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I would like to present this article, as it may explain a little more clearly where I am coming from, and exlains more deeply some of the ideas that I have talked about here. I recognise that it is controversial, and it wasn't my intention in coming here to post up this stuff - I just got drawn in to the discussions, lol. But, as I have spoken, and you have explained where you are coming from - only fair that I do the same.
X
GATE OF QUAN.
Part 1
WAY OF QUAN – Tao of Martial Art.
*******************************
GATE OF QUAN
We assert that there is a core essence of movement and style that everyone already has ready within them. Everybody already knows all of the moves. Just as a baby naturally has the ability to walk already contained within its potential, so all of the knowledge of how to use martial arts is contained within each and every person. All of the movements that anyone ever learned to do already existed as a possibility within their body before they learned them – they were already part of the host of movements that their bodies were potentially capable of performing. They were all part of a person’s *potential*. Unfortunately, for various reasons, humans fail to explore their full potential; even limiting it to only a small fraction of what they possibly could do. It is nothing about super natural powers, or myth – it is about the abilities that are physically available to each person, but which are not normally accessed.
A person might do something that they never did before, but no one ever did anything that they could not do. Why is that important? Because one of the main barriers to learning martial arts is in assuming that good level martial arts skill is beyond your capability. Martial arts skill is achievable.
Just like learning to walk, learning martial arts should be a matter of informed trial and error, stripping away that which is pointless until you achieve a movement that your body knows is the most effective and efficient that it can perform. This is sometimes called ‘prompting the body to remember.’ Once that objective is achieved, you will realise that your body always knew how to do it, but for the longest time you submerged the movements under thousands of other pointless or unhelpful *additions* to the movement; and what is more, you appointed the expectation that you did not know the correct movement, and that you would need to learn *more* in order to find good, effective technique. Good effective technique is already there, buried under pointless additions. Usually, we need to do less, not more. Every aspect of your movement should be justifiable for the objective. If it isn’t justifiable, then drop it. Learning thousands of techniques only limits the body because a few thousand techniques is nothing compared to our true potential for infinite, unlimited techniques. Sometimes it is very hard for to see that – to see that the thousands of techniques which you may have spent years learning actually limited your potential, when in truth, it would have been far simpler to unfold true potential, and discover the mechanisms and abilities that allow unlimited flow of movement and technique. For this reason, this theory of martial arts will often be met with hostility.
Everybody already knows the essence of quan (boxing or martial arts).
THE ESSENCE OF QUAN.
We assert, like many Taoist and kung fu experts, that there is an ‘essence’ of Quan, or martial arts. The essence is not techniques; the essence is not energy; the essence is not *qi*; the essence is not any style. In addition to this, we assert that the essence is not something so mystical or awesome that it is beyond the grasp or capabilities of common humans. That is a ‘mis’ appointment. Part of what holds people back in martial arts is that people appoint *expectations*; expectations which, by virtue of becoming fixed in our beliefs become rules of what to believe or think that can no longer under any circumstances be challenged. Some times it is theories about martial arts; sometimes it is theories about the abilities of others; sometimes it is theories about ourselves. People treat those expectations as real and so their effect on us becomes real - sub-consciously we appoint that they are true. Under such circumstances knowledge withers and ceases to unfold, held in check by a wall of mis-appointments. Only by dis-appointing those expectations can one proceed to unfold one’s own personal expression of kung fu – true kung fu – essence of Quan.
Mis-appointments make us appoint expectations that can never be lived up to, and so by focussing on the gross illusions, we miss the subtle, simple truths, and the ‘Ah – I already knew that!’ moments.
Another of these erroneous ‘appointments’ has been that essence of martial arts is something that is learned from, or taught by, another. Well, a person might guide you, show you techniques to see if your body can be prompted by them, but they can never put essence, or understanding, in to your body – neither do they need to. It is already there. The idea that understanding can come from outside is a complete untruth. We oursleves breathe meaning in to everything that we understand. The greatest leaps forwards come when we acknowledge, and give honour to that process; claiming our own knowledge, having confidence in our own research and exploration, realising that no teacher can make us understand if we do not open ourselves up to the understanding.
