-and-over. Not only, will the reader, by doing this, get much insight by reading Master Huang’s words, but hopefully from my explanations and discussions that are also given here.
Andrew Mcpherson.
INTRODUCTION
While many people think, “there are no secrets”, as this book will show, there are, in fact, “plenty of secrets” when it comes to tai chi. Like-wise, this could be said for most things Chinese. It is with this in mind, that I am presenting this book to the public, for the first time, to clarify the subject once and for all. Just as I have done so, in previous books, I am in some ways relying on what is already written, particularly by Master Huang Sheng xian in this case. However, unlike previous books, I am critique-ing his work, namely his second book, and explaining to the readers either the context of what he has written or giving further detail. In addition, I find it necessary, to also include some more explanation, as many readers, for example, will not know what a ‘ba gua’ is. Let alone, know what the true meaning of the term ‘master’ is, or what it implies.
Much of what is already translated into English on the subject is, at best, simplistic or maybe even confusing. Wolfe Lowenthal first penned the title There are no secrets but the fact is, we know more about Chinese language today than we knew back when he and many others wrote about tai chi back in the 60’s, 70’s, or 80’s. Furthermore, Chinese people, including teachers, masters, and mentors etc. were not all that good at explaining many of the concepts which apply to tai chi and Chinese medicine. Even Master Huang, at one point in his book Jian yi tai ji quan jia shi ji jiang yi , has difficulty expressing certain key points, and remember this was in his own native language, Chinese. Add to this, the process of copyediting, so that books may be more acceptable to a greater portion of the general public, and you have a recipe for disaster.
So then, between the people who don’t believe there are secrets, when there are, the people who have completely misunderstood concepts, even though they don’t realise they have, and people who have found enormous difficulty in passing-on a lot of important ideas, it is surprising that tai chi has continued to exist. While all this is bad enough, as I’m sure the reader will agree, the Chinese Communist government, after 1949, made matters worse by ‘watering-down’ martial arts in general.
CHAPTER 1
What is a Master?
The title ‘Master’ connotes different things to different people. Some people even refer to Master Huang as ‘the Master’, which almost has some religious implications, (ie. Jesus is often referred to as ‘the Master’ because of his God-like standing with the Christians). So, when the Chinese, or Western Martial arts students, talk about a Master, what do they actually mean.
Surprisingly, the answer is not that simple, and is shrouded in confusion and the in-contextual use of the word. Therefore, to understand the title ‘Master’, we must go beyond all that we have previously been exposed to in early Martial arts movies and TV shows. Secondly, we must more-fully understand the context this term comes from. China, by the time the Communists had come into power in 1949, was a largely uneducated, poverty-stricken country. Prior to this, people were considered by the Chinese government, to be an amorphous mass, only good for one thing – ‘cannon-fodder’ during wartime. In fact, there is even an expression still used today: “ni bu shi dong xi” (“you are not the thing” or, in other words, “you are nothing”). As well as being a highly-insulting remark, this implies that “you needn’t have been born”. Something that a person, who is born into a population, of what is today 1.4 billion people, doesn’t really want to hear. Given this historical background, being a ‘shi fu’ (or si fu in Cantonese) (ie. a technical expert) was indeed an ‘honour’, as was being the student of a ‘shi fu’. This, in effect meant, you were one step-up-the-ladder. You were no longer part of the ‘amorphous mass’. In reality, you were probably no more than a master-builder or master-plumber, or possibly a master-martial artist. However, even this was a big improvement on one’s previous circumstances. This may be hard to understand in today’s society, where education and skill’s-learning are relatively common-place.
Although all of the above is cause enough for consternation, there are some other things we should consider. For example, there are two different ‘shi fu’s. The ‘shi fu’ that is normally used for a ‘master’ (ie. someone who is skilled or maybe an ‘expert’, as described above), by the Martial arts world is different from the ‘shi fu’ that people can also sometimes use. This ‘shi fu’ is equivalent to a ‘meng shi’ (ie. a ‘mentor’ or ‘guide’). However, this ‘shi fu’, not only has different tones and different characters, it is not used in the same way as the ‘shi fu’ in the usual sense of the word ie. you would not refer to a Martial arts teacher as this type of ‘shi fu’, no matter how much respect you have for him or her, directly or indirectly. This kind of ‘shi fu’ or ‘meng shi’ is used when referring to a monk.
In addition, there is also the implication that the term ‘Master’ refers to one’s social standing and job description ie. ‘master’ and ‘servant’. In other words, we are all servants compared to someone, who is a ‘master’. When discussing the matter with a lot of members of the Chinese community, there seems to be very little basis for this view. Instead, a boss is simply a ‘lao ban’, a staff-member is a ‘yuan gong’, and a partner or a business associate is a ‘guo ji’. On the other hand, someone who is in a position of service or a butler etc. is referred to by his/her first name or by the term ‘xiao er’ (‘little one’). No-where in Chinese culture, in the past or the present, does there appear to this kind of social distinction. So, regardless of any interpretations we may have in the West, they do not really apply here.
What then is ‘Master’ Huang? He is obviously more than just a master (like a master builder or a master plumber) or even a grand-master. As we will see, tai chi has its basis or foundations in the I jing (The book of changes) and the ‘ba gua’, and while many masters and grand-masters would or should know this, there is no doubt that ‘Master’ Huang knew more about this than most. Furthermore, much of what ‘Master’ Huang discussed in his writings, indicates a greater interest in the use and application of tai chi than a master would normally be given credit for.
In traditional Chinese society, a master is fairly low on the social scale:

Professor (jiao shou)

Doctor (dai fu, yi sheng)

Teacher (laoshi)

Master (technical expert)
Additionally, there would have been positions above this, especially government offices. While, social scales are hardly of importance in the modern-day world, and are certainly not of importance to the author of this book, one would have to ask, where then does ‘Master’ Huang fit in? Is he a tai chi master? Is he a teacher (-although this would included, teaching lessons on poetry, geography, mathematics, and calligraphy etc. in traditional times)? Is he a doctor? The answer to all these questions would be basically