After having almost threatened to go into absurdly deep detail for a comparison of the old and new Yang style forms, I realized that that’s pretty much out of the question. Not only would it confuse people needlessly, but those kinds of details don’t need to be addressed up front. If anyone has questions regarding subtle body movement, living yin and yang, transfer of weight, etc, then feel free to ask. Other wise, I’m just going to focus on a simple comparison for those who haven’t really seen the old Yang form.
I am assuming that everyone reading this has studied Taiji before, specifically Yang style. However, any insights into the Chen, Sun, Wu, Wu/Hao styles, etc, are welcome. Any other similar movements from other styles are welcome to be discussed.
I am also not going into a whole lot of detail regarding history of the form unless asked. There is enough controversy about the form and its history without starting the argument over again. The history of certain moves, or the reason for the move being changed, that kind of stuff is welcome in the discussion, but getting into things like whether or not Chang San-Feng existed, or whether or not the Chens invented the stuff is really off subject and beyond the scope of simple comparison.
Now, for the sake of discussion, I will say that these are the names for the postures as I know them. Some are traditional and widely understood. For instance, if I say Fist Under Elbow, everyone knows the posture. If I do not know the name for a posture, you’re going to get a description of the move. If anyone can tell from the description what the move is and knows the name, by all means speak up. Any alternate names for the ones I use are welcome as well, because it will make it easier in future when communicating about the form.
BTW, I am going into a little detail about how the moves are done because I know some people are taught to do them differently. It is these little things, which are incorrect, that I am hoping might be corrected by reading this. If any of you need more detail about something, just ask.
Well, the best place to begin is at the beginning…so…
Grasping Sparrow’s Tail
New Yang: From Wuji posture, inhale and raise hand to about shoulder level, palms down, then exhale as you lower them. Breathe in again and circle palms in a counterclockwise circle out to the right and then over to the left. This posture is called Arn Right. As you exhale, lower the weight onto the left foot, turn the right foot out 45 degrees, and arc the palms downward following the same circle. This posture is called Low Block Right. (This is not Holding the Ball, which is what this move was changed to to make it easier for people to learn in the later versions of this form.) As you inhale again, you turn a little to your right and push your left heel palm out, as if striking. Then you pick up your left foot and place it forward, and step forward onto it as you exhale, and bring your left palm up into P’eng as your right palm pulls straight down. The right palm does not go to the hip, it drops straight down. This posture I know as Embrace the Moon and also as simply P’eng. As you inhale again, you turn back a little to your left to do Low Block Left, and then turn back to the right, pushing the right heel palm forward as if striking. You pick up your right foot, and then place it down, and roll onto it as you come forward into Double P’eng. Where you faced at the beginning for Wuji was the North, and now you are facing the East. From here, you turn your palms so that the right palm (uppermost) is palm down, and the left is palm up (the palms are facing each other). They sort of cut across to the right, like a double chop, and this is part of the same exhalation you did for Double P’eng. Then they pull down to your left in Rollback, as you sit back onto your left leg and inhale. Then you put your left palm inside your right wrist and sit forward again, pushing your palms forward in Chee or Squeeze Forwardwith an axhalation. With the same exhalation, you keep transferring the weight forward as you brush the left palm over the back of your right palm and cut forward with them like scissors. Then sit back and turn a little to the left as you inhale. Your palms will do a big arc counterclockwise here. As you sit back all the way, your palms reach the bottom of that circle, which is to say you have turn back to the East, and your hands are in your center. Then you sit forward, and Press Forward with both hands and with an exhalation. Many people have been told to sit back as they cross their hands for the above, but that is incorrect. Many have also been told to simply sit back, bring their hands in and push forward without the turn while sitting back, but there is a turn there.