Another mis-appointment is that ‘essence’ is something so awesomely beyond common human comprehension that it is barely understandable, let alone achievable. That is an untruth. We assert that the essence is already within each and every person, and is simplicity itself. It is not by any means beyond the mental grasp of humans. A person’s martial art skill is already within them.
The heart of essence is intent. In some schools this might be described as ‘no-intent’ but this is just another way of attempting to say what is unsayable – both are really the same thing. Intent seeks to achieve its objective utterly fluidly and with maximum efficiency. That is essence. In fact, our bodies do this all of the time, only our aim is usually to be poor at movement, expending energy pointlessly. Our bodies are geniuses at expressing intent – it is just that the controls for this are generally non-conscious, and geared towards our usual, daily, poorly integrated way of moving. Our bodies can be made to remember how to move differently, more effectively. Our potential is far greater than we have been led to believe. So called martial arts experts who say that knowledge of martial arts comes from forcing the body in to a frame work of movements, or set patterns, shapes, etc. are only really limiting you, closing off your potential.
The knowledge of essence is non-consciously within every human. Essence can be compared to the intent of water that flows from mountains down towards the sea. At no point does water stop in its course to think ‘which way? Left or right?’ It flows utterly fluidly, seeking without the slightest effort or hesitation the truest path in any given moment. It never hesitates and never makes a wrong turn because it has no real objective beyond the flow. If it meets an obstacle it marshals itself to go around in the most effective and efficient way; or else builds enough force to break through. That is essence.
YOU ARE ALREADY THE MASTER.
We assert that EVERYONE is already a master of their movement, of their own style. It is just that some people have used that mastery to explore only a tiny fraction of their true potential. This includes people who know hundreds of forms or techniques – that is all just a tiny fraction of our true potential as beings.
Everyone’s body already knows all of the movements that pertain to effective self defence and fighting skill, just as we know how to walk and breathe and make love. Every question that can be asked about your style, your potential, your movement, can be asked of yourself. You have all of the answers ready and waiting within you. That is not to say that there are no methods to bring that potential out and make it shine – there are methods, just as there are methods that lead you further away from that potential. However, understanding is key – movement alone is not enough; intent has to be present. It is never enough just to perform a movement; there has to be a link between mindfulness and movement to improve.
All of the movements that you can do, you already have within you as part of your potential, just like you had the potential to walk contained within you as a baby. Every movement that you can do, your body already knows how to do. This includes ALL movements that you could do. In any given situation where you wish to use your body to achieve a result your body has a range of movements available to it varying from the least effective movement that it could perform, right through to the most effective. But, unfortunately, through routine, boring, and repetitive use of the body, either in poor martial arts training or just daily life, we lose access to major sections of our potential.
For self defence, in most cases, the range of movements one needs is not particularly athletic or difficult, certainly not beyond the capabilities of any able bodied person. The most effective movements are those that allow the maximum expression of essence – i.e. those that are like water, flowing around every obstacle without hesitation, authored by intent.
The least aim in martial arts should be to achieve an ability to un-hesitatingly use the most effective movement you are capable of in any given situation. This is the journey to understand the essence of Quan. But, it is important to realise that what you are searching for is the essence of your personal style – the essence of your Quan.
Through training, the actual physical body of a person can improve to be capable of accommodating a higher level of efficiency. But still, ALL of the knowledge relating to that higher level of efficiency will come from within. Making the body more efficient is simply a means of expanding one’s physical ability to be a more effective conduit for pre-existing intent. The capacity to improve your physical ability is also pre-existent within you – it is already part of your potential. Understanding this means claiming responsibility for your own development – you become responsible for researching and improving, opening yourself to new ideas and ways.
