Chen Taijiquan Broadsword

Chen Taijiquan Saber: Bibliography, Resources, Links

 
List of Movements of Chen Dao Broadsword 23 Form.  1 page. 

List of Movements in Five Languages 

 

Here are two instructional resources that I have used to learn this form:

Chen Style Taijiquan: Sword and Broadsword.   By Chen Zhenglei.  Translated by Zhang XinHu, Chen Bin, Xu Hailiang, and Gregory Bissell.  Tai Chi Centre, 2003.  367 pages.  ISBN: 7534823218.   This book is in English.  Detailed descriptions, with photographs, of the first form, sword form and broadsword form.  An excellent companion to Chen Zenglei's instructional DVDs, with English narration.  Review by Herbert O. Rich: "This is the first translated volume of Grandmaster Chen Zhenglei's three-volume set entitled "A Compendium of Taiji Boxing and Weapons".  Chen Zhenglei is famed as a 19th generation Grandmaster of traditional Chen Style Taijiquan (Tai Chi Chuan). He is known to Taijiquan enthusiasts the world over for his skill and ability in teaching.  This book is a detailed instruction manual for the basic set (or form) of the Laojia ("old frame") Chen style, as well as the single broadsword and straight sword forms.  Profusely illustrated, it describes basic theory, physical requirements, postural movements, Qi circulation, and self defense applications for each of the postures of the form."  The 23 movement broadsword form is described in detail, with many black and white photographs, on pages 322-360. 

Traditional Chen Family Tai Chi Broadsword .  Instructional videotape or DVD by Shifu Jiang Jian-ye.  70 minutes.  Detailed instructions, repetitions, and demonstrations.   Jiang's Tai Chi Videos.  He teaches the 23 movement form developed by Chen Zhaopei in 1933.  "By Jiang Jian-ye. This classic weapon routine enhances fajin, relaxed explosive release of force, and silk reeling energy. Jiang, who studied intensively in China, demonstrates the 23-movement form from the back at the beginning of the tape and multiple times, back and front, at the conclusion. Teaching of the movements uses multiple repetitions and camera angles an reviews of segments.  70 Min.  $39.95."  - Wayfarer Catalog.  Traditional Chen Family Tai Chi Broadsword.  Instruction and demonstration by Shifu Jiang Jian-ye.  Available in VHS and DVD media formats.  70 minutes.  Shifu Jiang demonstrates and carefully and slowly teaches the 23 movement form.  He teaches the form in a step-by-step and movement by movement manner.  Each movement is repeated from 3-5 times, slowly and at normal speed.  Each movement is show from front, back and side views.  Jiang's Tai Chi Videos.   

 

 

 

 

Bread of Life

One bread I would like to recommend is "Ezekiel 4:9."  This is made by Food for Life, Corona, California.  It is a flourless, low glycemic, complete protein, sprouted 100% whole grain bread.  Each slice provides 80 calories, 15 grams of carbohydrates, 4 grams of protein, 1 gram of fat, 75 mg of sodium, and 80 mg of potassium.  This bread is not gluten free.  Ingredients: Organic sprouted wheat, filtered water, organic sprouted barley, organic sprouted millet, organic malted barley, organic sprouted lentils, organic sprouted soybeans, organic sprouted spelt, fresh yeast, organic wheat gluten, and sea salt.  Refrigerate this bread after opening.  This bread is brown, dense and chewy; and I prefer it toasted.  The relevant quotation from the Old Testament, Ezekiel 4:9 is "Take unto thee Wheat, and Barley, and Beans, and Lentils, and Millet, and Spelt, and put them in one vessel, and make bread of it." 
Add 2 tablespoons of almond butter (200 calories) to 2 slices of Ezekiel bread for a total of 360 calories.  Top it off with one apple at 120 calories. This makes a nice energy boosting lunch meal of 480 calories. 