Old Yang: From Wuji we do the same opening movement except for the fact that the knife edges of the palms are turned upward a bit. This is because of the martial application. For Arn Right, the move is the same, except their is a weight change to the right foot as the hands move to the right, and a change to the left foot as the hands arc to the left. When we do Low Block Right, the weight is on the right foot, not the left, so the weight change is done sooner here. Everything is the same until Chee. Instead of doing the cross hands move and going right into Press Forward, we do a second Chee movement. So, after Chee, we do another Rollback, but this time up high, as we sit back again, and then do the second Chee, which moves downward instead of straight forward. Then we inhale as we sit back again, and the left palm brushes acros the back of the right, and we do a Wrapping movement as we turn a little to the left. The we turn the palms up, and poke forward with the fingertips as we exhale, still in a back sitting stance. Then we inhale as we sit forward and do two rising elbow strikes forward, then as we come into a forward sitting bow stance, we turn the palms over and claw downwards with both palms as we exhale. This move is also called Press Forward.
From Press Forward in both forms, the next few moves are the same. We sit back and poke forward with the right fingers, a move called Sit Back Ready, Snake Fingers to Eyes. This is on an inhalation. Then we do Fishes in Eight which I think is also called Bagua Fishes. With the weight still on the rear foot, turn to the North and turn the front foot inward until the toes face the North. Your hands move across to the left, as if you are turning to the North and elbowing someone in the neck. (You are, actually.) Then you change the weight to the right foot, and as you do this, you push into the North-East corner with both Palms. This whole movement, the turn to the North, and then to the North-East, happens all on one out breath. Your hands sort of draw a counterclockwise circle on a horizontal plane in front of you. Now you circle your hand into the Single Whip hook. Your right palm turns palm up, and begins to draw a counterclockwise circle in the air. As it circles around to the bottom of the circle, you join your fingers and thumb into the hook, and then thrust them through the center of that imaginary circle. You inhale for the circling, and exhale as you thrust it forward into the North-East. Thrusting your palm into the North-East causes your body to turn to the left, back into the West. You pick your left foot up and, keeping your elbow in line with your knee, swing around to face the West. If you keep your wrist in the center of your chest, and your elbow in line with your knee, and you turn until your wrist faces the West, then you have the correct width for the Single Whip stance, which is one foot width thinner and about a half a foot length longer than a bow stance. When you are facing the West, you place your left heel down, and turn the left palm to face palm downwards. As you roll your weight onto it, you push forward with your left palm, and straighten your right arm out. Once you put your weight forward here, you should turn your right foot in a bit from 90 degrees. I mention these things because many people do not know about the rear foot turning in, nor do they know about the right hand making a circle before the swing to the West or about how the right arm is supposed to be straight.
Now: the reasons for the change: The changes were made to make Grasping Sparrow’s Tail more of a qigong movement. It is the group of postures that works the Colon meridian, since it constantly flexes the wrists. Also, since several moves were left out, martial content was decreased. Also, the crossing of the hands is no longer done simply to open the arms in a Wrapping motion for a block, it has its own application, which is a cutting chop across the neck. This is not quite as deadly as the spear finger strikes in the old form, which were done to Liver 13 points, which can cause severe internal organ damage or even death.
If anyone wants, I can go into detail about the point strikes, but that’s a lot of detail.
Compare these two versions of Grasping the Sparrow’s Tail with the version done on Wudang Shan. Double P’eng, to Rollback (done high, though, not low), to a throat level Chee, to the cutting palms across the throat, and then two low punches, much like the fingertip strikes. These punches are actually wrist breaks, because you have the guy’s wrists in hand as you punch them into his belly. Then you circle your left palm up and over and your right palm down and under (slamming his bones together, ouch) and then do an Oppressed Block with the left palm as your right palm thrusts forward over the top into his throat. This version of the sequence is done into the corner, not a cardinal direction.
Now, I was always told that P’eng, Lu, Chee, and Arn were the primary directions and primary methods of defense, and that the other four were secondary in importance, even though they were the fallback and were what made your defense impenetrable. But if P’eng, etc are done to the corners in the original, would that place the other four in the cardinal directions and therefore primary importance? It would seem to me that Pulldown, Split, Shoulder and Elbow would then have a little more importance placed on them and that would make sense if they truly make your defense impenetrable. Whatever, just a thought. Totally semantic.
“To enter is to be born, to retreat is to die.”
-An Old Taijiquan Saying
