Bedrock of Baguazhang

Nine Dragon Baguazhang practitioners say that principles, not empty forms, are the true bedrock of Baguazhang.

By John P. Painter, Ph.D.

Portions of this article were excerpted from Combat Baguazhang Nine Dragon System

Volume 2 Warrior Training and Applications by John P. Painter, Ph.D. Published by

Unique Publications.

Moderation in temper is always a virtue. But moderation in principle is always a vice—Thomas Paine

Are your forms merely empty-dance moves or do they contain the real secret of Martial power? With so much of the focus of today’s martial arts directed at winning trophies and “looking good”, the real reason form was created has been lost in translation from East to West. The true secret behind martial training is in the principles of the art, not the forms. For more than 30 years I have been studying and teaching the Li family arts, an almost wholly principle-based system devised by a family of Chinese bodyguards (Baobiao) as a practical art of health and self-defense. One of my favorite of the Li family styles is that of Nine Dragon Baguazhang (Pa Kua Chang), an internal martial art noted for its use of deft footwork and the palms instead of fists for striking.

Nine Dragon Baguazhang

Nine dragon eight diagram palm boxing (jiulong baguazhang quan) is a system of internal martial arts formerly practiced by the Li family caravan escorts and bodyguards (baobiao) who lived near Emei Mountain in Sichuan Province. It is historically unclear if Nine Dragon Baguazhang is a variation of Baguazhang martial art developed by Dong, Hai-Chuan in Beijing that was adopted by the Li clan or if the Li family style stems from some other sources.

Nine Dragon Baguazhang utilized a majority of classical Baguazhang principles and training methods that are explained in terms of modern science. It is, however, not intended as a demonstration sport. The art seems to have been designed to deal in a realistic way with multiple and armed opponents in tight quarters. The art contains strikes, throws, locks and avoidance techniques, making it one of the most effective and complete close-quarter battle systems ever devised.

An abbreviated version of Nine Dragon Baguazhang is currently being taught to police, sheriffs deputies and correctional officers by the American Rangers Martial Law Enforcement Training Institute under the name of PKC. It is applicable to modern combat methods because at its core Nine Dragon Baguazhang contains layers of bedrock principles designed to build a solid foundation for mind, body and martial tactics.

What are Principles?

Rey maintains contact (1) with his attacker’s arm as he presses into him through his arm to his opponent’s spine arm with Take Spike from First Touch Principle. The continuous advance breaks Yancy’s balance point and sends him back into the bridge railing (2). Yancy counters (3) by attempting a high kick to Rey’s head. Rey lifts his left elbow, absorbing and carrying the kick harmlessly upward. His left palm begins to drop downward to scoop under Yancy’s leg with the Scooping Palm principle. Lifting his left arm as is scoops under Yancy’s leg, Rey suddenly straightens his spine (4) and employs the Ridgepole principle as he simultaneously steps forward. This action allows Rey to use the bridge rail as a central fulcrum point to throw Yancy over the railing. Understanding principles, not rehearsed forms, allow Rey and Yancy to deal with spontaneous attacks during practice and real combat situations.

A principle can be defined as a point or points of probability on a certain subject which allows for the formation of rules or laws. In martial arts certain principles are used as the underpinning or foundation of the art’s ability to function in specific ways.

Principles may be tactical as in methodologies of strategy (i.e. laws governing ways of dealing with various situations) or they may be physical rules of posture and movement that produce a desired level of speed or power.

Not all martial arts are principle based. Principle-based martial arts are few and far between. They can be defined as those that primarily focus on establishing a set of laws governing the use of mind and body to create reflexive responses to combative situations in a spontaneous way. On the physical level, principle-based arts instruct bio-mechanical skills through the use of a progressive series of simple basic exercises designed to train an understanding of body alignments for producing core skills. Without these core skills even the simplest of forms are but empty shadows that no matter how expertly they are executed cannot produce self-defense abilities or develop power and tactical strategies. The goal of principle-based training is not to learn numerous pre-arranged forms. Rather, it is to enhance spontaneous reflexive responses to non-prearranged attacks under varying conditions.

