LEGENDS OF KUNG-FU #28 Ba Gua Quan - The 8 Eight Trigrams Fist If you're a Jet Li fan like me, you rushed out and saw The One on opening weekend. If you're a traditional Chinese martial artist and you saw The One, you enjoyed it even more because Jet Li beautifully performed two of China's most well-known internal styles - xing yi quan and ba gua zhang. Ba gua zhang literally means "eight trigram palm", and the "good" Jet Li was using ba gua as his combative style. Known for its intricate forms based on circular walking patterns and palm changes, ba gua zhang has become quite the favorite among forms competitors in internal style divisions. Yet few people know that ba gua zhang is really a subset that lies within the greater framework of another art called ba gua quan, or the "eight trigram fist". Traditionally, a style would use the suffix "quan" to indicate a complete system of martial arts, including both empty hand skills and weaponry. One of the most distinguished practitioners of ba gua quan in the U.S. is Dr. Michael Guen, based in northern California. Guen dates the historical development of ba gua quan back to the founder of ba gua martial arts, Dong Hai-quan, who lived during the 19th century. Dong's foundation in martial arts was based on the Shaolin luo han quan, yet he traveled throughout China to improve his martial skills with other masters, many of whom were Taoists. The result of his studies was a tremendous synthesis of internal and external martial arts, medicine, mysticism, and philosophy. Most ba gua that is taught today comes from one of two lines: Yin Fu or Cheng Ting-hua. Cheng was supposedly a grappler before coming to study with Dong, so Dong taught ba gua based on Cheng's preexisting strengths. As a result, Cheng Ting-hua's martial descendants practice a style that emphasizes throwing techniques. On the other hand, Dong's first outstanding pupil was Yin Fu, whose background was based more heavily on striking techniques, and it is Yin Fu's lineage that refers to itself as ba gua "quan". It is widely accepted that Dong taught hand-to-hand combat to the Imperial Palace guards in Beijing, and during that time, Yin served as one of the royal bodyguards, eventually becoming one of the hand-to-hand instructors as well. One of his well-known disciples, Gong Bao-tian, became one of Yin Fu's noted students, having trained with him privately from youth. Gong Bao-tian eventually began serving under Yin Fu at the palace as a bodyguard and took over his master's position upon his retirement. When it was Gong's turn to retire, he returned to his hometown in Shandong and reared a young disciple named Gong Bao-zai. It was Gong Bao-zai who brought the entire ba gua quan system to Taiwan during the Chinese Communist Revolution. Gong Bao-zai lived in obscurity in Taiwan until he was recognized by someone from his old village, eventually receiving Michael Guen as a disciple in 1977. Gong told Guen during his stays in Taiwan that ba gua quan was the youngest of the four main schools of Chinese martial arts (Shaolin, Tai-Chi, xing yi quan, and ba gua) because it was the "jing hua" or culmination of martial knowledge from all the other schools. Gong also taught that the fighting posture of ba gua quan was like a crab, pulling the center of gravity close to the ground while having the body's power close to the core. Ba gua's ox tongue palm holds the fingers together for pressure point strikes and grabs, not merely palm strikes or parrying blocks. "These pressure point strikes are indispensable for disabling a strong opponent," says Guen. Another important concept in ba gua quan is the linking of the limbs and the internal organs. Guen says, "Master Gong Bao-zai stressed the importance of moving the limbs in a way that moved the internal organs as well. This essentially massages the organs and keeps the internal and external united, making the person healthy as well as coordinated, and opening the intelligence." Speaking of internal and external from a combative sense, the trademark circle walking of ba gua zhang comprised the internal portion of the ba gua quan system, but the straight line luo han quan training comprised the external portion of the curriculum. According to Guen, "The completeness of ba gua quan is impressive, having both nei xiu (internal building of the fascia network and qi) and wai lian (external development of strength and technique through practice)." ________________________________________ To contact Dr. Michael Guen for more information, you can e-mail
him at Ewalternatives@aol.com |