Xing Yi Quan literally means: “Form-Intention Boxing” Xing Yi Quan emphasizes internal movement within external stillness, allowing the practitioner to actualize the instinctive, hair-trigger reactions of the human body in direct, powerful movements. Xing Yi training focuses on natural integrated movement, whole body breathing, and the cultivation of Qi (vital energy), rather than external technique. The postures and movements of Xing Yi Quan simultaneously arouse and enliven the Qi, so that ideally there is no gap between intention and action. This creates the basis for developing a sensitized awareness of internal transformation and change.
In addition, Xing Yi Quan is also effectively a method of Daoist Inner Alchemy that integrates body, mind and spirit, allowing a return to one’s Natural Self, characterized by True Mind, True Spirit and True Action.
Because past masters of Xing Yi Quan were famous for their martial prowess, Xing Yi Quan is often pigeonholed as a fighting art, rather than a health practice and spiritual practice. This perception is misleading. Part of what makes Xing Yi Quan a very effective martial art for both self-defense and inner transformation is that Xing Yi Quan training draws upon ancient Daoist Meditation practices that transform the body’s internal structure, confronting and dispelling extraneous thoughts to actualize True Intention. This kind of training results in an unmediated mind that is without artifice, and natural, appropriate whole-hearted, whole-body behavior and movement.
The well-known internal arts author and practitioner Robert Smith elaborates on these ideas in his usual pithy and readable manner:
For the internal emphasizes meditation and exercise, out of which the combat technique emerges, but the combative is always under control of the meditative
The internal requires quiet, stillness. But this stillness is not simply the absence of sound. It is a total presence or attentiveness, which must be part of the discipline if excellence is to emerge. I believe that the silences a man must live with in training in the internal themselves produce part of the skill that ultimately comes. When the silence releases its new energy, a quiet mind is produced, and when this happens the whole being becomes truly active.
The internal is dynamic training of the mind-body. An old Taoist saying goes: “In standing, like a pine tree, in moving like the wind, in sleeping like a dead man.” To Which I would add, “in thinking, like a placid moving stream.” Theoretically many Asian martial arts promise this mind-body synthesis. Few achieve it.
By its very nature, the internal is cooperative. It breaks down when it becomes competitive. Springing from Taoism and Buddhism, it stresses being and becoming rather than thinking and doing. Learning is aided if one remembers that there is no opponent – only ourselves.[1]
The legendary Xing Yi Boxer Guo Yun Shen makes several comparisons between Daoist methods of cultivating the Inner Elixir (Nei Dan) through seated meditation and Xing Yi Quan:
The art of the Xing Yi Quan is peerless, for it is nothing more than two things: spirit and energy. The way to train the inner elixir [Nei Dan] all depends upon respiration, beginning with the small heavenly circle and large heavenly circle and then achieving a return to emptiness; each stage a transformation through breath. The methods of the boxing art are the same except that one is training the body, sinews and bones. Training the inner elixir seeks movement within stillness, and upon reaching its peak, movement returns to stillness. In boxing one seeks stillness within movement, and the peak of stillness returns to movement. In the initial training, they look different, but become the same in returning emptiness.
Boxing skills must be trained until there is no boxing in the boxing and no intention in the intention. No intention is real intention and can be combined with Nei Dan and cultivating emptiness to be congruent with Daoism.[2]
These words are echoed by other famous Xing Yi Masters like Liu Qi Lan and Song Shi Rong:
Daoism employs the method of emptying the mind. Without effort one is centered and without thought there is achievement. Embody the right way naturally and easily. There is no boxing with the boxing and no intention within intention. True intention lies within no-intention. No intention within intention means emptiness in the mind. No body within the body means emptiness in the body.
