A First Encounter with Dai style Xinyiquan (Tian Ruwen)

A First Encounter with Dai style Xinyiquan

(originally posted to www.wushuren.com on 15 Dec 2009 – author is 'Shangwu', an internet nickname)

Translated by Jon Nicklin.

In recent days, via an introduction from my friend 'Dong-er', I arrived at a place I have long wished to visit, Xiaoyi village in Qi county, where Dai Kui, a great master of Dai style xinyiquan, lived in his old age. I visited Mr Tian Ruwen, who is a direct inheritor of M Dai's art. In Xiaoyi village, I not only experienced the sincerity, kindness and hospitality of Shanxi people, but also witnessed the outwardly simple Dai style xinyiquan.

Brief Intro of Tian Ruwen shifu: Tian Ruwen is 71 years old, about 1.6m tall, in terms of body size a bit on the thin side, and so down-to-earth that you would never imagine he is a martial arts master. But the moment you make contact with M Tian, you realise he's no ordinary old man; his jin, driven by qi from the dantian, launched me, and I could do nothing about it. Because Dai Kui passed his later years living in the house of Tian Jiuyuan (Tian Ruwen's father), Tian Ruwen and Dai Kui slept on the same kang [heated bed common in northern China] and received the true transmission of Dai Kui's dantian gong. M Tian has practiced [xinyiquan] every day for decades without fail. The strength built up over the years means that he can send people flying with just a touch. His dantian gong and shu zhan jin (contracting and expanding power) in particular, left me totally convinced. Although I have visited many martial arts teachers, I have never seen this kind of dantian gong before.

A first glimpse of Dai style xinyi's dantian gong and shu zhan jin

That evening after dinner, those present asked to compare the differences and similarities between Dai style xinyi and xingyiquan. First, one of M Tian's disciples demonstrated 4 Seizes (si bai) and the 5 Elements (wu xing), and then M Tian himself demonstrated launching people with dan tian power. M Tian took up the 'shu' (contract) posture, while I went into the San Ti pose, with my leading hand placed between M Tian's chest and abdomen (the top of the dantian ball).

M Tian then showed 'zhan' (expanding) jin, uprooting me and throwing me on to the bed. I then tried several more times, each time increasing my downward force, but each time the result was the same. His dantian jin was like being bounced out by a spinning ball, I had never seen anything like it. Afterwards, M Tian explained in detail the movements of the dantian ball when contracting and expanding, and even allowed me to feel the movements with my hand.

In the past, very few masters were willing to let their own disciples, never mind outsiders, feel the changes in their body as they released power [fa jin]. I felt very fortunate to be able to experience the wonder of Dai style xinyi's dantian jin, thanks to the openness of M Tian. I also sighed and remarked that I had heard that one could use the dantian to launch people, but I had never seen someone who, barely moving their feet, could launch people away with just dantian jin from contracting and expanding.

It was even more remarkable given the disparity in size between myself and M Tian (I'm 1.8m tall, weigh 100kg and have practiced xingyiquan for many years).

'Savouring' the difference between Dai style's 5 elements and Xingyi's 5 elements

Later on, I demonstrated Xingyi's 5 elements and M Tian's disciples also performed some xingyi from Taigu. There is a certain difference between the 5 elements in xingyi and Dai style. Looking at the martial 'songs' (note 1), although they are simple and look similar to those of xingyi, in terms of power methods and 'flavour' of performance, the two styles are very different. I append Dai style's 'songs' for the 5 elements below, those readers so inclined can mull over these formulas, their inner meaning is profound:

- Piquan is like an axe and is classed as metal, but it is not an axe, its momentum is like picking up and carrying plates;

- Zuanquan looks like evading and is classed as water, but it is not evading, its momentum is like a mountain collapsing;

- Bengquan is like an arrow and is classed as wood, but it's not an arrow, its momentum is like a boat on the crest of the waves;

- Paoquan is like a cannon and is classed as fire; but it is not a cannon, its momentum is like waves slapping on a riverbank;

- Hengquan is like a bullet and is classed as earth; but it is not a bullet, its momentum is like wheels rolling over trenches.

Dai style Xinyiquan is not just a boxing style, it is an art, one can only gain the true transmission from a wise teacher.

That night, I slept at the house of M Tian's disciple Gangzi [nickname]. After I had seen off all the visitors, Gangzi, Dong'er and Bowen investigated our arts together until midnight. These three kungfu brothers are all passionate about Dai style xinyi, they share their insights into xinyi and test out their jin [power] on each other, I envy them a lot. In their eyes, Dai style xinyi is not just a style of boxing but an art. During our discussions, Bowen urged me to grab this opportunity to learn Dai style. I decided to ask M Tian about Dai style's training methods the next day.

