To sum up, the characteristics of Wudang Wushu can be mainly reflected in the following aspects.
Guided by reason
China Wushu originated from primitive times. In order to get food, humans have to fight with wild animals when hunting; In order to own and consolidate territory, a tribe must fight with that tribe. In the long history of fighting, people have accumulated some experience and applied it to the practice of fighting, which is called martial arts or tactics. The martial arts "Wu" here is different from the virtuous and foolish, and the vulgar wind has lost the original meaning of the creator of the word "Wu" and turned into a manifestation of killing. The "technique" of martial arts and tactics here is only an empirical thing after all. For example, strong is too weak, fast is too slow, just too soft, strong is too weak, too little, too small and so on. This kind of "technique" only makes a fuss about the use of "quantity" and "speed". Today, there are still many other martial arts practices that still give consideration to both. This kind of martial arts, once the opposing sides are evenly matched, is not only difficult to destroy the enemy, but also difficult to save themselves due to the direct resistance of "quantity" and "speed". Wudang Wushu is not the product of empiricism, but the product of rationality. It represents a trend that ancient sages created "stop fighting" as "martial arts", which originated from Fuxi, Yao, Shun, Lao Zi and others. What must be distinguished here is that, firstly, Wudang Wushu is an integral part of China Wushu; Secondly, Wudang Wushu is a great innovation and development of China Wushu, not an improvement of natural Wushu; Third, there is a theory before boxing. The theoretical basis of Wudang Wushu is Taoist philosophy.
Taoist philosophy is a part of ancient philosophers in China. In order to solve the problem of human existence perfectly, by observing and analyzing the relationship between "heaven" (cosmic nature), "earth" (terrestrial nature) and "man" (terrestrial creatures represented by human beings), the philosophical concept of unity and dialectics of the universe, the world, society and life as a whole is obtained. Taoist philosophy is certainly not a theory specially created for Taoist boxing. But Wudang Wushu was invented in Taoism because Taoist philosophy can be widely used in every field of Taoism (Taoism also believes that Taoist philosophy can be widely used in any field of human beings). Taoism pays more attention to preserving itself than ordinary people, so it must also have defensive skills. Therefore, by analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of popular self-defense techniques in society, Taoist self-defense techniques (which originated very early and were finally summarized by Zhang Sanfeng in Wudang Mountain)-wudang boxing came into being naturally. The ontology of Taoist philosophy is "Tao". It is believed that there is an eternal "Tao" among "heaven, earth and man". It breeds and evolves into everything and restricts everything. Its existence is invisible, without image, without beginning and without end; Its behavior is soft grinding and hard foaming, and it does not dispute; Its performance is soft, static, virtual, empty, round, neutral, positive and harmonious. These can be summarized as Tai Chi, Yin and Yang, Five Elements and Eight Diagrams. Using these basic philosophical principles to guide wudang boxing can get twice the result with half the effort compared with other martial arts.
For the purpose of health preservation.
Although Taoism in China is full of mystery, it shows a very clear desire, that is, to practice in this life, instead of emphasizing the afterlife of karma as Buddhism does. Therefore, the most basic principle of Taoist cultivation is to obtain the benefits of health preservation.
Taoism believed in foreign alchemy in Qin and Han Dynasties. External alchemy refers to alchemy with lead, mercury, sulfur and cinnabar as raw materials. It is said that the first refined elixir can turn stone into gold, and the further refined elixir can be eaten and soar to immortality. However, it is difficult to master the temperature of the external alchemy and there are many secrets, so it is rare to burn it successfully. However, countless people killed by mistake after the unsuccessful burning. Therefore, since the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Inner alchemy, which advocates the cultivation of the true Yuan Qi of the human body, has become popular. Taoist inner alchemy originally had a meditation method, but this method can cultivate the true elements of the human body. However, if people can't sit still for a long time, as far as human activities are concerned, they will form self-harm. In other words, it can make people live longer, but people who live longer can't walk. The Dan family believes that the technique of Inner Dan must also be combined with motion and static. If you just sit still and wait for death, the essence will become dry, lonely and lack of vitality. Therefore, the inner alchemy should really take the road of combining static and dynamic. The emergence of this dynamic method has become the embryonic form of boxing and martial arts. Hua tuo wuqinxi, Baduanjin and Peng, for example, were the first to know about my Bears Passing Birds. It is very likely that Laozi, the originator of Taoism, inherited or created the dynamic regimen at that time or very early, and later developed it into the Tai Ji Chuan's work of Xu Xuanping, Li Daozi, Song Zhongshu and Zhang Sanfeng in the Tang Dynasty, or internal boxing and congenital boxing. From Yuan Dynasty to Ming Dynasty, Zhang Sanfeng, a Taoist priest in Wudang, set up a school of Wudang Taiji, and later formed the Wudang family boxing system, including form, meaning, gossip and various instruments. Make it extend its magical skills and attack functions from the body of health preservation. However, this kind of attack and defense function is derived on the basis of ensuring health preservation function first. For example, Wudang Neijia Boxing, whether fencing or boxing, is the most reasonable way to adjust people's physiology and psychology. It has wonderful effects of relaxing tendons and activating collaterals, enriching blood and regulating qi, nourishing five internal organs and edifying body and mind. Even in martial arts, you can't violate the principle of keeping in good health. The methods used are "using four or two to dial a thousand pounds" and "helping others". Therefore, all Wudang Wushu should have the function of health preservation, and it is not Wudang that does not have the function of health preservation and fitness.
