215. Genchitaofu Baguazhang's Gong - 艮氣道福八卦掌の功 (part 1/2)

Nobody can tell you how hard you have to work. Nobody can tell you how much effort you have to put into it. And nobody can tell you how to do it. But the numbers never ever lie. If your goal is to be a gongfu master as in what gongfu actually means, then you will have to face the truth and the facts. And just because baguazhang is an internal martial art, that is no excuse for not putting in the work required. I may, from time to time, sound a bit batshit crazy and off my nut, but even I understand the rules to becoming a gongfu master. Some people have told me that the Chinese character 'gong' as in gongfu and qigong, is a pictograph of a tilled soil line and a plough. And that gong speaks of results: Either you have ploughed the field or you have not. With baguazhang, it's quite simple. A baguazhang practitioner who has reached the level of gongfu will display these signs: 1. They will, without forethought, stand in the baguazhang pose when fighting; 2. They will move in a circular motion; 3. They will almost never use fists, but will hit and block with palms. And all these movements will seem natural to them and their bodies will match the part as well. All of these things do not require Daoist or Zen-like justifications. It just is so. What gets a lot of martial artists in trouble, is their inability to face facts. Not just external reality as in being overweight and unfit, and thinking they can take down a young man in his prime, but also the internal reality of telling everybody they're gonna be a master when they train like it's just a hobby. Because to be a master of baguazhang, you will have to: 1. Train every single fucking day including the days you don't feel like it; 2. Stop putting shit in your lungs; 3. Lay off the alcohol most of the time; 4. Change your diet because your diet nearly always affects your ability to do the moves either physically or mentally; and... 5. You will have to associate with the right kinds of people that want or have what you want. It's all about the standards you keep, and here I am only discussing the physical part of being a gongfu master.