Challenge Yourself

"Always strive to improve.  Never be content to rest on your laurels.  Making progress towards a challenging goal is what keeps you motivated.  Challenge lights the fire.  Progress keeps it burning bright.  The key is to continually challenge yourself in an intelligent and thoughful way."
-  Clarence Bass, Challenge Yourself - Leanness, Fitness & Health - At Any Age, p. 12  

Challenge Yourself - Leanness, Fitness & Health - At Any Age  By Clarence Bass.  Albuquerque, New Mexico, Clarence Bass' Ripped Enterprises, 1999.  224 pages.  ISBN: 9780960971473.  VSCL.  

"To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe."
-  Anatole France  

"Goals are not only absolutely necessary to motivate us.  They are essential to really keep us alive."
-  Robert H. Schuller 

Determination and Planning Quotations  



A Twelve-Point Program for Healthy Aging
"1.  Eat an anti-inflammatory diet.
2.  Use dietary supplements wisely to support the body's defenses and natural healing power.
3.  Use preventive medicine intelligently: know your risks of age-related disease, get appropriate diagnostic and screening
tests and immunizations, and treat problems (like elevated blood pressure and cholesterol) in their early stages.
4.  Get regular physical activity throughout life. 
5.  Get adequate rest and sleep.
6.  Learn and practice methods of stress protection. 
7.  Exercise your mind as well as your body. 
8.  Maintain social and intellectual connections as you go through life. 
9.  Be flexible in mind and body: learn to adapt to losses and let go of behaviors no longer appropriate for your age.
10.  Think about and try to discover for yourself the benefits of aging. 
11.  Do not deny the reality of aging or put energy into trying to stop it.  Use the experience of aging as a stimulus
for spiritual awakening and growth. 
12.  Keep an ongoing record of the lessons you learn, the wisdom you gain, and the values you hold.  At critical points in
your life, read this over, add to it, revise it, and share it with people you care about."
-  Andrew Weil, M.D.
   Healthy Aging: A Lifelong Guide to Your Physical and Spiritual Well-Being, 2005, p. 239.  

Rebuilt in America

Create, Rebuild, Be Strong, Take Pride, Seek Peace, Support Freedom
We are proud of you, New York!

Meanwhile, yesterday, tomorrow, today, now, somewhere in the world the deranged Soldiers of Islam are also trying to remake the world in their image of "justice" by hating, threatening, hurting, and killing anyone who does not want to bow down and submit to their delusions regarding Allah and macho manhood. The Old Testament and the Koran are both filled with "inspired" verses that advocate remorseless cruelty in support very narrow minded and tribal exclusivity.  Both ultra-conservative Christians and Moslems are shamefully and unreasonably addicted to worshiping a book, the Bible or the Koran, and have abandoned the essence of true spirituality and loving-kindness.

We know now that September 11th is the start of a week long religious holiday for the Neo-Nazi Sharia Koran hoodlums around the world.  The "men" will celebrate by leaving their mosques screaming mad, spitting on their straggly beards, shooting guns in the air, raising their fists in anger, marching like locusts, vandalizing property, burning buildings, rioting, killing innocent people of other religions, killing policemen, burning US flags and pictures of our Presidents, and having a grand old time being bearded rowdy bullies.  They will make some pathetic excuse for these destructive riot parties like seeing a short crude video on UTube "insulting" Muhammad, some comedian making jokes in a routine about them, some obscure fundamentalist preacher in Georgia tossing a Koran in a fireplace, some artist in Sweden drawing a cartoon of Mohammad with a bomb in his cap, or another filthy Jew in Israel winning a Nobel prize.  Ho Hum ... what else is new or productive or creative from these buffoon zealots.  Don't they need to go to work peacefully and preserve property like the rest of us?  They insult all of us "infidels" all around the world every day with their ignorant and intolerant rants and threats of violence, but we have enough common sense, patience, and courage and don't run out screaming in anger and burn down a mosque.  Religions that encourage anger and hate are worthless. 

