Yang Family Tai Chi Discussion Board

Greetings, I've enjoyed reading the discussion in this thread, and thought I'd add some spin by posting my translation of Yang Chengfu's narrative on "Turn Body Sweep Lotus" from his book, _Taijiquan Tiyong Quan Shu_ (Complete Book of the Essence and Application of Taijiquan). Most of the ...

Greetings Audi, You wrote: ". . .I would be interested in exploring (as a questioner and contributer) the origin of many of the posture names from the hand and weapons forms. . . .If there are any takers, I would be happy to start off a new thread, since I have questions or heard stories about ...

Greetings Jerry and Mike, Jerry, thank you for the great translation of Yang Zhenduo’s passage on fangsong. I recall reading that section of the book, and gained a good deal on insight from it. I will make one observation about Master Yang’s following comment regarding the character for jin: “Coinci...

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by tai1chi: <B>Hi Louis S., you mentioned that you had translated a portion of Yang Zhenji’s book. Is it still possible to get copies? Are ...

Hi Mike, Thanks! Hey, I never was calling your honesty into question, just trying to get at the details, that’s all. I tend to get jiangjiu (particular) about these things—I’m a word guy, and I really dig investigating taijiquan terminology. I poked around a bit more, and I found plenty of instances...

Greetings Mike, Not to belabor this, but I do want to reiterate that to my knowledge “babei” is a traditional taiji formula, that it makes perfect sense if it is understood within context, and that it is in no way inconsistent with relaxing the back. In my opinion, Gu Liuxin’s elaboration brings gre...

Mike, There is no problem with the term: ba (raise, pull out, pull up) or with translating it thus. If people misunderstand it that’s another issue. I put my finger on one of those other Chinese sources, Gu Liuxin’s _Taijiquan Shu_ (The Art of Taijiquan). This is from his section on the back and spi...

Greetings Mike, I don’t quite follow this. The most prominent appearance of “raise the back” is in the second of Yang Chengfu’s Ten Essentials. There, it is part of the formula, “han xiong ba bei” (contain the chest and raise the back). The two points are interconnected, and this can be discerned fr...

Greetings, I’ve translated a passage from Yang Zhenji’s book, _Yang Chengfu Shi Taijiquan_ (Guangxi Minzu Chubanshe, 1993) that specifically addresses empty stances. I’ve previously expressed some reservations about the 70/30 wording as a firm prescriptive guideline to be taken literally. I think of...

Greetings Mike, Right, the peng graph meaning “prop up” appears in a compound “pengjia” that means “scaffolding.” That peng has the wood radical instead of the hand radical. It could well have been the source concept. Who knows? Of course, six of the eight jins have the hand radical. Only zhou and k...

Greegins Mike, I agree in principle with some of what you say, but I’ll point out that I was merely addressing the issue of the known early usage of the graph peng (with the hand classifier and the “friend” phonetic) in the Shijing (Book of Songs), and the references to the “arrow quiver” definition...

Ron, Re: “If peng as 'cover for a quiver' occurs in that part I quoted, it doesn't make sense, poetic or otherwise. Return a bow to the cover of a quiver?” Are you actually interested, or are you merely goading, ‘Another 2’-like? In order to understand the wording of the poem, which is *very* early ...

Greetings Ron, Re: “have a look at the poem where the archer puts down his bow after his work is done.” You know I know that poem from the Shi Jing, “Da Shu Yu Tian.” “With arms bared he seizes a tiger, And presents it before the duke. O Shu, try not [such sport] again; Beware of getting hurt.” I he...

Greetings, I’m writing specifically in response to some of the issues raised about the meaning of “double-weighting” (shuangzhong) in Audi’s initial post. I hope to clarify one statement Audi made, that “it is usually discussed in terms of the amount of weight carried on each foot.” I believe shuang...