What is the "life gate"? "Mingmen" is a Chinese medicine term. Traditional Chinese medicine has two concepts of "life gate". One concept refers to the part between two kidneys. The position of kidney in traditional Chinese medicine is the same as that in western medicine, on both sides of lumbar spine and upper abdominal cavity. The left kidney is slightly higher and the right kidney is slightly lower. So the middle of the "life gate" is about as high as the second lumbar vertebra, in front of the spine. Another concept of "Mingmen" is the acupoint, which is below the spinous process of the second lumbar vertebra and behind the spine. Obviously, the "Mingmen" of "backward mingmen" can neither refer to the "Mingmen" between the kidney and the front of the spine, nor refer to the "Mingmen" point behind the spine and under the spinous process of the second lumbar spine. It should vaguely refer to the "lower back" where the two "Ming Men" are located, which is another new concept besides the "Ming Men" in traditional Chinese medicine. What is certain is that "the life gate is backward" is not passed down from generation to generation in traditional Tai Ji Chuan. Yang Chengfu's two works reveal a lot of information about Tai Ji Chuan, but there is no so-called "sudden death". Li Yaxuan, Dong Yingjie, Chen Weiming and Zheng Manqing also disclosed a lot of information about Tai Ji Chuan in their works, but there was no such thing as "sudden death". Chen Yanlin 1949 edition of "taiji Sanshou Knitting Knife and Sword" has a complete account of the teaching of his teacher, Mr. Tian, especially the waist and legs, but there is no such thing as "sudden death". Mr. Chen Xin combined a large number of concepts of meridians and acupoints into Tai Ji Chuan's theory, but there was no such thing as "sudden death" in his Illustration of Chen Tai Ji Chuan published about 1930. Other Tai Ji Chuan's works published in modern times all have their own opinions, but there is no such thing as "sudden death", which reflects that there is no teaching of "sudden death" in modern Tai Ji Chuan. When China entered modern times, Mr. Gu was one of the main leaders of Tai Ji Chuan activities in China, and he had the opportunity to get in touch with important figures from various schools in Tai Ji Chuan. His 1982 Taiji Zhuan Shu also summarizes many traditional Taiji Zhuan Shu materials, and the book also uses a special chapter of 1800 words to talk about "waist", but there is no such thing as "sudden death". Mr. Hao Shaoru inherited the teachings of his ancestor Hao Weizhen and his father Hao, and was an important descendant of Tai Ji Chuan in the Five Dynasties. Mr. Yao Jizu studied under Mr. Li Xunzhi, the son of Mr. Li Yishe, and was an important successor of the fourth generation of Wu Taiji Biography. Mr Wu and Mr Ma Yueliang are important descendants of Wu Tai Ji Chuan School. Ms Sun Jianyun is an important descendant of the direct representative of Tai Ji Chuan, Sun Shi. The gentleman who studied under Mr. Chen Fake is a living veteran of modern Chen-style Tai Ji Chuan, and he is an important descendant of Chen-style Tai Ji Chuan in Chenjiagou. Tai Ji Chuan of Wu Style published by Mr. Hao Shaoru 1963, Complete Works of Tai Ji Chuan of Wu Style published by Mr. Yao Jizu 1999, The True Story of Tai Ji Chuan of Wu Style published by Mr. Wu and Mr. Ma Yueliang 1999, and The True Story of Sun Style published by Ms. Wang and Mr. 653 in 2003. Although it is written in "Introduction to Chen Tai Ji Chuan" published by Mr. Feng Zhiqiang at 1993 that "the life gate of the lower back opens naturally", "opening naturally" is obviously not a hunchback. These conditions reflect that many major scholars in Tai Ji Chuan did not know about the "sudden change of life gate" before the 1990s, and the theory of "sudden change of life gate" probably only appeared in modern times, but was passed down from mouth to mouth by a few Tai Ji Chuan practitioners. Literally, the so-called "mingmen's back protrusion" means that the back waist of "mingmen" moves backwards from its original position; So, how much does the "life gate" move back? First, let's take a look at the views of several Taiji heirlooms related to "Mingmen" in early modern times. One is 1965, when Mr. Ye Dami was 78 years old, he wrote the section "Pulling Back and Pushing Strength", and the other is 1989, Mr. Zhou Jianfeng published the section "Technical Analysis of Tai Ji Chuan" in Qigong Tai Ji Chuan. As a colleague, Mr. Ye Dami became an important descendant of Mr. Tian on 19 17, and studied under Mr. Yang Chengfu, Mr. Tian's teacher after 1928. He was the founder of the first "Wudang Tai Ji Chuan Society" named