Taiji, Dim-Mak, and the Classics
An Article by Sam Wiley
7 September 1999
Somewhere around the year AD 1300, a man named Chang San-feng developed a martial system at Wudang Shan in China, a martial system that is said to take three lifetimes to master because of its demanding and unforgiving complexity, an art which eventually became known as Dim-Mak. There are other names, of course, Dim-Hsueh and Dim-Ching foremost among them. But they do not mean the same thing. Dim Hsueh is the "blood gate" system, which targets the heart and blood vessels to shut them down to cause death or unconciusness. And Dim-Ching attacks the nerve plexi of the body in order to cause great pain and cause the opponent to submit. But Dim-Mak, though it shares some elements with these two other systems, focuses on disrupting the qi flow, the bioelectrical current, of the human body.
Many things are attributed to Chang, including some writings of unknown origin. But Chang was a brilliant acupuncturist and master of Wushu. And he decided to create a martial art whose techniques were effective using only light to medium power. As an added requirement for this art, the movements and postures had to have self-healing properties through their use as qigong, and also "medical" healing properties to heal others with through acupressure and massage techniques hidden in the forms and usnig the same points used to kill.
One of Chang's students, Wang Tsung-yueh, was the first known to have written down anything about the art for sure. And what he did write is some of the most complex and advanced instruction ever written down, as it tries to describe the intangible part of the martial arts we all strive to understand.
Yang Lu-chan was living in the Chen Village, working as a janitor, and doing his damnedest to steal the Chen art for himself. Rumor has it that Yang was a sort of collector of martial arts, travelling from place to place always trying to add to his Wushu repertoire. Eventually, he was accepted as a student of Chen Xiang-xing, the head of the clan at the time. But soon enough a man called Zhiang Fa came to the Chen Village looking for work. Seems times were hard back then. Zhiang was of Chang's and Wang's lineage, and a master of Dim-Mak in his own right. When the Chens found out he was a master they offered to give him work in exchange for his knowledge. Records from that period show that the Chen art changed during this time period, and it was Chen Xiang-xing who changed it, after learning from Zhiang. Although the Chen family claims that Zhiang was a student of Chen Xiang-xing's, both the Yang family and Wudang Shan accounts hold that Zhiang actually taught Chen. There is also evidence that one of he Chen masters declared that no one was allowed to relate an account different than the one that says that the Yang style came from the Chen style and that Zhiang Fa was a student of the Chens'. This is the reason that the Chen and Yang styles share some similarities, because they were both influenced by Wudang Shan boxing, and not that the Yang style came from the Chen style.
Zhiang also taught Yang Luchan, and because they were both outsiders to the Chen Village, shared with him the book written by Wang Tsung-yueh on Dim-Mak. By doing this, he shared with Yang the secret teachings of Dim-Mak, the true essence. Yang, being an advanced martial artist, practically devoured the text, integrating the magical words with his own martial expertise. Upon reading the treatise, he abandoned the Chen art completely in favor of Dim-Mak, soon mastering it and formulating his own form. This form, called H'ao Ch'uan by Yang, eventually became known as Taijiquan (Supreme Ultimate Boxing) because of the extremely deadly strike contained in it.
So, this is the connection between Taijiquan and Dim-Mak. But what does the treatise written by Wang Tsung-yueh say that would make Yang abandon one of the most effective and famous martial arts of the day, a style so powerful and influential that a city that was not even its birthplace but was only its adopted hometown was named after it?
The treatise describes, sometimes in seemingly enigmatic form, not only martial arts theory, but also a way of life. It describes the cycle of Yin and Yang and the way of nature and of the universe. From Lex Talionis to Lex Virtutis; from fighting to being above it; from how to use minimal force to overcome any oppression to how to achieve enlightenment through natural movement and the understanding of its application, to the necessity of proper posture and more, it's all in there! Lessons taught by all the greatest martial arts masters and all the world's greatest philosophical minds; the very basis for the patterns of human thought; and the psychological and emotional crystallization factors responsible for the evolution of and found consistently in, the mental and emotional processess of all the great men and women who have ever been and ever wil be in this world, are all contained in this treatise.
