Anti-Fajin

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Anti-Fajin

Why am I so anti-fajin?

Fajin is defined here as shoving, but it is using magic tricks to shove, so we might call it competitive-deceptive shoving, or technically-superior shoving.

If you do it entirely without uprooting it is just a tackle, it's physics, mass times velocity squared (MV2). Nothing wrong with that.

If you shove someone from behind by surprise, most people will stumble a few feet and recover. This is an amazing phenomena. Why is this? Why are humans so incredibly good at instantly regaining balance?

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Meanings of Jing 精

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Meanings of Jing 精

Jing is such a key concept in Chinese martial arts, theater, meditation and religion. I just thought, for fun, I'd post Google Translates instant correlations. 

32 Translations of jing 精

adjective

  • fine 精细, 细, 精, 优良, 精美, 良好
  • refined 精制, 精, 优雅, 文雅, 优美, 彬
  • precise 精确, 准确, 确切, 精, 过份周到的, 过份注意的
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Wind and Water Force

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Wind and Water Force

Over the last few years I have been harping on about how rooting is a mistake in martial arts. A mistake I might add that dancers never make. Which is why dance is such a great way to learn about power in the martial arts. This is one of the benefits of thinking about martial arts as performing arts. 

In the Chinese theater tradition, the internal martial arts have been on the stage for at least six hundred years. This martial prowess of enlightenment is called jindan, or neidan, or liandan. In the theater sometimes it comes from taking a pill. But just as often it comes from retreat into a mountain or a cave for years of meditation. It is like a montage in an action movie when they have to train-up the hero quickly. 

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Bend the Bow & Shoot the Arrow

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Bend the Bow & Shoot the Arrow

Most martial arts at some point get deep into the idea of increasing power. The problem with that is most martial artists delude themselves because they do not have an adrenalized high-risk-of-injury place to test out their practice. When I've worked with people who had an opportunity to test their power four nights a week breaking down doors, they only used the amount of force necessary and it is usually less than a martial artist who is only imagining the usage. Even great martial arts, who perfectly understand how power works, tend to over-power.  

That is just a prelude to a misunderstood metaphor which is very common in Chinese martial arts circles. The metaphor is that of a bow shooting an arrow.

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Review of Shaolin Monastery

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Review of Shaolin Monastery

Paul Katz wrote one of the most informed and thoughtful reviews of Meir Shahar's book, Shaolin Monastery. I'm posting it here because I think it should be read more widely.

Review: Shaolin Monastery, by Meir Shahar --Paul Katz.

My simple contribution to it was that I had a 15 minute conversation about the book with Paul in his office before he wrote it. Paul has written so much since that conversation, I haven't kept up, but he is one of the most broad thinkers in the realm of Chinese religious studies. As you can see by the diversity of topics in his list of publications.

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How to Live Long and Get Rich in the Fire Rooster Year

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How to Live Long and Get Rich in the Fire Rooster Year

Many people have asked me for my predictions of the coming Chinese New Year.  Probably more than usual because my teacher Liu Ming died about a year ago and he had been giving predictions for the new year to packed houses in the San Francisco Bay Area for about the last ten years.  

As my regular readers know, I’m more of a strategist than I am a prognosticator, but I’ll try to split the difference.

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Sichuan Theater Interview

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I enjoyed this article and the pictures from Time Out Hong Kong. Behind the scenes: A look at the Sichuan art of face-changing.

It is about Bian Lian (Changing Face), which is the actual title of the film The King of Masks. This trailer has some lame sentimental narration and music, but it's a great movie and you can watch the whole thing on Youtube.

Nearing the end of his life, Wang -- a locally renowned street performer and wizard of the venerable art of mask magic -- yearns to pass on his technique. But custom decrees that he can only hand down his craft to a male successor.