Traditionally, people have given many explanations to the theory of "Neijia", and each has its own views.
The theory of "Neijia" was first seen in the epitaph of Wang Zhengnan in Nanlei Collection by Huang Zongxi, a master of park studies, in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Wang Zhengnan was a famous wudang boxing scholar in Siming (now Xijiang Ningbo) at the end of Ming Dynasty and the beginning of Qing Dynasty, and studied under Shan Sinan. Zhang Sanfeng, the founder of the school, was founded by the seventh generation of Wang. In Wang Zhengnan's epitaph, it is said that "... there are so-called insiders, and the offenders pounce (or serve as servants). Don't take Shaolin as a foreigner, and build it on Zhang Sanfeng in Song Dynasty ..." From Huang Zongxi's use of the term "there are so-called insiders", it can be seen that the theory of "insiders" at that time was not only widely used, but also lasted for a long time. However, Huang's theory seems to depend on the characteristics of the enemy's target and combat attack, that is, the "quiet" is "inside" and the "moving" is "outside".
Some people think that "Neijia" is Zhang Sanfeng's self-proclaimed Confucian scholar. Because monks are called foreigners, Zhang Sanfeng does not regard himself as a monk, but is called "a family at home" by sharing common interests with others. In fact, this statement is not valid. Because, Zhang Sanfeng not only calls himself a Confucian scholar, but also worked as an official with a Confucian scholar. Why did he quit? Why does he like being a foreigner? Special mention should be made here. In history, Zhang Sanfeng said in the Northern Song Dynasty (represented by Huang Zongxi) and Zhang Sanfeng said in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties. This article refers to Zhang Sanfeng in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties. Some people think that Shaolin boxing is called a foreigner because Shaolin Temple is Buddhism, Buddhism came from India, and India is a foreign country, so it is called a foreigner. Wudang boxing originated from Wudang Mountain, Wudang is Taoism, and Taoism is a religion born and raised in China. In China, wudang boxing is called "Family Boxing". This statement seems reasonable, but it still doesn't hold water. Because, although Buddhism comes from foreign countries, all monks come from China. Not only has the classic theory of Buddhism been translated according to the understanding of China people, but also it has the characteristics of China, and the martial arts of Buddhism is also native to China. Therefore, it is still impossible to distinguish between the outside family and the inside family. Of course, some people argue that Buddhism and Taoism have never been separated, so Zhang Sanfeng can certainly draw a clear line between Buddhism and Taoism. But these people don't know that in Zhang Sanfeng's works on Taoism, there has never been a door view, and they hold the view that Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism are one. People think that these three religions have something in common in exploring truth. Moreover, Wudang Mountain has been preserved by Taoism and Buddhism for a long time in history. So this statement simply doesn't hold water. Some people think that Shaolin monks in history are good at expressing themselves with martial arts and love to be exposed to the outside world, so they are called outsiders. Taoist Wudang, with a pure heart, hates the mountain is not high, hates the forest is not dense, retires late, never shows the leading role, and the higher the skill, the less people know. This inner feature can be called inner family. This statement seems reasonable, but it is still obviously insufficient. Because monks also have hermits, and Taoist priests also have light dew. Moreover, for the implicit and explicit, it is not the standard to judge kung fu cultivation at all. Many Taoists also think that the real kung fu cultivation is in the downtown area. Zhang Sanfeng, for example, is often thrown into the world, although it is elusive. Moreover, his biography of Wudang Taiji has taught many disciples outside the door! In addition to the above, there are also statements that there is a special home for both rigidity and softness, a special home for both offensive and defensive, a special home for both hard and soft kungfu, and a special home for geographical north and south ... these are far from the point. Huang Zongxi's "Those who have the so-called inner family, take the static brake, and those who violate the law should pounce" is one of them. While Cao Qing Bingren's Annals of Ningbo is interpreted as "The foreign ... whose method is mainly to fight with people, but it is difficult to jump, so it is often taken by people, and the family inside ... whose method is mainly to defend the enemy, but it will not be sent unless absolutely necessary, but it must be used ..." There is also Huang Baijia's Zhao Dynasty Series, in which Zhang Sanfeng is good at Shaolin, so he can turn over and is a famous scholar. It can be said that the last three explanations of "within the family" are all correct, but the disadvantage is that things are not made clearer. For example, Huang Baijia said that in the Northern Song Dynasty, "Zhang Sanfeng was good at Shaolin, so he turned over and was a famous family." As a result, this article about "nei" was marked with the word "fan" What does the word "turn" mean? Cao Bingren said that the foreign family "mainly fights with people" and the domestic family "mainly defends the