What is a form? Some believe a form is a tool for demonstrating the particular flavor of the martial art style it belongs to. Some believe a form is a sequence of pre-arranged “battle plans”, fighting with one or more imaginary opponents whose imaginary attacks and defenses are also pre-arranged (hence the common reference of the term “shadow boxing”). Still, some believe a form is a collection or a library of techniques (or sets of techniques), not necessarily pre-arranged in any particular order, where great masters of the past had added and subtracted various combat-tested techniques in each generation. This is much closer to the truth.

I believe, however, that a form contains a much higher purpose.

What is the primary objective of any martial arts? Combat, of course. Historical evidences have shown that many Chinese martial art styles originally did not contain forms as part of the training, , just endless training drills and sparring fights (as are many combat-oriented martial arts in the past and today, western or eastern). They have only fighting principles (xin fa, 心法) which were usually kept as a secret within the style, and techniques (zhao shu, 著術) based on these principles. In the course of the development of many Chinese martial art styles, these techniques were arranged together into small sets, and later into long-sequenced forms, until today forms have become an integral part of many Chinese styles, even representing the styles themselves.

Behind the techniques demonstrated in a form, however, are the core principles that these techniques were once based on. In other words, rather than thinking about “the application of this particular posture in the form”, it is perhaps much more helpful to think about “the posture as a manifestation, an example, of a particular principle”. If the principle behind every move in the form is understood and transmitted, then the transmission of the style itself from generation to generation will never be degraded into the realm of impracticality (as is all too commonly seen today). Furthermore, during combat we would never be limited to the number of techniques demonstrated in a form, which is never the case if we were trapped in the “application-of-the-form” mindset. So, never ask “how” but always ask “why”; if one understood the “why”, the “how” becomes trivial.

There are two major categories of principles imbedded in every posture of a form. One is of “training” (gong, 功) and the other is of “method” (fa, 法). In every posture, the “training” principles detail the training in executing a particular form of body mechanics. Obvious manifestations would be the various strikes, such as punches, kicks, elbow or shoulder strikes, etc, where various power releases are present. Subtler manifestations can be found in various blocking and deflecting arm motions, leg trips, throws, etc, where intricate body mechanics are embedded. These gongs were often taken out of the form and drilled repeatedly, so the practitioners can develop strength, power, and integrated body mechanics. Auxiliary training using weights, sand bags, etc, that are based on the same movements can also be used to augment the training. This is just like the days of the past when there were no such things as forms. Many good Chinese martial art schools still retain this practice.

However, even when one developed devastatingly powerful strikes, one still would not be able to defeat a competent opponent if one’s punches and kicks could not land on the target. Equally important (perhaps even more important), therefore, are the “method” principles hidden in every posture in a form.

Essentially, the method principles teach one how to deliver one’s power to the target: the timing, the setting up of the opponent, the controlling of the opponent, and finally entering the opponent’s defenses to deliver the power. An important point to be made is that the transition between each posture in a form is usually where these principles are found. If your school still retains an older form (one that is not recently re-arranged), examine carefully the transition between two striking postures and try to understand why the movement is the way it is. As often is the case, these things are excepted to be absorbed via osmosis by a practitioner through endless hours of practice and sparring with someone much higher in skill levels, through a process known as “feeding” (wei zhao, 餵著). Although the hands-on transimission of skills this way is an extremely important and necessary part of the training, a deep intellectual understanding, I believe, is equally as important and may speed up the training process.

– to be continued.