I know there will be those who disagree with what I say here, but I hold to it, as I have watched students go through the evolution of hard to soft, and the evolution of art from Shaolin to Wudan mirrors what I have seen students go through. Indeed, as students peel layers off the art, so they peel off layers of unawaress, and attain the truly miraculous.
The beginning students learn to expend energy from the tan tan, to spread that energy throughout the body and make the body hard. Arms become like iron, stances become as if permanent fixtures to the planet. This, however, is all based on explosion, and outward expulsion of energy.
As a student explores the varieties of martial art he may encounter the concept of absorbing energy. The act of guiding a punch, instead of blocking it, brings awareness of the concept of drawing energy in, instead of just putting it out. This progression of art often starts with a hard Shaolin art, goes through a softer art like Wing Chun Kung Fu, and, eventually, ends up with Wudan Tai Chi Chuan.
If the student studies a hard art, and does so with intelligence, he will eventually evolve into the soft. The fact of growing older, of the body no longer being able to handle the hard arts, will draw the student onward into the softer arts. He will develop his punch so that he doesn't undergo neck injuries, he will learn to use his legs so his hips don'thave problems, and he will naturally evolve his art from hard to soft.
As these progressions of art and age occur, students learn to use their minds and their bodies with less and less effort, and and they are surprised tolearn that the abilities they gained in the hard arts grow even greater. Instead of forcing energy through bodies no longer strong enough to handle it, they guide the energy with less effort, and focus it. Thus, awareness becomes a growing factor, and the blinders come off.
Instead of exploding energy brutally through their bodies, the students seep the energy through their bodies. They learn to guide this energy with their awareness, and the smallest of their motions contain ideas of energy. They learn that the crude body energy they used when they were young and robust was...unaware.
Finally, the transition is made in full, and the Shaolin adept becomes the Wudan sage. Instead of reacting with violence, the Wudan master observes his opponent, and moves with him, drawing in whole body energy and transforming it to his needs. Yet, though there is wisdom in the Wudan Gung Fu, there is no disdain, for the true sage knows the need for his early Shaolin, he knows the benefit of understanding energy on low levels if he is to transform it to high levels. - 31497
About the Author:
Al Case has researched the martial arts for 4O years, he began his Wudan training in 1974. You can see how soft he is by picking up a free ebook at Monster Martial Arts.
