Liu Yun Qiao

The following is a rough translation provided by Omar Belove, of an

article that appeared in the June 15, 2001 issue of Taiwan Wushu
magazine. There is no specific author mentioned other than the
editors and then there are two books sited below as the apparent
major sources for the material:
Bibliography:
Liu Yun Qiao's Thoughts on Studying Martial Arts;
Liu Yun Qiao Da Shi ji qi wu xue si xiang.
The Life of Gong Bao Tian; Gong Bao Tian Zhuan
"Ci chu xi wu jin bu shen su
(In this place, training gong-fu, you can advance magically fast!)"

Before Liu Yun Qiao started his study of baguzhang, he had already
trained wushu, starting from a young age. Before placing himself under
the tutelage of Gong Bao Tian he could have been considered already
accomplished. Therefore, Gong Bao Tian's teaching methodology had to
be a bit different from usual.
Master Liu's unparalleled achievement later in life was the melding
together of the essense of baguazhang yin and yang, with the flow and
counter the flow' (shun / ni ), opening and closing ( kai / he), emptiness
and substantiality. His body of knowledge is shown in the phrase:
embody ying and yang
realize motion and stillness
be aware of 'with the flow and counter to the flow'
understand emptiness and substantiality,
follow the Law of Nature.
This is the entrance to dao!

These sentences are not easy to understand, but later in life one could
see the shadow of baguazhang no matter if he was practicing baji,
pigua, mizong, or taiji . You can see how truly profound its influence
was.
The Reason for Master Liu Yun Qiao's Karma with Bagua
Grandmaster Liu Yun Qiao, also named 'One who Smiles/Laughs at the
(Red) Dust', was from the Cangzhou region of Hebei province. Born 2
years before modern China was established, he lived 81 years in to the
modern era until his passing at 84 years of age.
When Liu Laoshi was born in Shu Xiang Shi Jia.
Liu Yun Qiao was an only child . Because of a major illness at the age of
three, he was treated by someone in the family, Zhang Yao Ti Through
massage and tui-na he was cured. He then started to study Mizongquan
with Zhang Yao Ting. Tai Zu was his entrance into wushu.
When he was seven, some one in his family was able to arrange for 'God
of Spear', Li Shu Wen, at a later date to come and teach him baji, pigua
and 6 harmonies spear. Because of this, he latter attained truly excellent
basics. Afterwards, he was then introduced to General Zhang Xiang Wu
to learn taijiquan, sword and kunwu sword. Because of Zhang Xiang
Wu's introduction he also studied under Ding Zi and learned 6
Harmonies Praying Mantis. By this time, his skills were already 'a broken
tool after the fire' [po ju huo hou]. From very young he had some
achievement.
In the 22nd year of the new Republic of China, under the guidance of
Zhang Xiang Wu, he went to Gong Bao Tian to disciple. [bai shi] He
entered his tutelage. Like before, he accompanied him to Yan Tai
Mountain to train for 2 years. Every morning before dawn Gong Bao Tian
would take him to Yan Tai Shan [mountain] to practice baguazhang.
Gong Bao Tian told him:
Ci chu, xue wu, jin bu, shen su !
-In this place your progress studying martial arts is paranormally fast!
It was later that Liu Yun Qiao finally realized Yan Tai Shan was facing
Bohai (a small sea within China), a place where the energy of the sky
meets the earth and the sun meets the moon. Because of the location he
was realizing things daily. All of the other things he learned before
seemed to flow together. He reached the place where 'water seeps in to
everything'. [shui ru rou zhe jing di]
Theoretically we can know that before Liu Yun Qiao Laoshi studied
under Gong Bao Tian, all of his teachers were famous names of the time.
Further more, at the time he started with Gong Bao Tian, he was already