Put simply, a man with two arms has a wider range of options available to him than a man with one, yet for each of them, at any moment, there is a movement that is the most effective one that they could perform. As you train, either on the bag, or in sparring, or in any other way, don’t wait to be told what to do to improve – actively engage intent, and search for the improvement. Without ever being told, most times each person can make the next step on their own. Of course, a little help is always appreciated!
We assert that this knowledge is in all people, but it is buried under a vast array of other movements and ideas, what we call a *physical ideology*. Physical ideologies, like any other ideology, have their own defences, actively preventing you from critically evaluating, or sometimes even being aware of them to any deep degree. You have to claim responsibility for critically evaluating and dismantling your own physical ideological limitations. Very often, what we thought were limitations of our potential were actually just limitations of our thinking.
We assert that no one can pass on knowledge of the ‘essence’ of Quan, only guide others to unfold their own knowledge. So, in truth there are no masters over others, yet each person is already a master. Understanding that you already mastered movement is not easy to accept. Because of physical ideologies we *judge* that certain abilities are more important than others. Fighting skill is not a big deal, and it is no more important than any other area of movement or expression of intent. But, the knowledge of how to use the body to maximum efficiency is buried in the unconscious potential of each person. It is there, but it is normally not available to us consciously. It is possible to access this, but to do that we have to start to break down old ways of moving, and, most importantly, let our mind wander over these issues and begin to freely unfold insight in to them – the mind is a powerful doorway in to the unconscious controls of our body. Tod o that, we only have to start questioning.
In addition, much of what *holds us back* from exploring our true potential is mental, not physical. It is ideas, lies, misunderstandings, rumours, myths, misconceptions, ego, fear and many other things that make us stop unfolding insight in to martial arts.
You are already your master.
INTERNAL / EXTERNAL
In Chinese martial arts there has traditionally been a distinction made between ‘internal’ and ‘external’ martial arts, with the former being said to be more fluid, rounded, relaxed, and based on use of ‘qi’, and the latter based more on hard, straight, often ‘fixed’ movements, utilising mainly muscle strength. Even some martial arts experts believe this. We assert that these interpretations are wrongly appointed and have damaged understanding of the real nature of martial arts.
All movements of the body are movements of the body. All movements use muscles, bones, sinews - and truly powerful movements use whole body integration; that is, all of the body, not ‘internal energy’ but ‘total energy’. All deliberate movements are guided by our intent. No supernatural forces are at work in powerful martial arts.
All movements are movements. All fixed ways are fixed ways. We assert that ‘Internal’ does not by any means refer to anything to do with the superstitious notion of ‘internal energy’ which is a corruption of the original Taoist meaning, but actually refers to ‘unfolding’ knowledge from within, from the ‘internal’, i.e. from our own insight – in-sight - in accordance with Taoist principles. Lao Tzu said that one need never leave their room to understand Tao, and that his knowledge of the world came simply by looking at the world and pondering it.
‘Internal method’ has nothing whatsoever to do with the type of movement used in any given martial art. Internal method means that the knowledge of movement and martial art is already in you, and that it can be accessed, or remembered, or even formed – all from personal exploration. (It should be remembered, however, that Taoism is a sophisticated philosophy which seeks to transcend limited binary concepts such as internal and external, so these should be used only as a guide, recognising that language has only a limited ability to teach certain physical ideas. Each person, therefore, needs to experiment themselves, trusting their own intuition and claiming their own martial art, in order to understand the true and profound nature of internal method training.)
‘External’ also does not mean any particular type of movement – it is nothing to do with how hard a movement is, or how straight, or how much it relies on muscles. These false views have grown up over the years, centuries even, but contradict the original theories of Tao - that knowledge is already a massive potential waiting within a person, and is accessed, achieved through insight and enlightenment, not *put in* to us by any means – certainly not by copying other people’s movements. One of the very great mis-appointments has been that ‘enlightenment’ is something incredibly mystical and almost beyond human understanding. However, enlightenment simply means casting light on to a thing – finally achieving a clear view.