Specifically, Wudang Wushu attaches great importance to the cultivation of people's essence, qi and spirit in practice, emphasizing essence, qi and spirit, and essence to deficiency. Pets run through the whole process with three tones (regulating heart, regulating breath and regulating body), and do not violate the medical and health principles everywhere. No matter what kind of achievement method is used, the training of hands, eyes, body, method and steps is emphasized externally, and the essence, spirit, qi, strength and merit are emphasized internally. Both inside and outside adhere to the principle of "middle, straight, flat, round, loose, quiet, soft, soft", pay attention to the transformation of yin and yang, twist the line into an arc, combine dynamic and static, and soft contains rigid, thus establishing a ". Its practice to a certain extent, on the one hand, enhances people's lives and achieves the effect of eliminating diseases and prolonging life; On the other hand, it has played an unexpected role in self-defense and fighting against the enemy by making rational use of people's physiological characteristics, showing the real effect of Zhang Sanfeng's "trying to make heroes in the world live long, but not learning to fight". Zhang Sanfeng's Heroes in the World is not only a title for people in Wulin, but also a praise for people in the world, which contains the heart of helping others and saving the world.
Take offense and defense as the final study.
"Taking martial arts as the ultimate goal" is the core of wudang boxing School's moral concept. Its fundamental principle is rooted in the "Tao" of Taoist philosophers. For example, the origin of Tao is a chaotic body, and there is no contradiction and opposition in chaotic body. Then, in terms of Taoist social concept, people should also be "chaotic" and should not be contradictory. Everyone wants equality, so war is uncivilized and immoral. Therefore, Taoism has always advocated the way of peace, that is, to stop wars and not to advocate barbaric wars. Convince people by reasoning, not by strength. Therefore, Wushu is naturally regarded as "learning at the end of no hurry". Moreover, in any war, no matter how the two sides use their skills, the ultimate goal is to save themselves, weaken or destroy each other, so they are highly opposed. Even if the peace-loving party tries its best to avoid it first, if the other party attacks blindly, it can only fight hand in hand and compete with "quantity" and "speed" to the death. The result is that both sides lose, or live or die. Such a struggle is harmful to people. Taoism wants to keep healthy and not hurt students, so it tries to avoid fighting with others, and naturally regards Wushu as "the last study in no hurry".
Then, in this way, since Taoism is only for health preservation, why should it create and invent Wushu boxing?
This is about to talk about the other hand, that is, Taoism has always viewed things dialectically. For example, the origin of Tao is a chaotic body without contradiction and opposition, which can be called innate infinity. But from scratch, from nature to later, from infinity to extreme, there is an evolutionary process that is independent of human will. When it evolves to the pole of the day after tomorrow, there will be opposition between yin and yang. Represented by hexagrams, from two instruments to four images, from four images to eight diagrams, such contradictions and opposites are divided layer by layer. Looking at society according to this principle means that people should be good in social groups, but some social groups are not good because of contradictions. You don't attack him, he will attack you; You want to protect good people, but he wants to hurt good people ... what should I do? You must surrender to him in order to "protect the Tao and subdue the devil." Otherwise, what qualifications do you have to be a person who practices, protects and explains Taoism? Therefore, martial arts boxing must be learned and practiced. It is also to develop the highest skills. Although it is "not used for a hundred years", it is "not forgotten for a day".
But Taoist Wushu boxing has always been passive. Therefore, the starting point of attaching importance to morality and etiquette and the struggle principle of "attaching importance to modernization and not resisting" have emerged. Because he is obsessed with the essence of health care, he pays more attention to "humble but solid belly", "gentle to women", "condescending to retreat" and "quiet and braking" in tactics. "The Interpretation of Taiji" says: "Although the body is moving, the mind is calm, the qi must be gathered, and the spirit must be relaxed." "On Taiji Biography" also said: "Taiji Biography can't make its own decisions. It follows people everywhere, and actions must have a direction. I will follow his direction without any resistance, so he failed or fell out, and both of them exerted too much force." In the struggle, we all beat people with our help, that is, how much "quantity" and "speed" the enemy used to beat them back. Therefore, it is also called "deal with a man as he deals with you."