It is said in the boxing manuals that those who are able to nourish the spiritual root and calm the mind are just cultivating Daoism.[3]
-Liu Qi Lan
In Daoism seated meditation is combined with regulating breathing. In boxing the movements of the hand and foot are used to regulate breathing. Lifting and dropping, advancing and retreating, should conform to the standard rules and the movements of your hands and feet should be harmonious and smooth. Inside and outside, spirit and form harmoniously combine with regulated breathing. The smooth and continuous rotation of the body movements infinitely in all directions without stagnation one Qi spreading and circulating without limit is called “cessation of breathing.” It is also called “being reborn as an immortal.”. Although the two seem different {boxing and meditation], one seeks tranquility from motion and the other seeks motion from tranquility – their internal theory is the same.[4]
-Song Shi Rong
Robert Smith quotes Master Che Yi Zhai as follows:
Hsing-I conforms with the theory of the Golden Mean [Chung Yung][5] of Confucius. The theory is very broad, great and complicated, although it looks simple. It is always centered, balanced, and thorough.
You put out strength and it goes everywhere; retract it and it hides inside. This is difficult for a beginner, but as he progresses he will understand. Each action is launched form emptiness, but has the greatest strength. From the empty to the substantial: this is the is action we call Hsing-I, which means “the shape of the mind.” This is also true of Pa-kua and T’ai-chi: both reach the perfection of the empty mind.
The boxing classic says, ”Concentrate on the mind and spirit; the “tan t’ien [sea of ch’i] must be cultivated always. Think about the spirit and the ch’i, and crouch and sink it to the navel. When you reach maximum stability, the yuan ch’i [original ch’i] will circulate throughout the whole body and will penetrate every pore and the extremities of the limbs. It prevails everywhere and combines with yin and yang ; it is never extreme.
Thus it accords with the philosophy of the Golden Mean. Confucius says about the Golden Mean: “The spirit is great. It exists, but you cannot see it, you can sense its existence, but never hear it. It is very full and lacks nothing.”[6]
Although all three internal arts – Tai Ji Quan, Xing Yi Quan, and Ba Gua Zhang utilize the same theories of 
training, Xing Yi exemplifies the principles of Daoist Mediation because of its emphasis on standing in stillness during the practice of San Ti Shi (Three-Body Posture) and the pauses in between postures in which one is still outside, while sensing the minute internal stirring that stimulates exterior movement and transformation.
As more than one famous Master of Internal Boxing has mentioned: “Stillness is the fundamental form. In movement lies the function.”
Guo Yun Shen specifically relates three stages of Xing Yi training to Nei Dan (Inner Elixir) Daoist Meditation”
- Training essence (Jing) and transforming it into energy (Qi).
- Training energy (Qi) and transforming it into spirit (Shen).
- Training spirit (Shen) and returning to emptiness (Xu).
Guo Yun Shen says that: Once there is a peak of emptiness and stillness, then your primordial true active aspect activates. This will suddenly turn your light upon yourself, concentrating spirit into your energy points, and with every breath you will return to your source.[7]
Here Guo echoes chapter 16 of the Dao De Jing:
If one reaches the extreme of emptiness
If one keeps quietness and firmness,
All things together rise.
We thereby see their return.
Now in the full bloom of things,
Everything returns to its root.
To return to the root means to rest.
This is called a return to life.[8]
The various martial arts masters quoted above have mentioned the critical importance of inner emptiness in the practice of Xing Yi. It is this inner emptiness that lays the foundation for transformation. Practitioners of Daoist meditation like Daoist adept Sun Xi Kun (who also practiced Ba Gua) cultivate this same quality in seated meditation:
Sitting in a quiet room without disturbance or noise and burning incense, with honesty and sincerity, it is possible to connect to the mysterious Qi. Stop distracting thoughts. Extinguish all rash thinking. If even a few scattered thoughts exist, the spirit is not pure Yang. One who forgets emotion becomes unconscious of the boundary between oneself and the external world.
Forgetting emotion one’s forgotten nature is recovered, the mind becomes bright and sharp. Close the Heart-Mind and use the breath to forget the Heart-Mind and to enliven the Shen, so that the Heart Mind is sharp and clear.[9]
This type of meditation is sometimes called “Sitting and Forgetting” (Zuo Wang 坐忘). Daoist Scholar Livia Kohn translates this as “Sitting in Oblivion,” because it is less a forgetting than a letting go of intentional and reactive patterns, so that one comes to rest in a state of inner unity. Kohn describes Sitting in Oblivion as a state of deep meditative absorption and mystical oneness, during which all sensory and conscious faculties are overcome. [10]
Sitting and Forgetting means of letting go and forgetting, by recognizing and gradually letting go of the thoughts and emotions that obscure one’s True Nature. The process of “letting go” simultaneously unblocks Qi and energizes one’s being. As Qi Gong masters often say, “real movement begins in stillness.” Sitting in stillness develops stability and wisdom. When the body is still and calm, one comes into observation of other parts of oneself (blind spots and shadow) that can then be dissolved. As thoughts enter one’s consciousness, one responds, but without losing oneself in the process. Returning to the source of one’s inner movement (stillness), it is possible to renew oneself, energetically and psycho-spiritually.
