Foundations notes

Going over

  • Going over the shoulder: have to go around the shoulder.
  • Like the gear shifter, has to actually change gear.
  • One movement that continues to the other side (normal).
  • Go halfway and change to the other side to go down (switching).
  • (腰裆转换 Yao dang zhuan huan). Waist and dang (half circle, horseshoe) switching. That half circle has to be locked - the shape locks.

Dang switching

  • Mingmen locks, knees shift up and down (external method)
  • Knees lock and mingmen gets stretched to the other side (internal method). From behind the knee to the shoulder tears open. Tears open the kua.

Arm and shoulder switching

  • Two ways, to bring the arm over the shoulder, or to drop the shoulder.

Method and perspective

  • Each method has its own rules, it’s not criticism (in my method, you are wrong but in your method you are right). Right and wrong is neutral (not dependent on the perspective). But without the perspective you can’t see. It’s like a blind spot.
  • Combination of revolution with a rotation.

Middle way

  • In reality it’s an argument between two sides. Mao Zedong’s thought was: we must remain Chinese and borrow what we need from the West (but in reality, you can’t control it).
  • The idea was raised by Confucius. Era of warring states (this way or that way). When there are two ways, he tried to choose to walk the middle way 中庸. But never in history have we walked the middle way, it’s something only scholars can talk about. Cannot actually find a way to do both.

Replacement / change without changing

  • Rotation - changing direction without changing direction. Switch with something identical, like teeth in a gear. Do without doing (无为而治 wú wéi ér zhì “govern with no action”). No difference in outer appearance.
  • Every 4 years you change president but the hope is that the ideas of government don’t change. Although the reality is that every generation does something different without thinking it was different. Rotation is the only thing that has this characteristic.

Energy conversion

  • Change is required by nature. But it dissipates. But change without changing creates energy (energy stays on the rotational core). In qigong, energy is gathered into you (no escape of energy).
  • To cut and to grind are actions that can result from rotation depending on the external shape.
  • Movements must convert. When you are tossing, you are not converting, the energy is dissipating.