第九章 九、要論
今夫五官百骸，主于動，而實運以步，步乃一身之根基，運動之樞紐也，以故應戰對敵，皆本諸身，而實所以為身之砥柱者，莫非步，隨機應變在于手，而所以為手之轉移者，以在步，進退反側，非步何以作鼓蕩之機抑揚伸縮，非步何以示變化之妙，所謂機關者在眼，變化者在心，而所以轉彎抹角，千變萬化，而不至于窘迫者，何莫非步為之司令歟，而要非勉強以致之也，動作出于無心，鼓舞出于不覺，身欲動而步以為之周旋，手將動而步以早為之催逼，不期然而然，莫之軀而軀，所謂上欲動而下自隨之者，其斯之謂歟，且步分前后，有定位者步也，然而無定位者以為步，如前步進焉，后步隨焉，前后自有定位，若以前步作后，后步作前，更以前步作后之前步，后步作前之后步，則前后以自然無定位矣，總之，拳以論勢，而握要者為步，活與不活，以在于步，靈與不靈，以在于步，步之為用大矣哉，捶名心意，心意者，意自心生，拳隨意發，總要知己知人，隨機應變，心氣一發，四肢皆動，足起有地，膝起有數，動轉有位，合膊望胯，三尖對照，心意氣內三相合，拳與足合，肘與膝合，肩與胯合，外三相合，手心足心本心三心一氣相合，遠不發手，捶打五尺以內，三尺以外，不論前后左右，一步一捶，發手以得人為準，以不見形為妙，發手快似風箭，響如雷崩，出沒遇象園，如生鳥入群籠之狀，單敵似巨炮推薄壁之勢，骨節帶勢，踴躍直吞，未曾交手，一氣當先，既人其手，靈動為妙，見孔不打，見橫打，見孔不立，見橫立，上中下總氣把定，身足手規矩繩束，既不望空起，亦不望空落，精明靈巧，全在于活，能去能就，能柔能剛，能進能退，不動如山岳，難知如陽陰，無窮如天地，充實如太倉，浩渺如四海，炫曜如三光，察來勢之機會，揣敵人之短長，靜以待動有法，動以處靜借法容易上法難，還是上法最為先，交勇者不可思誤，思誤者寸步難行，起如箭攢落如風隈催烹絕手摟手，皆合暗迷中，由路如閃電，兩邊撾防左右，反背如虎搜山，斬捶勇猛不可當，斬梢迎面取中堂，搶上搶下勢如虎，好似鷹下鷄場，翻江倒海不須忙，丹鳳朝陽才為強，雲背日月天地變，武藝相爭見短長，步路寸開把尺，劈面就去，上右腿，進左步此法前行，進人要進身，身手齊至是為真，發中有絕何從用，解明其意妙如神，鹞之鑽林麻著翅，鷹捉四平足存身，取勝四梢要聚齊，不勝必因合射心，計謀施運化，霹靂走精神，心毒稱上策，手眼方勝人，何謂閃，何謂進，進即閃，閃即進，不必遠求，何為打，何謂顧，顧即打，打即顧，發手便是，心如火藥，拳如子，靈機一動鳥難飛，身似弓弦手似箭，弦向鳥落見神奇，起手如閃電，閃電不及合眸，打人如迅雷，迅雷不及掩耳，五道本是五道關，無人把守自遮欄，左腮手過，右腮手去，右腮手過去，左腮手來，兩手束拳迎面出，五關之門關得嚴，拳從心內發，向鼻尖落，從足下起，足起快向心火作，五行金木水火土，火炎上而水就下，我有心肝脾肺腎，五行相推無錯誤。
今夫五官百骸，主于動，而實運以步，步乃一身之根基，運動之樞紐也，以故應戰對敵，皆本諸身，而實所以為身之砥柱者，莫非步，隨機應變在于手，而所以為手之轉移者，以在步，進退反側，非步何以作鼓蕩之機抑揚伸縮，非步何以示變化之妙，所謂機關者在眼，變化者在心，而所以轉彎抹角，千變萬化，而不至于窘迫者，何莫非步為之司令歟，而要非勉強以致之也，動作出于無心，鼓舞出于不覺，身欲動而步以為之周旋，手將動而步以早為之催逼，不期然而然，莫之軀而軀，所謂上欲動而下自隨之者，其斯之謂歟，且步分前后，有定位者步也，然而無定位者以為步，如前步進焉，后步隨焉，前后自有定位，若以前步作后，后步作前，更以前步作后之前步，后步作前之后步，則前后以自然無定位矣，總之，拳以論勢，而握要者為步，活與不活，以在于步，靈與不靈，以在于步，步之為用大矣哉，捶名心意，心意者，意自心生，拳隨意發，總要知己知人，隨機應變，心氣一發，四肢皆動，足起有地，膝起有數，動轉有位，合膊望胯，三尖對照，心意氣內三相合，拳與足合，肘與膝合，肩與胯合，外三相合，手心足心本心三心一氣相合，遠不發手，捶打五尺以內，三尺以外，不論前后左右，一步一捶，發手以得人為準，以不見形為妙，發手快似風箭，響如雷崩，出沒遇象園，如生鳥入群籠之狀，單敵似巨炮推薄壁之勢，骨節帶勢，踴躍直吞，未曾交手，一氣當先，既人其手，靈動為妙，見孔不打，見橫打，見孔不立，見橫立，上中下總氣把定，身足手規矩繩束，既不望空起，亦不望空落，精明靈巧，全在于活，能去能就，能柔能剛，能進能退，不動如山岳，難知如陽陰，無窮如天地，充實如太倉，浩渺如四海，炫曜如三光，察來勢之機會，揣敵人之短長，靜以待動有法，動以處靜借法