When emotion settles then energy spontaneously returns to its “source.” The source is the vitality, related to Original Essence (Yuan Jing). Harmonious emotions are connected to Original Qi (Yuan Qi), and True Nature is connected to Original Spirit (Yuan Shen). When energy returns to its source through stillness and calm the body is revitalized, and the transformative meditative process unfolds naturally.
This is not dissimilar to Xu Zhan Ao’s description of Xing Yi Quan’s emphasis on holding the San Ti Shi posture, a kind of standing meditation:
In Xing Yi Quan’s San Ti Shi are the three powers of the heaven, earth and human, which in the human body are head, hand and foot . It is also a combination of three schools of boxing systems of Xing Yi, Ba Gua and Tai Ji. This posture generates Qi from emptiness; from stillness there is movement. From the state of great polarity (Tai Ji), there are two aspects (passive/active yin/yang) and San Ti Shi movement returning to stillness and then to emptiness and tranquility, returning to one’s natural state, one’s pre-heaven nature, not the post-heaven acquired nature. This is the foundation of Xing Yi Quan.[11]
Xu goes on to say that:
Xingyi Boxing’s internal power is a person’s primordial spirit and primordial energy merged together. It does not wander off-center. It harmonizes without wavering. It does not go too far nor not far enough. It goes from nothing to something, from the abstract to the tangible, from the small to the large. It goes from the rousing of a singleness of energy to expressing with the whole body. It is a liveliness, everywhere, all the time.[12]
Advanced practitioners of Daoist Meditation say that after a period of practicing seated Daoist Meditationit is common to feel a “vibration” in Dan Tian, signifying that Qi has gathered there. In time, even the whole body may suddenly shake. It may then seem as if a warm, or even hot, force moves downward to the coccyx and rises through the spine to the top of the head. This sensation then passes through the face, the chest and the stomach until it returns to Dan Tian.[13] Later there may be involuntary movements elsewhere in the body and later still energy circulates through the Eight Extraordinary vessels – this is known as the Greater Heavenly Circulation or “Macrocosmic Orbit.”
These same internal sensations are described experienced by Xing Yi practitioners. In Xing Yi Quan standing in San Ti Shi and practicing Pi Quan (Splitting Fist) lowly and deliberately, circulation through the Ren and Du Channels and the Eight Extraordinary vessels are similarly activated.
The first mention of Sitting and Forgetting is found in a passage from Chapter Six of the Zhuang Zi (Chuang Tzu), the seminal Daoist Text from the Warring States Period (476-221 BCE). In a passage recounting a purported conversation between Confucius and one of his disciples Yan Hui. In this passage Yun Hui tells Confucius that he makes “progress.” When Confucius asks about this progress:
‘I just sit and forget.’
Confucius was taken aback.
‘What do you mean, just sit and forget?’
‘I let organs and members drop away, dismiss eyesight and hearing, part from the body andexpel knowledge, and just go along with the universal thoroughfare. This what I mean “just sit and forget”.’
