THE DAO OF TAIJIQUAN IS THE TAO OF MARTIAL APPLICATIONS ...AND THEN AGAIN, IT'S NOT!
"Hello. My name is ***** I would so much be honored to study Tai Chi Chuan under Sifu Roach. I have a good friend that is a student of Chinese internal martial arts. When I called him about having an interest & advice, told him about Classical Tai Chi of Buffalo & Master Hwa, he became very excited. Saying the best book he ever read was "The Dao of Taijiquan." He also said that his teacher was a great fan of Master Hwa. It seems the endorsements are there for me. Hearing all this from my friend, his opinion I value very much, I am very, very, very excited. My phone # is. Thank you"
Hi Master Hwa,
"I am also bcc to my students about this message, which I find opens many opportunities for interesting glimpses into Tai Chi history as well as our lineage. It also provides an opportunity to explain what we do, albeit by comparison; nevertheless, I found writing interesting. Perhaps this man will digest this and come to study after all."
Jim Roach
Master Hwa said: "Jim: I know the confusion. Actually, I regret not meeting him. He is one of the few tai chi practitioners who is truly searching for the truth. Sometimes, he tells his students," what I taught you last month, forget about it, it is not correct. let's do this way."
Stephen Hwa
Hi *****
I'm under the impression from speaking to Master Stephen Hwa that Master Stephen Hwa gets the question "are you related to Jou Tsung Hwa" quite a bit. He patiently explains that his surname is Hwa and therefore no relation to Jou (surname Jou). Actually, at a World Tai Chi Day event, while watching a demo of "5 animal frolics", Master Stephen Hwa told me that his family surname Hwa in original Chinese spelling is Hua. He also tells me that the family is related to a distant ancestor Hua Tuo who may be the first ancient Chinese surgeon.
Stephen Hwa mentions the "Dao of Taijiquan" published in 1989 in his book "Uncovering the Treasure" published in 2010 and speaks of a couple of Jou's statements. In his book, Stephen Hwa references Jou, Tsung Hwa's statements. He says that the "Torso Method" he mentions in "The Tao of Taijiquan, p. A31" is none other than the "Internal Discipline" explained in loving detail in "Uncovering the Treasure, p. 1 and 2, that he teaches in Classical Taijiquan.
Although Jou also mentions Wu Jianquan style Tai Chi in his book, he states that he studied Yang and Chen styles for the most part.
Master Hwa has taught Classical Tai Chi to participants at "Jou's" Tai Chi Farm. He refers to that in "Uncovering the Treasure," where he describes a "Western Boxer's" unsuccessful and painful attempt to "take a punch" from Hwa (one-inch punch popularized by Bruce Lee) without using a pad. At this link, Stephen "Hwa's" teacher was Yang Wabu (Young Wabu), who later worked as a Dr. of Osteopathy after working in import/export in Hong Kong but was highly proficient in numerous martial arts, including Bagua Zhang. He was a known master of Pekkwar Monkey Boxing when he met and learned Taiji from this link of the renowned martial artist Wu Chien Chuan who, along with his father, had both worked as bodyguards to the emperor of China. Early on, Wu had learned the Yang Style from the members of the Yang Family themselves, but as described in Wikipedia, Wu later shortened the stances and altered the "frame" in other ways.
I studied with Wu's great-grandson Eddie Wu for many years; even his frame is somewhat larger than the frame size we use in Classical Taiji. In addition,(since I studied with both Wu and Hwa) I am the only student of Hwa's that can personally attest that Wu does not teach internal discipline; however, we do. Briefly, the Wu form I learned from Eddie turns from the hips, the form I learned from Hwa turns from the waist, for another thing, it is much much smaller. As a former disciple of Wu, with great respect for the family, I can attest that the "internal discipline" of Classical Taiji is a return to the roots of Taiji before the styles began to change. When Young Wabu learned from Wu Chien Chuan, he was learning from the 2nd generation. When Wu was not there, young Wabu used to teach classes for Wu Kung I (son of Wu Chien Chuan). Young Wabu's daughter Sonia tells me that she was in Wu Kung i's classes, (but her father was not Kung i's student since he studied with Kung i's father, Chien Chuan, Yang was Wu's colleague and not his student) and she used to fight with the men. She tells me that she was 11 years old and Eddie Wu was only six years old, and she used to ask Eddie to stop bugging her as the little boys like to do.
Having learned from Chien Chuan himself, Yang's approach was very meticulous, as was he. My own opinion is that Gongyi (who says as much in the Qi magazine article) was very interested in attracting as many people as possible. Therefore, for one thing, Wu Kung I did not teach the square form or tight circled round form of his father but instead taught a "rounded square form." That is the form that I learned from his grandson Eddie Wu in Toronto. It is pretty different from the smaller frame (in my opinion), highly articulated square form, and compact and tight compact form that I now teach in Classical Taiji. However, Classical Taiji is still a "Wu's" style, just that as I say...it is a return to the "roots
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