HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF
108-PATTERN YANG STYLE TAIJIQUAN
"Striking Tiger Poise", a pattern not found in the orthodox set
This 108-Pattern Yang Set, sometimes called the Long Form, is the standard set in Yang Style Taijiquan, and was invented by the great Taijiquan master, Yang Deng Fu. It was also the first Taijiquan set Grandmaster Wong learned when he was interested in Taijiquan about 40 years ago (about 1975).
At that time Grandmaster Wong ran to a public park in Alor Setar in Malaysia every morning to practice his Shaolin Kungfu, especially the Dragon Form Set. There he found a Taijiquan master practicing the 108-Pattern Set. One morning Grandmaster Wong asked the master whether he would like to exchange his Taijiquan Set for some combat applications.
The master declined, saying that Grandmaster Wong's Shaolin was too hard, and Taijiquan was only soft. This put Grandmaster Wong off, as he clearly remembered his teacher, Grandmaster Ho Fatt Nam, had told him that all great arts were both hard and soft.
Grandmaster Wong thought to himself that he might learn from the inventor of the set himself through books. So Grandmaster Wong bought all the Taijiquan books he could find, especially those by Yang Deng Fu.
Today the Wahnam version of this 108-Pattern Yang Style Taijiquan Set is different from the one Grandmaster Wong first learned, which was the orthodox version practiced by Yang Style practitioners. This is because Grandmaster Wong made some modifications to meet some expedient needs.
This 108-Pattern Yang Style Taijiquan is a beautiful set. It incorporates all the important principles of Taijiquan, like rotation of the waist, no beginning no ending, and exploiting an opponent's force, and enables practitioners to achieve all the three distinct levels of attainment, namely good health, combat efficiency and spiritual development.
Following the inspiration of Zhang San Feng, the set itself contains more than enough material for triple cultivation, i.e. the training of form, energy and mind. In other words, there is no need to borrow any martial techniques, chi kung exercises or meditation methods from outside. The set is self-contained and its accomplishments range from the basic to the supreme.
Picture Series of 108-Pattern Yang Style Taijiquan
Combat application of Taijiquan
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