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In the last issue of T’AI CHI, we have illustrated the archery stance of Yang Cheng-fu and Wu Chian-chuan in 1931 and 1935, which have been considered the standards of the two dominant schools in Taichichuan. Some recent developments have produced variants from these forms.

In the Taichichuan classic, "Song of Thirteen Motifs," there is one line: "Centering and correctly positioning the tailbone elevate the spirit to the top." An interpretation in recent years is that the tailbone should be perpendicular to the ground in order to elevate the spirit to the top. These people make their trunks vertical.

But the human tailbone is curved forward, not straight, so that it cannot be placed perpendicular to the ground. In fact, making the trunk vertical, the very tip of the tailbone is less pointing to the ground than when the trunk is forward inclined, like the postures of Yang Cheng-fu and Wu Chian-chuan. (See T’AI CHI, August 1982)

The first author of the Yang style who made his trunk perpendicular to the ground is Li Chou-chien, whose book was published in 1944. But the reasoning cited to justify this trunk position was given by subsequent authors. Most English authors, incidentally, translate weilu into coccyx. But the term tailbone is even clearer. The Chinese character wei means tail.

The most severe critic on the vertical trunk is Cheng Chiu-yin, the last formal student of Yang Cheng-fu. In his book of 1960, Cheng said, "the perpendicular trunk position is completely from misunderstanding. The upper body should be forward inclined, and not perpendicular to the ground like that in Shaolin.

"The purpose of the classic is to correct the errors of curving the spine or twisting the hips in such a way that the tailbone is out of line with the spine. There is no implication of making the tailbone perpendicular to the ground."

As explained in the last issue of T’AI CHI, placing the tailbone in an archery stance at the center of a forward inclined straight line between the rear heel and the shoulders, there is no break in transmitting your strength upward and forward from your rear leg. In Taichichuan, there is a common confusion between the word "straight" and "vertical." It is correct that the trunk should be straight, but not necessarily vertical. The inclination varies from posture to posture.

The quoted reason for a vertical trunk position is probably based on the tradition of the Taoist sitting meditation. In Taichichuan, Chen Hsin (1849-1929), the Chen family theoretician, wrote that "although in certain postures and movements the torso is leaned, it is still centered."

Centering the tailbone is only one of the conditions of the classic. The centered tailbone should also be correctly positioned. An interpretation by Hao Yueh-ju (1832-1892) is instructive. Hao, the second generation of the Hao school, said, "When you want to turn to a given direction, you point your tailbone to that direction." Pointing the end of the centered tailbone towards the direction your body is facing meets the requirement of the classic. They make the tailbone fully in line with the vertebrae. Without correct pointing, the spine is twisted, even if it appears straight.

Anyone who teaches beginners notices that there are several ways in which students do not position their tailbone correctly. They may protrude the buttocks or tailbone backward, which may either curve the spine or break the straight line from the rear thigh to the trunk. Some may even lean their shoulders further backward than their tailbone. In turning, their hips may be slanted so that their lower spine curves to the side. These happen in both movement and stable postures.

Through corrections and practice, these errors can easily be corrected. But it takes a longer time to train them to follow Hao Yueh-ju’s instruction to point the tailbone toward the direction the body is facing. Very often, when their right feet are at the front and their shoulders face the front, their hips and tailbone point partly to the left so that their spines are twisted.

For certain persons, to point the tailbone to the correct direction (in this forward posture, direct front), it needs diligent practice to correctly position their feet and to loosen their hip joints so that the tailbone may turn sufficiently without effort. When your hip joints are flexible enough so that your tailbone may naturally point toward the same direction your shoulders are facing and your eyes are looking at, your spine is not twisted and you have a more effective, integrated strength for an attack. You can also yield and redirect your opponent’s strength more easily by twisting your trunk to face the side, from the tailbone upward. Each of these points should be considered part of the requirements of the classic.

As a matter of fact, persons who do the one-person exercise with vertical trunks still incline their trunks forward and almost straighten their rear legs just like Yang Cheng-fu when they apply their forward strength to attack their opponent in self-defense or in the two-person exercise. (See, for example, photograph of Cheng Man-ching in Robert W. Smith's "Chinese Boxing", pp. 26, 37, 53-54).

This is necessary to fully transmit their integrated strength from their rear leg to their hands. The difference means that, while Yang Cheng-fu applies the same type of strength in his one-person exercise and in self-defense, persons who do the forward archery stance with vertical trunks apply a different principle in their one-person exercise.

Not all vertical trunk postures are done in the same way. In the forward posture, Li Shou-chien’s rear thigh is still forward inclined. The vertical trunk of some later authors forms a straight line from the rear thigh so that the trunk, from the shoulders through the back to the rear knee is perpendicular to the ground, but the calf is forward inclined.

Some authors do it in such a way that from the back of the head through the back to the front heel, there is a vertical straight line.

It is believed that all of these variants place less emphasis in the one-person exercise on the application of integrated, supple strength, which is very important in Taichichuan.

(The next issue will contain an article on "How to Do the Archery Stance Like Yang Cheng-fu.")

Wu Ta-yeh teaches in Palo Alto, CA.