Chén Fā Kē Pào Chuí – Part 5
Even today, there are some people who do not believe that Pào Chuí 砲捶 is a part of Tàijíquán太極拳. Whether they believe it or not does not matter, but Pào Chuí has been passed down for hundreds of years. I believe that it began with the founder of Tàijíquán, Chén Wàng Ting 陳王廷. If we study for long enough, we will know that Tàijíquán is a fighting skill. But, If we only move gently, without power or Fā Jìn 發勁, never jumping or moving quickly, how can we become good at fighting? Many people and generation after generation of the Chén Family have been good fighters and powerful martial artists. The key is Pào Chuí and it all makes sense. Yīlù —路 the first form, is soft, gentle and develops internal power. Èrlù 二路 the second form, or Pào Chuí, releases that power and teaches how to use that power. This is a perfect balance of soft and hard, a perfect balance of Yīn 陰 and Yáng 陽. This is why we call this skill Tàijíquán. The name of Tàijíquán might not have begun with the Chén Family and might not be what Chén Wàng Ting called his skill. I believe the name Tàijíquán become popular when Yáng Lù Chán楊露禪 brought his skill to Běijīng 北京. Here everyone called it Tàijíquán. However, the original skill is preserved in Chén Style Tàijíquán 陈式太极拳 and Pào Chuí and only be seen in the Chén Style. All the other styles, in public, have lost it.
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