容易上法難，還是上法最為先，交勇者不可思誤，思誤者寸步難行，起如箭攢落如風隈催烹絕手摟手，皆合暗迷中，由路如閃電，兩邊撾防左右，反背如虎搜山，斬捶勇猛不可當，斬梢迎面取中堂，搶上搶下勢如虎，好似鷹下鷄場，翻江倒海不須忙，丹鳳朝陽才為強，雲背日月天地變，武藝相爭見短長，步路寸開把尺，劈面就去，上右腿，進左步此法前行，進人要進身，身手齊至是為真，發中有絕何從用，解明其意妙如神，鹞之鑽林麻著翅，鷹捉四平足存身，取勝四梢要聚齊，不勝必因合射心，計謀施運化，霹靂走精神，心毒稱上策，手眼方勝人，何謂閃，何謂進，進即閃，閃即進，不必遠求，何為打，何謂顧，顧即打，打即顧，發手便是，心如火藥，拳如子，靈機一動鳥難飛，身似弓弦手似箭，弦向鳥落見神奇，起手如閃電，閃電不及合眸，打人如迅雷，迅雷不及掩耳，五道本是五道關，無人把守自遮欄，左腮手過，右腮手去，右腮手過去，左腮手來，兩手束拳迎面出，五關之門關得嚴，拳從心內發，向鼻尖落，從足下起，足起快向心火作，五行金木水火土，火炎上而水就下，我有心肝脾肺腎，五行相推無錯誤。
"From your five senses to your many bones, your movement is presided over by your stepping. Your step provides the base for your body and the crux for its movement. When fighting with an opponent, it is always the case that you are to use your whole body. But without your step, your body really has nothing to stand on. Adapting according to the situation lies with your hands, but the capacity for your hands to maneuver lies with your stepping.
When advancing or retreating, turning around or to the sides, you will create no opportunity for power generation unless you step. When raising or lowering, expanding or contracting, you will show no ingenuity of adaptation unless you step. We say that operations are in your sight and adaptations are in your mind, and therefore you are to twist and turn in endless variations to stay out of danger, but this cannot happen without the step being in charge. However, it is crucial that you do not try to force this.
The movement begins mindlessly, its motivation arising unconsciously. When your body is about to move, your step [with the front foot] turns outward [to prepare]. When your hand is about to move, your step [with the rear foot] hastens to get ahead of it. This quality will happen in its own time, arriving without your driving it. When we talk of the upper body being about to move and the lower body naturally going along with the movement, this is what is meant.