‘External’ actually refers to the theory that martial art’s essence can somehow be learned from the ‘outside in’, by slavishly copying the moves of another person over and over until they match that other person’s ‘form’ as exactly as possible. That process does not give a person a deep or practical skill – it just cripples a person’s free flowing ability – the very ability which should have been the true heart of his martial arts. Copying fixed form only leads further and further away from internal knowledge – either in martial arts, or any other area. Your style is unique – you can not copy it from anyone. Only you can bring it out of you, and that is internal method martial arts. A true teacher guides that process in you. A false teacher cripples that process by installing his own method in to your system. The method has to be correct – even if it begins with fixed training methods, diligently performed – still, it will be leading to free expression.
We assert that copying other people is not the true way to essence, and that essence is the starting point, not the destination; and therefore to allow our intent to fully guide our movements, freely, without hesitation, with explosive power, one must strip away pointless form, not add it. Each person is already a master of movement – each person’s way of moving is already mastered over long years. It is that mastery of ineffective movement that needs to be stripped away. This idea is often misunderstood as meaning that one should not learn techniques off others, but that is not what it means. Unfortunately, it is pot luck who we learn off, so some may teach a way that leads to free expression, while others teach a way that limits. At first, both methods may be strict, and teach fixed ways, so it can be hard to tell. The only way to know is if you improve rapidly via diligent training and hard thinking.
We believe that the false interpretations of internal and external have been a terrible blunder, and that this mis-appointment has consequently hindered countless people in achieving their true potential. People try to achieve an understanding of martial arts just by copying other people – but that is not possible. Copying movements does not lead to any understanding – and worse, it imprisons a body in routine, and worse than that, it imprisons the body in someone else’s routine. You yourself must be able to mindfully justify each movement to use it properly – it must have ‘intentionality’ in it, otherwise it is empty form. So a move may be learned, but it is empty without the connection to mindful intent.
It could perhaps be said that on another level of understanding, ‘internal’ refers to intent, whereas ‘external’ refers to the physical movement which expresses it. We feel that although there are some ideas to unfold around this concept, it is not really true. We feel that this is probably the idea which first began to lead people away from the truth that essence must be unfolded from within. There is a sense in which movement must express intent, yet in truth this is merely a way of talking, and in actual practice intent and expression must integrate in to one thing, so there is no real difference between the internal or external – all are one. We assert that at this point the body becomes aware that there really is only intent.
‘In the pursuit of learning, everyday something is added.
In the pursuit of Tao, everyday something is dropped’
Lao Tzu
Tao Te Ching.
No channels of *internal* energy circulate around the body. All of a person is qi.... qi is the whole physical form of a person, not a part of a person, or something like blood that flows around the body. That is a superstitious belief. Qi is an idea of a thing that all of the universe is made of – including ourselves.
There is no given way of moving your arms and legs that ‘generates’, ‘stores’ or ‘enhances’ qi or ‘internal energy’. Moving your hands up and down won’t make you more powerful. Those people who say that they have ‘internal’ power are mistaken, or being misunderstood by others. *Power* comes from using the whole body – not from secret stores of invisible energy, no matter how powerful a person may seem. Those people who claim that specific, fixed movements create more internal energy are wrong. No hand movement or breathing exercise generates so called internal energy. There is no internal energy other than the natural energy of a person. There is no mystical secret power. There is no internal force – the same feelings can be expressed or named in many different ways; using the name *internal force* generates a mistaken belief in a supernatural energy. There is no such supernatural energy. Power comes from correct use of the whole body. Explosive power comes from relaxation and correct use of body mechanics. All of a person’s physical form is qi. No one can ‘shoot’ qi, or perform any other superstitious, fraudulent martial arts act, such as harming people without touching them or so called *empty force*. The only true *empty force* is to cause a person to move themselves via a feint. Regardless of any claims to the contrary, no one can demonstrate empty force on an unwilling practitioner.
The soft, flowing movements that are sometimes seen in martial arts do not create or enhance any so called internal energy; they are designed to teach a body how to relax and use its total energy to maximum efficiency, developing a special feeling that allows the body to perform powerful movements – but it is not a superstitious energy, only a relaxed and integrated way of moving.