Therefore, taking Wushu as the ultimate research object is determined by the health-keeping purpose and moral concept of Wudang Wushu. From this, we can think that moral standards should be added to judge whether a person's wudang boxing Kung Fu is authentic or not. An immoral person, no matter how high his kung fu is, can only be regarded as an evil faction of wudang boxing School, not an authentic one.
Take morality as the door style
The door style mentioned here refers to the teachings of the founders that the descendants of Wudang Wushu Sect have to follow from generation to generation. It is still unknown what admonitions Zhang Sanfeng formulated in those days. However, judging from the precepts of Taoism and the precepts handed down from Wudang Neijia Boxing School, although the terms and contents are different, the basic principle is unified, that is, as a descendant of Wudang Wushu, we must "self-control" and abide by public morality. It can be seen that in the development of Wudang Wushu after Zhang Sanfeng, various leaders gave different admonitions according to different historical times, environment and other objective conditions.
For example, there are many doctrines of Taoism.
For example, the "three commandments": convert to the precepts (return to the Tao wholeheartedly); Convert to the ring (believe in the 36 th Zun Jing); Convert to the precepts of life (obey the metaphysical exorcist, that is, the living behavior of life is guided by the mentor).
Such as "five precepts"; First, do not kill; Second, don't eat meat or drink (including spicy and violent vegetables); The third is duplicity; Fourth, don't steal; Fifth, don't be slutty. .
Such as the Eight Rings; Do not kill; Second, don't be lewd; 3. Don't steal; Fourth, don't be arrogant, rather die than surrender; Five must not be drunk; Sixth, don't sleep (sleep in a comfortable and luxurious bed); 7. Don't apply powder; Don't be obsessed with singing and dancing.
For example, the "Ten Commandments": First, disobedience to parents and teachers, treason and unfilial; 2. abstain from killing, killing and breaking things; Three commandments: treason against the king and murder of the country; Promiscuous with relatives and other women under the temptation; Five precepts: slandering the Tao and neglecting the classics; Sixth, abstain from bare-chested exposure and abandon old diseases; Nine commandments: binge drinking and swearing; Ten commandments, lean, make yourself Willie. There are 12 commandments, 27 commandments, 180 commandments and other commandments, among which there are more than 1,200 commandments. Disciples who break the precepts, of course, cannot preach. Not only that, those who violate the precepts are reprimanded and punished, and those who are serious are beaten or expelled from the mountain. Some have served their sentences in Taoist prison. Since the Ming Dynasty, there has been no Taoist prison in Wudang Mountain, which is located in Yuanhe Temple and can still be seen today.
When Wudang Wushu entered the folk, some commandments were obviously added to the traditional ethics. For example, after the spread of Taiji in the North School to Wang Zongyue by Taoist Yunyou, there have been many theories such as "Four Don't Pass", "Five Don't Pass", "Six Don't Pass" and "Ten Don't Pass". The "four don't pass on" means: those who are dangerous and aggressive, those who are low in character, those who are greedy for wine and lust, and those who show off by women. "Five don't let go" means adding "those who are soft and blunt don't let go" on the basis of "four don't let go". After the "six don't preach", on top of the "five don't preach", the words "those who are unfaithful and unfilial don't preach" and "those who are unkind and unjust don't preach" were added. In short, no matter how many "no passes" there are, you can add or delete different contents at any time according to the needs of the times and social morality.
There are eight words handed down by Wudang family teachers, which are called "Kung Fu, Boxing, Medical Skill, Mechanical Skill, Magic, Financial Skill, Couple and Earth Skill". The first "merit" mainly focuses on merit. People think that if a person has no merit, learning martial arts and boxing will only be harmful. Because if he doesn't learn, he won't get skills, but learning skills will hurt many people. It is said that Ziyang real person in Taoism once misinformed Danfa to non-people, which was a great disaster for three times. As a result, Taoism has a saying that "the corrupt officials are misinformed and the seven ancestors are delayed". Imagine an immoral person who has learned Kung Fu, or forgotten his teacher, or bullied his teacher with Kung Fu, or married behind his ancestors' backs, or lived in the mountains to rob others' homes, or often learned from others. How can he pass on his skills to them? Therefore, Wu Tangmen has always been very strict and secretive in choosing his disciples.
In the past, the descendants of Wu Tangmen had to make three moves to communicate with people, stating in advance: first, making peace with the world is precious and there is no need to fight; Second, it is better not to really fight than to die; Third, if it is true, it will be over.
