The XingYi Classics

When it comes to people quoting the "XingYi Classics", the Yue Fei Quani Pu doesn't get much attention these days, which I think is a shame, because it's not only  full of really insightful information for anybody who practices the art of XingYi, or any of the internal martial arts for that matter, but it's the document that all the more modern XingYi "classics" are culled from.

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An aweful lot of what are known these days as the XingYi classics come from books published in the early 1900s in China. Sure, that's a long time ago, but it's not that long ago. The truth is that most of these "classics" were taken and changed from older documents that had survived in a few hand written manuscripts or by oral transmission. One of these old, old documents is attributed to the legendary founder of XingYi, General Yue Fei and is known as the Yue Fei Quan Pu, or the 10 Thesis of Yue Fei.

If you'd like to read a full translation then I'd recommend "Xingyiquan: Theory, Applications, Fighting Tactics and Spirit" by Yang Jwing-Ming. It's a pretty good translation of the entire document with commentary, and Yang is also one of the few authors who realises the importance of these documents and credits them with their true historical signficance.

If you don't want to fork out for the book then respected XingYi teacher Mike Patterson has kindly provided a free translation of the Yue Fei Quan Pu on his XingYi website. There's a lot of it, split into 10 works. There's an unnumbered group, e.g. "Classic of Integrity" and "Classic of Fighting", and a numbered group, e.g. "Thesis of the three sections", "Thesis of the four extremities". It's the unnumbered group that's more likely to be the older "original" documents, with the numbered group possibly being later additions by Master Dai Long Bang

It's the unnumbered group of four works that contains many of the ideas that you'll recognise from other classics. For example, "attack the left, enter the right" - sound familiar? Like any good martial art classic it makes a lot more sense if you already know what it's talking about, or have a teacher who can physically demonstrate what it means.

One reason for its lack of popularity is that parts of it talk in obscure military terms, which makes it difficult to translate - for example there are phrases like "The Qi is strong in the haft grip", which is referring to military spear usage. However, with the Classic of Integrity ("Unification" is a better word, perhaps) you'll find a very fundamental idea that is found in every single "internal" martial art - the harmony of internal and external parts of the body.

Take this quote for example:

"About what one means; from top to the bottom of the feet, internally there are viscera, bowels, tendons, and bones.

When it is time to be calm, it is quiet and transparent. In this position, you are steady like a mountain.
When it is time to move, move like thunder and collapse.

Here you find ideas that echo down through the centuries and appear again and again in various martial arts. For example, with today's theory of the 6 harmonies - where different parts of the body, like the hand and the foot, co-ordinating together for the whole body to become "one". One part moves, all parts move - everything is unified and everything moves together.

This is such a fundamental tennent of any "internal" martial art, and you can see it appear time and time again. For example, take the "Tai Chi Chuan Classic" attributed to Chang Sang Feng:

"In motion the whole body should be light and agile,
with all parts of the body linked
as if threaded together."

and

"The postures should be without defect,
without hollows or projections from the proper alignment;
in motion the Form should not become disconnected."

Or later, in no.8 from Yang Cheng Fu's 10 Important Points:

8.) Harmonize the internal and external. In the practice of T'ai Chi Ch'uan the main thing is the spirit. Therefore it is said "the spirit is the commander and the body is subordinate." If you can raise the spirit, then the movements will naturally be agile. The postures are not beyond insubstantial and substantial, opening and closing. That which is called open means not only the hands and feet are open, but the mind is also open. That which is called closed means not only the hands and feet are closed, but the mind is also closed. When you can make the inside and outside become one, then it becomes complete.

It's all there in the Yue Fei Quan Pu, and I think it's about time we gave this classic back the recognition it deserves. Go on, give it a read!