By Master Eric Tuttle
Before I met my teacher Ma Hong, before he agreed to take me as his student, and long before he eventually made me his international disciple, I had already studied Chinese internal and external martial arts styles for many years and was already a teacher of Chen style Taiji but somehow I felt that I would not be able to reach the highest level, let alone meet or hear of anyone who had achieved Grand Master Chen FaKe’s level.
At our first meeting, Ma Hong asked me why I had sought him out specifically to learn from. I told him precisely what I knew to be true – that he was known to be the student of the last great lineage of Taijiquan, which came through the line of Chen FaKe to Chen ZhaoKui, and as such, the gate-keeper of the style. To get to a high level, I knew I had to find the purest lineage form. To this end, he replied “You are smart and you have done your research!”
As we approached our first lesson, he asked me “Do you want to learn fast or slow?” When I replied, “Slow,” he said “Right answer,” and he told me that Chen ZhaoKui had asked him the same thing and gotten the same response from him. I have always asked and expected the same from my best students.
It is well known among the global Taiji community that Ma Hong had close personal and educational contact with his teacher, and that he diligently took notes on all their work together, as well as diligently preparing questions that arose during his own practice, in order to ask them at their next meeting. In his own words:
This author was lucky in that he was able to spend 10 years with Master Chen ZhaoKui (a Chen Style Taijiquan generational grandmaster) during our turbulent years of suffering. Because of that sharing of suffering, my teacher and I developed 9 years worth of deep emotional ties. It was my good fortune to win my teacher’s trust and love, leading to his private instructions on traditional Chen Style Taijiquan with detailed analysis of applications and jin path meanings… In the summers of 1972, 1973, and 1974, I learned the First and Second Sets at my teacher’s home in BeiJing. In the winters of 1974 and 1975, for two months of each season. I again received instructions from my teacher in Zhenzhou. At that time, as my classmates had to go to work during the day, they were only able to take classes between 7 and 10 o’clock in the
evening. During the day, my teacher and I had free time. My teacher then agreed to my request for private instructions between 9 and 11 o’clock in the morning on the important topic of Analyzing Quan to find Jin. Each day, we deconstructed one move in the set. During that time, my teacher closed his doors and refused all visitors, and used the time to instruct me by myself, in both verbal and physical formats. During these lessons, the teacher used me as a target dummy to teach various applications and jin paths. It was very painful for me bodily, but it also brought me great benefits. My body was sore, but my heart was happy as I was discovering that this style contained so many secrets!My heart is filled with gratitude for my teacher. During the springs of 1977, 1979, and 1980, my teacher came to live at my house in Shijiazhuang 3 times. During these periods, he corrected my forms and provided deeper explanations on each and every move, and the changes and power constructs of each move’s jin paths. Of note, during his stay at my house in 1979, my teacher fell ill. I looked after the teacher night and day with much care, clearing feces and urine without complaint. The teacher was much touched by my sincerity and care, and that was why he asked even more of me afterwards. He often taught me the secrets of jin methods in the middle of the night when it was quiet. At the same time, he also taught me push-hands, strength training, and single-move training, further explaining the dissolving and fighting/hitting combinations and the unique movements and power paths in various moves in Taijiquan.
In 1980, when the teacher was staying and instructing me at my house in ShiJiaZhuang, he said “This is the first time I have ever taught jin move-by-move in this systematic way. These are the essences of our style of boxing, and you must cherish it.” In addition, over this 9-year period, the teacher sent to me by post a large quantity of his writings, including the characteristics of techniques and his research on internal training as well as answers to questions I had posted to him. It was only with all these efforts that I was able to attain major understanding and realizations in this treasure that is traditional Taijiquan…
I decided to publish the entirety of all that my teacher has taught me. Only then can it be assured that there would be transmission of the authentic and correct forms and structure, and all the hidden internal meanings. Thus, it will greatly benefit later generations of people in the areas of exercise, selfprotection, health maintenance, and development of virtue… my fear is that once I go to the crematorium and a tendril of smoke rises up into the air, it will also turn to ashes my teacher’s treasured knowledge…I present them to all who love this style and walk this path. I have now fulfilled the responsibility of a descendent and a student.
What can we add that isn’t already there? From this is it is easy to understand that Ma Hong had access and opportunities that others clearly did not. He was already academically-minded and worked diligently to record information passed on from his teacher, and he went on to teach thousands of students in the same way he was taught himself. From my own experience, I can say that his teachings were one of the keys to my own success as a martial artist and teacher.
Now I have been asked by different practitioners, clubs, and organizations from around the world for help in raising the standard, so I am doing so. In that vein, I come to an important idea – Taijiquan belongs to all practitioners, but only a few attain high level practice – I believe it is important to rejuvenate Chen style and all forms of Taijiquan because the overall general quality of practice and practitioners has dropped. Since the death of Chen FaKe, the last great master of the BeiJing line, it was only his disciples, of whom Chen ZhaoKui was one, who were the best representatives of Taijiquan anywhere, whether in Chen Village or the rest of the world. This is one of the reasons that lineage is so important, and authentic teaching from lineage-holding teachers is one key to success.
Of these lineages, I have devoted my many years of training to detailed analysis of three individuals, all 1st-line disciples of Chen FaKe: Chen ZhaoKui, for his skill at QinNa, Feng ZhiQiang, for his skill at FaJing, and Tian XiuChen, for his skill at dissolving/neutralizing. In my opinion, if one hopes to reach high levels of achievement in Chen style Taijiquan, these are the
best sources of inspiration.