《意拳要點》王薌齋（何鏡平錄）
This article is part 6 of the Good Work Library collection Yiquan and Dachengquan - Texts of Wang Xiangzhai and the Lineage.
The English translation was prepared directly from the captured Traditional Chinese source text. The Chinese source text follows the colophon.
General Rules
Take form as the body, intention as the use, and stillness as harmony.
Take intention from form; image form by intention. Form turns according to intention. Intention is born from form. Posture follows intention. Force issues from intention.
Looseness is tightness, and tightness is looseness. Looseness and tightness, tightness and looseness, must not pass the proper mark.
Solidity is emptiness, and emptiness is solidity. Solidity and emptiness, emptiness and solidity, must obtain central evenness.
Movement is stillness, and stillness is movement. Movement and stillness, stillness and movement, mutually root and use one another.
Guarding is striking, and striking is guarding. When the hand issues, there is the place.
Seek movement within stillness; seek stillness within movement. In movement, nonmovement gives movement stillness. In stillness, nonstillness gives stillness movement. Stillness within movement is true stillness. Movement within stillness is true movement. Movement and stillness mutually root, crossing and weaving in use.
Spirit does not overflow outward. Intention does not reveal form. Form does not break the body. Force does not come out to a point.
Inside is empty and void; outside is shed and transformed. At every moment, pay attention, and the whole body is light and numinous.
Standing Methods
Stand in good posture. Enlarge the intention. Begin first from the head, gradually making the pores of the whole body release, with the feeling of through-hall wind brushing through. Then extend left and right, lift and stretch the muscles of the neck so that they change. Seek to reach the feeling of empty numinosity guarding silence, concrete ease and rising, and hairs like spears.
When first practicing, it is suitable to look far away, quietly observe the universe, and silently think of the whole mechanism. If one feels lazy, again let the whole body stretch and release. The body-form is centered and upright, the belly inside is empty, and one is leisurely and swaying as if floating in great space.
Continuous as if existing, seeming to be and seeming not to be, the body is inside a great furnace and smelting vessel; there is nothing it does not contain.
During practice there must be no attached mind. Seek reality from empty nonbeing. Do not cling to appearances. What clings to appearances is not true.
Spirit moves. Intention moves. Strength moves.
Strength breaks, but intention does not break. Intention breaks, but spirit still connects.
The bodily form does not move. Intention does not stay. Spirit is full and abundant. Qi and blood are like a vast ocean, with magnificent waves, rolling on without end.
Compare the heart to a furnace. Mixed thoughts are like snowflakes flying thickly; when they enter the furnace, they melt. Thus the heart and chest open wide, courage and qi grow strong, upright qi flourishes, and deviant qi naturally fails. It is like the fierce sun overhead and dense fog dispersing. Comfortable and slow, one answers the inexhaustible. During movement, preserve whole-roundness. Movements are as one, not bound by form, not attached. Not one method is set up; no method is unprepared.
Seek upright lifting within release and stillness. Seek comfort and release within movement. In silence, regulate the breath. Warm-nourish inside and outside. Inside is light and relaxed; outside is shed and transformed. From movement enter stillness, approaching spirit-clarity, making qi, blood, and muscles dwell within the misted beginning of the primordial. Life is born without cease. Though numinosity is stored and there is movement, one must still preserve the original condition within stillness.
Spirit moving is obtained beyond appearances. Intention stored has its marvel within no-thought.
Seek only fullness of spirit and intention; do not seek resemblance of bodily form.
In standing practice, the method of regulating single and double weighting without leaning or deviation makes the blood flow of the whole body bend and turn on suitable routes. One must make bent surfaces obtain force. Nowhere is there not a distinction of single and double weighting, looseness and tightness, emptiness and solidity, lightness and heaviness. Regulation has divisions of nourishing rest, treatment, and training. In short, posture is set according to illness and differs according to the person.
To strengthen training, one must first remove fatigue. Only then can training be strengthened. In general, leave surplus strength and surplus pleasure. It is suitable not to exceed the body's capacity to bear.