enemy". It seems that this "overthrow" has changed from attacking "overthrow" to preventing. What is the actual purpose of changing from attack to defense? Huang Zongxi said that it is "static braking, and offenders should pounce. "In fact, here, its meaning is not finished. The true meaning of inner armor is to be explained around the essence of Taoist inner alchemy. So, what is the purpose of refining Neidan? In the Song of Taiji Biography, Zhang Sanfeng in Yuan and Ming Dynasties replied: "What is the purpose of trying to push, to prolong life? "The purpose of practicing Neidan is to get rid of diseases and prolong life. So he founded Wudang Taiji Biography, and made it clear that keeping in good health was the first priority. Taiji Chuan is regarded as a dynamic method of practicing Inner alchemy. Zhang Sanfeng thinks: "If you get the Tai Ji Chuan method, you don't know the secret of practice, and you don't care about it. This is tantamount to an alchemist who doesn't take medicine, doesn't take medicine, can't climb the road of immortality, and just can't achieve anything "(edited by Mr. Xiao, the second episode of Taoist Essentials published by Taiwan Province Free Publishing House, The Secret of Zhang Sanfeng Taiji alchemy). The "foreign kung fu" here refers to martial arts. Therefore, Neijia Boxing is to achieve internal cultivation first, and on this basis, it has the effect of hitting and attacking. In other words, internal cultivation is the foundation and technical attack is the purpose. According to the personal experience of some contemporary family-run boxers, it is also believed that learning family-run boxing, if you always take practicing martial arts as a foothold from the beginning, will never get in. Only by cultivating students as a starting point, participating in exercise and keeping calm can we succeed day by day. Tai Ji Chuan's "static braking, offenders should jump" is the external concrete expression of "static and motionless, feeling and communication" in Neidan's practice. Its highest state in fighting is a natural instinct of weak control, slow victory, powerlessness and "four or two". Of course, this innate natural instinct actually refers to the ability of Tao, not the innate physical quality. As Wang Zongyue, the authoritative theorist of Taiji Biography, said in On Taiji Biography: "There are a lot of side doors in the four poles. Although the situation is different, it is nothing more than bullying and slowly giving way to the ear. Strong and weak, slow and fast, are innate natural abilities, and have nothing to do with academic ability. "The innate natural ability he said here refers to the innate physical quality, and the academic ability here refers to the ability to learn and follow the Tao. Because Tai Ji Chuan is regarded as a dynamic work by the Dandao School. The so-called innate physiological quality of ordinary people has always been regarded as acquired and unharmonious congenital in Neidan theory. With this dynamic work, through the progress of "academic ability", that is, kung fu, we can approach and conform to the innate nature of Tao step by step. Wang Zongyue didn't know why, but just for the sake of easy understanding, he adopted the theory of ordinary people. Its overall strategy, tactics, and even as a fundamental philosophy, are different from Waijiaquan, just singing in a different tone. Neijia boxing and Taoist philosophy are always a complete system, but Waijia boxing is not. Its martial arts attack and defense training method is not a system with Buddhist meditation kung fu and its Buddhist theory. Or strictly speaking, what we know today is not the original boxing method of Buddhism in China, but the collection and refinement of ancient practical martial arts in China. 1928 in the introduction of his book wudang boxing's secrets, Yangzhou Jin expounded the special phenomenon of "concentration" of this "foreigner". He believes that the early boxing of Buddhism is completely different from the boxing that was widely popular in society later. " Early Buddhism boxing was originally used to nail people to defend against enemies. "Ancient monks were tired after sitting for a long time, and their knees and legs were stiff and deformed, which caused adverse changes in the whole physiology. Buddhism should cultivate a soul beyond the body shell, but such meditation has destroyed the body. Without a good body, where can you cultivate your soul? Therefore, the opportunity of Zen is to cultivate the way of strengthening the body. Therefore, Master Dharma of Shaolin Temple not only inherited the technique of "washing marrow" in those years, but also created and inherited the technique of "relaxing tendons" according to the theory of medical expenses and the traditional massage guidance and martial arts in China, which is an aid to Zen Buddhism. Therefore, from this perspective, the early boxing of Buddhism is not only similar to the early boxing of Taoism, but also developed on the basis of "listening to the marrow" and "relaxing the muscles". However, as Mr. Jin said, however, "this is the reason why Shaolin has boxing, because its skills are not easy to spread to laymen, and Samadhi can't be understood unless it is released by Samana." "Because of its profundity and mystery, and Buddhism stubbornly does not pass it on to others, the primitive Buddhism, that is, the original Shaolin Boxing, is gradually unknown to the world. Then, with the rise and fall of Buddhism, the practitioners of boxing will gradually become scarce and even unknown to outsiders.
