六則
人未練拳術之先。手足動作。順其後天自然之性。由壯而老以至于死。通家逆運先天。轉乾坤扭氣機。以求長生之術。拳術亦然。起點。從平常之自然之道逆轉。其機由靜而動。再由動而靜。成為三體式。其姿式。兩足要前虛後實。不俯不仰。不左斜。不右歪。心中要虛空。至靜無物。一毫之血氣。不能加於其內。要純任自然虛靈之本體。由着本體。而再萌動練去。是為拳中純任自然之真勁。亦謂人之本性。又謂之丹道最初還虛之理。亦謂之明善復初之道。其三體式中之靈妙。非有真傳不能知也。內中之意思。猶丹道之點玄關大學之言明德。孟子所謂養浩然之氣。又與河圖中五之一點。太極先天之氣。相合也。其姿式之中。非身體兩腿站均當中之中也。其中。是用規矩之法則。縮回身中散亂馳外之靈氣。返歸於內。正氣復初。血氣自然不加於其內。心中虛空。是之謂中。亦謂之道心。因此再動。丹書云。靜則為性。動則為意。妙用則為神。所以拳術再動。練去謂之先天之真意。則身體手足動作。即有形之物。謂之後天。以後天合着規矩法則。形容先天之真意。自最初還虛。以致末後還虛。循環無端之理。無聲無臭之德。此皆名為形意拳之道也。其拳術。最初積蓄之真意與氣。以致滿足。中立而不倚。和而不流。無形無相。此謂拳中之內勁也。內家拳術之名即此理也其拳中之內勁。最初練之。人不知其所以然之理。因其理最微妙。不能不詳言之。免後學入於崎途。初學入門。有三害。九要之規矩。三害莫犯。九要不失其理。八卦拳學詳之矣手足動作。合於規矩。不失三體式。之本體。謂之調息。練時口要似開非開。似合非合。純任自然。舌頂上腭。要鼻孔出氣。平常不練時。以至方練完收式時。口要閉不。可開。要時時令鼻孔出氣。説話。吃飯。喝茶時。可開口。除此之外。總要舌頂上腭。閉口。令鼻孔出氣。謹要。至於睡臥時。亦是如此。練至手足相合。起落進退如一。謂之息調。手足動作。要不合於規矩。上下不齊。進退步法錯亂。撁動呼吸之氣不均。出氣甚粗。以致胸間發悶。皆是起落進退。手足步法。不合規矩之故也。此謂之息不調。因息不調。拳法身體不能順也。拳中之內勁。是將人之散亂於外之神氣。用拳中之規矩。手足身體動作。順中用逆。縮回於丹田之內。與丹田之元氣相交。自無而有。自微而著。自虛而實。皆是漸漸積蓄而成。此謂拳之內勁也。丹書云。以凡人之呼吸。尋真人之呼處。莊子云真人呼吸以踵。亦是此意也。拳術調呼吸從後天陰氣所積。若致小腹堅硬如石。此乃後天之氣勉強積蓄而有也。總要呼吸純任自然。用真意之元神。引之於丹田。腹雖實而若虛。有而若無。老子云綿綿若存。又云虛其心。而靈性不昧。振道心。正氣常存。亦此意也。此理即拳中內勁之意義也
人未練拳術之先。手足動作。順其後天自然之性。由壯而老以至于死。通家逆運先天。轉乾坤扭氣機。以求長生之術。拳術亦然。起點。從平常之自然之道逆轉。其機由靜而動。再由動而靜。成為三體式。其姿式。兩足要前虛後實。不俯不仰。不左斜。不右歪。心中要虛空。至靜無物。一毫之血氣。不能加於其內。要純任自然虛靈之本體。由着本體。而再萌動練去。是為拳中純任自然之真勁。亦謂人之本性。又謂之丹道最初還虛之理。亦謂之明善復初之道。其三體式中之靈妙。非有真傳不能知也。內中之意思。猶丹道之點玄關大學之言明德。孟子所謂養浩然之氣。又與河圖中五之一點。太極先天之氣。相合也。其姿式之中。非身體兩腿站均當中之中也。其中。是用規矩之法則。縮回身中散亂馳外之靈氣。返歸於內。正氣復初。血氣自然不加於其內。心中虛空。是之謂中。亦謂之道心。因此再動。丹書云。靜則為性。動則為意。妙用則為神。所以拳術再動。練去謂之先天之真意。則身體手足動作。即有形之物。謂之後天。以後天合着規矩法則。形容先天之真意。自最初還虛。以致末後還虛。循環無端之理。無聲無臭之德。此皆名為形意拳之道也。其拳術。最初積蓄之真意與氣。以致滿足。中立而不倚。和而不流。無形無相。此謂拳中之內勁也。內家拳術之名即此理也其拳中之內勁。最初練之。人不知其所以然之理。因其理最微妙。不能不詳言之。免後學入於崎途。初學入門。有三害。九要之規矩。三害莫犯。九要不失其理。八卦拳學詳之矣手足動作。合於規矩。不失三體式。之本體。謂之調息。練時口要似開非開。似合非合。純任自然。舌頂上腭。要鼻孔出氣。平常不練時。以至方練完收式時。口要閉不。可開。要時時令鼻孔出氣。説話。吃飯。喝茶時。可開口。除此之外。總要舌頂上腭。閉口。令鼻孔出氣。謹要。至於睡臥時。亦是如此。練至手足相合。起落進退如一。謂之息調。手足動作。要不合於規矩。上下不齊。進退步法錯亂。撁動呼吸之氣不均。出氣甚粗。以致胸間發悶。皆是起落進退。手足步法。不合規矩之故也。此謂之息不調。因息不調。拳法身體不能順也。拳中之內勁。是將人之散亂於外之神氣。用拳中之規矩。手足身體動作。順中用逆。縮回於丹田之內。與丹田之元氣相交。自無而有。自微而著。自虛而實。皆是漸漸積蓄而成。此謂拳之內勁也。丹書云。以凡人之呼吸。尋真人之呼處。莊子云真人呼吸以踵。亦是此意也。拳術調呼吸從後天陰氣所積。若致小腹堅硬如石。此乃後天之氣勉強積蓄而有也。總要呼吸純任自然。用真意之元神。引之於丹田。腹雖實而若虛。有而若無。老子云綿綿若存。又云虛其心。而靈性不昧。振道心。正氣常存。亦此意也。此理即拳中內勁之意義也
