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technique and theory of Taijiquan
Taijiquan
and Standing-posture Meditation (Zhan Zhuang)
By
Chen Yaoting
The majority of
Taijiquan practitioners would practice the set forms regularly but very
few would practice the standing-posture meditation (known in Chinese
as Zhan Zhuang). Actually, the Zhan Zhuang is a very important component
part of the Taijiquan practice, it is beneficial to both preserving
the health and the training of martial application. In a secret Taijiquan
book written in Qing dynasty, there is a chapter of "The essential method
of gongfu training ― standing-posture meditation (the folk name is known
as zhan zhuang in Chinese )" which stresses the importance of preserving
the position in the middle and practicing the middle-preserving force,
saying: "The difficulty of practice is to preserve your position in
the middle (the earth) " and "Firm standing implies the strength of
the legs as if the feet being deeply rooted ." In the book of "The Standing-posture
Meditation of Taiji, Bagua and Nine Palace", it says: "The standing-posture
meditation actually serves to cultivate the quiescent force, but during
the practice the idea of activeness should be contained in the quiescence,
since Taijiquan is featured by the quiescence while its martial application
relies on the activeness." Through my years' practice and teaching of
Taijiquan, I feel from the bottom of my heart that there is an important
significance of Zhan Zhuang in making good improvement and deepening
the understanding of Taijiquan so I present the basic postures of Zhan
Zhuang in Taijiquan as follows. There are many postures of Zhan Zhuang
in Taijiquan, or we can even say that every posture of Taijiquan could
be taken as Zhan Zhuang. However, the basic ones are Wuji Posture and
Taiji Posture.
I. Wuji Posture The preparatory posture of Taijiquan is the Wuji posture.
In his book "The Book on the Practice and Martial Application of Taijiquan"
Yang Chengfu says: "When standing upright, the head should be straightened
up tending to push up slightly, the eyes look straight forward, the
chest draws slightly in and the back is upright… keep yourself in the
quiescence to wait the opponent to move first, so your interior is well
coordinated with the exterior, you could do either the practice of the
set form or do the martial application." "Usually the practitioners
would neglect the preparatory posture because they do not know this
is the ground of all the practicing methods and martial application."
What Mr. Yang said could imply the importance of this posture, so it
should be practiced solely, getting aware tentatively of the feelings
of hanging the head slightly, sinking the shoulders and the elbows,
relaxing the waist and the hip, lowering the breath down to the lower
abdomen and try to grasp the self-control and self-regulating ability.
The breath should be natural, exhaling first and then inhaling. While
exhaling, there is a thought of relaxing the body, imaging the relaxation
moves down from the neck to the shoulder, back, waist, and hip, one
after another, until down to the planter of the feet. While inhaling,
the mind is kept quiet, the chest draws slightly in, and the back is
kept upright, imaging that the above-mentioned parts of the body be
elevated one after another. Then, together with the respiration, the
down-relaxation and the elevation of the body is continuously repeated.
But the attention is laid on the down-relaxation.
II. Taiji Posture From the starting posture, both hands moves to the
front of the chest as if to hold a ball in between, the height of the
ball is up the chest. It seems as if holding a balloon. The fingers
are separated from each other with the thumb pointing upward. The shoulders
and elbows are relaxed with the arms away from the body. The posture
requires the force of opening (pushing away from the body) and closing
(taking into the body), the opening force is about 30% and the closing
is around 70%. During the exhalation, the closing force and the relaxation
are more required as if the ball becomes flat and the practitioner becomes
smaller while in the inhalation, the opening or the warding off force
is more required as if the ball is dilating. In addition to the practice
of the opening and closing force, the down-relaxation and elevation
in the Wuji Posture should be combined, i.e. down-relaxation during
the exhalation as if diving deep into the bottom of the sea, and drawing
the chest in, keeping the back upright and hanging the head in the inhalation
as if floating from inside the water, up to the top of sky. Apparently,
in this way, the Taiji Posture could include the major part of Wuji
Posture. The practice of the standing-posture meditation should be done
in a relaxed and carefree way, and it is forbidden to use the clumsy
force. A kind of mind state like the floating clouds and flowing water
is required, so the practitioner could let the mind fly over the earth
as if in a dream and mirage. In this way, the mind could be refreshed
and the Qi could be cultivated. Keeping on the practice, the internal
Qi and internal force will be developed which is such a wonderful feeling
that the practitioner feel it endless all the time. Up to such level,
it is the awareness of the Zhan Zhuang, a special feeling that you are
as great as the rainbow up to the sun and the entire universe is taken
into your body. The following is the summary of the Zhan Zhuang: "Done
in the practice of Zhan Zhuang is opening-closing force, nothing is
special but the carefree and relaxation, the activeness is contained
in the quiescence, and the gongfu could be obtained in this mindless
meditation."