Nine Dragon Baguazhang uses a large complement of basic and advanced physical and tactical principles that allow the student to create what is called spontaneous shadow boxing (Zifa-daquan). These are exercises in which the student walks in linear or circular patterns doing combat with imaginary opponents (Huan-diren).

Unlike traditional martial forms, the student changes his defense and attack each time he trains, just as one would have to change when sparring with an unpredictable living opponent.

Three Types of Principles

Li, Long-dao, my Shifu, was very keen on understanding and absorbing combative principles (Zuozhan Yuanze) before any forms were used for this type of training. Three types of combat principles are taught in Nine Dragon Baguazhang. The first involves physical or bio-mechanical principles for creating whole-body structure and power. This is a detailed study of bio-mechanics. The second are mental principles to enhance endurance, strength and speed. This is a study that involves meditation and a Chinese form of guided imagery or Qigong. Mental principles are used to enhance physical principles. The third level is the tactical principles, which are methods of dealing with a combative situation. Tactical principles involve simple ideas used to protect the body, such as stance and posture positioning and progress to understanding such things as using the environment, crowd psychology and military tactics applied to combating multiple opponents as discussed in Sun Tzu’s book The Art of War.

Basic Baguazhang Principles

Here are two of the most-basic principles that involve both body and mind. If whole body power (Zhengti-jin) is the goal, every Chinese martial artist can benefit from understanding the concepts of the body skills to be found in six coordination’s and the eight roundings. Students must learn and use while training linear and circular walking solo exercises and practical application practice.

Baguazhang Six Coordination’s My Shifu said, “In all training of my Baguazhang you must remember that when one part moves all parts move (and) when one part stops all parts stop. All is moving or everything is still. This is the way of Jiulong.”

Nine Dragon Baguazhang seeks to unify the body to produce whole body force (Zhengti-jin). When we learn to apply our techniques and make use of the speed, momentum and mass of our body as a unified whole, the force become considerably more than if we only strike with our arms or legs.

The angles of our joints are important for creating an energy pathway (Jin-tu) from the earth to the palm, but the way all parts of the body coordinate with each other also has a bearing on our ability to create whole body power. Students should seek to follow these six coordination concepts while shifting, walking and circling.

To help understand the six coordination’s we divide the body into three sections. In the following list I begin with the classical sentence describing the principle and follow this up with a more modern explanation based on the science of biomechanics.

1. (1) Feet and (2) Palms: When the foot goes out the palm moves with it, turning and twisting each following the other like a hawk chasing a hare. This rule is important for many reasons, the first of which is that if we move our palm when we move our foot we will be able to obey Master Li’s principle of “one part moves all parts move when one part stops all parts stop”. This means that if the foot steps forward the hand should move along with it. If we are using the elbow as a weapon instead of the palm, then the elbow will move forward or back as the foot moves.

If your torso is also moving with hand and foot this helps to ensure that you can produce power supported by "whole body" mass moving as a interconnected unit."

Remember that power is the result of mass and speed arriving on the target at maximum acceleration.

2. (3) Elbows and (4) Knees: As the knees bend the elbows also bend, each lining up over the other so the force will be connected to the energy pathway (Jin-tu) from the earth to the palm. This does not necessarily imply that each time you bend your knees you have to move and bend your elbows. It refers to the gentle curving of the elbow joint at a 25-to-35-degree angle, which are matched by the bending of the knee joints at approximately the same angle. Utilizing these angles at the elbow and knee creates the energy sink concept, which places knee and elbow joints in the correct bio-mechanical position to allow kinetic force to flow smoothly through the joints with no loss of energy.

