07/07/2022
The following material has been translated from the Chinese 360.doc.com on line site
Article’s name:
Painstakingly Teaching the Art While Putting Virtue First,...Reminiscences of the Days with Grandmaster Wang Peisheng.)
殚精传艺德为首，友山三代不了情 — 回忆与王培生师爷在一起的日子
Dān jīng chuányì dé wéishǒu, yǒu shān sāndài bùliǎo qíng — huíyì yǔ wángpéishēng shīyé zài yīqǐ de rìzi
Authors: Zhao Zeren, Zhang Yun
Article translated by Horacio Lopez, with much help translating it, from Shifu Zhang Yun (author).
Shifu Zhang Yun said it is “OK” to publish it (and to translate it to Spanish)
Chinese version at: http://www.360doc.com/.../0429/18/52969761_832343463.shtml
Painstakingly Teaching the Art While Putting Virtue First, an Irresistible
and Unforgettable Feeling of Three Generations of Youshan Hall
- Reminiscences of the Days with Grandmaster Wang Peisheng.
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by the Disciples of Youshan Hall: Zhang Deshan, Zhao Zeren, Lu Shengli, Zhang Yun,
Gu Yun, Zhao Aiguo, He Hongrui, Zhao Huilai, Wang Linjie, Li Shuting, Luo Jianhua,
Luo Jianhong
In October 1983, Master Luo Shuhuan accompanied Master Wang Peisheng and Bi Yuanda to visit the
Cherry Valley of Xiangshan Mountain. Master Wang decided to restore the tradition, to open the door to
accept apprentices, and he appointed his eldest disciple Luo Shuhuan to be the first in his generation to
accept disciples of his own.
Most of us had studied with Master Luo Shuhuan since the 1960s and 1970s, and all of us became his disciples. Master Luo Enshi was an early disciple of Master Wang
Peisheng. (Enshi means Kindness Teacher. When students call their teacher Enshi, it means high respect and thanksgiving to the teacher for his Teachings).
Since childhood, Master Luo practiced martial arts with Master Wang. Because of his respect for teachers, his diligence, and good thinking, he was highly valued by Master Wang, and
because he saw the truth in hardships, the relationship between Master Wang and his apprentice Master Luo was very close. Master Luo often invited Master Wang to his home on weekends or holidays, sometimes for a whole day, sometimes for two or three days.
On those occasions, we students of Master Luo had the opportunity to listen to our Grandmaster Wang's lectures and to talk with him about skills. From the mid-1970s, Master Luo personally sent a few of us to Grandmaster Wang's home for further study and to directly ask for advice. Therefore, we also often had the opportunity to invite Grandmaster Wang to our homes to talk and practice skills. Both Master Luo’s generation and ours developed a close relationship with Grandmaster Wang.
In the Spring Festival of 1984, Master Wang approved Luo Enshi to officially hold the open door ceremony to accept disciples for the first time among his peers. For this reason, Luo Enshi built the Youshan Tang (The “Hall of Be Friend with Mountain”, or
“Friendship Mountain Hall”), and we were honored to be the first batch of disciples in the sixth generation of Wu-style Taijiquan and Baguazhang. From this, we can see Grandmaster Wang's concern and expectations for us.
In the autumn of 1987, Luo Enshi rode a crane to the west (passed away). In addition to grief, everyone was also concerned about future academic problems. At that time, some disciples hoped that the Grandmaster would teach our class, but by tradition, a Master is not usually allowed to teach students of the next to the next generation directly, so the majority thought that such an outcome would be unlikely.
Also, the Grandmaster was very busy and had little free time. In the end, however, everyone decided to give it a try, whether it worked or not. The result was beyond our expectations. As soon as we made the request, the Grandmaster agreed immediately
and decided on the spot to go to Zhang Deshan's house to give us a two-hour class every Saturday evening. To receive direct training from the Grandmaster, “What a big honor this was for us! See Notes (1)
At the start of the first day of class, the Grandmaster explained why he had agree to teach us, he said, "I came because I like you very much.
Because of excellent instruction by your teacher, “you have all been able to uphold the traditions, abide by the rules, and be down-to-earth and very diligent.“It is very important, too, that you maintain a virtuous attitude. Only then can your skills be
truly and properly realized. You have to work hard, and I pin my hopes on you."
During the next few years, the grandmaster never missed classes. The two-hour class that had been promised, was often extended to three hours. Even though lecturing and practicing is extremely hard, the grandmaster was always serious, meticulous,
and full of energy, and when it came to the application of technique, he was even more eloquent and free. Every Saturday evening was a very exciting time for us.
Everyone came to elder brother Zhang Deshan's house early, and his wife always prepared tea for us. When the Grandmaster gave a lecture, everyone listened carefully and took notes; when he gave a demonstration, we took turns to get up and analyze it carefully from our own experience. Every time -after the grandmaster left-, we continue to practice for two or three hours to consolidate the skills we had just learned. We would study the content of the lectures together and strive to be able to understand thoroughly and to master the basics.
In the following years, the Grandmaster explained in detail the practice, usage, and health functions of the thirty-seven postures of the Wu-style Taijiquan form, Taiji Push Hands, Yin Style Baguazhang, Cheng Style Baguazhang, Liu's Eight Techniques, as well as Qigong, Health Gong, and some of the weapons.