‘If you go along with it, you have no preferences: if you let yourself transform, you have no norms. Has it really turned out that you are the better of us? Oblige me by accepting me as your disciple.[14]
The Tang Dynasty text, the Zang Wang Lun (On Sitting and Forgetting) gives practical advice on maintaining stability and inner calm:
By what actions does one attain this stability? On the one hand, whenever you recognize an advantage, make sure you always note the disadvantages. And whenever you feel anxiety about misfortune calm the mind. On the other hand, keep on diminishing, forsaking, purifying, and cleansing—always continue in the practice and the mind will mature. These measures applied together will certainly lead you home to stability. You will then accept it as a completely natural state. Even sudden claps of thunder or the tumbling down of a mountain will no longer startle you. Even the crossing of bare blades won’t bring about any fear.[15]
The above passage reminds me of the advice of Xing Yi Master Song Zhi Yong , a disciple of Master Li Gui Chang regarding standing in San Ti Shi. Song advises one to stand and merely sense – don’t think about sinking Qi to Dan Tian; don’t think about power; just sense what is actually happening inside. Song says that this mode of practicing will allow you to sense what is really happening and allow the body to respond without thought or fear. Feeling and sensing allows you to lose the sense of self and become attuned to the world around you. When standing in San Ti Shi, within your mind there should only be emptiness and inner stillness. Guo Yun Shen adds that in this state, breathing seems to exist, yet seems not to exist. This kind of breathing is described by Daoist practitioners as the “True Breath.”
The words of Song Zhi Yong and Guo Yun Shen words echo those of Xing Yi Master Liu Qi Lan, who advises that in training one must be silent without any motion, reacting only by what one senses. Liu Qi Lan says that this nourishes the spiritual root and calms the mind. Then one has boxing skills that are a product of No Intention (Bu Yi), combined with emptiness. This results in a “mysterious boxing” that cannot be easily apprehended by others.[16]
Perhaps it is appropriate to end with the words of one of Robert Smith’s Xing Yi teachers Paul Kuo (Kuo Feng-Chih). With regards to standing meditation (Zhan Zhuang):
Zhan Zhuang is literally a maneuvering of the mind for gaining a static outside and a dynamic inside. Ancient Chinese philosophy says “ To stand still results in the mind’s settlement, mind’s settlement in tranquility, tranquility in a sense of security, security in wholesome thinking, and wholesome thinking in great accomplishment. The ancients followed this philosophy to cultivate their bodies as well as their minds.[17]
Notes
[1] Hsing –I: Chinese Mind-Body Boxing. Robert Smith (Tokyo and New York: Kodansha International, 1974) p. 22-3.
[2]拳意述真 Authentic Explanation of Boxing Concepts. Sun Fu Quan (Sun Lu Tang) published March, 1924.
[3]Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Zhongyong (golden mean) was considered to be the highest level of virtue by Confucius (551-479 BC) and Confucian scholars. The mean is also described as the “unswerving pivot” – bent neither one way or another. I refers to being moderate in one’s words and deeds. Everything has its limits, and neither exceeding nor falling short of the limits is desirable.
[6] Hsing –I: Chinese Mind-Body Boxing. Robert Smith (Tokyo and New York: Kodansha International, 1974) p. 22-3.
[7]拳意述真 Authentic Explanation of Boxing Concepts. Sun Fu Quan.
[8] Ho-Shang –Kungs Commentary on Lao-Tse Ascona Switzerland, Trsnlation and annotation by Edward Erkes (Artibus Asiae Publishers (MCML VIII 1950) p..37-8.
[9] The True Transmission of Ba Gua Zhang 八卦拳真传 Ba Gua Zhang Zhen Chuan by Sun Xi Kun 孙锡 堃.
[10] Kohn, Livia (2010). Sitting in Oblivion: The Heart of Daoist Meditation. Three Pines Press.
[11]拳意述真 Authentic Explanation of Boxing Concepts. Sun Fu Quan [Sun Lu Tang)
[12]Ibid.
[13] The Secrets of Chinese Meditation. Lu K’uan Yü (Charles Luk). (York Beach, Maine: Samule Weiser, Inc., 1969) p. 174
[14] Chuang-Tzu The Inner Chapters, A.C. Graham, trans (Cambridge & Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 1981 and 2001) p. 92.
[15] Zuo Wang Lun in Sitting in Oblivion: The Heart of Daoist Meditation. Livia Kohn (Dunedin, FL: Three Pines Press, 2010), p. 155
[16]拳意述真 Authentic Explanation of Boxing Concepts/ Sun Fu Quan [Sun Lu Tang)
[17] Pa Kua: Chinese Boxing for Fitness and Self-Defense, Robert W. Smith. (New York, Tokyo & San FranciscoKodansha International Ltd., 1967) p. 114.
