Bagua Daoyin: A Unique Branch of Daoist Learning--A Secret Skill of the Palace [Paperback]

Jinghan He (Author), He Jinghan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2008

Bagua Daoyin emphasizes the perception and training of muscles (jin), bones (gu) and skin (pi), and combines elements of fitness, martial arts and medical science in order to promote harmony and balance in the body and mind. Master He, a fifth generation practitioner of the BaguaQuan line, sets out a programme of study underpinned by theory. He explains the development of Bagua Daoyin from a refinement of Daoist studies into a method of training the body and mind in which every external movement is echoed in the inner tissue of the body. Bagua Daoyin opens up the joints of the body and relaxes the muscles, encouraging an awareness of the body and posture at all times. With simple body movements, one can channel the hidden flow of Qi, or energy, and blood, giving a new lease of life to zones of the body that have lost their vitality and promoting a sense of tranquillity. This fully illustrated guide to Bagua Daoyin will be essential reading for Bagua and Tai Chi practitioners at all levels, students of martial arts and anyone interested in Chinese culture.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

He Jinghan is a fifth generation practitioner of the BaguaQuan lineage. At the age of 15, he started studying Yang style TaijiQuan but after six or seven years came to a standstill and stopped improving. For several years he tried other styles of TaijiQuan, as well as XingyiQuan, ShaolinQuan and others but they were not his answers. When he was 23, he was introduced to Master Gong BaoZhai and began to specialize in Bagua. He became a disciple of Master Gong at the age of 24. For 23 years he studied this way until his teacher's death. He Jinghan now focuses his attentions on the cultivation of the arts and the promotion of the BaguaDaoyin.

About the Author

He Jinghan is a fifth generation practitioner of the BaguaQuan lineage. At the age of 15, he started studying Yang style TaijiQuan but after six or seven years came to a standstill and stopped improving. For several years he tried other styles of TaijiQuan, as well as XingyiQuan, ShaolinQuan and others but they were not his answers. When he was 23, he was introduced to Master Gong BaoZhai and began to specialize in Bagua. He became a disciple of Master Gong at the age of 24. For 23 years he studied this way until his teacherâ s death. He Jinghan now focuses his attentions on the cultivation of the arts and the promotion of the BaguaDaoyin.

Product Details

• Paperback: 148 pages
• Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Publishers (June 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1848190093
• ISBN-13: 978-1848190092
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 7.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,466,675 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Deceptive and misleading, July 29, 2008

By 

Monki "9" (uk) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bagua Daoyin: A Unique Branch of Daoist Learning--A Secret Skill of the Palace (Paperback)

This book will not teach anyone Dao yin, of any kind. The majority of the book is a collection of essays translated from a book in Chinese by He Jinghan. The translator is the father of a student of master He, who had "little experience of Chinese martial arts(pg 9)" before attempting the translation. This shows.

If you are involved in neijia chuan, neigong, qigong etc then this part of the book may well be helpful as an aid to your studies, or might not.

However the actual set of exercises is shown only through photo's with little or no description, let alone ANY explanation of HOW to perform these movements. Quite often you just have three photos on a page and NO text of any kind, or simply "Hug the body, it needs to be very relaxed(pg 125)". As such i find it highly doubtful anyone would be able to learn anything of actual value from attempts to use it as a learning tool (i don't even think the photo sequence would be great as a reminder for those studying this 'dao yin' set).

Granted the photo's are well shot, but the sequencing of them with no markers for changes of direction or 'the movement in between' simply leaves them as nothing other than a pretty presentation of someone going through a Chinese set of exercises. The description of "sequences of photographs set out a programme of study, showing the beauty of the movements, and the positions and transitions the practitioner is aiming for (Backcover)" is highly deceptive and misleading.

If you already know qigong, neigong, etc then maybe you could use that knowledge and understanding to piece together this sequence of movements, but then why bother you would be better off sticking to what you have already learned. I have no doubt that this 'daoyin' would be good to learn from Master He jinghan, but you won't do it through this book.

As such i find this book, which advertises itself as introducing and teaching ba gua dao yin, as deceptive and misleading as it does nothing of the sort. I am not even sure why the authors use the term 'dao yin' except to capitalize upon the rarity of the term these days. It at most discusses concepts commonly found in qigong and neigong, which can also be found in many other books.

This book, while nicely presented is style over substance, there is FAR better out there.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Full of Sound and Fury, sifnigying nothing..., May 18, 2009

By 

Doc S "Doc S" (Cheyenne, Wy. United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bagua Daoyin: A Unique Branch of Daoist Learning--A Secret Skill of the Palace (Paperback)

This book was quite a disappointment. Things are presented w/o reason or context; thus, one would get the idea that BaGua was an isolated series of

odd movements that were "supposed to do something for you". While I don't think the author intended to give that impression, the pictures and text are next to worthless for anything other than a curiosity. The book does not teach; nither does it demonstrate. Thus, BaGua is even more mysterious than it needs to be...

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars OK for someone familiar with Master He, February 16, 2009

By 

Richard C. Rhiew - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bagua Daoyin: A Unique Branch of Daoist Learning--A Secret Skill of the Palace (Paperback)

I just got this today. I think this is a good book--not great--for someone( like me) who has studied this particular style of bagua. I've also met He Jing Han and studied with him once. However, the first reviewer is correct in his criticism: the back cover is very misleading with "highly illustrated"--yes, a lot of nice pics but a novice to this art would never be able to learn from these since there is no actual "programme of study" and no "transitions" that can be learned from still pics. In my opinion, one can never learn transitional movements from still pics of any movement art without prior experience in that art.

For someone familiar with Gong Baozhai lineage baguaquan, this book might be useful. I found several snippets of wisdom in the various essays although the majority of the text was not enlightening or new to me. For someone from a different bagua or martial art, this book is probably just confusing because it does not convey at all how to learn the beautiful movements shown by Master He in any practical way. And since this particular bagua lineage is different from other lineages, attempts to copy such movements without understanding the core principles would be pointless.