Is there anything such as the 8 Trigrams 128 palms or anything like it?

Answer 1

You are referring to Baguazhang, loosely translated it means "8 Trigram Palm," put in plain English it means "Octagon Palm." It is called that because its founder, a Daoist, took the whole notion of "Wu Wei" (non ado, non violence) very seriously, so, he developed a martial art that emphasized exclusively dodging. The "palm" part refers to the fact that you can not always Dodge, sometimes you need to block. Usually in China, Baguazhang and Xing Yi Quan, are trained in together. Xing Yi Quan means "mind/spirit form boxing." The two Martial Arts are as different as night and day, polar opposites of one another; it was thought that because Xing Yi Quan was Yang, to Baguazhang's Ying, that the two martial arts together would be very powerful. So, what is Xing Yi about? Roughly speaking, in principle, its very similar to Karate, however unlike Karate, where in Karate you concentrate only a few seconds, or half a second before striking, in Xing Yi you may spend as much as 5 minutes before delivering a strike. You do not do that in an actual fight of course, but, the idea is, to train the mind to focus so that a blow can be delivered with all its power. Xing Yi has no dodging, and no blocks of any kind, its exclusively striking. That is why its Yang, to Baguazhang's Ying; Baguazhang is exclusively defensive, Xing Yi is exclusively offensive. I'm sure you've heard of the concept of Kime ("one strike, one fall; fights over"); in Xing Yi Quan there is a similar concept, but the training approach is totally different to Karte's. Again in Karate, while doing Kata, the Kata that have the longest concentration portions last at most, 3 seconds. That is at the longest concentration points the most you ever dedicate is 3 seconds. In Xing Yi Quan, like I said, its more like 5 minutes. The mind focuses totally on whatever strike, or sequence of strikes, usually its no more than 3 though, to ensure maximum power and wounding effect. It is believed, or it was, by Xing Yi theorists, this was the best method because, since fighting is all about focus, awareness, concentration and the ability to make these things work together, there was no point in bothering with overly complex theory, sequences of moves, whatever, just simply learning how to concentrate hard to deliver one powerful devastating strike. The success of Xing Yi practitioners however has been at best, moderate; in Xing Yi, a student either soars to unheard of heights of martial arts prowess, or, they never learn how to relax and concentrate, waste the master's time, and become quite pathetic. In Xing Yi, the martial art has produced either extremely lethal martial artists, some whom have been summoned to be imperial bodyguards, or, extremely pathetic ones. Xing Yi's training approach is a double edged sword; that is why to ensure competent martial artists are produced it is complimented by Baguazhang. The problem with emphasizing only one thing, is that some people may posses an inborn talent for it, while others may never develop or acquire said talent unless there are other things to supplement the training. What I mean is, some people only become better strikers, after they have developed a solid defensive game. In Xing Yi, because only one thing is emphasized, you either grow, or you don't, if you train in that martial art all on its own. Odds are though, find a Kung Fu school, and chances are you will train in Baguazhang and Xing Yi Quan, I don't think any part of China trains in either of those martial arts all on their own. In all likelihood you will learn both assuming you find a good Kung Fu school. [[User:67.148.120.72|67.148.120.72]]stardingo747