Knowing exactly what each form means and what they are trying to teach us in fighting is crutial. It is said by Dr. Xie that all traditional martial art must contain the concept of Rising, Shifting, Falling, Reversing, Advancing, Retreating, Defense preparation. If you looking at the 8 animal in HJB lineage and its characteristic, you will notice that each animal contain those concepts mentioned above.
1. Lion - Interlocking palm ** Characterized by Continuously advancing
2. Snake - Moving with the Force palm ** Characterized by Moving with opponent force
3. Bear - Turning the back palm ** Characterized by turning the back to gain better position when in a losing position
4. Dragon - Holding and Lifting palm ** Characterized by it's long upward movement
5. Phoenix - Windmill palm ** Characterized by its fast rotational type of force
6. Rooster - Lying step palm ** Characterized by its shifting of the body while attacking
7. Unicorn - Reversing the body palm ** Characterized by reversing the body to gain better position when in a losing position
8. Monkey - Enfolding palm ** Characterized by its downward movement.
These animals sys. , in my opinion, also contains a directional meaning.
1. Lion - Forward
2. Snake - Yielding (any direction that's the same with the opponent line of force)
3. Bear - Backward , Backward rotation
4. Dragon - Upward
5. Phoenix - Rotation
6. Rooster - Shifting side to side
7. Unicorn - Backward rotation
8. Monkey - Downward
What does this mean then? It means when you practice, you should have a practical directional usage of the form in your mind. I usually interpret each form as follow
Lion Sweep Holding and Lifting = Advancing sweeping strike upwardly
Lion Smatch Enfolding = Advancing smachting strike downwardly
Lion Chop Windmill = Advancing chopping strike in a rotational fashion.
Lion Shock Turning the back = Advancing with Shocking strike while you are in losing position and turning around.
etc...
No comments:
Post a Comment