# Internal Power Methods from Yang Banhou



## Xue Sheng (Feb 11, 2011)

From Yang Banhous 18 Formulas as Translated by Ted Knecht

This is based on the 13 postures



> Internal Power Methods
> 
> 1. Peng must be held up (propped up)
> 2. Lu must be light
> ...


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## Xue Sheng (Feb 14, 2011)

There was a reason for this post, I just did not have time to get into it before- ok actually I am not seeing a whole lot of MA posts on MT and none in the CMA section so I thought I would post something

Internal Power Methods - Yang Banhou

1. Peng must be held up (propped up)
2. Lu must be light
3. Ji must be horizontal
4. An must be attacking
5. Cai must be substantial
6. Lie must be sudden (surprising)
7. Zhou must be pounding
8. Kao must be crushing

What they are in the forms in English

1. Peng is Ward off
2. Lu is Roll Back
3. Ji is Press
4. An is Push
5. Cai is Yank
6. Lie is Break
7. Zhou is Elbow
8. Kao is Shoulder

These are the 8 gates which combined with the 5 steps gives you the 13 postures

And if you know and understand the 13 postures you can defend yourself

The for primary gates are 

1. Peng is Ward off
2. Lu is Roll Back
3. Ji is Press
4. An is Push


The 4 Corners are 
5. Cai is Yank
6. Lie is Break
7. Zhou is Elbow
8. Kao is Shoulder


The 5 steps are
Qing Jing, Advance
Huo Tui, Retreat
Zuo Gu, Look to the left
You Pan, Look to the Right
Earth, Center

1. Peng is also South associated with the element Water
2. Lu is also East associated with the element Wood
3. Ji is also West associated with the element Metal
4. An is also North associated with the element Fire
5. Cai is also Northeast 
6. Lie is also Southeast 
7. Zhou is also Northwest
8. Kao is also Southwest

You also have center which is associated with the element Earth

Now if you combine this with Yang Banhou&#8217;s 18 Formulas Internal method you start to get an insight into the application

1. Peng (ward off) must be held up (propped up)
2. Lu (roll back) must be light
3. Ji (press) must be horizontal
4. An (push) must be attacking
5. Cai (yank) must be substantial
6. Lie (break) must be sudden (surprising)
7. Zhou (elbow) must be pounding
8. Kao (shoulder) must be crushing

To give you an idea in pictures I have linked a few but do not get to hung up in what the pictures shows there are various forms of Zhou and Kao for example that do not look alike but are all called Zhou or kao

1. Peng (ward off) must be held up (propped up) 
2. Lu (roll back) must be light 
3. http://www.malaysia-taiji.com/articles/13-shi-ji.htm
4. An (push) must be attacking 
5. Cai (yank) must be substantial What is pictured in the link is not what is called Cai in my flavor of Taijiquan, Pick Up the Needle from the Bottom of the Sea (Hai Di Zhen)
6. Lie (break) must be sudden (surprising) Again different from what I know as Lie
7. Zhou (elbow) must be pounding 
8. Kao (shoulder) must be crushing 


And just for the heck of it I shall post this again
Yang Cheng Fu and Tung Ying Chieh Comparative Postures


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## David43515 (Feb 14, 2011)

Thanks for the posts. These aren`t arts I practice, but it`s only a lack of local availabilty. There`s real aplicable skill there and I`d give my eye teeth for a chance to study good Taiji, Xing-I, or Bagua Chang.

I don`t know Tung Ying Chieh. Are they both doing Yang style? There seemed to be just a slight difference in weight distribution, but I don`t know if it`s just because the photos are stills taken during motion, stylistic differences, or just matters of personal prefferance for two guys with different body types. Either way, I enjoyed it. You see Taiji here very rarely, and when you do it`s almost never promoted as a martial art. Most people never show any applications so that`s always interesting for me.


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## Xue Sheng (Feb 15, 2011)

David43515 said:


> Thanks for the posts. These aren`t arts I practice, but it`s only a lack of local availabilty. There`s real aplicable skill there and I`d give my eye teeth for a chance to study good Taiji, Xing-I, or Bagua Chang.
> 
> I don`t know Tung Ying Chieh. Are they both doing Yang style? There seemed to be just a slight difference in weight distribution, but I don`t know if it`s just because the photos are stills taken during motion, stylistic differences, or just matters of personal prefferance for two guys with different body types. Either way, I enjoyed it. You see Taiji here very rarely, and when you do it`s almost never promoted as a martial art. Most people never show any applications so that`s always interesting for me.


 
Tung Ying Chieh was a senior student of Yang Chengfu but prior to training with Yang Chengfu Tung Ying Chieh trained Hao style taijiquan. Also Tung Ying Chieh was also my Teacher's teacher. But you did hit on the reason they look different, body types. Also if you look at pictures of Yang Chengfu when he was younger and thinner you will see differences between what he did then and what was pictured in the link. As my sifu says, no two people will do the form exactly the same due to body type and no person will do the form exactly the same throughout their life due to age.

There also use to be a cool comparison out there on the web between Tung Hu Ling (Eldest Son of Tung Ying Chieh), *Fu Shengyuan* (son of Fu Zhongwen) and Yang Jun (great Grandson of Yang Chengfu) sadly that link is no longer active


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## Xue Sheng (Feb 16, 2011)

Now that you have read that all you have to do is combine that with Yang Cheng Fu`s 10 Essential Points and you are now "approaching" Yang Taijiquan in application.



