Thoughts on the Chinese classics--Part IV

"Continuity Without Interruption. The power of external stylists is extrinsic and clumsy. Therefore we see it begin and end, continue and break. The old power is exhausted before the new is born....From beginning to end there is no interruption. Everything is complete and continuous, circular and unending." The Ten Important Points, oral instructions of Yang Ch'eng-fu, recorded by Ch'en Wei-ming, compiled and trans. by Douglas Wile, p. 13.


One should look for this rhythm in kata and bunkai. So often students demonstrate kata with a kind of dead, static movement--as if they were demonstrating each position for judges at a tournament or as if they were demonstrating still postures from a book. However, from the beginning of a sequence till the end of that sequence there should be "continuity without interruption"; the movements should be continuous and without gaps. For example, from the opening technique in Seipai through the grab and neck twist there should be no gaps.

Find the beginnings, where the "uke" or receiving technique begins, and then look for the endings, where the opponent is left incapacitated or down. Everything from beginning to ending should be done in a continuous, uninterrupted fashion with no gaps.