Stepping divides into front and rear, fixed and unfixed. When the front foot advances and the rear foot follows, they are fixed [i.e. front foot remaining forward, rear foot remaining in the rear]. When the front foot becomes the rear foot or the rear foot becomes the front foot, whether it be because of the front foot becoming the rear foot by way of the rear foot stepping forward, or because of the rear foot becoming the front foot by way of the front foot stepping back, they are unfixed [i.e. front foot and rear foot switching roles].
It is always the case in boxing theory that the crucial thing to grasp is the stepping. Whether you are lively or not is a matter of stepping. Whether you are nimble or not is a matter of stepping. The function of stepping is a huge factor. [The specific theme of stepping now fades from the spotlight. The text from this point on was likely originally intended as part of the 10th section.]
This kind of boxing is called Mind & Intent [Xinyi – an older name for Xingyi]. It is called this because intent is generated by mind and the fist then expresses as dictated by the intent. You should always know both yourself and your opponent, and respond according to the situation. Mind and energy express as one. Your limbs act together. In lifting your foot, there is direction. In lifting your knee, there is degree. In turning around, there is position. Unify your forearms and aim with your hips. The three points are to align with each other. Mind [is united with intent], intent [united with energy], energy [united with power] – these are the three internal unions. Fist is united with foot, elbow united with knee, shoulder united with hip – these are the three external unions. The three centers – palm, sole, solar plexus – are united as a single energy.
Do not shoot your hands out from a distance. When the striking range is between three and five feet, whether going forward or back, left or right, step with each strike in order to strike the opponent with precision and to keep your technique wonderfully invisible to him.
Your hand shoots out fast as wind or an arrow, the sound like thunder or an avalanche. Come and go like a rabbit darting here and there, attacking like a hungry bird entering a crowded coop. When fighting an opponent, be like a huge cannon reducing a wall to rubble. With your joints readied to spring, leap straight in to consume him. Before there is contact, energy should go forth, but once your hands have connected, the ingenuity lies in quick action.
Do not attack just because you notice a gap, look for a way to deflect him aside and then attack. Do not seize the position just because you notice a gap, look for a way to deflect him aside and then seize the position. Above, middle, below, always the energy between them is kept consistent. Body, feet, and hands are bound by discipline. Do not seek to lift and drop meaninglessly.
Proficient skill is entirely a matter of fluency. Be able to both strike and stick, to be both hard and soft, to both advance and retreat.
When not moving, be like a mountain. Be as mysterious as duality, as limitless as the universe, as filled as a warehouse, as vast as the ocean, as dazzling as the sun, moon, and stars. While watching for the moment in which the opponent may attack, estimate his strong points and shortcomings. The superior method is to use stillness to await his movement. The baiting method is to use movement to occupy his stillness. The baiting method is easier and the waiting method more difficult, nevertheless start with the waiting method.
When fighting a courageous opponent, you must not worry about doing anything wrong, for if you do, you will seize up and not be able to do anything right. Lift like an arrow releasing, then drop like the wind. When pressed to frustration, stop his hand and draw it aside. Cloak everything you are doing, then emerge like lightning. Deflect to your sides, guarding both, and when you turn around, it is like a tiger searching a hillside. Swipe aside and strike fiercely, and he will not be able to withstand you. Swipe aside his limbs and go directly forward, and you will seize his center. Striking above or below, move like a tiger. Seem like an eagle descending on chickens in a coop. Having “diverted the river and turned back the sea” [signifying a stupendous achievement], you do not need to be in a rush. Because “the phoenix has landed on the sunny slope” [signifying the arrival of talent], your ability has become potent. When sun and moon go behind clouds, the world is changed. When martial artists clash, inferior and superior become apparent.
Step in this way: between your feet is an inch in width and a foot in length.
When chopping to his face, step forward with your right leg and follow with your left foot. Here is the method of moving forward: when advancing on an opponent, you must advance with your body. When body and hand act in unison, it is right.