Power comes from total energy, not from internal energy.
Copyright Gate of quan 2005
X
GATE OF QUAN.
Part 1
WAY OF QUAN – Tao of Martial Art.
*******************************
GATE OF QUAN
We assert that there is a core essence of movement and style that everyone already has ready within them. Everybody already knows all of the moves. Just as a baby naturally has the ability to walk already contained within its potential, so all of the knowledge of how to use martial arts is contained within each and every person. All of the movements that anyone ever learned to do already existed as a possibility within their body before they learned them – they were already part of the host of movements that their bodies were potentially capable of performing. They were all part of a person’s *potential*. Unfortunately, for various reasons, humans fail to explore their full potential; even limiting it to only a small fraction of what they possibly could do. It is nothing about super natural powers, or myth – it is about the abilities that are physically available to each person, but which are not normally accessed.
A person might do something that they never did before, but no one ever did anything that they could not do. Why is that important? Because one of the main barriers to learning martial arts is in assuming that good level martial arts skill is beyond your capability. Martial arts skill is achievable.
Just like learning to walk, learning martial arts should be a matter of informed trial and error, stripping away that which is pointless until you achieve a movement that your body knows is the most effective and efficient that it can perform. This is sometimes called ‘prompting the body to remember.’ Once that objective is achieved, you will realise that your body always knew how to do it, but for the longest time you submerged the movements under thousands of other pointless or unhelpful *additions* to the movement; and what is more, you appointed the expectation that you did not know the correct movement, and that you would need to learn *more* in order to find good, effective technique. Good effective technique is already there, buried under pointless additions. Usually, we need to do less, not more. Every aspect of your movement should be justifiable for the objective. If it isn’t justifiable, then drop it. Learning thousands of techniques only limits the body because a few thousand techniques is nothing compared to our true potential for infinite, unlimited techniques. Sometimes it is very hard for to see that – to see that the thousands of techniques which you may have spent years learning actually limited your potential, when in truth, it would have been far simpler to unfold true potential, and discover the mechanisms and abilities that allow unlimited flow of movement and technique. For this reason, this theory of martial arts will often be met with hostility.
Everybody already knows the essence of quan (boxing or martial arts).
THE ESSENCE OF QUAN.
We assert, like many Taoist and kung fu experts, that there is an ‘essence’ of Quan, or martial arts. The essence is not techniques; the essence is not energy; the essence is not *qi*; the essence is not any style. In addition to this, we assert that the essence is not something so mystical or awesome that it is beyond the grasp or capabilities of common humans. That is a ‘mis’ appointment. Part of what holds people back in martial arts is that people appoint *expectations*; expectations which, by virtue of becoming fixed in our beliefs become rules of what to believe or think that can no longer under any circumstances be challenged. Some times it is theories about martial arts; sometimes it is theories about the abilities of others; sometimes it is theories about ourselves. People treat those expectations as real and so their effect on us becomes real - sub-consciously we appoint that they are true. Under such circumstances knowledge withers and ceases to unfold, held in check by a wall of mis-appointments. Only by dis-appointing those expectations can one proceed to unfold one’s own personal expression of kung fu – true kung fu – essence of Quan.
Mis-appointments make us appoint expectations that can never be lived up to, and so by focussing on the gross illusions, we miss the subtle, simple truths, and the ‘Ah – I already knew that!’ moments.
Another of these erroneous ‘appointments’ has been that essence of martial arts is something that is learned from, or taught by, another. Well, a person might guide you, show you techniques to see if your body can be prompted by them, but they can never put essence, or understanding, in to your body – neither do they need to. It is already there. The idea that understanding can come from outside is a complete untruth. We oursleves breathe meaning in to everything that we understand. The greatest leaps forwards come when we acknowledge, and give honour to that process; claiming our own knowledge, having confidence in our own research and exploration, realising that no teacher can make us understand if we do not open ourselves up to the understanding.