Very few teachers in this world have been able to convey such profound and yet simple knowledge, as the world is not usually accepting of lessons it thinks it already understands. Christ, Lao-tze, Buddha and Confucius, Moses, Miyamoto Musashi, Sun-tze, Gandhi, Robert Monroe, Dante (of Divine Comedy fame), John Milton, Friedrich Nietzsche, Aleister Crowley, Anton La Vey, Mark Twain...The list goes on. But the numbers are miniscule in comparison to the numbers of people who are unknown or who are on the receiving end of the message. Some were accepted, some were not. The world is not usually ready for the messages great men bring, as they are either too hard to understand, or because the lessons contained therein are too hard to follow or demand too much discipline. I don't think mankind will ever be ready for such messages, because if it ever is, it will be the day man achieves the next rung on the evolutionary ladder.
Perhaps their greatest lessons were not in what they said, but in how they lived. Not all the great men of the world were saints, some of them were downright sinister (like Musashi, for example), but then again not all the saints of the world have been great men. This is, of course, part of the Law of Yin and Yang, and is part of the treatise left to us by Wang.
Wu Yu-hsiang was also an early Dim-Mak master who left us a treatise on how to practice the art. Whereas Wang remained quite esoteric with the whole thing, Wu goes into detail about hings usually learned from oral transmission from master to student or through trial and error and experience.
When it comes to the transference of qi (bioelectricity) for the application of either acupressure or Dim-Mak, many people doubtful as to the possibility or the effectiveness of the methods. But when it comes to massage (a diluted but still potently effective form of acupressure, used in many parts of the world where the art never evolved to the point it did in China), they are all in agreement that touch can affect another. We all know that if we punch someone we can hurt them. And for some reason, kissing an injury really does make it feel better. But what makes these things work? Is it the punch or the kiss (beyond simple physical force causing comfort or discomfort)? Or is it the intent?
We all exchange energy in an unspoken and unbroken conversation with every other living thing in the universe. It is natural and automatic. Take for instance, a pet dog. Although the dog may not speak and we may not bark, we can still communicate through exchange of energy. If for instance, you are nice to the dog (and it has no prior emotional crystallizations causing it to fear human contact) then it is possible that the dog will let you touch it and will want to communicate with you through physical contact as well (licking, laying on of paws ;)). If however, you are mean to the dog, maybe yelling at it or if not yelling then speaking in anger or outright hatred, then the dog will know you mean it harm. And unless the dog has some emotional crystallization that causes it to trust all humans against its instincts, then it will know you have ill intent even when you try to hide it behind kind words or gestures.
One of the ways to tell is to look at the eyes. Most people's emotions and intent are projected through their eyes. For instance, a dog cannot hide malice behind a smile, because it does not possess the higher logical processes of the brain enabling it to do so. But humans, on the other hand, possessing such faculties, are sometimes said to have an "evil smile" or to have a mischievous or malicious look in their eyes...while smiling! On the other hand, there are also humans who cannot hide their emotions, either. Some people's eyes, even when they try to hide it, "shoot daggers," in anger or envy. A great many people "smile with their eyes," even when they are trying to keep a straight face. And many of them cannot help but break into a smile.
The skin also conveys messages. Embarassment or joy, anger or fear, good or ill health; all are conveyed by the skin as well. And the skin is also one of the vehicles by which the cure for one of the disorders seeable in the skin may be had. In many cases, the cure is the touch of another person.