During practice, do not be anxious. First find a suitable place. Gather spirit, quiet the mind, regulate the breath, and stand. The body should be upright. The two feet separate level with the shoulders. All the body's joints contain a little meaning of seeming bent but not straight. Inside is empty and numinous; outside is clear and void. The two hands slowly and lightly lift upward, no higher than the brows and no lower than the navel. The arms are half round; the armpits are half empty. The left hand does not come to the right side of the body; the right hand does not go to the left side of the body. Drawing inward, they do not touch the body. Pushing outward, they do not pass one foot. The two hands change within the range. Do not calculate whether the posture is good or bad, complicated or simple, or what its order is. One must observe whether the whole body, inside and outside, obtains force or not. Guard ordinariness and do not love strangeness. The extraordinary is originally extremely plain.
This exercise may truly be called rare. It does not use the brain and does not expend force. Walking, standing, sitting, and lying can all be practiced. Within this are stored infinite spiritual thought, refined gold, and beautiful jade. Drilling into it gives birth to natural delight. Who can know that this kind of self-enjoyment can direct the force of empty space and the universe? The pleasure of training is hard to compare. Floating and vast, let it go as it will. Essence and force are full; spirit is not tired. Pay attention to the headtop as if tied by a thread. The whole body is released and clean; force is like mud. With wisdom-eye, silently observe the system of cells. Like drunk, like dazed, like mad, like foolish: empty numinosity alone remains, leisurely and mutually dependent, immersed in wide sea and empty sky, washing the ten thousand thoughts. Let sun, moon, stars, and planets turn as they will. If only one stands with constancy, there will be comfort beyond imagining. This is the secret formula not transmitted by those before.
Combat
Outline
Head upright, eyes correct, spirit solemn, voice quiet. Stillness, respect, emptiness, urgency, reverence, caution, intention, harmony.
All joints of the body are form bent and force straight; spirit released and intention tight; muscles contain force; bones hide edges. Spirit is like a misted leopard, qi like a soaring dragon. Spirit and intention release like a great wind rolling up a tree, about to fly up from the ground. The force of twisting, swinging, and shaking sideways cannot be opened by collision or scattered by rushing. Deeply quiet and silent, steady as Mount Tai. Outward form is clumsy; intention-force is nimble. Seek the extraordinary in the ordinary; seek the concrete in the abstract.
Sinews hide strength; bones hide edges. Leisurely and mutually dependent, empty numinosity alone remains. The hairs of the whole body stand upright like spears. The teeth want to bite through sinews; the claws want to pierce bone; the hair wants to thrust through the cap.
Eagle eyes, ape spirit, cat walking, horse running. Rise like lifting a cauldron; fall like splitting bricks. Chicken legs, snake body.
Movement and stillness, emptiness and solidity, fast and slow, looseness and tightness, advance and retreat, turning and side, vertical and horizontal, high and low, contending and gathering, strong release, drumming and stirring, opening and closing, extending and contracting, pressing and raising, lifting and settling, swallowing and spitting, yin and yang, deviant and proper, long and short, large and small, hard and soft: all are contradictions among contradictions, crossing and weaving. Having achieved round fusion, turn back and study the first step.
If high, raise the body as though it means to lengthen and gather. If low, contract the body as though it has the form of drilling, lifting, and releasing. If vertical, release its momentum, bravely going forward and searching without return. If horizontal, wrap its force. Opening, closing, separating, and contending force, looking sideways left and right, there is none who dares resist.
The feet occupy seven parts; the hands occupy three. The body is like bow and crossbow; the fist is like a bullet.
Shoulders brace, elbows spread, fingers bend, head lifts. Increase the top-shrinking force still more. Waist and hips are like wheels, twisting, filing, lifting, spiraling, crossing and exchanging. Knees lift and feet raise. The force of the whole body is like drawing silk.
Stillness is like the tide rising; movement is like wind and cloud.
The manner is like a scholar or a young woman, yet great enough to compare with the great king of Chu. One scolding shout shakes wind and cloud. The spirit is heroic, open, powerful, and strong. On meeting the enemy in contact, be like tiger and wolf. Lift the step, light and heavy, as if walking over a ravine ten thousand fathoms deep. On one side, drum; on one side, swing. There is no point in the whole body that is not a spring. Teeth clasp, feet grasp, hairs like golden spears. As soon as there is tactile awareness, immediately tighten and open, like gunpowder exploding. Explosive force issues, but intention does not die. Formless mechanism and change are deeply hidden in the dark. Guard carefully in dodging, extending, advancing, and retreating. Striking and guarding, front and side, do not yield even a hair of emptiness. If forces are equal, one must see what the opponent is like. The outgoing momentum is like an eagle-hawk descending into a chicken yard. Overturning rivers and seas, there is no need to hurry. The crimson phoenix facing the sun occupies the strong posture. Pluck, drill, twist, and file to cut off flying locusts. Hook, cross, blade, and fork rise together. Legs and feet lift and contract like a mantis. Infer the direction of the enemy's force, observe the opportunity of his incoming momentum, and measure the short and long of one's own body. The posture is like a dragon-colt twisting a silk rein; valley answers and mountain shakes when one collision begins.