Another mis-appointment is that ‘essence’ is something so awesomely beyond common human comprehension that it is barely understandable, let alone achievable. That is an untruth. We assert that the essence is already within each and every person, and is simplicity itself. It is not by any means beyond the mental grasp of humans. A person’s martial art skill is already within them.
The heart of essence is intent. In some schools this might be described as ‘no-intent’ but this is just another way of attempting to say what is unsayable – both are really the same thing. Intent seeks to achieve its objective utterly fluidly and with maximum efficiency. That is essence. In fact, our bodies do this all of the time, only our aim is usually to be poor at movement, expending energy pointlessly. Our bodies are geniuses at expressing intent – it is just that the controls for this are generally non-conscious, and geared towards our usual, daily, poorly integrated way of moving. Our bodies can be made to remember how to move differently, more effectively. Our potential is far greater than we have been led to believe. So called martial arts experts who say that knowledge of martial arts comes from forcing the body in to a frame work of movements, or set patterns, shapes, etc. are only really limiting you, closing off your potential.
The knowledge of essence is non-consciously within every human. Essence can be compared to the intent of water that flows from mountains down towards the sea. At no point does water stop in its course to think ‘which way? Left or right?’ It flows utterly fluidly, seeking without the slightest effort or hesitation the truest path in any given moment. It never hesitates and never makes a wrong turn because it has no real objective beyond the flow. If it meets an obstacle it marshals itself to go around in the most effective and efficient way; or else builds enough force to break through. That is essence.
YOU ARE ALREADY THE MASTER.
We assert that EVERYONE is already a master of their movement, of their own style. It is just that some people have used that mastery to explore only a tiny fraction of their true potential. This includes people who know hundreds of forms or techniques – that is all just a tiny fraction of our true potential as beings.
Everyone’s body already knows all of the movements that pertain to effective self defence and fighting skill, just as we know how to walk and breathe and make love. Every question that can be asked about your style, your potential, your movement, can be asked of yourself. You have all of the answers ready and waiting within you. That is not to say that there are no methods to bring that potential out and make it shine – there are methods, just as there are methods that lead you further away from that potential. However, understanding is key – movement alone is not enough; intent has to be present. It is never enough just to perform a movement; there has to be a link between mindfulness and movement to improve.
All of the movements that you can do, you already have within you as part of your potential, just like you had the potential to walk contained within you as a baby. Every movement that you can do, your body already knows how to do. This includes ALL movements that you could do. In any given situation where you wish to use your body to achieve a result your body has a range of movements available to it varying from the least effective movement that it could perform, right through to the most effective. But, unfortunately, through routine, boring, and repetitive use of the body, either in poor martial arts training or just daily life, we lose access to major sections of our potential.
For self defence, in most cases, the range of movements one needs is not particularly athletic or difficult, certainly not beyond the capabilities of any able bodied person. The most effective movements are those that allow the maximum expression of essence – i.e. those that are like water, flowing around every obstacle without hesitation, authored by intent.
The least aim in martial arts should be to achieve an ability to un-hesitatingly use the most effective movement you are capable of in any given situation. This is the journey to understand the essence of Quan. But, it is important to realise that what you are searching for is the essence of your personal style – the essence of your Quan.
Through training, the actual physical body of a person can improve to be capable of accommodating a higher level of efficiency. But still, ALL of the knowledge relating to that higher level of efficiency will come from within. Making the body more efficient is simply a means of expanding one’s physical ability to be a more effective conduit for pre-existing intent. The capacity to improve your physical ability is also pre-existent within you – it is already part of your potential. Understanding this means claiming responsibility for your own development – you become responsible for researching and improving, opening yourself to new ideas and ways.
Put simply, a man with two arms has a wider range of options available to him than a man with one, yet for each of them, at any moment, there is a movement that is the most effective one that they could perform. As you train, either on the bag, or in sparring, or in any other way, don’t wait to be told what to do to improve – actively engage intent, and search for the improvement. Without ever being told, most times each person can make the next step on their own. Of course, a little help is always appreciated!
