Taiji, Dim-Mak, and the Classics
An Article by Sam Wiley
7 Septemeber, 1999
(Page 2)
"The transfer of power must be completely projected, concentrated and projected in one direction only, in order to allow the vibration of your power to accelerate and exceed the speed of light.
The mind serves as a medium to penetrate the limit of time. Your mind guides the direction of your power. When the mind concentrates in one direction, the acceleration of the vibration, propelled by the mind over the shortest distance, will result in increased effectiveness."
-Master Waysun Liao, commenting on the previous passage quoted from his book,The Essence of T'ai Chi
In this comment on the previously quoted Wu Yu-hsiang passage, Master Waysun Liao mentions "going gamma," as well as a technique Robert Monroe was shot down for advocating. Called "flying the Dragon," by many practicioners, it entails what the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn called "travel in the body of light." Many of the esoteric practices of the world, such as Yoga, Ninjitsu, Taijiquan, Stadhagaldr and Runagaldr, Shamanism, and many magical traditions and mystical societies, share the belief in travel out of the body. The Egyptians and the early Christians, the Vikings and the Qabbalists, The Rosicrucians and The Brotherhood of the Silver Star, the Green Dragon Society, the Thule and Vril societies, the Order of the Trapezoid and the Schwarze Orden, and many more believed in the existence of such abilities. Astral Travel, by whatever name, and supported by whatever socities and traditions, is considered a reality by many around the world. Visions, dreams, and "visitations," also fall under this heading.
"When condensing the internal power, it should be like the pulling of a bow; when projecting the internal power, it should be like the shooting of an arrow."
"Transfer of power comes from the spine."
-both statements by Master Wu Yu-hsiang, as translated by Master Waysun Liao in his book,
The Essence of T'ai Chi
Both of these statements by Wu Yu-hsiang refer to the execution of fa-jing. When we gather the power, from either an attack or just doing fa-jing in the air, it is a sort of slow build up. (Well, it's slower than the instant discharge, any way.) The energy is gathered and stored in the spinal column, which is a series of organic capacitors with electrolytic current-carrying spacers between them. When the spinal column is relaxed (as the entire body must be to execute fa-jing) and the "connections" are made (which I liken to batteries being dropped down into a flashlight; if the batteries are not compressed down to make the circuit, then the light will not come on) then the capacitors can not only collect the bioelectricity, both kinetic and potential, but also release it in the proper fashion. Much like Tesla's coil or Van De Graaf's generator, or a strobe light, which build up and then release their charge all at once (which is exactly what a capacitor does). In any case, there is a slow build up and then a sudden explosive and violent release of energy. The spinal column shakes violently to discharge the qi for fa-jing, causing the qi to flow along thenecessary pathway to the focal point of the discharge; the palm, fist, foot, etc. This incredible surge of power is so great that some of it travels right out through the focal point into the air or target. It then returns to us, bringing some of the attacker's qi with it, to complete the circuit and be stored once again in the spinal capacitors to await rerelease. And because of the rebound effect fa-jing by nature creates, it is rereleased. This is one of the reasons fa-jing quan fighters (Taiji, Bagua, Hsing-i) become more aggressive and violent as the opponent tires out, because he is expending energy (and having some of it stolen outright) and we keep recycling the same charge over and over again. It is also the reason many external stylists feel tired after their forms, and internal stylist feel energized.
There is a book called the Yang Family 40 Chapters, which have been attributed to a few different members of the yang family, but was more than likely written by Yang Ban-hou. In chapter 37, titled "Oral Transmission of Life and Death Acupoints," the author states:
"There are life and death acupoints, but to learn them requires oral transmissions. Why is this? One, because of the difficulty; two, because it relates to life and death; and three, because it depends on the character of the individual. First, one must not teach those who are not loyal and filial; second, one must not teach those who do not have a good background; third, one must not teach those with evil intentions; fourth, one must not teach those who are careless an crude; fifth, one must not teach those who have no consideration for others; sixth, one must not teach those wh are outwardly polite but not compassionate; seventh, one must not teach those who are not reliable; eighth, one must not teach those who are quick to learn and quick to forget. It is important to know the eight disqualifications; as for outright criminals, they need not even be mentioned. Those who do qualify may be given the secret transmissions orally. You may teach those who are loyal and filial, emotionally stable, faithful to the teaching, and always consistent. Given these five qualities, if the student is truly consistent from beginning to end and never wavers, then you may transmit every aspect of the art. From generation to generation, this is the way of the transmission. Alas, is it not a pity that there are still criminals in the martial arts!"
-As translated by Douglas Wile, in his book,
Lost T'ai-chi Classics from the Late Ch'ing Dynasty
There it is. An acknowledged master, Yang Ban-hou, states that there are indeed Dim-Mak strikes. He also gives the reasons not to teach them to certain people. I personally believe that this is not so much to keep such abilty out of the wrong hands, but because people disqualified by the criteria would not or could not understand the information. They simply couldn't handle it. And most people who don't understand something either fear it or brush it off as nothing. And with something as exotic as Dim-Mak, they usually brush it off as nothing. This is not such a bad thing, from a Machiavellian point of view, as it keeps the supremely effective techniques of Dim-Mak from being stolen by people with evil intentions and used on the people who gave them the information in betrayal, which is, after all, the main reason given for not teaching people with evil intentions.
Although only the first sentence really had to do with the existence of Dim-Mak, the rest was interesting, and seemed relevant to the "enlightened unbeliever syndrome" that seems to be going around these days. People with no knowledge of the function of the human being (not just the human anatomy), have decided they should play the Amazing Randi role in the martial arts community. They strut and preach and show their ignorance of the purpose, practice, function and effects of martial arts training in an attempt to bathe this ignorance in the light of knowledge, and display it as wisdom. Even if they had the knowledge they claim to possess, it is still not wisdom. The light of knowledge does not show what they want it to, it shows the truth and that is that they have no fucking clue what they're talking about, and probably have even less of a clue what I'm talking about!