Boxing Forms
Hibernating Dragon Probes Its Head. Advancing and retreating, rolling the arms. Blue Sea Dragon Chant. Wave Sudden-Bowing.
Half-Window Watching Rain. Rabbit Rises, Hawk Falls. Chasing the Mouse Down to the Ground. Reining the Horse and Listening to Wind.
Startled Snake Meets the Enemy. Angry Tiger Searches the Mountain. Lifting the Bow to Catch the Fox. White Ape Fights the Crane.
Testing Force
Experience first from nonmovement, then recognize from subtle movement. Want to move and yet want to stop. Want to stop and yet want to move. There is the intention of having to stop within movement and having to move within stopping.
Body movement is action; movement is still guarding. Stillness is issuing. Movement and stillness mutually root and use one another; turned upside down, they change without fixedness.
When moving, there is the feeling of strange delight growing everywhere. The four limbs and hundred bones finally return to one line. Action is like wading through mud; moving strength is like drawing silk.
When moving, do not scatter the even integration of nonmovement. When not moving, do not reduce the force of movement. The cleverness of its function is obtained through experience.
When the upper wants to move, the lower naturally follows. When the lower wants to move, the upper naturally leads. Upper and lower move, and the middle attacks. The middle attacks, and upper and lower join. Inside and outside connect. Front, back, left, and right all respond and move. This is testing the function of force. Force is known through testing, and from knowing one uses it.
Issuing Force
When one's own body starts force, ask whether there is front-back, left-right, and up-down balance and even integration; whether there is concrete spiral and crossed-woven force; whether there is the force that is nowhere not wave-like; whether it is light, relaxed, accurate, and inertial force that is fast within slowness; whether it is force started by instinct, not expected and yet so, not known to arrive and yet arriving.
Pay attention to the looseness and tightness of single and double weighting. Single and double weighting do not refer only to hands and feet. Head, body, hands, feet, shoulders, elbows, knees, hips, large and small joints, the four limbs and hundred bones, even subtle point-force, all have distinctions of single and double weighting, looseness and tightness, emptiness and solidity, lightness and heaviness. Brace three and embrace seven; front four and back six; turn upside down and use them mutually.
Issuing force may be formed or formless, intentional or unintentional, with fixed position or no fixed position, automatic or passive, whole-body or local. In application, each must be discussed separately. After all kinds of foundations are complete, then study light, relaxed, accurate, concrete, and subtle force. The weight of the two feet is never fixed. Whether issuing force with an advancing step, retreating step, following step, crossing step, or the hundred kinds of issuing force front, back, left, right, above, and below, one must use the front step as the back step, the back step as the front step, the front step as the front step of the back step, and the back step as the back step of the front step. They turn upside down and mutually interact, using emptiness and solidity. Front and back forces cross, making it impossible for people to grasp. Bracing-and-embracing force is opening-and-closing force.
Actual Practice
The path of boxing-striking values spirit. Inside must lift; outside must follow. Hands and feet arriving together is the true method. Intention must be far; qi must urge. The fist is like a cannon; the snake coils its body. Answering the enemy is like the body catching fire. Full splendor must strengthen the bones; adorning appearance must express truth. Strategy must plan far. Spirit is like splitting thunder. A poisonous heart is called the best strategy; fierce hands are what overcome people. What is dodging? What is entering? Entering is dodging, and dodging is entering. There is no need to seek far away or value beauty. What is striking? What is guarding? Guarding is striking, and striking is guarding. When the hand issues, there is the place. Force is like gunpowder and the fist like a bullet. When the numinous mechanism moves, even a bird can hardly fly.
If the enemy does not move, I am sunk and still. If the enemy moves slightly, I issue first.