A Devoutly Religious Man

"The most beautiful emotion is the mystical.  It is the power of all true art and science.  He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead.  To know that which is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty, which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their most primitive forms - this knowledge, this feeling, is at the center of true religiousness.  In this sense, and in this sense only, I belong to the rank of a devoutly religious man."
-  Albert Einstein


"One cannot but be in awe when one contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality.  It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery each day.  Never lose a holy curiosity."
-  Albert Einstein 

"Even before I could speak, I remember crawling through blueberry patches in the wild meadows on our hillsides.  I quickly discovered Nature was filled with Spirit; I never saw any separation between Spirit and Nature.  Much later I discovered our culture taught there was supposed to be some kind of separation - that God, Spirit and Nature were supposed to be divided and different.  However, at my early age it seemed absolutely obvious that the church of the Earth was the greatest church of all; that the temple of the forest was the supreme temple.  When I went to the sanctuary of the mountain, I found Earth's natural altar - Great Spirit's real shrine.  Years later I discovered that this path of going into Nature, bonding deeply with it, and seeing Spirit within Nature - God, Goddess, and Great Spirit - was humanity's most ancient, most primordial path of spiritual cultivation and realization."
 -  John P. Milton, Sky Above, Earth Below 

Awe and Wonder Quotations

Spirituality and Nature Quotations

The following photograph of a dragonfly resting on straw was taken by Karen Garofalo.  

The Sword of Wisdom

"Ever since the adepts handed on
The secret of the sword,
The true imperative has been upheld
Completely, truly adamant.

If someone asks me about
Looking for its origin,
I say it is not ordinary iron.
This lump of iron
Comes from receptive stillness;
When you obtain it, it rises up.

Forging it in a glowing fire,
Through repeated efforts
It is refined
And forged into steel.

When students of the Tao
Know this secret,
The spirit of light is intensely powerful,
And devils of darkness vanish.

The subtle function of spiritual work
Is truly hard to measure;
I now give an explanation for you.
In telling you about it
I divulge the celestial mechanism.

Setting to work when one yang comes back,
First have the six yangs pump the furnace bellows;
Then the six yins work the tongs and hammer.
When the work of firing is complete,
It produces the sword;
When it is first done,
It flashes like lightning.

Brandish it horizontally
And a cold clear breeze arises;
Hold it upright,
And the shining bright moon appears.
Auspicious light illumines heaven and earth;
Sprites and ghosts are distressed.

It stops turbidity, brings out clarity,
Sweeps away weird defilements;
It slays volatility,
Cuts down aggressiveness,
Destroys monsters:
Influences draining away
Vitality, energy and spirit
All vanish in the light of the sword.

Entanglements are cut off, rumination dies down,
And the web of feelings is rent asunder.
Where the spiritual edge is aimed, mountains crumble;
The demon kinds of mundane planes are all routed.

This precious sword fundamentally has no form;
The name is set up because it has spiritual effect.
Learning the Tao and practicing reality
Depend on this sword:
Without this sword,
The Tao cannot be achieved.

Opening up the vast darkness,
Distinguishing heaven and earth,
Dissolving obstructions, transmuting objects -
All is included.
If you ask me to show it to you,
I bring it out before you -
Do you understand or not?"

-  The Sword of Wisdom
From "The Book of Balance and Harmony"
Translated by Thomas Cleary, 1989, p. 115-117


Taijiquan Sword: Bibliography, Links, Resources, Instruction, Guides, All Styles





T'ai Chi Ch'uan Sword: Poems, Sayings, Quotations, Wisdom

Standard 32 Sword Form, Simplified, Yang Style

 

Growing Up "Italian"

I was born at the White Memorial Hospital in Los Angeles in 1945.  I grew up in the Bandini Barrio of East Los Angeles.  My father always told my brothers and I that we were "Italians."
My Grandmother Garofalo spoke Italian with her friends and her family of her generation, and sometimes with my father; but spoke only in somewhat limited English with my brothers and I. My fraternal grandparents came to American in 1905 from Sicily. 
My mother was of German ancestry, and was born and raised in Ohio.  However, we were never told that we were "Germans."  Being "German" in America was not popular from 1935 -1970 because of Nazism. 
We were educated in Catholic Schools, celebrated holidays and events "Italian" style, and had strong ties with the "family." Expectations for our behavior was definitely influenced by Italian Catholicism and American values. Being a third-generation "Italian," removed me from many of the "Italian" cultural habits, and we spoke only English at home. 
My father was a conservative and voted Republican, and my mother was a quiet Democrat.  Attitudes of male chauvinism and some racism were not uncommon in our home.
A friend of mine, Yolanda Batistelli, from Los Angeles, recommended I watch the slide show by John Fusco presented below.  I watched as some of the lifestyle and history or our family unfolded before me, and let out a few tears in the process since all of the Familia before me has passed on.   
I think of myself now as a Californian, an American, and of German-Italian heritage.  I have lived in California for 63 years, except for the four years I was serving in the enlisted ranks of the United States Air Force from 1969-1973. 