25 years old, so Gong Bao Tian could not start training him in
baguazhang from the very basics, nor was that necessary. Based on his
observations, very specialized style of application ['gong fa'] , all of
these factors together, he used a more pliable internal method.
Baguazhang had Liu Laoshi's attention. Aside from Gong Bao Tian's
superlative guidance, it had it's own 'nutritive' qualities, like dump
fertilizer on wild grass. It was the reason that his body developed into
such a soft yet firm frame. It produces 'self-cultivation' at a higher level.
Baguazhang Program of Training
In the course of Liu Yun Qiao's martial arts taining, baguazhang was the
last stage do within present day Wudang, many start in Long Fist,
Praying Mantis or Baji, slowly make their way into Bagua. Of course, this
isn't a requirement. If you only trained in Baguazhang from the start, you
can also learn the entire thing.
This type of training, on the one hand, brought together all of his
previous training (this was quite special), it had another side.
Baguazhang is definitely an entrance into the study of mysticism. Apart
from nurturing the body, skills in attack, increasing efficiency of motion,
depth in gong-fu, it can also lead the way into Dao.
All of the baguazhang that Liu Yun Qiao transmitted down to the next
generation followed a training method that led from taiji to bagua. The
author [of this article] believes that this plan makes sense. Taiji is a
relatively abstruse idea but complete in its core. It leads from the
obscure to the specific. It cracks directly into application. It blended well
with Liu Yun Qiao's previous learning. At the time, he was already
mature. His ability to apprehend difficult concepts was also well
developed. Add to that his excellent foundation and the way he trained,
and you have someone who absorbed the material and was able to use
it in a short period of time. This was entirely due to his teachers ability
to tailor the instruction to the student. [yin cai shi jiao; a Chinese
proverb. Lit. 'because of talent do the teaching].
Beginning students bust first stand 'hun yuan zhuang' (Standing
meditation. 'Hun' = mixed, foggy, obscure, confused, all over etc. yuan =
beginning, zhuang = 'post') The body must be stilled and intentioned
must be focused on 'wuji'. From stillness into motion is the taiji. Then
the 'liang yi zhang' is taught. (liang / two; yi / opinion, idea; zhang /
palm). Following is the 'Xiao Kai Men'. The form of this name is named
because is opens (kai) the ming men of the two kidneys. Once this is
trained to familiarity, movement is smooth and comfortable and well
rooted. When training 'bagua legs' the emphasis is on the legs and arms
as the 4 extremities or the 4 forms (si xiang). In the baguazhang system,
the leg methods (tui fa) are extremely important. Only those who train
the waist and the legs well can train zheng jin (whole body power). The

bagua legs are also called the 72 outstanding legs (72 jue tui) and
contain many hidden techniques.
From the Si Xiang (four forms) and on into the Ba Gua, that is training the Bagua
Hard Palms. The 8 Changes Hard Palms correspondences can be sorted into 2 groups.
There are the external ones, the head, back, waist and stomach and there are the
internal ones, the heart, liver, lungs and kidneys. These together are the root of the 8
mother palms. Every palm can used to walk the circle. Practice should be repeated on
each side. At the places of connection some force can be used. Single or double palm
changes connected too. In training the 8 Hard Palms the important thing is not to be
too stiff.
After training the 8 Mother Palms to a certain level, you can support
weights in your hands, like metal spheres or you can hang metal rings
from your arms. You can strap weights onto your legs as well. These can
all be used as tools to increase your strength in advancing/attacking.
But you must me careful not to get sloppy.
With the 8 mother palms as your basics, you can express them through
the 64 linking palm set. And this is just an approximation. In the midst of
all this there are many, many skills developed and training
methodologies such as the low stepping of lower basin training, training
equipment, receiving / expressing, solid / insubstantial and opening /
closing movements. There bai bu, kou bu, single palm change, double
palm change, muddy stepping, 9 palace post standing, special exercises
for developing agile body skills (shen fa), the methods of turning and
stepping. Beyond the 8 palms, there are the 72 elbows , the Bagua
Linking Circles Palm. . . . and so on. All this together makes for a very
robust system.
In terms of weapons, Liu Laoshi taught many smaller weapons such as
the yuan-yang yue (yuan-yang is the name of some sort of waterfowl
like a duck maybe. They are colorful and known for mating for life. In
this case I it to mean that the yue and axe-like weapon, is used in
pairs.) He also taught the dian-xue needles and the 7 star staff.
The Deeper Meaning of Baguazhang
A song of bagua goes:
Ba gua zhang; zou wei xian.
In Bagua; the feet come first.
Shou ji fang; qu ji huan.
Receiving is sending; leaving is returning
Bian zhuan xu shi, bu zhong can.
For the change, transformation or conversion between the emptiness
and the solidness, one has to study or cross exam the steps.