> Yang Cheng Fu`s 10 Essential Points
> 
> 1. Xu Ling Ding Jin - Elevate the Crown to Lift the Spirit
> 2. Han Xiong Ba Bei - Hollowing the chest to raise the back
> ...


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## marlon (Feb 20, 2011)

XS so many of your posts force me to deepen my responses to my art[and brings me closer to the goal of excellence through seeking perfection.  Much appreciated.
I have started Chen, slowly and with joy

Respectfully,
Marlon



quote=Xue Sheng;1365792]There was a reason for this post, I just did not have time to get into it before- ok actually I am not seeing a whole lot of MA posts on MT and none in the CMA section so I thought I would post something

Internal Power Methods - Yang Banhou

1. Peng must be held up (propped up)
2. Lu must be light
3. Ji must be horizontal
4. An must be attacking
5. Cai must be substantial
6. Lie must be sudden (surprising)
7. Zhou must be pounding
8. Kao must be crushing

What they are in the forms in English

1. Peng is Ward off
2. Lu is Roll Back
3. Ji is Press
4. An is Push
5. Cai is Yank
6. Lie is Break
7. Zhou is Elbow
8. Kao is Shoulder

These are the 8 gates which combined with the 5 steps gives you the 13 postures

And if you know and understand the 13 postures you can defend yourself

The for primary gates are 

1. Peng is Ward off
2. Lu is Roll Back
3. Ji is Press
4. An is Push


The 4 Corners are 
5. Cai is Yank
6. Lie is Break
7. Zhou is Elbow
8. Kao is Shoulder


The 5 steps are
Qing Jing, Advance
Huo Tui, Retreat
Zuo Gu, Look to the left
You Pan, Look to the Right
Earth, Center

1. Peng is also South associated with the element Water
2. Lu is also East associated with the element Wood
3. Ji is also West associated with the element Metal
4. An is also North associated with the element Fire
5. Cai is also Northeast 
6. Lie is also Southeast 
7. Zhou is also Northwest
8. Kao is also Southwest

You also have center which is associated with the element Earth

Now if you combine this with Yang Banhous 18 Formulas Internal method you start to get an insight into the application

1. Peng (ward off) must be held up (propped up)
2. Lu (roll back) must be light
3. Ji (press) must be horizontal
4. An (push) must be attacking
5. Cai (yank) must be substantial
6. Lie (break) must be sudden (surprising)
7. Zhou (elbow) must be pounding
8. Kao (shoulder) must be crushing

To give you an idea in pictures I have linked a few but do not get to hung up in what the pictures shows there are various forms of Zhou and Kao for example that do not look alike but are all called Zhou or kao

1. Peng (ward off) must be held up (propped up) 
2. Lu (roll back) must be light 
3. http://www.malaysia-taiji.com/articles/13-shi-ji.htm
4. An (push) must be attacking 
5. Cai (yank) must be substantial What is pictured in the link is not what is called Cai in my flavor of Taijiquan, Pick Up the Needle from the Bottom of the Sea (Hai Di Zhen)
6. Lie (break) must be sudden (surprising) Again different from what I know as Lie
7. Zhou (elbow) must be pounding 
8. Kao (shoulder) must be crushing 


And just for the heck of it I shall post this again
Yang Cheng Fu and Tung Ying Chieh Comparative Postures [/quote]


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## Xue Sheng (Feb 21, 2011)

marlon said:


> I have started Chen, slowly and with joy


 
You started Chen... cool 

There is a great book out there by Chen Zhenglei that covers a lot of basic training for Chen style

I am back training Chen Chansigong (Silk reeling) and loving it


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## Xue Sheng (Feb 21, 2011)

marlon

You In box is to full and I cannot PM you the book title


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## TaiChiTJ (Oct 4, 2011)

Xue Sheng this is an excellent compilation of information! I really appreciated the links to actual photos. I often wonder how early in instruction different teachers present these concepts. Your efforts here could go in a special "...here are the basics of tai chi theory.." section for the many people, new to the subject, who ask about tai chi chuan's self protection capabilities. This is something I am going to recommend viewing for both people new to tai chi chuan and friends who have been doing it for years.


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## furtom (Oct 4, 2011)

XS, Great posts, as usual. Thanks!



> Yang Cheng Fu`s 10 Essential Points
> 
> 1. Xu Ling Ding Jin - Elevate the Crown to Lift the Spirit
> 2. Han Xiong Ba Bei - Hollowing the chest to raise the back
> ...



You wouldn't happen to have this in Chinese, would you? I searched around, but could only find it in English.

I want to bounce it at my Sifu and see what he says, but that would be oh so much easier if I had the Chinese to show him.


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## Xue Sheng (Oct 5, 2011)

furtom said:


> XS, Great posts, as usual. Thanks!
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I understand... my shifu is better with the Chinese as well

I am sorry but I do not have it to post on MT. I would need a link ot a web page with it and I do not have that, the best I can do right now is the Pinyin that is already there. I seem to remember seeing it someplace but I'm not sure where, possibly in Yang Chengfu's book or maybe Fu Zhongwen's book. 

Maybe someone else on MT has it to post


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## furtom (Oct 6, 2011)

Xue Sheng said:


> I understand... my shifu is better with the Chinese as well
> 
> I am sorry but I do not have it to post on MT. I would need a link ot a web page with it and I do not have that, the best I can do right now is the Pinyin that is already there. I seem to remember seeing it someplace but I'm not sure where, possibly in Yang Chengfu's book or maybe Fu Zhongwen's book.
> 
> Maybe someone else on MT has it to post



If I can get my wife to do it, I'll post it here. 

Thanks!


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