"Before a person has practiced boxing arts, the movements of his hands and feet have a disposition toward obeying his acquired nature, that which goes from robustness to aging to dying. Daoists reverse it to the innate by inverting the movement of Qian and Kun [“Creative” and “Receptive”] with the mechanism of turning the energies, striving for a longevity art. The boxing art does likewise. It starts with the way of following along with ordinary naturalness and then reverses the process, going from stillness to movement and then from movement back to stillness in the making of the three-substance posture.
In the posture, your feet should be front foot empty, rear foot full. Neither lean forward nor back, nor incline to either side. Within your mind there should be emptiness, perfect stillness, insubstantiality. The slightest bit of vigor cannot be added within. There should be pure, natural, soulful beingness. From touching this beingness, the training will sprout. This is the true energy within the boxing art – pure naturalness. It is also called “inherent human nature”, as well as the elixirist principle of “begin by returning to emptiness”, and is also the doctrine of “the brightness of perfection restoring you to your original state”.
As for the wonders within the three-substance posture, if you do not have the true teachings, you will not be able to understand them. The idea within it is like the elixirist’s “shadowy doorway”, is what the Da Xue calls “shining virtue”, is what Mengzi called “nurturing one’s noble energy”, and conforms with the He River Diagram’s central mark, the “innate energy of the grand polarity”. Within the posture, it is not your body and legs standing centered that makes it centered. Its centeredness is due to your abiding by the rules of the posture. Withdraw any hyperactive energy, returning it within, so that your true energy can be restored to its original state. There will then naturally be no extra vigor within, for within your mind is emptiness. This is what is called “centering”, and is also called the “Daoist mind”. You are to move in accordance with this.
