The Life of Sun Lu Tang and the Development of Sun Style Tai Chi Chuan

 

 Sun Lu Tang began to learn Hsing Yi Quan at the age of twelve, at first he studied with Li Kiu Yuan for three years; and then he was recommended by Li to study with Guo Yun Shen who was Li’s teacher. When they met Guo Yun Shen found that Sun’s knowledge of Gung Fu was very high so he asked him to give up his job and study Hsing Yi full time.

 Without hesitation Sun followed Guo to his hometown in Shenxian County and from they’re to the West tomb of the Qing dynasty in Yixian County in Hebei province. Sun studied with Guo for the next eight years learning Hsing Yi,  he also studied with Song Shirong, Che Yizhai and Bai Xiuan all of them famous masters of Hsing Yi.

 As a result of this training Sun Lu Tang reached the highest level of skill in Gung fu and in challenge matches he was undefeated. Sun Lu Tang came to understand that Hsing Yi is the integration of mind and Qi and that this integration then changed into emptiness. It can be boundless, if it is enlarged; it can be nothing, if it is lessened it is nothing but the flow of real vital energy in the body. No matter what it is, the substance or the methods of Hsing Yi Quan are just the different forms in which the real vital energy changes. Thus at the excellence of boxing, there is no difference between Hsing Yi, Bagua or Taiji.

 

 In the beginning when he learnt from Guo Yun Shen, he realised that by practicing boxing one could taste the profound beyond the connotation of the boxing techniques themselves. From then on, Sun put greater emphasise on the theory of boxing and the understanding of how boxing combines with the way of nature. During this process he found that boxing techniques needed the guidance of philosophy and support of theory. He tried to open out the theory of boxing guided by the I – Ching (the classic of change written in the Zhou dynasty 11th century – 771 B.C.). Introduced by Guo Yun Shen he went to Beijing to study Bagua Quan from Chen Ting Hua a very famous master of Bagua Quan, there hoping to find out about the relation between boxing and the I – Ching theory.

 

After learning from Cheng for several months, his skill within Bagua was excellent and he had understood its essence, realising that the relationship between Hsing Yi and Bagua is that they compliment each other. Limited by the level of theory at that time, he felt that his studies had not yet been completed. A year later, Master Cheng said to Sun Lu Tang “I have taught hundreds of disciples, but no one talent is beyond yours, or who have studied harder than you. You and I are alike in temperament, I have taught you all my skills, you have an inborn gift for understanding; I believe that you have got the essence, now with your skills no one can be your equal in North China you may go now”.

 

 After his study of Bagua and Hsing Yi, Sun Lu Tang travelled on foot all over China to increase his knowledge and experience and to find some people who were of accomplishments in I – Ching and Taoism. After two years of travel he had deepened his knowledge on the Tao and the theory of the I – Ching and had taken many notes. He had met the reclusive Taoists on Mt Wudang, roaming hermits and the eminent monks in Sichuan province and had learnt from them. The journey laid a solid foundation for a new school that combines boxing and the way of nature.

 Having come back from his journey, he studied Military arts with his gate closed and initiated the “ Puyang  Boxing Society”, so as to make research and teaching compliment and corroborate each other, and summarised the theory of boxing. Sun Lu Tang believed that the substance of boxing was the combination of boxing and the natural way. Inner power being the foundation of all of the boxing is the various Qi (vital energy) in harmony in the body, and that it goes in different directions, combines or changes in the body. Based on the I – Ching and the classic of elixir, he established the theory of “combining the congenital and acquired Bagua (eight diagrams)” and that of “the progress of boxing that takes practising austerities of the inner elixir as the outer signs”.

 The former reveals the corresponding relation between the harmony and growth and changes occurred in the functional systems in the body and the exterior performing system, and that between the biological field of the body and the field of the cosmos. The latter reveals the foundation in practising boxing in different steps and its substance, based on his study, he abstracted both Hsing Yi and Bagua and made innovations in them, which produced Sun style Hsing Yi and Sun style Bagua, both of them are deep and bright connotation and style – harmony, while harmony is just the substance of Taiji Quan.

 

 In 1912 Sun Lu Tang met the famous Taiji master Hao Weizhen and talked to him about the theory and practice of boxing. Hao was very impressed and asked Sun if he would like to learn Taiji.

 Sun Lu Tang believed that Hsing Yi, Bagua and Taiji were an organic integration of boxing. The relations between them are complementing, amalgamating each other; he compared the relation between them to “the Heaven”, “the Earth” and “the human being”. He said “the three kinds of boxing come from one principle, and then it is divided into three, at last, the three combine into the principle. However, each of them has its characteristic: “Hsing Yi is honest, Bagua is that various techniques go back to one, Taiji is maintaining the state of beginning and keeping it all the time.”

 

 Thus, the substance of Sun’s style Taiji is that Yin and Yang of Taiji assist is each other and it is soft and suitable for all; as for the process of practicing Sun style Taiji, it is Harmonious and agile, following the principle that the inner and outer Bagua collaborate each other, e.g. syncretism of inside and outside, seeking quietness from actions; all the time, there is appetence that is on the verge of breaking out of the body, which comes from the stance exercise from Hsing Yi ; it follows the principle of “application”; as for its actions, we follow the principle “ using adverseness in advantage, while using advantage in adverseness”;  when standing up , the force should go up straight and when falling the body should be smart; as for psychology, it takes no action and maintaining the mind as its substance, and takes seeking harmony from emptiness as its method; as a result, “ I do not pursue to conquer others painstakingly, but no one can conquer me because my body is agile and round.”

 

 From the above we conclude that, Sun style Taiji is of three great earmarks: being flexible and harmonious, agile and changeable and firm and fierce.