Five Elements

Fire, Water, Wood, Earth, and Metal

The Five Elements are the five energies that, according to Taoist cosmology, comprise the whole universe. The Five elements can balance the internal organs of the human body. Like tai chi, Ying Yee is a internal martial art. It exists in the middle ground between the Shao lin martial arts and internal power methods of the Taoists.

The name Ying Yee Chuan is composed of three terms:

1. Chuan, which translates as "fist." The word pertains to everything concerned with defeating a human being in physical combat.

2. Ying, which means the form of something. Everything that manifests, at the level of either energy or matter has in one way or another a form, a shape, a structure, a configuration—the form of a cup, the form of a thought, the forms of different species of animals. More specifically, Ying indicates the form or shape the body will take during a martial posture assumed for hitting, throwing, or controlling an opponent.

3. Yee, specifically in the phrase Ying Yee, refers to the ability of the mind to create an idea and project it into the body, ”Mind of Movement”, creating a functional physical form, that is, a way of moving, a fighting strategy, a fighting posture, or a kind of power. Power of the mind to move the body, this is most important to understand.

YING YEE     HISTORY

Legend has it that Ying Yee was originally created by Yue Fei, whom many consider to have been China’s best general. In fact it is also known that he was one of China's most revered mathematicians.  It is often thought in China that, if China’s emperor had not become jealous of Yue Fei’s military prowess and popularity, and ordered him to commit suicide, Yue Fei would have stopped the Mongol invasion dead in its tracks. The story is that Yue Fei invented two martial arts for his troops to use in battle. For his enlisted men, he created eagle-claw boxing, and for his officers he invented the more powerful Ying yee, based upon spear technique, which accounts for the linear appearance of Ying yee actions.

There are many accounts concerning the history of Ying yee that are important to prospective students of the art in that they record the numerous hsing-i lineages. The closer the hsing-i teachings are to the original lineage material, the better they are for the student. Unlike practitioners of tai chi and, to a lesser extent Ba Gwa, the stronger hsing-i people did not and still do not attempt to teach their methods purely for health. Unlike Ba Gwa, hsing-i is not beautiful to watch. Given hsing-i's lack of aesthetics, its poor public relations concerning health benefits, and its strong no-frills martial orientation, it tends to attract a smaller number of students than other martial arts. No more than a skeletal history is provided here, one that focuses on the value of the art for practitioners going into the twenty-first century—that is, the value for health and healing, stress reduction, self-defense, and general balance, in this fast paced society.

After Yue Fei, the history of Ying Yee, or Hsing - i, is sketchy at best. There are many stories from various places, but I was not there, I did not live one thousand years ago, never mind one hundred years ago. Why I say this is what I learned in school for history, is already changed. What we were taught, they have found is already not true, so if that is the case, what would happen if we went back one thousand years, if people can not agree or understand what happened just one hundred years ago, then what about one thousand years ago.

As far as I am concerned, I have the name of Grand Master Chow's teacher, and his teacher before him, that is enough to give me a clear understanding of where our Ying Yee came from. I have done much research on the topic and probably understand less today then I did forty years ago when I started to train Ying Yee.

These elements can destroy each other, or they can be complementary to each other

The Ying Yee Five Element Forms  of (Fire, Water, Wood, Earth, and Metal) each utilize a particular hand technique to create a different type of power, more like dynamic energies created from proper practice.  Each individual five element hand technique has a slightly different way in which it is done: high (to the opponent’s heart or above), middle (between the heart and the lower tan tien), and low (to the opponent’s hips, groin, or legs).

FIVE ELEMENTS:

From the interaction of the yin and yang arose the five basic

Elements: wood, earth, metal, water, and fire. These elements can exist in a helpful and complementary relationship to each other, or they can work against one another and destroy themselves.

Wood burns to produce Fire,

Resulting in the ash which becomes Earth,

From Earth there emerges Metal, which produces Water by

Condensation.

Also:

Wood occupies Earth, and Earth soaks up the Water,

Water douses Fire, Fire melts Metal and Metal cuts wood.

Ying Yee

Ying Yee is an internal fighting system, consisting of forward linear chuan's or fists launched from the san ti, or Three-Point Stance, and or in the chicken walk. The Fists are also called Elements, named from their actions and connected to the elements in early Chinese Alchemy

Pi Chuan          (Metal Fist)

Pao Chuan      (Fire Fist)

Bong Chuan    (Wood Fist)

Tzun Chuan     (Water Fist)

Hen Chuan     (Earth Fist)

Another figure to help you understand the elements and how they work together, and or against each other

Relaxation:            Bend too the weight of a fly.

Be soft and yielding. Exert no strength.

Concentration:      Mind Of Movement.

Let the mind direct the movement.

Mediation:              So Easy and yet so hard, for some.

Balance the movements of the mind, the body and the chi.

Harmony:             Walk in the light, be one with nature.

When  thoughts and movements are in accord, you gain the power .

Breathing:             Feel your whole body breath.

Breathe naturally through the nose into the abdomen. With the

abdomen relaxed tranquility will prevail.

Writings contained in the Tao Te Ching:

Yield and overcome;

Bend and be straight;

Empty and be full;

Wear out and be new;

Have little and gain;

Have much and be confused.

Therefore wise men embrace the one. They set an example to all.

Not putting on a display. They shin forth.    Not justifying

themselves, They are distinguished.

By attending to the chi,  and relaxing completely, you will be able to be like a new born babe.

Yin and Yang in succession is called the Tao.

Feel your feet firmly rooted against the earth

Feel the power of the move come from your legs

Feel the power directed by the waist

Feel the power in the hands…. Gradually you can begin to remove any blocked tension from your body and in this way bring your whole self into the balanced, harmonized state.

Nothing under heaven is more yielding than water; but when it attacks things hard and resistant, there is not one of them that can prevail!                                                    

Element fist from Ying Yee

Splitting or Cutting Fist is associated with Metal.
It is used as a wedge with which to ‘split’ and deflect your opponent’s attack while simultaneously attacking. The mental image our practitioners concentrate on is that of an axe splitting a log.

Drilling Fist is associated with Water.
The image our practitioners concentrate on is that of water suddenly bursting through the dam and sweeping everything in its path.

Crushing Fist is associated with Wood.
The image our practitioners concentrate on is that of an arrow-hitting deep into its target.

Cannon Fist is associated with Fire.
The image our practitioners concentrate on is that of a flame suddenly leaping upwards explosively.

Crossing Fist is associated with Earth.
The image our practitioners concentrate on is that of a large rock rolling down a mountain.

Ying Yee Monkey

We have three monkey forms, drunken Monkey, Wood Monkey, Stone Monkey

Our Higher animal forms are all from Luk Hup Bah Fah

Much more to come

Sifu Dee

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Last modified: 10/30/07