It says in the elixirist literature: “Stillness is a matter of basic nature. Movement is a matter of intention. Subtlety is a matter of spirit.” Therefore when there is movement in the boxing art, what is practiced is called the “innate true intention”. The movements of body, hands, and feet then take shape, and this is called the “acquired [trained intention]”. The acquired conforms to standards and rules so as to imitate the innate true intention. Begin by returning to emptiness. End by returning to emptiness. It is the principle of cycling without end. It is the virtue of silence and undetectability. All these things together are known as the method of Xingyi Boxing.
This boxing art firstly stores true intention and energy until full enough that you are in a neutral position, not leaning in any direction, harmonizing without wavering. There is no form and nothing seen, and this is called the internal energy within the boxing art. (Internal boxing arts are so named because of this principle.) At the beginning of training the internal energy within the boxing art, a person will not understand the theory. Because the theory is so subtle, it has to be explained in detail so as to avoid sending students down the wrong road. In the beginning of learning, there are the standards of the three harms [sticking out your chest, lifting your abdomen, forcing the energy] and nine requirements. The three harms are not to be violated and the nine requirements are principles not to be neglected (as explained in [Chapters Two and Three of] A Study of Bagua Boxing). When the movements of the hands and feet conform to a standard, and when the three-substance posture is not neglected, being the foundation, all is being regulated.
When practicing, your mouth should seem open but not open, closed but not closed, as is natural. Your tongue touching the upper palate, breathing should be done through your nose. During ordinary time when you are not practicing, or once you have finished practicing, your mouth should be closed and must not be open, and you should constantly maintain nose-breathing. When talking, eating, or drinking, you can open your mouth, but beyond these, it always should be that your tongue touches the upper palate, your mouth is closed, and the breathing is being done through your nose. If you are conscientious about this, then it will still be so even when sleeping.
Practice until your hands and feet conform with each other, and lifting and dropping, advancing and retreating, are as one. This is the breath being regulated. But if the movements of your hands and feet do not conform to a standard, there will be no uniformity above and below, your footwork when advancing and retreating will be disordered, your breath will be drawn in unevenly and come out very coarsely, and as a result your chest will feel clenched. All this is because when lifting and dropping, advancing and retreating, your hands and feet are not conforming to a standard. This is the breath going unregulated, and as a consequence, both the boxing techniques and your body will be incapable of fluency.
The internal energy within the boxing art is when you take charge of your disordered external spirit and energy, applying the standards within the boxing art to the movements of your hands, feet, and body. Within going along, there is going against. Withdraw it into your elixir field to join with the primordial energy there. They go from nothing to something, from the abstract to the tangible, from emptiness to fullness, and both are gradually stored up and made complete. This is the boxing art’s internal energy. It says in the elixirist literature: “By way of ordinary breathing, we seek the exhaling of the authentic man.” As Zhuangzi said [Zhuangzi, chapter 6]: “An authentic man breathes with his heels [as opposed to most people who breathe only with their throats].” It is also this idea.
The regulating of breath in the boxing art is according to the accumulating of the acquired passive breath. If it gets to the point that your lower abdomen is hard as stone, this then is the acquired [active] breath accumulating forcefully. Always the breathing should be pure and natural. Use the primordial spirit of true intention. Draw it into your elixir field. Although your belly is full, it seems empty, and though having something, yet seems to have nothing. Laozi said [Daodejing, chapter 6]: “Continuously storing…” It is also said [in Xu Congshi’s commentary to Three in Agreement]: “Empty your mind and your native intelligence is no longer obscured. Stimulate your Daoist mind and the true energy will be permanent.” It is also this idea. This is the theory of the internal energy within the boxing art."
Excerpt from the translation by Paul Brennan, to be found in the Brennan Translation blog.
Post a Comment