One does not need to have "Grown up Italian" to relate to and appreciate the substance of this video about the four generations of families living and thriving in America from 1900 to 2000.  It is a universal message of hope, pride, change, Americans, workers, abundance, sharing, and families.  Enjoy!

 

Begin It!

Today, Karen and I will work in the herb garden.  We will clean and cultivate a large area and improve the walkway in the center.  We will be planting onions and garlic in this area.  Today we begin preparing for our "Winter" garden.  In addition, we will make a corn dolly and harvest many gourds and pumpkins for ornamental displays. 

"Whatever you can do or imagine, begin it; boldness has beauty, magic, and power in it."
- Goethe

"A callused palm and dirty fingernails precede a Green Thumb"
-  Michael Garofalo  

"Construct your determination with Sustained Effort, Controlled Attention, and Concentrated Energy.  Opportunities never come to those who wait... they are captured by those who dare to attack."
-  Paul J. Meyer

Viriya Paramita: energy, diligence, vigor, effort, striving, manliness

Willpower Quotes

September in the Garden

Preparing for Mabon

 

The Empty Mat

"When I unroll my yoga mat and carefully place it on the floor, I often briefly reflect on the fact that this yoga mat has created a sacred space.  The mat has outlined a spiritual domain, marked the Four Magickal Quarters, hallowed out an empty space for action.  Could we stand tall and strong like The Warrior without this freedom of Nothing in Our Way?  Without this potent emptiness how could we move to align with the cosmos?  Aligning our mats is a ritual act in physical fitness yoga practice. 

My Taijiquan practice area is also a wide empty space.  A clear space for flowing movements with a clear mind.  An uncluttered domain for cultivating an uncluttered mind.  Nothing is essential here for doing something of real value.  

The whole topic of Emptiness (Sunyata, Mu, the Void, Inter-Dependent Arising, impermanence, etc.) leads us into thoughts and insights about consciousness, knowing, and metaphysics. The Heart Sutra is a classic Buddhist scripture that reflects on the emptiness at the core of all beings and that is a path for true understanding.  This understanding along with the Four Immeasurables (Love, Compassion, Joy and Impartiality), the Ten Paramitas, and Three Treasures (Buddha, Dharma, Sangha) provide us with a wide path for going beyond, far beyond, to the Other Shore.

Our simple yoga mats, like a beautiful window or door, can open us up and out to energizing possibilities, allow us to play with new experiences, allow us to see in new ways, grant us a place for becoming.  Emptiness creates the ground for what is to emerge, from the holy heart of creation.  Emptiness is receptive and giving at the same time.  So, today, just lay your mat down, enter the Dragon's Gate of Emptiness, sit, and savor Nothing."  
 

Dao De Jing, Laozi, Chapter 50

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu
Chapter 50

"Exiting life, we enter death.
The followers of life are three out of ten, the followers of death are three out of ten; in the lives of the people, the dying grounds on which they are agitated are also three out of ten.
What is the reason?
Because of the seriousness with which they take life as life.
It has been said that those who maintain life well do not meet rhinos or tigers on land and do not arm themselves in war.
There is no way for rhinos to gore them; there is no way for tigers to claw them; there is no way for weapons to get at them.
Why?
Because they have no dying ground."
-   Translated by Thomas Cleary, Chapter 50 