We assert that this knowledge is in all people, but it is buried under a vast array of other movements and ideas, what we call a *physical ideology*. Physical ideologies, like any other ideology, have their own defences, actively preventing you from critically evaluating, or sometimes even being aware of them to any deep degree. You have to claim responsibility for critically evaluating and dismantling your own physical ideological limitations. Very often, what we thought were limitations of our potential were actually just limitations of our thinking.
We assert that no one can pass on knowledge of the ‘essence’ of Quan, only guide others to unfold their own knowledge. So, in truth there are no masters over others, yet each person is already a master. Understanding that you already mastered movement is not easy to accept. Because of physical ideologies we *judge* that certain abilities are more important than others. Fighting skill is not a big deal, and it is no more important than any other area of movement or expression of intent. But, the knowledge of how to use the body to maximum efficiency is buried in the unconscious potential of each person. It is there, but it is normally not available to us consciously. It is possible to access this, but to do that we have to start to break down old ways of moving, and, most importantly, let our mind wander over these issues and begin to freely unfold insight in to them – the mind is a powerful doorway in to the unconscious controls of our body. Tod o that, we only have to start questioning.
In addition, much of what *holds us back* from exploring our true potential is mental, not physical. It is ideas, lies, misunderstandings, rumours, myths, misconceptions, ego, fear and many other things that make us stop unfolding insight in to martial arts.
You are already your master.
INTERNAL / EXTERNAL
In Chinese martial arts there has traditionally been a distinction made between ‘internal’ and ‘external’ martial arts, with the former being said to be more fluid, rounded, relaxed, and based on use of ‘qi’, and the latter based more on hard, straight, often ‘fixed’ movements, utilising mainly muscle strength. Even some martial arts experts believe this. We assert that these interpretations are wrongly appointed and have damaged understanding of the real nature of martial arts.
All movements of the body are movements of the body. All movements use muscles, bones, sinews - and truly powerful movements use whole body integration; that is, all of the body, not ‘internal energy’ but ‘total energy’. All deliberate movements are guided by our intent. No supernatural forces are at work in powerful martial arts.
All movements are movements. All fixed ways are fixed ways. We assert that ‘Internal’ does not by any means refer to anything to do with the superstitious notion of ‘internal energy’ which is a corruption of the original Taoist meaning, but actually refers to ‘unfolding’ knowledge from within, from the ‘internal’, i.e. from our own insight – in-sight - in accordance with Taoist principles. Lao Tzu said that one need never leave their room to understand Tao, and that his knowledge of the world came simply by looking at the world and pondering it.
‘Internal method’ has nothing whatsoever to do with the type of movement used in any given martial art. Internal method means that the knowledge of movement and martial art is already in you, and that it can be accessed, or remembered, or even formed – all from personal exploration. (It should be remembered, however, that Taoism is a sophisticated philosophy which seeks to transcend limited binary concepts such as internal and external, so these should be used only as a guide, recognising that language has only a limited ability to teach certain physical ideas. Each person, therefore, needs to experiment themselves, trusting their own intuition and claiming their own martial art, in order to understand the true and profound nature of internal method training.)
‘External’ also does not mean any particular type of movement – it is nothing to do with how hard a movement is, or how straight, or how much it relies on muscles. These false views have grown up over the years, centuries even, but contradict the original theories of Tao - that knowledge is already a massive potential waiting within a person, and is accessed, achieved through insight and enlightenment, not *put in* to us by any means – certainly not by copying other people’s movements. One of the very great mis-appointments has been that ‘enlightenment’ is something incredibly mystical and almost beyond human understanding. However, enlightenment simply means casting light on to a thing – finally achieving a clear view.
