Dear Angel Sisook,
Thank you for starting this excellent thread and sharing your heartfelt story.
The great master Zhang San Feng called his Art as Taiji in his treatise. Even though I would prefer to call it as (Shaolin) Wudang Kungfu to emphasize its roots and put it apart from "mosquito catching" (Taiji dance), I don't think anyone could honor the Patriarch of Internal Martial Arts better than preserving both the name and essence he already gave it centuries ago.
Dear Santi Sisook,
I beg your forgiveness for being a poor substitute for Angel Sisook, but I wanted to share my thoughts.
The essence of all martial arts is combat efficiency, hence the Essence of Shaolin concerns the best combat techniques of the greatest martial art. As it happens, this essential skill of combat efficiency can be trained and taught in many levels, from total beginners to marvellous application. Sigung also made a point to mention that the Essence of Shaolin is a pattern-set without having directly arranged combat sequences of its own, so the combat applications are made the finest essence.
The pinnacle of all martial arts is when in addition to combat efficiency the martial art involves triple cultivation of jing, qi, and shen. It results in good health, vitality, longevity, and spiritual joys as everyone training martial arts in our School knows. Wudang Taijiquan was the first art, and also a refinement and spiritual offshoot of Shaolin Kungfu, to attain this peak. By calling it the "Pinnacle of Shaolin Kungfu" we rightfully honor and dignify Wudang Taijiquan/Kungfu as a treasure of historical importance, even though there might be new developments such as Wudang Cotton Palm and Dragon Strength which might be even more cost efficient, representing modern pinnacles, for combat application and triple cultivation.
With sincere respect,
Olli
Thank you for starting this excellent thread and sharing your heartfelt story.
The great master Zhang San Feng called his Art as Taiji in his treatise. Even though I would prefer to call it as (Shaolin) Wudang Kungfu to emphasize its roots and put it apart from "mosquito catching" (Taiji dance), I don't think anyone could honor the Patriarch of Internal Martial Arts better than preserving both the name and essence he already gave it centuries ago.
Dear Santi Sisook,
Originally posted by sancrica
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The essence of all martial arts is combat efficiency, hence the Essence of Shaolin concerns the best combat techniques of the greatest martial art. As it happens, this essential skill of combat efficiency can be trained and taught in many levels, from total beginners to marvellous application. Sigung also made a point to mention that the Essence of Shaolin is a pattern-set without having directly arranged combat sequences of its own, so the combat applications are made the finest essence.
The pinnacle of all martial arts is when in addition to combat efficiency the martial art involves triple cultivation of jing, qi, and shen. It results in good health, vitality, longevity, and spiritual joys as everyone training martial arts in our School knows. Wudang Taijiquan was the first art, and also a refinement and spiritual offshoot of Shaolin Kungfu, to attain this peak. By calling it the "Pinnacle of Shaolin Kungfu" we rightfully honor and dignify Wudang Taijiquan/Kungfu as a treasure of historical importance, even though there might be new developments such as Wudang Cotton Palm and Dragon Strength which might be even more cost efficient, representing modern pinnacles, for combat application and triple cultivation.
With sincere respect,
Olli
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