There is a trick to issuing, and when you get the idea, it will seem miraculous. A hawk slips through the trees without a touch to its wings. A eagle catches prey without unbalancing its body.
To win, your limbs must act in unison. If you lose, it must be because you brought his aim to your center. Carry out your strategy adaptively, send out your spirit thunderously, consider viciousness to be the best plan, and your hands and eyes will then defeat him.
What are evading and advancing? Advancing is an evasion. Evading is an advance. It is not necessary to think about this too hard. What are attacking and defending? Defending is an attack. Attacking is a defense. Just shoot out your hand. Mind like gunpowder, fist like a bullet – just a nudge of the trigger [i.e. with the merest thought], and the bird cannot escape. Body like a bow, hand like an arrow – aim, and the bird falls like magic. Lift your hand like lightning flashing. When lightning flashes, there is no chance to close your eyes. Strike the opponent like thunder clapping. When thunder claps, there is no chance to cover your ears.
The five methods [the five elements techniques] are basically five ways of closing off an opponent. There is no one there to guard against because the blocking is an intrinsic part of it. As your left hand covers your left side, your right hand attacks from your right side, and then as your right hand covers your right side, it is your left hand’s turn. Each hand is wrapped into a fist and punches directly forward while the doorways of the five closings close tight. Your fist shoots from your center and lands upon his nose, while your foot lifts and steps quickly through his center like fire surging. Of the five elements of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, fire blazes upward and water floods downward. We each possess a heart, a liver, a spleen, lungs, and kidneys. Our five elements urge each other on without error."
Excerpt from the translation by Paul Brennan of "The Art of Xingyi Boxing" (形意拳術) by Lǐ Jiànqiū(李劍秋), to be found in the Brennan Translation blog.
When advancing or retreating, turning around or to the sides, you will create no opportunity for power generation unless you step. When raising or lowering, expanding or contracting, you will show no ingenuity of adaptation unless you step. We say that operations are in your sight and adaptations are in your mind, and therefore you are to twist and turn in endless variations to stay out of danger, but this cannot happen without the step being in charge. However, it is crucial that you do not try to force this.
The movement begins mindlessly, its motivation arising unconsciously. When your body is about to move, your step [with the front foot] turns outward [to prepare]. When your hand is about to move, your step [with the rear foot] hastens to get ahead of it. This quality will happen in its own time, arriving without your driving it. When we talk of the upper body being about to move and the lower body naturally going along with the movement, this is what is meant.
Stepping divides into front and rear, fixed and unfixed. When the front foot advances and the rear foot follows, they are fixed [i.e. front foot remaining forward, rear foot remaining in the rear]. When the front foot becomes the rear foot or the rear foot becomes the front foot, whether it be because of the front foot becoming the rear foot by way of the rear foot stepping forward, or because of the rear foot becoming the front foot by way of the front foot stepping back, they are unfixed [i.e. front foot and rear foot switching roles].
It is always the case in boxing theory that the crucial thing to grasp is the stepping. Whether you are lively or not is a matter of stepping. Whether you are nimble or not is a matter of stepping. The function of stepping is a huge factor. [The specific theme of stepping now fades from the spotlight. The text from this point on was likely originally intended as part of the 10th section.]
This kind of boxing is called Mind & Intent [Xinyi – an older name for Xingyi]. It is called this because intent is generated by mind and the fist then expresses as dictated by the intent. You should always know both yourself and your opponent, and respond according to the situation. Mind and energy express as one. Your limbs act together. In lifting your foot, there is direction. In lifting your knee, there is degree. In turning around, there is position. Unify your forearms and aim with your hips. The three points are to align with each other. Mind [is united with intent], intent [united with energy], energy [united with power] – these are the three internal unions. Fist is united with foot, elbow united with knee, shoulder united with hip – these are the three external unions. The three centers – palm, sole, solar plexus – are united as a single energy.
Do not shoot your hands out from a distance. When the striking range is between three and five feet, whether going forward or back, left or right, step with each strike in order to strike the opponent with precision and to keep your technique wonderfully invisible to him.
