Peasant Talk

Selected Yang Family Quotes

“In boxing arts, what is taught or not taught is entirely up to the student rather than the teacher. The reason is simply this:

Everyone these days understands that Taiji is worthwhile and they have a mind to learn it, but they worry the teacher might not have the real stuff and before they have even made it through the door, they are already doubting a third of it. And so even if a teacher wants to pass it down, how would he be able to? Most students only go halfway and quit anyway, then only think to blame their teacher for not teaching and never imagine a need to examine their own neglect of learning. Yes, for those of you who claim your teacher did not teach you, this is an admonishment. It is like Liu Bei wanting to hire Zhuge Liang before asking if he was willing to leave his mountain or not. Liu Bei invited him, then pressed him a second time, and a third time. If Zhuge Liang really did not want to leave, what could Liu Bei have done to obtain his services? This is what students are like. I am hoping that fellow practitioners who are spreading Taiji Boxing will consider this point.”

“Yang Chengfu will teach boxing to anyone and teaches everyone the same. So why do some turn out better than others? Because everyone has a different nature, a different degree of intelligence, a different capacity to understand the principles. Also because Taiji theory is rather deep and takes more than one lesson to grasp. Since progress is a step-by-step process, Yang teaches in a step-by-step manner. If you only go halfway and quit before learning the essence of it, to proclaim that the teacher does not have the real stuff is truly an absurd assertion. If you put hardly any time or work into it and then demand it pay off with glittering results, you simply do not understand. By gradually and continuously advancing in your learning, there will not be a notion of neglect in the teaching.”

“Taiji is fundamentally an internal boxing style. If you are doing the postures correctly and understand the internal principles, it qualifies as Taiji Boxing. If you are not doing the postures correctly and do not understand the internal principles, then although it may look like Taiji, it is no better than an external style.”

“When any of you train in boxing arts, be it Wudang or Shaolin, after you have succeeded in it, be sure not to forget about other people and become presumptuously proud. It is often said that, “There’s always somebody better” and “after every skilled person you meet, there’s another one”. This truth is simply the way of things.”

Yang Cheng-fu Methods of Applying Taiji Boxing1 Circa 1931

“There are acupoints that save and acupoints that kill. They cannot be learned without personal instruction. Here are three reasons why: because of how difficult they are to learn, the fact that they are a matter of life and death, and the degree of a person’s talent. There are eight kinds of people not to be taught:

1. the disloyal and unfilial, 2. those who are fundamentally unkind, 3. those with crooked intentions, 4. those who are rude and reckless, 5. those who think themselves superior to others, 6. those who care more about rules than they do about people, 7. those who are fickle, 8. those who will have an easy time picking it up and then just as easily discard it.

It must be understood that these eight people are not to be taught. Criminals of course do not deserve to be considered at all. As for those who may be taught, they are eligible to be given personal instruction in its secrets. There are five kinds who may be taught:

1 those who are loyal, filial, and gracious, 2 those with a mild temperament, 3 those who will hold to the method and not discard it, 4 those who will be true to the teacher, 5 those who will complete the study as ardent as when they started.

These types will be resolved to complete the study without having doubts and can be shown the whole thing, and what will be given to the pupil is illumination. It goes from those who already know it to those who will know it, the torch being passed down through generations, always by this process. But what a shame it is that of those who know martial arts, some turn out to be criminals.”

Yang Ban-hou Explaining Taiji Principles2 Circa 1875

1, 2 — Brennan Translations; https://brennantranslation.wordpress.com