People that are familiar with the southern Chinese martial arts often associate the “four energies” with the Hakka arts….Southern Mantis, Bak Mei (White Eyebrow), and Dragon style. Many people don’t seem to realize that the older versions of Wing Chun and Weng Chun contain these elements as well. These four energies are explicitly part of the “18 Kiu Sau Principles” of Tang Yik Weng Chun, which are its guiding “keywords.” They are also part of Ku Lo Pin Sun Wing Chun. They are included in the “mental methods” of Chu Sau Lei Wing Chun. CSL Wing Chun is a “modern” system, but its keywords are taken from Sum Nun Wing Chun and Gu Lao Wing Chun. When Ip Man began teaching in Hong Kong he dropped a lot of the more traditional aspects of the system, including the use of keywords. So some branches of the Ip Man system continue to use these “four energies” to an extent without naming them or putting much emphasis on them. Some branches don’t make much use of them at all. But to deny that they are a part of Wing Chun is to take a rather narrow and uninformed view of the different varieties of Wing Chun methods available.
This is not a recent “add on” to the system. The fact that they are present in both Tang Yik Weng Chun and Ku Lo Pin Sun Wing Chun….both of which are “old” systems…should clearly indicate this. Wing Chun and Weng Chun are different systems. One might say they are cousins. But they shared a common root approximately 150 years ago. The fact that the “four energies” are found in both systems suggests they were there from the beginning.
These “four energies” are almost always grouped together. They are:
浮 Fou = Float or Rise. This is usually translated as “rise” when you are doing it, and “float” when you are doing it to someone else!
沉 Chum = sink, lower
吞 Tun = Swallow or sometimes translated as “suck” as in to “suck someone in”
吐 Tou = Spit or expel
Sink and rise are pretty self-explanatory. They suggest motion on the vertical plane…up and down. Everyone has Chum/Jum Sau and Jut Sau in their Wing Chun. These employ the concept of “sink”. Another example is from the movements that close each section of the dummy form in Ip Man Wing Chun. Each section typically closes with a double Jut Sau (sink) followed by a double Tok Sau (rise). Some people do this using only the arms, which doesn’t really embody the concept. But some do it use sinking and rising with the body, which is more in line with the keywords.
These concepts are trained explicitly in some of the Pin Sun short sets. One of these is called “Saam Gin Choi” or “Three arrow punch.” This is a pivot with a straight punch, then you drop your weight (sink) with a punch that drops straight downward, and then you raise your level up (rise) as you do a rising punch towards the throat…all with the same arm. One variation of the set even uses a Gwai Ma with the second punch, which involves bending one knee and dropping it towards the ground. This “sinking” with a Gwai Ma to punch low is also found in the Tang Yik Weng Chun dummy form.
Swallow and Spit suggest motion on the horizontal plane but take a little more explaining for most people. Swallow is to take in or absorb force and energy. Spit is to put out or expel force and energy. Pin Sun Wing Chun even has a technique called “Tun Sau” or “swallowing hand.” This is simply a Tan Sau that moves back instead of going forward. Chu Sau Lei WCK does the same thing. But they just call it a “Tan Sau” whether it goes forward or moves back. It is considered “spreading” either way! This is simply a manifestation of the idea of Yin and Yang. The Tan shape can go forward to meet and deflect with a Yang energy, or it can move back to absorb and deflect with a Yin energy. In Pin Sun the same is true of the Bong and the Gan. A Bong that collapses so that the elbow goes forward while deflecting and absorbing (swallow) is called a “Got Bong” or “cutting Bong.” This is very similar to the elbow motion in most Ip Man Biu Gee forms. A Gan that pulls in while deflecting is called a “Got Gan” or “cutting Gan.” Both of these are found in Tang Yik Weng Chun as well, because it seems to be common sense for many techniques to have a Yin and a Yang aspect making use of the concepts of “Swallow” and “Spit.” Pin Sun has a short set that embodies the “Swallow” and “Spit” concepts as well. The “Baat Gwa Lung Na” or “Eight direction dragon grab” set is essentially a Lop Sau with both hands while pivoting. The double Lop goes all the way back to your hip. This is “swallow” to its fullest expression! This is a Kum Na technique intended to yank an opponent right off of his feet. At the very least it will disrupt his structure and balance and create an opening for your strike. The two-man version of this set involves one person punching, the other intercepting the punch with a Lung Na, and then returning a punch of his own so the partner can do the Lung Na. But more than just being a set up for the partner to do the Lung Na technique, the punch represents the “Spit” that comes immediately after the “Swallow.” It real use you would do the Lung Na to disrupt the opponent’s balance and immediately punch back into the opening you have created.
This speaks to the point that these older versions of Wing Chun include a Kum Na or grappling element to them. It should be obvious that any kind of standing grappling is going to use “sink, rise, spit, and swallow”….you are going to be pushing, pulling, pressing and lifting in some form or another. The fact that Ip Man Wing Chun does not include a Kum Na component is very likely why people that are only familiar with Ip Man Wing Chun do not believe that the “four energies” are part of Wing Chun. But while the "four energies" are most clearly seen in a standing grappling context, they are an integral part of the punching and defending methods as well.
I should also mention that these four are seldom used in isolation. They are typically going to be used together. For example, when you do a Tok Sau on the dummy you don’t lift straight up….which is what “rise” would suggest. Rather you lift up with a forward vector. So there is a bit of “spit” in your “rise.” Likewise, when you absorb an incoming force you don’t just move straight back, there is an aspect of “sink” used as well.
Some of you are probably thinking that “swallow” goes against the idea of forward pressure in Wing Chun. It does! But Wing Chun shouldn’t be limited to ONLY doing forward pressure! There is a time for going right up the middle with forward pressure and a time to use angling and absorbing. To only do one without knowing how to use the other is a bit one-dimensional. As I already pointed out, if you have a Kum Na element to your Wing Chun, then angling and absorbing are just naturally going to be part of it. This angling and absorbing ability is part of the reason Ku Lo Pin Sun Wing Chun is called what it is. “Pin Sun” means “sidebody” and refers to this angling and absorbing ability using the pivot. So the “four energies” are very important to the body dynamic in Pin Sun Wing Chun and are found in nearly every technique in some form or another. The same is true of Tang Yik Weng Chun. TYWK does not use a pivot in the same way as Pin Sun, and the body dynamic is not exactly the same....but it still employs the four energies in some way in nearly every technique.