These moral styles of Wudang Wushu actually reflect the traditional virtues of the Chinese nation. Although these virtues should be endowed with new contents with the progress of the times, their nature of loving peace and stressing civilization cannot be changed. Therefore, this is also a yardstick for us to observe whether a descendant of Wu Tangmen is authentic.
Take nature as charm
Looking at all kinds of martial arts popular in society, from the aesthetic point of view, each family has its own different artistic style or charm. Some diseases are like lightning, others are like thunder; In short, sick, fast, fierce, fierce, cold, brittle, hard, hard and so on. Can summarize the styles of various schools. Wu Tangzong's boxing is good at combining rigidity with softness, which embodies the trend of organic intersection and transportation of circles, circles and spins everywhere. For example, the eight diagrams palm rotates in circles, interweaves vertically and horizontally, changes with walking, and rotates left and right to form a brocade; Xingyiquan's "water-like, pervasive" and "its shape is like a flash" have an inner ring, like a chain; Tai Ji Chuan takes the waist as the axis, driving all the limbs of the whole body to move around in circles. A big arc has a small arc, and a big circle is nested with a small circle, forming a flat circle, a vertical circle, an oblique circle, a figure-of-eight circle, a cloud circle and so on. The movement of these circles shows a subtle and flexible beauty of power, as well as infinite vitality and vitality.
Wudang Wushu comes from Taoism, so the aesthetic principle of its boxing comes from Taoism. Laozi's "Tao Te Ching" has the saying that "people are everywhere, the land follows the sky, the sky follows the Tao, and the Tao follows nature". This means that Taoism starts from its own understanding, and then links living things, non-living things and the whole nature from near to far, seeking universal laws from it. Tao can reflect the macroscopic and microscopic natural world of the universe, however, Tao is obtained from the macroscopic and microscopic natural world of the universe. Judging from the Tao that "its greatness is nothing more than its smallness", the movement of "circle" runs through everything: "circle" is the most essential movement track of things; "Circle" is the eternal theme of nature. Therefore, since Wudang is a boxing method with "Tao" as its guiding ideology, it will naturally follow the circle of "Tao" to exercise. Wudang Wushu, which follows the Tao, inadvertently shows a simple and natural charm.
The most interesting thing is that among Wudang Neijia Boxing School, there are the most kinds of boxing named after animals. Such as eagle boxing, snake boxing, monkey boxing, tiger boxing and bear boxing. Such as the Dragon-shaped Bagua Palm in Bagua Palm, and the moves named after Wild Horse, Hei Hu, White Ape, Dapeng, White Snake and Qinglong in Tai Ji Chuan. It seems that this is the bionic knowledge of boxing, but in fact, the most fundamental thing is to explore the Tao-that is, the same change of the natural "circle". The so-called thinking about life is nothing more than that the creatures in nature gradually create different circular life behaviors in different ecological environments in order to adapt to survival, and the boxers transform and learn from it after discovering it, thus forming boxing. It is said that Zhang Sanfeng created a 72-style long fist when watching snakes and magpies fight in Wudang Mountain, and his main purpose was to discover the beauty of nature. The natural charm of Wudang Wushu is the result of the boxer's integration of boxing into nature. To achieve the state of expressing natural charm, physical pleasure and spiritual enjoyment must overlap. It nourishes both the essence and the mind, nourishes the body and enjoys a very elegant and civilized aesthetic enjoyment.
Wudang Wushu, as a martial art, has a real sense of attack and defense in the war after all. If we blindly say "Wudang Wushu is a health-preserving Wushu" and "Wushu is the last thing to learn". Then, it may have belonged to Taoist health qigong for a long time, and it will not be so respected by Wulin for hundreds of years. So martial arts, in the final analysis, will eventually be able to compete on the battlefield and on the field. general rules
Laozi said: "I have three treasures, which I hold and protect." One is kindness, the other is thrift, and the third is not daring to be the first in the world. The good can be brave, the frugal can be broad, and dare to be the first in the world, so it can last for a long time. "
Kindness: self-improvement, courage, fraternity, frugality: diligence, justice, and unity are not the first in the world: kindness, faithfulness, and harmony at the right time and place.
Three awards and six penalties
First prize, study hard, practice hard, second prize, be brave, third prize, love the country and the people.
1. Punish laziness, 2. Punish bullying, 3. Punish others for forgetting righteousness, 4. Punish disloyalty and unfilial, 5. Punish evil and promote good, destroy ancestors and ancestors, 6. Punish treason and seek glory.
Recite before class
Law heaven and earth, love country, be filial to parents, respect teachers, be strict with yourself and be lenient with others. Good water-based, no dispute is good; Kindness is not returned in kind, but with heart.
Spiritual slogan
Self-improvement, martial virtue
Cultivate one's morality and self-reliance.
-Li Yundao, a descendant of Chongqing Sanfeng School.