after Tai Ji Chuan in modern Shanghai, China. He had a clear specificity and enjoyed a high prestige in the Tai Ji Chuan circles of Shanghai before his death. He wrote in the section of "Push-back strength": "Pull-back is to stretch the muscles on both sides of the back, such as spinous muscle, semi-spinous muscle, sacrococcygeal muscle and so on. , from bottom to top, and then stand up ... "Obviously, the muscles on both sides of the back" stretch from bottom to top, and then stand up "passed through the back of Mingmen. Moreover, the "sequential stretching" and "straight three-dimensional" of the back muscles can not form any kyphosis of the back waist. Of course, the intense sequential stretching from bottom to top may cause the back waist to move backwards. Because of the physiological curvature of the spine, the thoracic spine bends slightly backward and the lumbar spine bends slightly forward. The most forward bending part of the spine is roughly in the first lumbar vertebra, and Mingmen point is slightly lower than the most bending part. If the body stretches upright from bottom to top, if the original lumbar curvature is too large due to bad hygiene habits, the lower back will move backwards. Mr. Zhou Qianfeng, the former professor of Tianjin College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, excavated, excavated and edited many books about Qigong and Tai Ji Chuan in 1970s and 1980s. Tai Ji Chuan Common Sense, edited and published by him in 1978, was cited by many modern Tai Ji Chuan predecessors, which shows his great influence and prestige in Tai Ji Chuan. Although some of his views are left-leaning, his works do reflect many authentic points of traditional Tai Ji Chuan. In the section "Technical Analysis of Taiji Biography", he wrote: "In the theory of Taiji Biography, there are different opinions about waist posture, such as bow, straight, filling and waiting. In fact, the meanings of these different words are basically the same. Literally, these words are contradictory. From an anatomical point of view, in essence, their requirement for waist posture is to reduce the curvature of lumbar lordosis. ..... When practicing boxing, my waist is straight, and I really feel a little bow. This is just the illusion of bending straight. If we use this' feeling of bending the waist' correctly, we can achieve the straightness of the waist shape, just like filling the lumbar fossa (depressions on both sides of the spine and under the twelve ribs), so it is also called waist filling. ...... The "long waist" in "Catch the Sparrow's Tail" should be hung on the hip on time, and the waist should have an upward elastic elongation state. " Mr. Zhou Ren Feng's statement is consistent with that of Mr. Yedami. Mr. Zhou Ren Feng pointed out that when practicing Tai Ji Chuan, the curvature of the lumbar spine should be "reduced" and the waist should be straight, so there will be the illusion of "full waist" and "slight bow". When the back is pulled out dynamically, the body will have the feeling of "elastic extension of the waist upwards". It should be noted that one of the feelings of this reaction is "elasticity", that is, dynamic change; Secondly, the "straight waist shape" and "straight waist bend" that we have been pursuing are not that the shape of the back is straightened, but that the "lumbar forward bend" is "reduced"; Third, "the lumbar fossa is filled" and "the waist is slightly arched" is "an illusion". In other words, the shape change of the back is not obvious. This slight dynamic change is even more subtle for people who have been properly trained in Tai Ji Chuan for a long time and achieved normal physiological curvature of the spine. "Elastic elongation" Even if they touch it with their hands, they may not be able to detect the movement of the position. Therefore, the so-called "life gate kyphosis" is just your own internal reaction feeling, and it does not necessarily have the shape of the back waist moving backwards. Taiji biography pays attention to the complementarity of opposites everywhere. One of them is "before and after". One reaction is that every forward movement must have a back support of the spine, which is pushed backward and downward by the hind legs under the action of the lumbar spine, resulting in the back support of the lumbosacral part being transmitted upward in turn. This kind of transmission is not only manifested in the back support, but also in the upward and downward extension, and you will especially feel the "jacking strength" of the head and the "sinking" of the crotch. This kind of back support and extension of the spine is passive, which is caused by the bottom-up lumbosacral back