The next morning, Gangzi had to leave to go teach martial arts, so Dong'er and I went to M Tian's house. M Tian took us to their old residence (the house in which M Dai Kui had lived). When we got to the inner room, at my request, M Tian taught me how to practuce Dai style's jiben gongi - the squatting monkey (dun mao hou). The core of Dai style xinyi is its dantian gong and shu zhan (contracting and expanding), these two core elements pervade every Dai style routine.

How to practice Squatting Monkey:

Stand with the feet together, bend the knees and squat down. At the same time, the hands should hang down in front of the thighs with the palms facing outward. At the same time relax the chest (diaphragm), sink the qi, raise the anus, push the buttocks forward and support the dantian, the 'empty' chest and 'full' abdomen will cause qi to collect in the dantian, forming the 'contracted' posture, the dantian will assume the shape of a ball. At the same time, one must be sure to contract the neck and naturally raise the chin , with the eyes looking straight in front.

Then, stand up from the squat, with the two hands moving to 'hug' the dantian area. The left hand should be inside, with the right hand outside. At the same time, the chin should be tucked in and the crown of the head should feel as if pushing upwards, as if the jin is straightening the body by travelling from the soles of feet to the crown of the head, this is called 'zhan' (expanding). The eyes should still be looking straight ahead.

Contracting (shu) and expanding (zhan) embody the way the body is used in Dai style, the readers can experience it for themselves. Another unique requirement of Dai style xinyi is 'overturning of the internal and external heaven and earth' (neii wai tian di fan). The 'external heaven and earth' refers to the head: the forehead is heaven, the chin is earth. The 'internal heaven and earth' refers to the dantian, the lower abdomen is earth, the upper abdomen is heaven. The contraction and expansion, coupled with 'overturning heaven and earth' allows for rotation and training of the dantian ball. External overturning, on the other hand, trains the 'butting' jin (ding jin) of the head, connecting the power of the lower and upper body and allowing full expression of expanding jin (zhan jin).

Breathing: when contracting (shu), you should breathe in, when expanding (zhan) you should breathe out. One must breathe out when expanding rather than holding the breath in, when the dantian has a certain amount of strength one can make a sound as you expand.

The 4 Extremities:

"The 4 Extremities: the hair is the extremity of blood, nails are extremities of tendons, teeth are the extremities of bones, the tongue is the extremity of flesh. One must practice as if one's hair wants to stand up, the nails want to push through bone, the teeth want to snap the tendons, and the tongue wants to destroy the teeth. As soon as the heart trembles, the 4 extremities arrive, when the 4 extremities are coordinated internal power comes out. Thus qi is born from the dantian, like the mercilessness of a tiger or a dragon in fright. Expression of qi comes out as a sound, the sound accompanies the falling of the hand. As soon as one part moves, a hundred parts shake, with the 4 extremities acting together, internal power cannot fail to come out".

This text, copied onto the internet, brings out the concept of the "Important Points on the 4 extremities". Those interested can try and experience this through dantian gong, I won't discuss it any further here.

My time learning from M Tian was short, it seemed like in a blink of an eye I had to leave again, in the afternoon M Tian and a crowd of his disciples saw me off. I intend to spread traditional wushu and recommend 'folk' [min jiani - i.e. not affiliated with any university or institute] teachers, and so I asked if I could take some pictures of M Tian for my readers. If I have the opportunity in the future, I will have more material to share with you all, watch this space.”

Captions to pictures at bottom of article:

1. Picture of M Tian Ruwen

2.Picture of M Tian Ruwen in the beginning posture of Piquan

3. Certificate of the only competition M Tian Ruwen has ever entered (Certificate states he won the Dai style xinyiquan tuishou event, 70kg weight class, as part of the Dai style forms, san da & tuishou competition held in Qi county in 2007)

4. The main entrance of Tian Ruwen's former residence (where Dai Kui lived in his later years)

5. The main room of the Tian Ruwen's former residence (where Dai Kui lived in his later years)

6. Master of Dai style xinyiquan, Dai Kui

7. Dai Kui's disciple, Tian Jiuyuan (who looked after M Dai in his later years)

Notes

The 'songs' (quan jue) quoted above are formulas common in CMAi which often express insights into the nature or usage of some part of the art. Traditionally they were not written down, but passed down orally.