Standing on a stake means that the body can't stand still like a stake. Piling originated from ancient religious ceremonies and evolved from the ancient photography cicada sleeping method.

The variation forms of standing piles are: Zhama (called Zhama in southern China martial arts) and Santi (called Zhama in northern Xingyiquan). There are many schools of standing piles, including Chinese medicine pile method, Emei pile method, Wudang pile method and Shaolin pile method. Its forms are divided into horizontal pile, sitting pile and vertical pile.