The Stratagem of Abasing Oneself

Wudang Gongfu, having absorbed reasonable kernels of all kinds of military sciences, has developed its own stratagem of abasing oneself.
According to philosophers, things are not only opposite and unified, but also active, progressive, and changing towards the opposite direction. In Book of Laozi, Laozi, the famous Chinese philosopher, thought that positive position can be turned into negative position, goodness into evil, and that disaster is connected with symptom of fortune and fortune is connected with the root of disaster. On the base of the above transforming law, he proposed that the theory of Taoism is working towards the opposite direction, in other words, when something is strong, it will become old and weak. It is against the theory of Taoism to make something stronger intentionally, which will make it die earlier.
Laozi said, "a kind emperor is just like a quiet water, which benefits all the creatures in the world, not do harm to." A quiet water leads to a quiet and prosperous world without any disaster. He also proposed that knowing how to be strong, we stick to being weak; knowing how to be famous, we stick to being common. Clearly understood how to become strong and tough, but he stuck to being weak and tender; clearly understood how to become famous and honorable, but he stuck to being modest and humble. This ideology to insist on tender and modesty has played a great influence on Wudang Gongfu, having helped develop the following outstanding features of Wudang Gongfu, proposing using knowledge but strength, proposing pacification but confrontation, proposing evasion but contradiction.
For skills, Wudang Gongfu insists on changes of acts, not strength of acts; making full use of easy and harmonious acts to defeat the rival, not compelling methods. When exercising boxing, we should our bodies easy but tense, breath and blood can flow naturally, so we can become powerful inside by years of exercising. This kind internal power is very tender, when facing a rival, it can change easily with the attack of the rival, and then defeat the rival easily.
Being tender and modest is not the real purpose of Wudang Gongfu, whose real purpose is to defeat the strong by tender methods. The secrecy of Wudang Boxing directed that we should defeat the strong by tender methods, overcome the slow by quick acts, wait still for the rival's attack, attack the rival in a curving way. Among the skills of Wudang Gongfu, most of propositions are a small force to a big one, a powerless attack to a powerful one, weak to strong, tender to tough. The skill of defeating the tough by tender ways demands the learner of boxing to do more exercices to a higher stage, such as, body should be as easy and flexible as a swimming fish or tender wind; hands can move quickly with the thought as lightning; feet can move about easily with the thought, so that the rival can't know where you will go next; as to mind, you should not be afraid of near fighting, tough rival, and violent attack, just take it easy and sum up to the situation; as to the joints, neck, backbone, waist, shoulder, elbow, wrist, kneel, and ankle can turn around easily; to the inner work, the learner should cultivate body essence, vital energy and mentality, combining with the exercise of strength, speed, and change, achieve a most powerful Gongfu that can start with the thought and defeat the rival with the thought, and that when beginning, the strength is as tender as cotton; but as hard as steel when attacking the target. Only this, can the learner achieve a unification of internal work and external work. Only this, can Wudang Gongfu defeat the tough by tender methods, overcome the strong in a weak position, and wait still for the actions of the rival and then beat him down.

The Naturalness of Fist Position

Every progress of Wudang Gongfu is the result of imitation of biology's and non-biology's framework, shape, character, and ability. Even in the ancient years of Wars, the leading art to activate bones and muscles and to regulate breath to the effect of keeping fit, was just imitating birds' and animals' actions to keep healthy and prolong life span. During the late years of East-Han Dynasty, the famous doctor Hua-Tuo, learned from the actions of tiger, deer, bear, monkey and bird, invented a kind of gymnastics, Five Animal-mimic Frolics. In the following dynasties, regulatory Qigong had great development. Some men of letters and Taoists invented Eight Trigrams Boxing, Twelve Trigrams Boxing, on the base of ancestors' work. Judging from regulatory Qigong to Taiji Boxing, the imitation of activity characters of all creatures in the natural world is the secret to keep body healthy and increase strength.
During the formation and development of Wudang Gongfu, those inventors have learned from all creatures, imitated the shapes and learned their intentions, grasped their strong points to make human beings stronger and stronger. This kind of imitation of biology and non-biology, from actions, tools, names, ways, to characters, is the harmonious result of returning to the nature, is the exertion of Taoism "Nature and Humans are connected". Here "Nature" refers to the natural world, "Nature and Humans are connected" refers to that human beings and nature are communicated in the reality and that all the activities of human beings is just conforming to the nature. Only conform to the nature can we live and develop. Exercising all the reasonable actions of biology and non-biology to prolong their off-springs, and achieving a balance between nature and humans, can make human beings live forever among the universe.
In Taiji Boxing, Taiji, namely extremity, really means that working in the unlimited universe and combining Yin and Yang in the nature. China's Book of Changes has named the former original unity Taiji, root of the universe, germ of all creatures in the heaven and world. Naming a boxing Taiji, was to show the unification between humans and nature by means of boxing. The progress of exercising boxing is the progress to achieve unification between humans and nature.
Wudang Gongfu succeeded in achieving the whole effect of cultivating body and mind, which is the material performance of Universe Unity Theory in boxing.
Wudang Gongfu pays more attention to purify learners' mind, proposes the progress should begin from mind to body, then from body to mind. The learners should first purify their minds, remove all other thoughts, just concentrate on boxing, which is concentration of mind, or going into quietness of mind. Only concentrate one's mind and go into quietness of mind, can he concentrate his mind and sense to activate body, change temperament, and make himself stronger and healthier in the exercising of boxing.
But the other boxings pay more attention to body exercice, propose that human body is the carrier of Gongfu. The body, strong or weak, decides Gongfu, strong or weak. But carrier has two parts, body and mind, and mind is more important than body, so we should cultivate our minds to make the strength strong, then the body, then the whole.
In the body exercices of Wudang Gongfu, the changing ways of stretching out and drawing in, standing up and stooping down, crossing and turning, bowing downward and facing upward, are the exercise methods with the axis of waist, which is the general hinge of upper body and lower body. In exercising or fighting, the body moves about, according to the changes of fighting, using waist to carry strength, then performing the changes by coax, chest, head, hands and feet. No matter what change is, this is the basic rule of Wudang Gongfu.
Wudang Gongfu emphasizes not only the formality of body exercise, but also the harmony of cadence; cadence, not same to, but is held in rhythm of Wushu acts, with differences and connections. In Wudang Gongfu acts, there appears both shape and content, cadence of contents and rules and forms of shape, which are both tangible and intangible. Cadence in reality refers to inner feelings; shape the law of body exercise. Without cadence, the boxing acts will become rigid, without law, disorderly.
In one word, the axis of waist and the harmony of cadence further perform Wudang Gongfu's character of nature and unity between body and mind, upper part and lower part, attack and defence, part and whole.

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