Martial Arts and Tai Chi Chuan (Taiji Quan 太極拳)

Marnix has been fascinated by the idea of weak overcoming strong and turning an opponent’s force. At Oxford, where he read classical Chinese from 1964, he did judo randori and learnt Buddhist sitting meditation with young Tibetan master Trungpa Trulku Rimpoche and English monk Sangha Rakshita. After graduation, he travelled to Hong Kong where he took up Yáng-style tàijíquán in 1969 in a Kowloon’s Tsim Sha Tsui park. He continued his studies in Taipei and Tokyo in Zhang Yizhong (Cho Sensei)’s Shibuya dojo where he learnt Chen Panling style taijiquan. There he trained with Bruce Frantzis and Barry Wicksman. Bruce inspired Marnix to become a disciple of Zhang’s teacher Wáng Shùjin in Táizhong, where he was to study baguàzhâng and xíngyìquán until the master’s death in 1976.

After 1983, Marnix was able to visit the Chinese mainland where he met Lî Zhûjun of Hóng-Chén style tàijí, Rèn Wénzhû in bapánzhâng (a variant of baguà), and Liú Yìmíng in Cháng Nâizhou’s Twenty-four Energies which had been the subject of Marnix’s book Scholar Boxer (North Atlantic Books 2005). Marnix’s purpose has been to rediscover the martial applications and power of the traditional solo practice forms of the inner martial arts.

‘Internal’, a term applied to martial arts, has different interpretations.
Essentially, it refers to the predominance of mind over brute force, soft over hard, lower body over upper body development. ‘Rooting’ is the key. This means standing erect in correct posture, body weight sunk (chén) into slightly bent hips and knees, in a half-sitting position. It produces strong thighs and calves and a springy step into old age.

Taìjíquán, literally ‘Grand Pole Boxing’ is the most popular internal martial art, though in general perception it is rather more for health and well-being than fighting or self-defence. Indeed, health is a pre-condition for any form of combat. Yet self-defence is an art that by definition is non-aggressive. It is designed to favour the weak and old against assailants with superior force. From this starting point, taìjíquán aims first to nourish the physical pre-conditions through optimal posture, breathing and elimination of counter-productive tensions. Only when these basic requirements have been met, can there be productive instruction and training in martial techniques.

A further meaning of ‘internal’, opposed to the use of conventional muscle power, is the cultivation of explosive ‘springy power’ (jìng). This derives from the co-ordination of whole body power through wiry fascia musclature. Integration of whole body energy (qì) means relaxing the joints so energy can flow upwards from the ground to the extremities without obstruction. It means loosing tensions from the muscles so that the tendons of the whole body can operate freely like bow-strings released in unison.

To make this theory into reality, the daily foundation exercise of taìjíquán, after preliminary stretches and limbering, is the ‘form’ (tàolù), a fixed sequence of movements and dynamic postures (shì 勢) which the practitioner may in time start to understand are martial techniques. Consequently, each is constructed to maximise efficiency in coordinated use of the whole body.

The key parameters in practise are relaxation by sinking weight into the lower body, abdominal breathing, and a slow constant speed. With the mastery of this meditation in movement, the mind can focus on precision in body alignments and actions which will yield ample returns in health and ultimately self-defence. Warmth in the hands is felt from the opening of the fine capilliary blood vessels. Metabolism is promoted from the smooth side to side movements, optimising the circulation of the lymph system within the limbs and torso.

In 1968 Marnix arrived in Hong Kong, then a haven from the turmoil of China’s ‘Cultural Revolution’, where he took up early morning taìjíquán in a park at Tsimshatsui. Later in Shibui, Tôkyô, Marnix trained in Chén Pànlíng taìjíquán under Zhang Yìzhong, senior disciple of famed master Wáng Shùjin. During the 1970s Marnix practised the related internal martial arts of baguà and xíngyì under master Wáng himself in Taízhong (Taíwan).

In recent years, Marnix was accepted as a student by master Liú Yâz’ from Xiányáng (near Xi’an), known here as Master Yaz, who teaches in north London. Master Yaz teaches a rarer but older style of taìjíquán named Zhàobâo after its place of origin in north Hénán, close by Chénjiagou, home of Chén style. To study under Master Yaz is to realise there are no short-cuts, no you-tube substitutes for hands-on instruction from a real master. Marnix never met any teacher, in quests throughout China and the Far East, so ready to demonstrate his awesome techniques without inflicting injury.

In order to further explore the origins and history of the internal martial arts, Marnix translated a work by an eighteenth century martial artist called Cháng Naîzhou. It was published by North Atlantic Books as Scholar Boxer, after Cháng’s original nickname (Rú Quánshi). Cháng was a renowned martial artist, living in the region between Shàolín Temple and the home of Chén taìjíquán (Chénjiagou) on the other side of the Yellow River. In an age when ‘boxing’ and martial arts were strictly suppressed by the Manchu government, Cháng was unusual, as a member of the literate ruling class, to both practice and write about it, though his manuscript was not published until the twentieth century. The book shed light on the interchange between different schools of martial art and traditional medicine.