Table of Contents
Prologue vii
Part I History and Philosophy of Chinese Martial Arts 1
Chapter 1 Taoism and Confucianism: Two Major Pillars of Chinese Rationalism 3
History of Taoism 4
A Few Key Things to Know and Remember About Taoism 6
Staying in the Middle of the Road: A Chinese Attitude of Facing the Unknown 16
Chapter 2 Further Development of Chinese Martial Arts 23
All Martial Arts Come from Shaolin 25
The Evolution from Outer School to Inner School 27
The Development of Bagua Palm As the Newest Traditional Chinese Martial Art 33
Chapter 3 How would Sir Isaac Newton Interpret Chinese Martial Arts: A New Scientific Approach to the Understanding of Chinese Martial Arts 39
Axiom 1: Force Is a Vector (The Σ: Direction Matters) 39
Axiom 2: J = δF/δT (Jing is the Real Killer) 46
Axiom 3: The δ and Σ Both Come from Your Liver 58
Part II Taoism in Action: The 64 Forms of Bagua Palm 61
Chapter 4 Basic Principles for Practicing Bagua Palm 65
Chapter 5 The Mud-Wading Steps 79
Key Points for the Mud-Wading Steps 81
A Detailed Illustration of Mud-Wading Steps 83
First Step: Wading in a Straight Line Without Arm Movements 84
Second Step: Circular Wading 85
Third Step: Full Practice (Green Dragon Shows Claw) 89
Appendix 99
Chapter 6 The New 64 Forms of Weaving Stance Bagua Palm 101
Brief Introduction 101
List of the 64 Forms 102
Starting Form 104
Appendix 1 Key Notes on Martial Art Training 226
Part III The Applications of Bagua Palm - Physically and Mentally 229
Chapter 7 A Basic Conflict in Our Life: How the Ultraslow Evolution of Our Body Cope with the Lightning-fast Changes of Our Environment 231
Chapter 8 Anti-Fragile as a Concept and How Do We Understand "Strong"? 241
Chapter 9 Outlive as a Target and the Martial Art Renaissance 245
Epilogue 251
Acknowledgments 253