‘External’ actually refers to the theory that martial art’s essence can somehow be learned from the ‘outside in’, by slavishly copying the moves of another person over and over until they match that other person’s ‘form’ as exactly as possible. That process does not give a person a deep or practical skill – it just cripples a person’s free flowing ability – the very ability which should have been the true heart of his martial arts. Copying fixed form only leads further and further away from internal knowledge – either in martial arts, or any other area. Your style is unique – you can not copy it from anyone. Only you can bring it out of you, and that is internal method martial arts. A true teacher guides that process in you. A false teacher cripples that process by installing his own method in to your system. The method has to be correct – even if it begins with fixed training methods, diligently performed – still, it will be leading to free expression.
We assert that copying other people is not the true way to essence, and that essence is the starting point, not the destination; and therefore to allow our intent to fully guide our movements, freely, without hesitation, with explosive power, one must strip away pointless form, not add it. Each person is already a master of movement – each person’s way of moving is already mastered over long years. It is that mastery of ineffective movement that needs to be stripped away. This idea is often misunderstood as meaning that one should not learn techniques off others, but that is not what it means. Unfortunately, it is pot luck who we learn off, so some may teach a way that leads to free expression, while others teach a way that limits. At first, both methods may be strict, and teach fixed ways, so it can be hard to tell. The only way to know is if you improve rapidly via diligent training and hard thinking.
We believe that the false interpretations of internal and external have been a terrible blunder, and that this mis-appointment has consequently hindered countless people in achieving their true potential. People try to achieve an understanding of martial arts just by copying other people – but that is not possible. Copying movements does not lead to any understanding – and worse, it imprisons a body in routine, and worse than that, it imprisons the body in someone else’s routine. You yourself must be able to mindfully justify each movement to use it properly – it must have ‘intentionality’ in it, otherwise it is empty form. So a move may be learned, but it is empty without the connection to mindful intent.
It could perhaps be said that on another level of understanding, ‘internal’ refers to intent, whereas ‘external’ refers to the physical movement which expresses it. We feel that although there are some ideas to unfold around this concept, it is not really true. We feel that this is probably the idea which first began to lead people away from the truth that essence must be unfolded from within. There is a sense in which movement must express intent, yet in truth this is merely a way of talking, and in actual practice intent and expression must integrate in to one thing, so there is no real difference between the internal or external – all are one. We assert that at this point the body becomes aware that there really is only intent.
‘In the pursuit of learning, everyday something is added.
In the pursuit of Tao, everyday something is dropped’
Lao Tzu
Tao Te Ching.
No channels of *internal* energy circulate around the body. All of a person is qi.... qi is the whole physical form of a person, not a part of a person, or something like blood that flows around the body. That is a superstitious belief. Qi is an idea of a thing that all of the universe is made of – including ourselves.
There is no given way of moving your arms and legs that ‘generates’, ‘stores’ or ‘enhances’ qi or ‘internal energy’. Moving your hands up and down won’t make you more powerful. Those people who say that they have ‘internal’ power are mistaken, or being misunderstood by others. *Power* comes from using the whole body – not from secret stores of invisible energy, no matter how powerful a person may seem. Those people who claim that specific, fixed movements create more internal energy are wrong. No hand movement or breathing exercise generates so called internal energy. There is no internal energy other than the natural energy of a person. There is no mystical secret power. There is no internal force – the same feelings can be expressed or named in many different ways; using the name *internal force* generates a mistaken belief in a supernatural energy. There is no such supernatural energy. Power comes from correct use of the whole body. Explosive power comes from relaxation and correct use of body mechanics. All of a person’s physical form is qi. No one can ‘shoot’ qi, or perform any other superstitious, fraudulent martial arts act, such as harming people without touching them or so called *empty force*. The only true *empty force* is to cause a person to move themselves via a feint. Regardless of any claims to the contrary, no one can demonstrate empty force on an unwilling practitioner.
The soft, flowing movements that are sometimes seen in martial arts do not create or enhance any so called internal energy; they are designed to teach a body how to relax and use its total energy to maximum efficiency, developing a special feeling that allows the body to perform powerful movements – but it is not a superstitious energy, only a relaxed and integrated way of moving.
Power comes from total energy, not from internal energy.
Copyright Gate of quan 2005
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from the ♥
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