Your hand shoots out fast as wind or an arrow, the sound like thunder or an avalanche. Come and go like a rabbit darting here and there, attacking like a hungry bird entering a crowded coop. When fighting an opponent, be like a huge cannon reducing a wall to rubble. With your joints readied to spring, leap straight in to consume him. Before there is contact, energy should go forth, but once your hands have connected, the ingenuity lies in quick action.
Do not attack just because you notice a gap, look for a way to deflect him aside and then attack. Do not seize the position just because you notice a gap, look for a way to deflect him aside and then seize the position. Above, middle, below, always the energy between them is kept consistent. Body, feet, and hands are bound by discipline. Do not seek to lift and drop meaninglessly.
Proficient skill is entirely a matter of fluency. Be able to both strike and stick, to be both hard and soft, to both advance and retreat.
When not moving, be like a mountain. Be as mysterious as duality, as limitless as the universe, as filled as a warehouse, as vast as the ocean, as dazzling as the sun, moon, and stars. While watching for the moment in which the opponent may attack, estimate his strong points and shortcomings. The superior method is to use stillness to await his movement. The baiting method is to use movement to occupy his stillness. The baiting method is easier and the waiting method more difficult, nevertheless start with the waiting method.
When fighting a courageous opponent, you must not worry about doing anything wrong, for if you do, you will seize up and not be able to do anything right. Lift like an arrow releasing, then drop like the wind. When pressed to frustration, stop his hand and draw it aside. Cloak everything you are doing, then emerge like lightning. Deflect to your sides, guarding both, and when you turn around, it is like a tiger searching a hillside. Swipe aside and strike fiercely, and he will not be able to withstand you. Swipe aside his limbs and go directly forward, and you will seize his center. Striking above or below, move like a tiger. Seem like an eagle descending on chickens in a coop. Having “diverted the river and turned back the sea” [signifying a stupendous achievement], you do not need to be in a rush. Because “the phoenix has landed on the sunny slope” [signifying the arrival of talent], your ability has become potent. When sun and moon go behind clouds, the world is changed. When martial artists clash, inferior and superior become apparent.
Step in this way: between your feet is an inch in width and a foot in length.
When chopping to his face, step forward with your right leg and follow with your left foot. Here is the method of moving forward: when advancing on an opponent, you must advance with your body. When body and hand act in unison, it is right.
There is a trick to issuing, and when you get the idea, it will seem miraculous. A hawk slips through the trees without a touch to its wings. A eagle catches prey without unbalancing its body.
To win, your limbs must act in unison. If you lose, it must be because you brought his aim to your center. Carry out your strategy adaptively, send out your spirit thunderously, consider viciousness to be the best plan, and your hands and eyes will then defeat him.
What are evading and advancing? Advancing is an evasion. Evading is an advance. It is not necessary to think about this too hard. What are attacking and defending? Defending is an attack. Attacking is a defense. Just shoot out your hand. Mind like gunpowder, fist like a bullet – just a nudge of the trigger [i.e. with the merest thought], and the bird cannot escape. Body like a bow, hand like an arrow – aim, and the bird falls like magic. Lift your hand like lightning flashing. When lightning flashes, there is no chance to close your eyes. Strike the opponent like thunder clapping. When thunder claps, there is no chance to cover your ears.
The five methods [the five elements techniques] are basically five ways of closing off an opponent. There is no one there to guard against because the blocking is an intrinsic part of it. As your left hand covers your left side, your right hand attacks from your right side, and then as your right hand covers your right side, it is your left hand’s turn. Each hand is wrapped into a fist and punches directly forward while the doorways of the five closings close tight. Your fist shoots from your center and lands upon his nose, while your foot lifts and steps quickly through his center like fire surging. Of the five elements of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, fire blazes upward and water floods downward. We each possess a heart, a liver, a spleen, lungs, and kidneys. Our five elements urge each other on without error."
Excerpt from the translation by Paul Brennan of "The Art of Xingyi Boxing" (形意拳術) by Lǐ Jiànqiū(李劍秋), to be found in the Brennan Translation blog.
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