Shaolin is one of the oldest martial arts on the planet. It was brought from India by a fellow named Bodhidharma, and has been credited with being inspirational to martial artists the world over. Interestingly, Shaolin eventually became an internal style of martial art atop Wudan Mountain.
I know there will be those who disagree with what I say here, but I hold to it, as I have watched students go through the evolution of hard to soft, and the evolution of art from Shaolin to Wudan mirrors what I have seen students go through. Indeed, as students peel layers off the art, so they peel off layers of unawaress, and attain the truly miraculous.
The student new to Shaolin learns to explode energy from the tan tan, to spread that energy throughout his frame and make his body like a rock. Arms become iron windmills, stances attach him permanently to the planet. This, however, is all based on exploding energy within the the body.
As a student explores the varieties of martial art he may encounter the concept of absorbing energy. The act of guiding a punch, instead of blocking it, brings awareness of the concept of drawing energy in, instead of just putting it out. This progression of art often starts with a hard Shaolin art, goes through a softer art like Wing Chun Kung Fu, and, eventually, ends up with Wudan Tai Chi Chuan.
The odd fact of the matter is that if the student stays within a hard art, he will evolve into the soft. The unfortunate fact of aging, of the body no longer being able to handle the explosive energy of hard arts, will bring the student into the softer arts. He will punch so that he doesn't experience whiplash in his neck, he will use his legs so he doesn't suffer hip problems, and he will naturally evolve his art from hard to soft.
As these progressions of art and age occur, students learn to use their minds and their bodies with less and less effort, and and they are surprised tolearn that the abilities they gained in the hard arts grow even greater. Instead of forcing energy through bodies no longer strong enough to handle it, they guide the energy with less effort, and focus it. Thus, awareness becomes a growing factor, and the blinders come off.
Instead of exploding energy brutally through their bodies, the students seep the energy through their bodies. They learn to guide this energy with their awareness, and the smallest of their motions contain ideas of energy. They learn that the crude body energy they used when they were young and robust was...unaware.
Finally, they make the change from hard to soft, from inner to outer, from internal to external, and the Shaolin adept becomes the Wudan sage. Instead of using violent art, the Wudan master moves with an opponent, drawing in the energy of the attack and transforming as he wishes. Yet, though there is wisdom in the Gung Fu of the Wudan variety, there is no disdain for the hard, for the true sage knows the need for his early Shaolin training, he knows the benefit of understanding energy on hard levels if the student is to make the transition to the softer Wudan intelligence.
I know there will be those who disagree with what I say here, but I hold to it, as I have watched students go through the evolution of hard to soft, and the evolution of art from Shaolin to Wudan mirrors what I have seen students go through. Indeed, as students peel layers off the art, so they peel off layers of unawaress, and attain the truly miraculous.
The student new to Shaolin learns to explode energy from the tan tan, to spread that energy throughout his frame and make his body like a rock. Arms become iron windmills, stances attach him permanently to the planet. This, however, is all based on exploding energy within the the body.
As a student explores the varieties of martial art he may encounter the concept of absorbing energy. The act of guiding a punch, instead of blocking it, brings awareness of the concept of drawing energy in, instead of just putting it out. This progression of art often starts with a hard Shaolin art, goes through a softer art like Wing Chun Kung Fu, and, eventually, ends up with Wudan Tai Chi Chuan.
The odd fact of the matter is that if the student stays within a hard art, he will evolve into the soft. The unfortunate fact of aging, of the body no longer being able to handle the explosive energy of hard arts, will bring the student into the softer arts. He will punch so that he doesn't experience whiplash in his neck, he will use his legs so he doesn't suffer hip problems, and he will naturally evolve his art from hard to soft.
As these progressions of art and age occur, students learn to use their minds and their bodies with less and less effort, and and they are surprised tolearn that the abilities they gained in the hard arts grow even greater. Instead of forcing energy through bodies no longer strong enough to handle it, they guide the energy with less effort, and focus it. Thus, awareness becomes a growing factor, and the blinders come off.
Instead of exploding energy brutally through their bodies, the students seep the energy through their bodies. They learn to guide this energy with their awareness, and the smallest of their motions contain ideas of energy. They learn that the crude body energy they used when they were young and robust was...unaware.
Finally, they make the change from hard to soft, from inner to outer, from internal to external, and the Shaolin adept becomes the Wudan sage. Instead of using violent art, the Wudan master moves with an opponent, drawing in the energy of the attack and transforming as he wishes. Yet, though there is wisdom in the Gung Fu of the Wudan variety, there is no disdain for the hard, for the true sage knows the need for his early Shaolin training, he knows the benefit of understanding energy on hard levels if the student is to make the transition to the softer Wudan intelligence.
About the Author:
Al Case has researched the martial arts for 4O+ 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.
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