For those who don't believe Dim-Mak strikes are real, or effective, consider this: You can kill with a strike to the throat or the back of the neck. You can kill with a strike to the kidneys or the heart (there are documented medical cases on record, especially of deaths resulting from a strike to the heart). Stomach 9, Conceptor Vessel 22 and 23, and Triple Heater 17 are all on the neck. Gall bladder 19 and 20, plus Governor Vessel 15 and 16, are on the back of the neck. Bladder points 51 are over the kidneys, and Conceptor Vessel 14 is over the heart. Stomach 9 affects the way the heart beats, being over the nervus vagus. Conceptor Vessel 22 is in the pit of the throat. On a healing level, it can be pressed to stop a cough, but martially, it can be struck to choke someone to death with a punch. Conceptor Vessel 23, directly on top of the Adam's Apple, gives the same effect, but also shocks the nerves controlling the vocal chords so that for a second or two no outcry can be made. Triple Heater 17, is beneath the bottom of the earlobe, between the mastoid process and the jaw. This is probably the point that has caused most who doubt my statements to do so. For one thing, they do not know what the Triple Heater is. It is one of the 12 meridians in your body, and a strike to the Triple Heater meridian affects the whole body. The Triple Heater is considered an "organ" in Traditional Chinese Medicine, like the heart or lungs. There is no real vital spot beneath this point, as there is really no significant nerve or blood vessel beneath it. Nevertheless, death can still result when it is struck in the correct direction and with the correct pressure.
Stomach 9 points and Conceptor Vessel 22 and/or 23 are the points pressed during a sleeper hold (blood knockout) and a chokeout (air knockout) respectively. Grapplers know that they must release these holds (which are also found in Taiji) or they can kill the opponent. But these are nervous knockouts, achievable with pure brute force, or a sustained neck hold. They also don't involve striking in most cases, do they?
Well, George Dillman, in an effort to prove that Dim-Mak strikes are safe, had an experiment conducted to measure the effects of the strikes and judge their danger or potential danger. Although the safety of the methods was not proven, the KOs were performed under medical supervision in a lab. Did you read that? The KOs were performed, demonstrated with medical supervision. Here's an excerpt from an article detailing the study:
"For example, the heart rate of the subject of the kidney knockout showed an upward trend. A knockout performed on the gall bladder meridian produced an downward trend in the subject's heart rate, and a knockout performed on stomach point no.9 (a point associated with the carotid sinus) produced no change in heart rate.
Explaining the Phenomenon
Dr. Stecker was intrigued by what was happening. 'We know it's not cardiac arrest -at least not for a long period of time. We know that the blood does not desaturate. Whatever it is, it's incontrovertible that it does something to the person. You can't miss that.'
But Stecker was not at all bothered by this. In fact, he seemed quite pleased. 'It turns out that if we find nothing, that's the most exciting thing of all because then it's something that we don't yet have a good explanation for,' he said."
-From the article, Pressure-Point Techniques: A Team of Doctors Tries to Find Out Just How Safe They Are, by Chris Thomas, as printed in Black Belt Magazine, September 1998
Never mind whether the subject's heart rate went up or down at the moment of KO. These knockouts were actually performed, no faking, in a lab by George Dillman and his colleagues. They were done, trying to see whether or not they were safe, not whether or not they could be done at all. Notice the "kidney," "gall bladder meridian," and "stomach point no.9" terms. KOs I have talked about myself, especially Stomach 9.
I must state, however, that there is a difference between "death point striking," (Dim-Mak) and "pressure point fighting." Pressure point fighting is designed to attack the nerve plexi of the body and cause great pain, annoyance, and confusion so that the opponent submits. On a great many individuals, they simply do not work because of the fact that they do not affect the way the body works. They attempt to give the opponent incentive to desist.
However, Dim-Mak strikes do affect the way the body works, rarely causing any pain at the moment of the strike, and giving the desired result even if the opponent attempts to resist. This is because, affecting the enemy's physiology or qi flow directly, he cannot ignore the results. You can ignore pain, but if your heart shuts down, you pass out and have no choice in the matter. Look at it this way, it is pretty difficult to stop a car by jumping in front of it, but if you cut the battery cables, or put sugar in the gastank, you can stop the car before it has even begun to move. (Attacking before he has had time to reach full power is an article in itself.)
Dim-Mak will work on drugged up and drunken people because it affects the way the body works. Pressure points will not work on them because they feel no pain. Dim-Mak does not rely on pain.
Master Chang Yiu-chun, in an interview with a journalist in China, said that there were two ways to use Taiji in fighting. One was the normal way of fighting, where we break bone and joints and punch and kick, etc. The other, he said, was "too sinister and evil" to talk about, and refused to go into detail about it because of an oath he took. Also, he refers to Wang Tsung-yueh writing about "forbidden subjects," in his treatise on Taijiquan. Now, what could he have been referring to? Dim-Mak!
References:
Lost T'ai-chi Classics of the Late Ch'ing Dynasty by Douglas Wile
The Essence of T'ai Chi by Master Waysun Liao
Pressure-Point Techniques: A Team of Doctors Tries to Find Out Just How Safe They Are, an article by Chris Thomas, published in Black Belt Magazine, September 1998 issue
The Encyclopedia of Dim-Mak, by Master Erle Montaigue
Master Chang Yiu-chun Interviews: #1 #2
Master Dong Kit-yung Interview: click here
Wang Tsung-yueh's Treatise: click here
Book 4, and Liber AL Vel Legis, by Aleister Crowley
Journeys Out of the Body, by Robert Monroe