"Life is a going forth; death is a returning home.
Of ten, three are seeking life, three are seeking death, and three are dying.
What is the reason?
Because they live in life's experience. (Only one is immortal.)
I hear it said that the sage when he travels is never attacked by rhinoceros or tiger, and when coming among soldiers does not fear their weapons.
The rhinoceros would find no place to horn him, nor the tiger a place for his claws, nor could soldiers wound him.
What is the reason?
Because he is invulnerable."
-   Translated by Dwight Goddard, Chapter 50  

"From coming out to life to going back to death:
Those companions (t'u) of life,
They are one-third (shih-yu-san);
Those companions of death,
They are one-third;
Those living but moving toward the place of death,
They are also one-third.
Why?
Because of the intense (hou) life-producing activity.
I have heard that one who knows how to nourish life,
On land meets no tigers or wild buffaloes,
In battle needs to wear no armors or weapons,
A wild buffalo has nowhere to butt its horns,
A tiger has nowhere to sink its claws,
A weapon has nowhere to enter its blade.
Why?
Because such a one has no place of death."
-   Translated by Ellen M. Chen, Chapter 50 

"People are born on the Earth and die.
Out of ten about three continue then paradisiacal existence; three go to hell by the path of death; and three yet are those who have not succeeded in the development of soul due to attachments to worldly affairs.
He who mastered the true life when living on the Earth is not afraid of rhinoceros or tigers; in the battle he is not afraid of armed soldiers.
A rhinoceros has no place to plunge its horn into him, a tiger has no place to fasten its claws onto him, soldiers have no place to stab him with swords.
It is so, because to him there is no death."
-   Translated by Vladimir Antonov, Chapter 50  

"Anyone who is born dies.
If 13 people are born
All 13 people will eventually die.
From birth to life,
From life to death,
The great earth will afford the places to live and to die
for exactly 13.
Why is this so?
It is because the mind cherishes the belief
that living is a privilege and not a natural right.
I have heard that those who are good at conserving and preserving life
Seldom meet tigers and horned animals when they move around.
If they should join the military forces,
They would not have the need to combat.
Horned animals will have no way to cast their horns on their bodies,
Nor will tigers find a place to lay their claws.
Even soldiers' swords will not hurt them.
Why is this so?
Because such people will never die."
-   Translated by Lok Sang Ho, Chapter 50 
  

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu: Introduction, Bibliography, Commentary, Chapter Index  

Chapter 50 of the Dao De Jing by Laozi: Text and Commentaries  

Index of English Language Translators of the Tao Te Ching 

Ripening Peaches: Taoist Studies and Practices  

Chapter and Thematic Index to the Tao Te Ching

 

Being Fooled

"It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled."
-  Mark Twain

The Other Side of the Coin

Buddha's Charter of Free Inquiry

“Do not go upon what has been acquired by repeated hearing;
nor upon tradition;
nor upon rumor;
nor upon what is in a scripture:
nor upon surmise;
nor upon an axiom;
nor upon specious reasoning;
nor upon a bias towards a notion that has been pondered over:
nor upon another’s seeming ability;
nor upon the consideration, “The monk is our teacher.”
When you yourselves know:
“These things are good; these things are not blamable;
these things are praised by the wise; undertaken and observed,
these things lead to benefit and happiness,” enter on and abide in them.”"
-   Gautama Buddha
     Kalama Sutta, The Buddha’s Charter of Free Inquiry
     Translated by Soma Thera (The Wheel Publication, No. 8),
     Buddhist Publication Society, 1987  

Nine Temple Chi Kung Exercises

The Temple Qigong (Chi Kung) form consists of nine exercises.  It was popularized by Grand Master Marshall Ho'o (1910-1993) of Los Angeles, California.  It is also referred to as the Nine Temple Exercises, or the Marshall Ho'o Temple Exercises.  

My webpage on Temple Qigong provides a bibliography, links, the names of the movements, and an explanation of each movement.  

Standing Meditation, Resting Position: Wuji

1.   Turning the Prayer Wheel

2.   Rotating the Knees

3.   Crossed Arm Rotation

4.   Picking Fruit

5.   Swinging the Leg

6.   Leg Bounce

7.   Retreat and Advance   

8.   Grinding Corn

9.   Polishing the Mirror  

Closure: Collecting and Storing Energy 

Marshall Ho'o wrote a book 1968 which included an explanation with photographic illustrations of the Temple Qigong set.  The black and white photos in that book were of poor quality and the editing was unsatisfactory.  An instructional DVD also teaches this form.  

