One of the oldest martial arts on the planet is Shaolin. It was brought from India by a fellow named Bodhidharma, and has been an inspiration to martial artists the world over. Interestingly, Shaolin evolved into an internal art atop Wudan Mountain.
I know there will be those who disagree with the concept I present here, but I hold to it, as I have watched students evolve, and the evolution of art from Shaolin to Wudan mirrors what I have seen students go through on a personal level. Indeed, as students peel layers off the art, so do they add layers of awareness within themselves, and attain the truly miraculous.
The beginning students learn to expend energy from the tan tan, to spread that energy throughout the body and make the body hard. Arms become like iron, stances become as if permanent fixtures to the planet. This, however, is all based on explosion, and outward expulsion of energy.
As a student explores the various martial arts he will come across the concept of drawing in energy. The act of guiding a punch, instead of just bashing a block into it, increases awareness of the concept of absorbing energy, instead of just putting it out. This progression of art often begins with Shaolin, begins the transition with a softer art like Wing Chun Kung Fu, and goes whole body with a Wudan art like Tai Chi Chuan.
If the student studies a hard art, and does so with intelligence, he will eventually evolve into the soft. The fact of growing older, of the body no longer being able to handle the hard arts, will draw the student onward into the softer arts. He will develop his punch so that he doesn't undergo neck injuries, he will learn to use his legs so his hips don'thave problems, and he will naturally evolve his art from hard to soft.
As these progressions of age and art occur, students learn to be softer, using their minds and their bodies to use less effort, and yet retain the abilities they have gained from the hard arts. Instead of violently thrusting energy through their bodies, they use the energy slowly, and focus it. Thus, the blinders slowly come off, and awareness seeps in.
Instead of exploding energy brutally through their bodies, the students learn to channel and guide energy through their bodies. They learn to manipulate energy easier as their awareness builds. They learn that the body energy they were so proud of when they were young and robust was a mere shadow of what they were capable.
Finally, they make the change from muscle to awareness, and the Shaolin adept becomes the Wudan sage. Instead of reacting with violence, the Wudan master observes, and moves with an opponent, drawing in the energy of the attack and transforming it to his needs. Yet, though there is wisdom in the Gung Fu of the Wudan variety, there is no disdain, for the true sage knows the need for his early Shaolin training, he knows the benefit of understanding energy on base levels if he is to transform it to the highest levels. - 31373
I know there will be those who disagree with the concept I present here, but I hold to it, as I have watched students evolve, and the evolution of art from Shaolin to Wudan mirrors what I have seen students go through on a personal level. Indeed, as students peel layers off the art, so do they add layers of awareness within themselves, and attain the truly miraculous.
The beginning students learn to expend energy from the tan tan, to spread that energy throughout the body and make the body hard. Arms become like iron, stances become as if permanent fixtures to the planet. This, however, is all based on explosion, and outward expulsion of energy.
As a student explores the various martial arts he will come across the concept of drawing in energy. The act of guiding a punch, instead of just bashing a block into it, increases awareness of the concept of absorbing energy, instead of just putting it out. This progression of art often begins with Shaolin, begins the transition with a softer art like Wing Chun Kung Fu, and goes whole body with a Wudan art like Tai Chi Chuan.
If the student studies a hard art, and does so with intelligence, he will eventually evolve into the soft. The fact of growing older, of the body no longer being able to handle the hard arts, will draw the student onward into the softer arts. He will develop his punch so that he doesn't undergo neck injuries, he will learn to use his legs so his hips don'thave problems, and he will naturally evolve his art from hard to soft.
As these progressions of age and art occur, students learn to be softer, using their minds and their bodies to use less effort, and yet retain the abilities they have gained from the hard arts. Instead of violently thrusting energy through their bodies, they use the energy slowly, and focus it. Thus, the blinders slowly come off, and awareness seeps in.
Instead of exploding energy brutally through their bodies, the students learn to channel and guide energy through their bodies. They learn to manipulate energy easier as their awareness builds. They learn that the body energy they were so proud of when they were young and robust was a mere shadow of what they were capable.
Finally, they make the change from muscle to awareness, and the Shaolin adept becomes the Wudan sage. Instead of reacting with violence, the Wudan master observes, and moves with an opponent, drawing in the energy of the attack and transforming it to his needs. Yet, though there is wisdom in the Gung Fu of the Wudan variety, there is no disdain, for the true sage knows the need for his early Shaolin training, he knows the benefit of understanding energy on base levels if he is to transform it to the highest levels. - 31373
About the Author:
Al Case has taught the martial arts for 40 years, he began his Wudan training in 1974. You can see how soft he is by picking up a free ebook at Monster Martial Arts.
