Temple Blog Meihua Quan Yin & Yang

Martial arts is the primary content of the Meihua Quan school. Meihua Quan is a Martial Arts style most profoundly influenced by Chinese traditional culture. It is mainly composed of skills, routines and fighting principles.

Meihua Quan has no fixed fighting routines

Its primary fighting method is called “shelf”. The structure of the “shelf” is exceptional. It has five basic fighting postures called “five postures of pile steps”, and they need to stand still when practising. In addition, it is the “walking step” with rapid changes in movement. The practice of “Five Stances of Standing Steps” and “Walking Steps” requires walking in all directions in the boxing ring, which is also called “four gates and eight directions”. This series of boxing routines can be practised repeatedly according to a particular route.

Beginners can learn the basic and simple ones and continue to supplement and change various boxing postures and movements as the skills deepen and the conditions during practice differ.

When it comes to the more advanced way of “twisting fists” in Meihua Quan, it is even more “hands have no fixed hands, feet have no fixed steps, and momentum has no shape, see the strength and force, the introduction fails, see the empty and press the beans, and spread out according to the situation.” The changes and indeterminate forms of “shelves”, “formed fists” and “twisted fists” make their content flexible and infinitely rich. The characteristics of this boxing structure reflect the essential characteristics of the myriad things in the universe, which are endless.

Meihua Quan Splendour

There is a saying in the theory of Meihua Quan: “There is no boxing in boxing, and there is no art in art. In the absence of art, there is true art.” There is boxing and art, and there is no real martial art if there are unchanging routines. Like the principle of “Tao has no form”, authentic martial arts are changeable but not constant, and what exists but does not exist is also “intangible”. You need to understand the dialectical thinking method in the Chinese traditional culture to understand the unique structure of Meihua Quan.

The primary boxing “frame” of Meihua Quan includes “five postures of standing steps” and “walking steps”. When practising boxing, the “five postures of standing steps” should stand still; “walking steps” are constantly changing movements that should be quick and light. It is a unique way of practising.

Meihua Quan Yin & Yang

There is no limit and Meihua Quan. Meihua Quan moves to generate Yang, to generate Yin, and still to move again. One movement and one stillness are the basis for each other, and the Yin and Yang are divided. The combination of Yin and Yang produces water, fire, wood, metal, and earth. The five Qi flow smoothly, and the four seasons are transported. Five elements, one Yin and Yang, and Yin and Yang and one Meihua Quan. Meihua Quan is inherently infinite, and each has its nature. Merge and condense. Gan Dao becomes a man, Kun Dao becomes a woman, and the two Qi interacts to transform all things, and all things are born and change endlessly.

In the “frame” of Meihua Quan, “movement is Yang, static is Yin”. In “pile step, The five heats of “big, smooth, stubborn, small, and defeated” in “Five Potentials” correspond to the five elements of “gold, water, wood, fire, and earth”. The change of the five potentials is “based on the principle of Yin and Yang, and the power of Meihua Quan”, “continuously changing and deriving according to the principle of the five elements’ mutual generation and phase”. The rest, such as “hardness and softness”, “rising and falling”, and “advancing and retreating”, can all be described as Yin and Yang. The structure and changes of the “shelves” of Meihua Quan are exactly the scenes of a “Meihua Quan diagram”. If Meihua Quan is to be practised well, it is necessary to have mutual roots in “movement and stillness”; “hardness and softness” must complement each other. It is the reason why “the unpredictable Yin and Yang are called gods” makes boxing superb and unpredictable.

Be healthy. Live better.

Shifu Shi Yanjun