Of all the teachings, the application of martial arts through various exercises was particularly wonderful, and everyone was impressed by the grandmaster's profound skills. At that time, the Grandmaster taught the art with a completely open attitude.
We could try our hands at any of the applications and ask any questions at will.
Everyone was a little restrained at first, but then we all relaxed, and the atmosphere was very harmonious.
When the Grandmaster explained the characteristics of Neijia boxing, he especially emphasized that because the enemy can change his attack at any time, you can not win by depending on a specific technique; the winning technique is using no technique! See Notes (2)
Based on this principle, the explanation of the application of a technique always also involved an explanation of various modifications of the technique; this helped us understand the essence of the technique from different angles and in different
contexts.
The most interesting point for us was that the explanation of the use of a technique was often followed by an explanation of how to counter the technique, and even how to counter the counter. This kind of step-by-step explanation became a routine, and every time the issue came up, the Grandmaster would be questioned by us for several rounds. In our study, this continuous change of offense and defense is particularly enlightening and enabled us to understand that what Neijiaquan seeks to understand is not a simple technical problem, but a
reason and an ability. Our Grandmaster's carefulness, patience, and attitude in his teaching made us feel very comfortable, so there was a lot of cordial interaction in our meetings.
Everyone was not accustomed at first to asking questions, but these interactions prompted everyone to think more deeply and ask more questions. See Notes (3)
In this environment, the grandmaster often made wonderful demonstrations and uttered special classic sentences. There were many images that we kept in our minds and that none
of us will ever forget. Once when he talked about the characteristics of Changquan, theGrandmaster immediately got up and gave a demonstration.
Seeing him in his seventies, jump up and down and generate the momentum of a whirlwind kick stunned us all. Nowadays, when everyone reminisces about this, we are still full of praise, and the memory vividly returns.
Grandmaster's openness as a teacher also reflected in the fact that he allowed us to make recordings and videos of the lessons, which enabled us to preserve precious materials, which as of great help to our subsequent self-cultivation.
In 1989, we had a party to send Zhang Yun to study abroad. That day, the grandmaster was in high spirits and said that he wanted Zhang Yun to take some skills with him to the US. The
weather that day was very good, although it was winter, it was not cold at all. In the yard, the grandmaster practiced various techniques such as Taiji Knives, Saber, Spear, Sticking Pole
and push hands, and some other martial skills. From pushing hands to tactical combat, the grandmaster demonstrated many applications multiple times, which was amazing. In particular, the actual combat application of various weapons, such as saber to Spear, Spear to Spear, splitting pole, and more. His technical skills were so indescribably high and refined and his use of the sticky pole was particularly subtle and really open our eyes and inspired us.
When Zhang Yun and the master were practicing against each other, Yun had a good opportunity to cover and chop the grandmaster’s head. He seemed absolutely guaranteed to
win but the Grandmaster -instead of defending his head against Yun’s attack- just moved his mind to the lower part of Yun’s body and slightly poke Yun's overhand with a covering skill. As a result, Yun completely missed his chop and was thrown four or five meters away. This was one of the most exciting episodes in our thirty years of learning boxing with our grandmaster.
Later, when Zhang Yun showed a short clip of the video of this exercise to the members of the renowned Tai Chi Association (A Taste of China) in the United States, the group immediately
canceled a previous invitation and invited Grandmaster Wang instead to give a series of lectures in the United States. See Notes (4)
Most of us had been directly taught by Grandmaster Wang for nearly 30 years, and we all agree that his most impressive and beneficial lectures were those given every Saturday during
those years.
Today, our achievements in the teaching and dissemination of Taijiquan cannot be separated from the strong teaching and careful training we received from our Grandmaster. On the day to commemorate the centenary of his birth we gather and
reminisced about our days together with our Grandmaster, especially the love and care that he gave us. The past events are still fresh in our memory and they continue to inspire us to work together to contribute to the dissemination and development of
our nation's traditional culture.
Notes:
1) Wang Peisheng is the 4th Generation from Quan You. Luo Shuhuan is the 5th Generation (next generation from Wang Peisheng).
The current Generation of Zhao Zeren, Lu Shengli, Zhang Yun, Gu Yun, and others is the 6th Generation (the next generation from Luo Shuhuan), so they are the “next to next” Generation of Wang.
2) Here, the meaning is use “no fixed technique”, just follow the changes of the enemy to win. It is called “using no technique to win technique.” ⽆无法胜有法。
The meaning is similar to the sentence in Lu Shengli’s book “Combat Techniques.” - 16-Postures Form: …“This is a specialized ability developed only in Taiji training,which is said to have no techniques; the movement itself is the method”. (at the
bottom of page 70)
3) In the beginning people were a little bit afraid to ask questions (in the traditional way, a student cannot ask too many questions), then -because the master is so nice- they became accustomed to asking questions, and finally, they ask questions and even follow up questions. (Zhang Yun said about the above description: Wang told us how to use an attacking skill, we practiced it, and then we asked how to defend it. After he explained how to defend it - which also includes an attack in
Taiji-, we keep asking how to defend that, … and we can keep following up on his answers to ask more advanced questions…)
4) At that time, they wanted to invite a Wu style master to visit the US because Masters Yang Zhenduo -representing Yang Style- and Chen Xiaowang -representing Chen Style- had already come to the US. They had already someone in mind to invite, but after Ben Lo brought the video and show it to them, they decided to invite Grandmaster Wang.
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