Can (pronounced tsaan) is a tricky word. Today, it commonly means to

participate but in classical Chinese it is used as an honourable term of
address. It sometimes means, to explore or to examine. I would need a
gong-fu expert to explain the meaning of the last line as it doesnt seem
to be addressed in the following explanation of the poem.
The poem directly and clearly emphasizes Baguas characteristic
footwork. How does one walk? The root of Baguazhang is the twisting
and turning of the body. Bagua zhangs great invention was the walking
of the circle (palms).
When walking the circle, the body must be loose and comfortable, like
riding in a palanquin. The attention is focused on the lower legs, ---no
energy must be wasted. The heart should be even and the qi, peaceful. It
is extraordinarily comfortable. At the beginning there is no particular
form or set of rules. Just start slowly and then form one of the palms.
Theres no need to immediately drop down into your stance. There are 3
ways of training, upper, middle and lower basin. Lower basin is
extremely difficult. People used to say you can train circle walking on a
table big enough for 8 people; you could also train underneath it. This
shows how deep the stances can get during walking.
When walking, both legs strength is directed along the circle but the
cant be doing any work, they just move along naturally. The speed must
be smooth and even with no sudden changes. Not to slow and not to
fast. It must be one energy down to the end. The feet rubbing on the
ground causes jing to be generated. The character jing in this passage
means essence, a rice radical. The character associated with the trio of
jing, qi and shen, not the other jing that can represent a kind of internal
power as used in the term fa jing.
This causes the yang to rise more easily. At this time the attention
should be on advancing.
The single palm change is the mother of ten thousand palms. The
mother palms give birth to them all. Its place is between stillness and
motion. It could be moving; it could be still. Towards movement but not
moving. The San Jian Zhao (3 points stance) of Baji, the San Ti Shi of
Xing Yi Quan, the Bu Chan Shi (Snatching a Cicada Stance) of Preying
Mantis, The Ti Shou Shi (rising hands stance; the opening position) of
Taijiquan, all of them follow this logic. The incredible power of
Baguazhang can all be found within the single palm change.
The single palm change is heavy on the strength but not on the Qi.
When training the single palm change you must be opened up and
comfortable. You can not be too loose, limp and wobbling along the
ground; The double palm change is heavy on the Qi but not on the
strength. The qi is long and fine. The body is hidden and appears empty.
In the middle of the single palm change, your attention should be
focused on the space between the fingertips of the hand on the inside of

the circle you are walking. Qi starts in the Dan Tian and though your
vision is bought all the way out to your fingertips. Its only when you
walk until you forget yourself that you are really doing the real thing.
Speaking of walking, we cant really separate stepping from the
footwork of bagua. There are many kinds. The main ones are luo
(sinking; dropping), (opened up, turned out), kou (hooking), ning
(twisting/turning, like pinching someone), xuan (turning/spiraling, like a
tornado), zou (walking), zhuan (yet another word for turning, more like a
wheel this time) and the most distinctive, tang ni bu (muddy stepping).
When walking in tang ni bu, backs of the feet (or possibly the feet and
the back, in Chinese zou bei) very evenly move forward. The Yong Quan
sticks to the ground. (The Yong Quan is the bubbling spring Acupoint in
the middle of the bottom of the foot). The soles of the feet are very even
upon the ground, like walking in mud, the foot must turn deeply, move
lightly and cant move up or down very much. When changing feet, (i.e.
advancing a step or changing direction) the rear foot must grasp the
earth with all five toes. It is as if the Yong Quan in the heart of the foot is
taking a breath of air and then digging a tiny little hole in the ground.
This is truly marvellous spirit in walking! The lines of force in the thighs
connect straight into the back and then push the head up and unify the
body into a single line of force. This kind of walking is like a cat walking
on snow. Gong Bao Tians Qing gong (lightness skill) let him move
around like a ghost. This skill most certainly developed out of his circle
walk practice.
Bagua emphasizes twisting and turning movements. This especially
allows the practitioner to take advantage of every portion of the body,
putting it to work. The twisting of Bagua places primary importance on
the spine. At a certain level you must twist, but every position must be
comfortable. While twisting you should be like a spring. There is force
from the outside - in and there is also force going from the inside - out,
(chan si). There is twisting throughout every part of the body. Even from
the meridians, the tendons of the entire body are twisted into a single
pillar. This allows the agility to come out from every bit of connective
tissue. It commands the liquid blood to circulate. (As opposed to the
broader sense of the word within the context of TCM.)
In Baguazhang there are the Pre-heaven Palms and the Post Heaven
Palms. The pre-heaven palms do not have very specific shapes. The
post heaven palms are more specific as to their external form. There are
the heart, liver, lungs and kidney on the inside and the head, back, waist
and belly on the outs Training progresses from the external post heaven
palms to the internal post heaven palms, and then training further
progresses to the pre - heaven palms. There is also a progression from
conscious, mindful training to training without thinking about it. (wu yi :
no-mind. Not mindlessness but more of a Zen meditative state). By the
time one has trained the pre-heaven palms, he has brought together the
6 harmonies. In the circle, secrets hide in the legs. Throughout the day,

there are 6 yin and six yang. In a year there are 4 seasons and 4
energies. All of these patterns are connected.
So then, Gong Bao Tian said of Lan Tai Shan:
Ci chu xi wu jin bu shen su!
(In this place, training gong-fu, you can advance magically fast!)
This was his way of entering into Dao. This is a wonderful feeling of al
the ten thousand changes harmonizing together.