Customer Reviews

The Fundamentals of Pa Kua Chang: The Methods of Lu Shue-Tien As Taught by Park Bok Nam

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This book won't teach you any fancy forms, but it will teach you everything you really need to know about Pa Kua (and any other internal martial art, for that matter).

This is a book of the true fundamentals of Pa Kua. Each lesson is there to teach you to progress as smoothly and efficiently as is about humanly possible. Park really stresses the necesity of basic drills, practiced properly, to allow the body to learn to 'relax' enough for efficient martial use. Exercises begin with footwork drills, progress to combined footwork drills, and then to basic palm techniques. Later both the combined footwork and palm techniques are combined.

Also taught in this book is basic Pa Kua Chi Kung, enough for the beginner to develope a feel for Chi flow and are sufficient exercises for Chi development until the practice of one's martial techniques take over one's Chi work.

There is a Volume 2, but it doesn't seem to be listed here at Amazon.com as of this review. This is as good as Volume 1, but isn't needed until you've absorbed everything from Vol.1 (good luck!)

Again, if I had to own only one book on internal martial arts I would most certainly make it this one. No art is ever any better than its basics. So, the more strongly developed your basics, the more developed your skill will be. I feel this is the best book from which to learn those basics.

I am a practitioner of I-Chuan and Pa-Kua in Hong Kong. I have bought almost every chinese Pa-Kua books published in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China. This book had been recommended to me many times by my friends, but I was still reluctant to buy it, thinking that not much more could be learned, not to mention my more than ten years efforts in finding and seeing many of the well-known masters both in Hong Kong and China. One very important thing I've learned over these years is that the esoteric teachings of internal martial arts had been developed most of the time by teachers who did not have the real skills but wanted to cheat for more students. I was amazed at how earthly and scientific this book has finally explained the real mechanics for the tremendous striking power of internal martial arts, it tells you which muscles to use instead of the apparent movements of the body. This book teaches in the same way and language of every real masters I've met - no hype, no lengthy discussion at qi(though I do not deny the role of qi in internal martial arts)which could not been verified anyhow, but every instruction is consistent with morden physics and human biology. I'm very happy at the fact that this book is not written by a chinese, which symbolizes the art of Pa Kua has truly been taught and spread to other parts of the world.

Martial arts in general has two distinct facets: the internal arts, which ultimately tend toward spiritual and theoretical issues, and external arts, focusing upon training and competition. Typically these lead to divisiveness in the martial arts community. Resolving these two sides of the same coin, on an individual level, is a difficult and often frustrating issue.

Pa-Kua Chang is a style dedicated to incorporating both of these aspects of the martial arts. Its skilled practitioners can easily confound some of the best stylists from other disciplines. The techniques are extremely efficient and systematic. At the same time, internal cultivation is emphasized as a key to development physically as well as spiritually. Both sides are necessary.

This work on Pa-Kua Chang introduces the reader to the many diverse facets of this style. Tradition, theory, internalization, physical considerations, are all interwoven into a complete and self-contained foundational work.

Many of the details (read: secrets) one may wish from a martial arts book are necessarily missing. After all, true martial functionality is a social aspect of life, between two (or more) intelligent beings. Exercises and basics are described herein, so that the seeker has tools with which to pursue higher degrees of refinement. Nothing in this work is glossed over, however. Reaching a high level of proficiency of even the basic exercises outlined takes tremendous discipline and dedication. One can seek out further instruction in the interim.

~I'm finally glad they got Vol. 1 on this website. I'd written a review for Vol.2 awhile ago, but had to imply that there was a Vol.1 to be read, as well. It's been a while, and others have already gotten to it, but I thought I'd plug in my 2 cents...

WONDERFUL!

In retrospect, there is some mystery here. BaGua, as with many Chinese martial arts styles, is all about your instructor, your instructor's instructor, etc.. Your lineage is key. BaGua has a very complex geneaology, stemming~~ from Dong Hai Chuan (various phonetic spellings) the legendary Grandmaster. In fact, two key branches of BaGua (since Dong Hai Chuan only taught experienced martial artists-- most whom he purportedly defeated in combat) are those that seem very BaGua like, and those that seem Hsing-Yi-ified. Those are my terms. In my experience, you can take the forty or so BaGua styles, and classify them as fairly "pure" BaGua (circular, evasive, fine, intricate), and those that have integreated~~ significant Hsing-Yi principles-- linear, power, direct.

Park Bok Nam's style is more pure BaGua in terms of evasiveness, footwork, and hand-techniques. His teacher, the legendary Lu Shue-Tien, is a bit of an unknown... Even in this book, there is no real claim as to who taught Lu Shue-Tien. Other sources I have speculate...

That being said, this book is a wonderful, detailed work that describes basic techniques-- footwork, some foot-trapping, and elementary strikes down to the~~ smallest level of biomechanics. How to move your feet, knees, pelvis, abdoman, to generate power, for example. In more detail than in any other book on any other style I've ever read. Superb for anyone who is trying to understand the underlying principles of this art, or even for the advanced practitioner trying to compare this or that, or to glean insights.

This is not a forms book. Park Bok Nam gives some simple palm changes that are basically qi gong postures with circle walking. ~~ It's a mechanics book. A superb one.

