T.Y. Pang, Hawaii 1974
Last November I wrote about a visit with our local resident Tai Chi/Bagua Master, T.Y. Pang. For the most part, Mr. Pang is retired from teaching, but his wealth of knowledge is still available.
At the time, no video footage of Mr. Pang was available, but I just came across this remarkable example of his Bagua from 1974 while he was living and teaching in Hawaii.
Mr. Pang is a direct student of Sun Sikun, one generation removed from the famous Bagua master Cheng Ting-Hua.
Pang's teacher, Bagua Master Sun Sikun
Lineage: Bagua founder Dong Hai Chuan, to Cheng Ting Hua, to Cheng Yu Long, To Sun Sikun, to T.Y. Pang--
In the December 1991 issue of "The Pa Kua Journal", Seattle-based instructor Andrew Dale stated that "Pang's Pa Kua (Bagua) was the most intricate he has seen... Seeing Pang do Pa Kua was like watching a powerful snake coiling, attacking, twisting, darting, spinning and turning".
Pang's stepping patterns are definately the most "Yogic" in nature of all the Bagua patterns I have practiced. The kind of energy release from this movement stimulates the spine as well as every joint in the body. Now of course, my old western-type body cannot come close to replicating Pang's precision movement and supple flexibility, but I come as close as I can. As I mentioned above, I cannot overstate the kind of energy release these movements provide.
As far as application, Tim Cartmell has shown us that nearly all Bagua techniques are grappling-related, and while searching for application to imagine that you are in direct body contact with the opponent. With that in mind, you begin to see the siezing, sweeping, arm drags and other techniques. More importantly, the stepping patterns are archetypes of how to deliver power while snaking and coiling around an opponent.
I hope people will take the time to watch this spectacular example of a Bagua master in his prime, Pang's demonstration puts the "Art" in Martial Art.
You can take a look at Mr. Pang's website at THIS LINK.