support, mainly a reaction in the body. The higher Tai Ji Chuan's kung fu is, the less obvious his external reaction is. Therefore, for people who have been properly trained in Tai Ji Chuan for a long time and achieved normal physiological curvature of the spine, even if their lower back feels "hunchback", "hunchback" and "rebound" when they are full of energy, from the perspective of medical anatomy theory, the slight flexion of the lumbar spine is a form of human evolution after millions of years, which has many important physiological tasks and maintains human health. The disappearance of lumbar flexion is a symptom of the disease, which should be medical common sense. Of course, due to unsanitary living habits, many people's spines and lumbar vertebrae are excessively enlarged. Any healthy exercise needs to reduce the excessive enlargement of the spine and lumbar vertebrae, and so does Tai Ji Chuan. It is required to keep the spine naturally vertical and have slight physiological curvature when practicing boxing to correct the habitual excessive curvature of the spine and lumbar spine. However, the reduction of the front curvature does not mean that the front curvature should be eliminated. Even if the back support of the spine feels "the waist is stretched upward elastically", "the waist is bent straight" or even "the waist is slightly bowed backward", the waist is still slightly bent forward, and it is impossible to have a straight back or even bow backward. Of course, it is also possible to bend over after exerting force, but first, the vertex of lumbar posterior bending can't be Mingmen point, because the most forward bending point of human spine is about the first lumbar vertebra, and the last bending point of lumbar arch is naturally this part, and the "hanging pivot" point is under the spinous process of the first lumbar vertebra; Secondly, the curvature of thoracic vertebra segment is retroflexion, and the artificial forced lumbar posterior arch will inevitably aggravate the retroflexion of thoracic vertebra segment. Therefore, it is impossible to make the whole spine vertical by artificially forcing the lumbar posterior arch, and the important position of Tai Ji Chuan is being destroyed; Third, artificially forcing the back bow of the waist is bound to violate the relaxation nature, which requires local exertion, which violates Tai Ji Chuan's important principle of "loosening the waist" and is harmful to fitness. People who do this will inevitably feel uncomfortable inside the chest and abdomen. Even if the waist is forced to maintain the state of eliminating waist curvature, it will inevitably lead to lumbar muscle strain disease due to local continuous exertion, not to mention the back arch of the waist. Therefore, it is completely unfounded to say that the back waist "life gate is convex" has a health-preserving effect. To practice Tai Ji Chuan, there must be "front and back". Even if there is a general "life gate" position, the feeling of back drum is caused by the passive support of lumbosacral back; If the lower back of the "Mingmen" part bulges backward first, it will actually destroy Tai Ji Chuan's "front and back". This shows that when you are practicing Tai Ji Chuan, don't take the initiative to drum the back of Mingmen. If the back of "Mingmen" particularly protrudes backward, it is both unnecessary and harmful in terms of martial arts and fitness in Tai Ji Chuan. Recently, on the phone, I once taught Mr. Ye Dami's disciple Mr. Jin. Mr. Jin also believes that the waist of the so-called "famous family" has changed little, especially after the appearance of "famous family", if the waist bulges backwards, it is wrong. Obviously, the expression of "sudden death" is exaggerated, inappropriate and easy to cause misunderstanding. As mankind enters modern times, information exchange becomes very convenient. On the one hand, Tai Ji Chuan's multi-angle exposition needs to be supplemented by more accurate and scientific modern language in communication; On the other hand, the communication language in Tai Ji Chuan needs to be more standardized and unified, and some modern expressions, such as "hunching the waist, straightening the waist, filling the waist and sitting on the waist", should be cleaned up and removed. The so-called "sudden death" belongs to this modern, irregular, inaccurate and misleading statement. The content of "life gate kyphosis" can be expressed by "lumbar support" and "lumbosacral support", which is more clear and easy to understand. In fact, there is a misunderstanding about "sudden death". Therefore, the word "sudden death" should be abandoned in the language communication of Taiji Zhuan.