Finally, the lineage is important. BaGua varies significantly from style to style. The techniques can be dramatically different, as can the mechanics at the more superficial level. But I think from a basic concepts level, the biomechanics are all pretty much the same. So this is an insight into one family, not all. But I think confining it to mechanics kept it manageable, and pure. No hullabaloo or flash. And eminently useful.

Wonderful,~~ clearly written, adequate pictures (get the videos for better illustration of Park's technique). A must for the martial artist.~

This is a detailed and in-depth but very readable book on this still little known form of Chinese boxing, tai chi and even hsing-i still being probably better known outside of China, although none of the so-called internal boxing arts are still as well known in the west as kung-fu.

After an introduction and chapter on the history of the art and the exploits of Master Lu Shui T'ien, the senior author's teacher, the writers launch into a discussion of the techniques and philosophy of pa kua. Chapters cover footwork and stepping methods, hand and palm training, body training, pa kua philosophy, the production of chi energy, and a final chapter on pa kua chi kung methods.

Pa kua is most known for its unique stepping and footwork and I was most interested in that, and the book has a nice 50-page chapter on it. The descriptions of several stepping and circle methods were very clear and so were the illustrations and diagrams. However, it would be very difficult for someone who hadn't actually seen a practitioner stepping the circle to get an idea of what it's really like from just reading; but as I'd seen it before that wasn't a problem for me.

Compared to karate, kung fu and other martial arts, pa kua is most likely to strike while moving or stepping rather than being planted in a rooted or powerful stance. Although I was exposed to pa kua many years ago when I was intensively studying wu-style tai chi and chin na, I was most interested in the stepping methods and whether they could be adapted to the system of knife-fighting and knife-fighting defenses I've developed over the last 25 years, which are a combination of escrima/kali, Indonesian silat, European fencing, and American Bowie-style methods. I'd already incorporated several pa kua turning and stepping methods into the system and was interested in whether the book might show me anything new or different, and I may have gotten a few extra ideas for things that might work, although I was familiar with most of the material from my previous studies.

So although my main interest is not in pa kua I still found the book useful as an interesting review of the material, and as I said, may have picked up some things that might be useful in my present teaching and training in karate, kobudo weapons, and the knife.

If you're beginner to intermediate practitioner this is still a good book with much good information and I can highly recommend it. Also, the first chapter on Master Lu's adventures and exploits, and his ideas and approach to training (which was very strict in those days) make for entertaining reading.

I purchased vol. 1 and 2. This book was extremely well written and articulate. It clearly sums up Chinese philosophy, (an inherently formidable task), and applies it directly to the martial art form. It's one thing to read history or didactic technicalities, but the authors ability to concisely present the philosophy in a fashion that is directly applicable was nothing short of heroic!

This book is an absolute must for practitioners and teachers of the Chinese martial art of bagwa or Pa Kua Chang. It will crystallize the meaning and substance of movements for students - For teachers it will help forge much better instructors.

If you have never practiced bagwa, (Pa Kua, BaGua or Bagwachang, etc.), I would suggest you go elsewhere to learn about this unique system of martial art.

If anyone has a question about it, feel free to drop me an email!

I am a practitioner of I-Chuan and Pa-Kua in Hong Kong. I have bought almost every chinese Pa-Kua books published in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China. This book had been recommended to me many times by my friends, but I was still reluctant to buy it, thinking that not much more could be learned, not to mention my more than ten years efforts in finding and seeing many of the well-known masters both in Hong Kong and China. One very important thing I've learned over these years is that the esoteric teachings of internal martial arts had been developed most of the time by teachers who did not have the real skills but wanted to cheat for more students. I was amazed at how earthly and scientific this book has finally explained the real mechanics for the tremendous striking power of internal martial arts, it tells you which muscles to use instead of the apparent movements of the body. This book teaches in the same way and language of every real masters I've met - no hype, no lengthy discussion at qi(though I do not deny the role of qi in internal martial arts)which could not been verified anyhow, but every instruction is consistent with morden physics and human biology. I'm very happy at the fact that this book is not written by a chinese, which symbolizes the art of Pa Kua has truly been taught and spread to other parts of the world.

the absolute best! Put very simply, if you have studied internal kung fu, or any style of kung fu for that matter, and want to get REALLY good, study this book and then apply it! All aspects of your training will be greatly enhanced.

I am a practitioner of I-Chuan and Pa-Kua in Hong Kong. I havebought almost every chinese Pa-Kua books published in Hong Kong,Taiwan, and China. This book had been recommended to me many times bymy friends, but I was still reluctant to buy it, thinking that notmuch more could be learned, not to mention my more than ten yearsefforts in finding and seeing many of the well-known masters both inHong Kong and China. One very important thing I've learned over theseyears is that the esoteric teachings of internal martial arts had beendeveloped most of the time by teachers who did not have the realskills but wanted to cheat for more students. I was amazed at howearthly and scientific this book has finally explained the realmechanics for the tremendous striking power of internal martial arts,it tells you which muscles to use instead of the apparent movements ofthe body. This book teaches in the same way and language of every realmasters I've met - no hype, no lengthy discussion at qi ...which could not beenverified anyhow, but every instruction is consistent with mordenphysics and human biology. I'm very happy at the fact that this bookis not written by a chinese, which symbolizes the art of Pa Kua hastruly been taught and spread to other parts of the world.

The Park Bok Nam book on the fundametals of bagua chang is the best book I have seen to date on the subject. I also have the companion videos and the combination of the books and videos is a fantastic instructional tool.