"Dr. Ho'o was instrumental in the certification of acupuncture in the State of California. He was the first Tai Chi Master to have been elected to the Black Belt Hall of Fame.  He was Dean of the Aspen Academy of Martial & Healing Arts, on the faculty of California Institute of the Arts, and taught Tai Chi and Acupressure at many educational institutions.  In 1973, he created a series for KCET public television, in Los Angeles, teaching Tai Chi.  He was a consultant to Prevention Magazine's The Doctor's Book of Home Remedies.  A Chinese American, Dr. Ho'o was America's first Tai Chi Chuan Grandmaster.  His influence is far-reaching in both the fields of healing and martial arts."
-  The Lineage, Teachers of Two Birds Tai Chi

Tai Chi Chuan  By Marshall Hoo.  Burbank, California, Ohara Publications, Inc., 1986, 1993.  111 pages.  ISBN: 0897501098.  VSCL.  The Nine Temple exercise set is briefly described in this book on pages 18-42.  Each movement is clearly illustrated by four to eight clear black and white photographs of a woman doing the form.  The Taijiquan is the Standard 24 Form in the Yang Style. 

Tai Chi Chuan: The 27 forms by Marshall Hoo .   Instructional DVD, released in 2005, by Marshall Ho'o.  Black Belt Videos, 90 minutes.  Includes the Nine Temple Qigong.   

Family Fun

Alicia, Sean, Katelyn, and Makenna all came down from Portland to visit Karen and I in Red Bluff.  They arrived on Friday afternoon.  We enjoyed our family time together.  Because of the fires in the local mountains, the air quality the whole weekend was very unhealthful.  We stayed at our home quite a bit and played games, gardened, talked, watched DVDs, rested.

A Single Gourd

 

"Blinding heat divides day from night,
Brands short shadows into fecund soil.
Green tendrils, heavy with beans,
Coil around rustic bamboo racks.
Violet flowers gape erotically among velvet leaves:
A single gourd contains the entire world's dream.

There is a great comfort in growing your own food. You are close to the soil. You use the basic elements -- water, sunlight, earth, air, and plants -- for your work, your sustenance, and your pleasure. You nurture your garden from seedlings to mature plants, tending, pruning, weeding.  Year after year, you see cycles come and go, from sprouting to harvest to withering, to seeding again.  You eat your plants to live.  You don't mind and they don't mind. Some day, you will fall back to this earth, back into the sun-baked dirt, and you will become food for the plants.  It's the way of all life, and it's all very agreeable.

Those who follow Tao say that all reality is like a series of nesting circles: microcosms within macrocosms. What is close at hand is a microcosm of what is far away. Why search all over for Tao?  It is all contained in the seeds of the gourd growing in your garden."
-  Deng Ming-Dao, 365 Tao: Daily Meditations, Day 245, September 2nd

Gardening and Spirituality: Quotes, Poems, Sayings

Precious Water Flowing

Every morning I walk out in my back yard and check the irrigation ditch that runs through my property.  Every ten days or so in the dry months the ditch will be filled with flowing water.  The rancher to the southwest breeds horses and rancher to the northwest raises cattle.  They irrigate their large fields to raise wheat and other grains to feed their animals.  Some of the overflow runs through the ditch to a nearby creek.  

Numerous neighbors, including myself, have dug small ponds which capture this water and provide water for wildlife and for human enjoyment. 
 
I pump water out of this ditch and irrigate out trees and shrubs.  We will sometimes have six hoses running at the same time, and move them around every forty minutes or so.  Over the last fourteen years I have put in many white PVC pipes underground to bring this treasured water to where it is need. 

 "If there is magic on the planet, it is contained in the water."
-  Loren Eisley

"A river seems a magic thing. A magic, moving, living part of the very earth itself."
- Laura Gilpin

The Spirit of Gardening

Water