Wu Yu-hsiang discusses some of these things in his treatise, going into detail where many of his predecessors did not, about a great many things many people with little capacity for the more esoteric aspects of life either cannot at the moment, or simply refuse for some reason, to understand or to accept. Some simply say, "bullshit," and go on about their lives. Some already understand. Some want to understand. A great many will eventually, even if they do not now understand. And of course, there are those who, realizing their current and hopefully only momentaryinability to grasp the concepts, mock them. Repeatedly, vociferously, and unreasoningly, they pick a subject they cannot understand, and attempt to shred it to prove some imaginary fallacy about it. All they succeed in doing is eliminating the bullshit perpetrated by others who, perhaps well-meaning, also did not understand, and leaving the core of the concept there for all to see, proving more so than some who are actually knowledgeable on the subject, the validity of the statements that those who are knowledgeable have made and had mocked.
One of the things Master Wu talks about is using the mind to direct the qi:
"Drive the internal energy to move the entire body; make certain that the internal energy circulates smoothly and completely. Eventually, the internal energy can follow the direction of your will."
-Master Wu Yu-hsiang, as translated by Master Waysun Liao in
The Essence of T'ai Chi
This passage refers not only to Dim-Mak and putting qi into vital points for an adverse effect, but also putting qi into them for healing. It is said during practice we must "think" the qi along the described pathway or meridian. One of the ways this is done is by thinking about the applications of the moves. Done a few times, the subconcious mind begins to recognize this as the proper response to an attack. This is because if you think about doing something, then you are actually doing it. So your subconcious mind thinks that you are actually doing some work with this movement, and eventually becomes reprogrammed to do it for real in a real fight. This is the purpose of forms in the martial arts. And this is the reason that all good martial arts, those used for survival and not just for tournament fighting and sport, place so much emphasis on forms. And that is also the reason that so many sport martial artists get their ass kicked in the street, in a real fight. I believe that an additional reason for this is that sport fighters not only neglect their forms, but also place too much emphasis on one-on-one fights and not enough to fighting multiple opponents. An added reason, as well, is that sport fighters have to set aside the more devastating and sometimes deadly methods from their arts in favor of the safer and more socially acceptable methods, which are the only ones allowed in the ring.
When the will guides the qi to affect daily life, this is known as "going gamma." Sometimes it's called magic or prayer, or hypnosis. "Cosmic superimposition" is the term used to describe remarkable cases of the expression of the will. To position is to place something, and to impose is to guide through greater power into a pattern or place. And to superimpose is to take something intangible or that does not fit into a place or situation, and place it there to make it the focus point of the tangible, thereby making it tangible as well, and an integral part of the new whole. Like special effects being superimposed onto film to add to the quality of the movie. While they are not real like the actors in the film, they are real in the finished product as both the actors in the film and the audience as well will act and react as if they were real. This is also a prerequisite for the suspension of disbelief so many people go through when they watch a film, it becomes real to them and they actually experience the situations, the action, in the film, and therefore the film is reality, at least until the credits come on. Cosmic superimposition is focusing and guiding the qi, emotions, and thought, to take an idea or ideal and place it in the real world, making it into reality, or else taking something from the real world and creating a new and previously nonexistent reality around it.
"When transferring internal power, it should be sunk, attached, relaxed and completed. The power should also be concentrated in one direction."
-Master Wu Yu-hsiang, as translated by Master Waysun Liao in
The Essence of T'ai Chi
In order for the action to be complete, we must return to the center. In fa-jing striking, the waist must return to the center position. The qi condenses in the Dantien in qigong. In daily life, we must "return to the center," as Lao-tze says in the Tao Te Ching. In the extension and expression of the will, we must completely expurge the energy, once properly focused, so that we may return to the center, which is the great Working we were born for. Any deviation from the one true Path is a betrayal of the will, but not an abandonment of the Path. The truth is that these deviations are needed for the furtherance of the will and the completion of the Working. This is because, once expurged, these "deviant" urges no longer will trouble us and drag us off the Path. Western monks and priests, for instance, do not expurge the thoughts and enotions that attempt to drive them off their chosen Path from time to time. Instead, they try to suppress them, and cause a slight tremor in their devotion to become a veritable earthquake of compulsion, which in turn denies them the very enlightenment they seek.