Bending elbow and knee in this way also provides a shock absorber effect for receiving force. These angles also correctly position our joints for instantaneous use of flexor and extensor muscles in the legs or arms to be engaged as needed. This is not possible if the arms are or legs are bent too far or the joints are locked out.

3. (5) Shoulders and (6) Hips: The torso is like the body of a giant serpent. It rolls and flexes, but the hips and shoulders stay closely aligned so the spine will not twist and dissipate the force during combat.

Many people believe one should twist and bend the body during combat. Chinese texts talk about turning the waist (Yao) when moving. This can be true when employing dragon body skills (Long Quti Gong) that involve absorbing or dodging incoming strikes or pushes. However, when employing impact force for striking or throwing, the torso (Qugan) will be at its strongest when our shoulders and hip move in close alignment, because the spine will be straight and correctly aligned for supporting and transferring force from the legs through the torso to the arms. If the shoulders are twisted out of line with the pelvis, the vertebra are partially rotated out of alignment. This will result in an involuntary autonomic response reduce force potential in the torso. This is a protective measure by the nervous system to prevent damage to the muscles of the spinal column.

The Eight Roundings

The second basic principle in developing what some call the Bagua body is known as the Eight Roundings. Each of these has been given to us to increase strength and whole-body power while diminishing tension. Energy and strength flow more easily through gentle curves than harsh angles. In all movements try to understand the part played by the Eight Roundings.

1. Round the shoulders.

2. Round the back and sink the chest.

3. Round the elbows and point them downward.

4. Round the pelvis by leveling the iliac crest.

5. Round (turn) the torso inward when walking and turning.

6. Round the palms and wrists.

7. Round thumb and fingers.

8. Round the legs by bending at the knees.

The Eight Roundings apply to all postures and exercises in Nine Dragon Baguazhang from standing practice to shifting, linear walking, circle walking and applications. Examine each posture you take and attempt to imbue it with the gentle curves of the Eight Roundings; these are powerful principles designed to aid in the production of correct body mechanics.

Remember to keep the back straight and head upright. This principle of the Eight Roundings aids us in understanding how to control the give-and-take action of our muscles, keeping them at just the right angle for explosive power. When one group of muscles is active or producing movement, those muscles are called the agonists. Their counterparts are called the antagonists; the two groups of muscles must work in concert to move us gracefully and efficiently. They achieve this by working in what is known as a positive antagonistic relationship: a give-and-take arrangement in which every action of the agonists is balanced by a release of the antagonists.

Balance and coordination exercises were part of early Baguazhang training . The author is shown here running the circle on stone posts.

I believe that it is more important to understand and absorb underlying principles than to demonstrate hundreds of martial art forms. Principles are the secret to developing realistic martial skills. Those wishing combative abilities must develop instantaneous reactions to an attack and to accomplish this one has to absorb basic principles of body structure, movement, power production for striking, throwing and locking, as well as understand tactical maneuvering concepts.

Early martial systems were comprised of many exercises for mind and body, all focused on preparing the student for life- or-death combat. That is why Nine Dragon Baguazhang practitioners say that principles, not empty forms, are the true bedrock of Baguazhang.

Portions of this article were excerpted from Combat Baguazhang Nine Dragon System Volume 2 Warrior Training and Applications by John P. Painter Ph.D., published by

Unique Publications.

About the Author:

John Painter is chief instructor at The Gompa center in Arlington Texas. He is an instructor with the American Rangers Martial Law Enforcement Institute, a private company engaged in training law enforcement trainers from around the world. Dr. Painter is the author of Nine Dragon Baguazhang for Street Combat, a six-volume DVD series and two new books Combat Baguazhang Nine Dragon System Volumes one and two available from Unique Publications. He is a member of the Texas Martial Arts Hall of Fame, Inside Kung-Fu Hall of Fame and the American Society of Internal Arts Hall of Fame. To learn more about the Nine Dragon Baguazhang system visit

www.thegompa.com or contact Dr. Painter at [email protected]