As far as I know, since the Tang and Song Dynasties, Buddhism and Taoism have exchanged ideas and practices, which are highly complementary. In Wudang Mountain, there are two schools of Buddhism and Taoism. Zen also learns Taoism, and Taoism also learns Zen. This kind of boxing, which takes Dan Gong as its essence, is called Neijia Boxing because it emphasizes inner Dan, inner strength and inner cultivation. Mr. Jin went on to say: "Since Wei and Jin Dynasties, since Tang and Song Dynasties, dynasties have changed. During this period, those who wore fine clothes went to ten places, all of which were replaced by Buddhist Zen exercises to prepare for self-defense. During this period, loyal ministers, righteous men, big traitors and big foxes went in and out, and I don't know how many. Although the world knows a little about its art, it is secretive. At that time, Zhang Sanfeng came into being. He was endowed with great talent and extraordinary wisdom, and his skills could not be used in the world. Instead, he was jealous of others, so he refined others and changed his secret method of fighting for self-defense. He was awarded the Secret of Defending the Enemy, and his works were copied and made public. His faction is booming. " It can be seen that the boxing in the later period of Shaolin is not the original "true story" of Shaolin Buddhism, but the social practical martial arts forged without philosophical theory in China since ancient times. This kind of practical martial arts, of course, has a long history, which is determined by people's acquired physique and thinking advantages in offensive and defensive confrontation. This is what Wang Zongyue called "innate natural ability". This advantage is that: fast control is slow, strong is not as weak, strong is not as weak, and the weight is four or two. Compared with the family boxing, it is external weight and internal weight; One is clumsy and the other is clever; One is stiff and the other is soft. Therefore, the previous generation of family-run boxing experts (such as Huang Baijia) realized from practice that Zhang Sanfeng's family-run boxing was created on the basis of "being good at Shaolin" and combining with Taoist health preservation theory. Therefore, later scholars can "get the essence of Zhang Sanfeng's internal skill boxing, which is enough to strike Shaolin" (this "Shaolin" refers to the popular boxing in Shaolin Temple since the Tang and Song Dynasties, that is, the boxing of defeating the enemy with strength, speed and strength). In other words, if you can't learn Neijia Boxing, or you can't learn Neijia Boxing well, you may not be better than Shaolin. Of course, China's late boxing is a kind of practical martial arts that has not been forged by philosophical theory since ancient times, and its "practical" "skill" mainly refers to the summary and accumulation of experience, including its later reference to Neijia boxing. Some early Shaolin boxing techniques that can spread to today, such as mind tricks, are another matter, and can also be called Neijia boxing. In this sense, we can see that Shaolin Buddhism boxing is also divided into the family and the Wudang Daomen boxing is also divided into the family and the family. The difference between the inner family and the outer family is by no means the difference between Buddhism and Taoism, but the difference between the water content of boxing without internal strength, health preservation and martial arts. In the second volume of Zhou Bian's Illustration of Strengthening Tendons and Washing Marrow in the Qing Dynasty, it is said: "Internal strength is external assistance, and it is strong from the inside out. If you do more external work and help from within, you will be hurt if you are strong from outside. Generally speaking, Dan Jing runs from the outside to the inside, and the internal guidance also has internal strength. Internal guidance is external, and external work is external. If he takes it from the outside, it doesn't matter if he takes it from the inside. The external work is outside the external work. Purely seeking the inside, regardless of the outside, the internal work is also outside the external work. ...... between inside and outside, inseparable. " This discussion can be regarded as the internal and external division of Buddhist boxing, which is completely consistent with Zhang Sanfeng's point of view. From the standpoint of health preservation, that is, values, the ancient Neijia Boxing School was divided into internal and external families and boasted of being "excellent". Objectively speaking, the existence of any undead and undeveloped martial arts school proves that it has its rationality and its own advantages. Today, we can't mechanically and arbitrarily distinguish the advantages and disadvantages of Wushu at home and abroad from certain values judged by ourselves. Of course, it should also be said that the biography of Wudang Taiji created by Zhang Sanfeng in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties (to be precise, Zhang Sanfeng was only the master and performer of Wudang Neijia Boxing) was also produced in Wudang Mountain, and the symbol "Wudang" was created. However, this sect is not unique to a religious family. It represents a great leap for a large number of China martial artists to liberate themselves from subjective practical empiricism, study objective philosophical theory and guide practice. There are three reasons to prove the above viewpoint: First, Zhang Sanfeng's Taoist viewpoint is based on Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. In his view, Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism have the same understanding of the universal truth of the universe in essence, but they have different practical emphases. Therefore, his Taoist theory has always been based on the philosophical essence and theoretical source of the three religions. Secondly, Wudang Neijia Boxing not only inherits many Taoist techniques of the previous generation, but also absorbs Buddhist techniques (such as washing marrow and Yijing), Confucian techniques (such as "heart fasting" and "sitting and forgetting") and doctor techniques (such as Hua Tuo's five-animal play), which is a kind of traditional boxing. Thirdly, Wudang Neijia Boxing, in the process of its formation, development and dissemination, although it has a certain religious color unrelated to its content (such as respecting Xuanwu God, respecting the old gentleman, respecting the founder of Sanfeng, and even deifying the source of boxing), in the process of inheritance, it never holds the view of gate valve in terms of requirements, but is good at spreading widely among the public, including gate valve, Buddhism, social intellectuals and the general public. As a cultural exchange, this undoubtedly embodies a broad mind.