"Tung Hai-Chuan (1813-18820 became a member of the Chuan Chen (Complete Truth) sect of Taoism. This sect was part of the Lung Men (Dragon Gate) school of Taoism which was originated by Chou Chang-Ch'uan. Interestingly enough, Chou also invented a method of meditation whereby the practitioner would walk in a circle and, wouldn't you know, this method was practiced by the Chuan Chen sect. Delving further into this Taoist connection, K'ang was able to find a section in the Taoist Canon which reads:
'A person's heart and mind are in chaos.
Concentration on one thing makes the mind pure.
If one aspires to reach the Tao, one should practice walking in a circle.'
This bit of evidence inspired Professor K'ang Kuo of Beijing Wu to try and find out more about the circle walk meditation method practiced by the Chuan Chen Taoists. What he discovered was that this practice, which the Taoists called Chuan T'ien Tsun (Rotating in Worship of Heaven) is very similar in principle to the circle walk practice of Pa Kua Chang. Researching Wang Chun-Pao's book, 'Taoist Method of Walking the Circle,' K'ang found that while walking, the Taoists repeated one of two mantras. The first of these mantras was used in the morning practice and translates to mean 'When Rotating in Worship of Heaven, the sound of thunder is everywhere and transforms everything.' The second mantra was used in the evening practice and translates to mean 'When Rotating in Worship of Heaven, the great void saves us from the hardship of existence.' It was said that the practitioner should repeat the mantra with each movement in the circle walk practice so that 'one replaces one's myriad thoughts with a single thought in order to calm and ease one's mind.' The Taoists said that in walking the circle the body's movements should be unified and the practitioner strives for stillness in motion. This practice was described as a method of training the body while harnessing the spirit."
- Jiang Hao-Quan Chinese Martial Arts Institute
Ways of Walking
Walking Meditation
Bagua Zhang
Hello Michael,
ReplyDeleteGood to see your bagua posts. The form I do, the old Yang double style of Tchoung Ta Tchen, has some bagua elements in it (and a bit of Hsing I also).
My teacher Gene Burnett teaches some bagua. I've studied the single palm and back palm changes and basic circle walking techniques. I only practice maybe 10 minutes a week, but I still find it valuable.
I dropped in on Kent Howard's class last spring. I really enjoyed it, especially the push hands. I'm glad you're covering his new book.
I'm still learning the Sun Style Taijiquan 73 form which includes many "baguazhang" movements.
ReplyDeleteShifu Kent Howard's class is excellent. You are correct, the push hands practice is wonderful. We have 6 to 8 fellows to do push hands with each week.
Shifu Howard is still working on proofs of the Wang Shujin "Linked Palms" book and expects publication in the Spring of 2009.
- Mike