Unmoving, be like a scholar. Once moving, be like dragon and tiger. Issuing movement is like sudden thunder, faster than the ears can cover.
The hands must be nimble, the feet must be light. Advance, retreat, and turn like the shape of a cat. The body must be upright; the eyes gather essence. When hands and feet arrive together, one is certain to win. If the hand arrives but the step does not, striking a person has no marvel. If the hand arrives and the step also arrives, striking a person is like pulling grass. Strike the throat above and the genitals below. The left and right ribs are in the center. A fist striking a zhang away is not far; what is near lies within one inch. The hand going out is like a giant cannon rushing straight; the foot falling is like a great tree planting root. The eyes must be poisonous; the hands must be treacherous. The step treads the center gate, drills into the center of gravity, and seizes the enemy's position. Even a spirit-immortal would find it hard to guard against.
A sparrow-hawk enters the forest; a swallow skims the water. A tiger catches a flock of sheep and shakes its awe. To take victory, the four tips must all align. If one does not win, there must be doubt in the heart. Make sound in the east and strike the west; point south and strike north. Above empty and below solid, the numinous mechanism reflects by itself. The left fist comes out and the right fist arrives. One hand arrives and both hands come. The fist goes from the heart hollow and issues toward the tip of the nose. The nose is the central earth, the source from which the ten thousand things are produced. Break open the center and the whole body is ruined. The two hands join and go out toward the face, naturally holding fast the five gates. The body is like a bow or crossbow; the fist is like a bullet. When the string sounds, the bird falls, and strange freshness is seen. Meeting an enemy is like the body catching fire; strike through hard and enter with nothing blocking.
In pushing hands, the heart must preserve the position of one's own centerline from violation. One must also use the greatest ability to control the opponent's centerline. The two hands never leave the area of the opponent's nose and mouth. Intention is like leading an ox, letting me do as I wish.
In pushing hands, one must pay still more attention to footwork seizing position. Often advancing half a step or retreating half a step is already enough to strike the opponent out. It does not lie in whether the arm movement is large or small.
Force issuing occurs in one instant. It is formed and formless, intentional and unintentional, with fixed position and without fixed position, whole-body and local, automatic and passive, concrete and subtle. When using force, it is mostly lifting, resisting, pushing, spiraling, scooping, chopping, drilling, and stabbing.
Forces
General List
Chopping, scooping, moving, plucking, bracing, extending, resisting, crossing, shaking.
Following, lifting, sliding, scraping, contracting, rolling, crossing, scooping, twisting.
Sinking, supporting, separating, closing, seizing, sudden settling, swallowing, spitting.
Distribution
Head: bracing, twisting, lifting, contracting. Shoulder: bracing.
Elbow: crossing. Wrist: hooking, crossing, gathering, resisting.
Waist: shaking, spiraling. Hip: sitting, filing, suspending or spiraling, lifting.
Knee: bracing, lifting. Ankle: blade, fork, separating, stabbing.
Use
Whole-round contending force: contending force is contention everywhere. In the four limbs and hundred bones, the large and small joints, there is no place that does not contend. What is called empty-empty, solid-solid, loose-loose, tight-tight is in reality contending force. Without contention it cannot be used. In the universe there is no place without contention; in the human body's four limbs and hundred bones there is no time without contention. In short, it is whole-round one contention.
Response with the great atmosphere: make the great atmosphere and the human body have a responsive relation. In one movement and one stillness, both can be used, and one makes it respond. After standing practice for a long time, the inside expands day by day and there is a feeling of connection with the great atmosphere. At this time it is easy to enter the gate.
Whole-muddled contrary body: in every place in the whole body, it is as if there are no gaps. Everywhere there is contrary force. No matter where a strike comes from, one is not afraid. There is no very smooth force, and yet it is extremely smooth. This too is a force unified out of contradiction.
Movement and stillness mutually root: movement and stillness are one whole, mutually serving as root. Movement is stillness; stillness is movement. One movement and one stillness mutually root. Looseness is tightness; tightness is looseness. Looseness and tightness, tightness and looseness, must not pass the proper mark. Emptiness is solidity; solidity is emptiness. Emptiness and solidity, solidity and emptiness, must obtain central evenness. This is the same meaning. Acting force and acting force set up complex, interwoven action.
Strong release originally the same: if force is not strong and gathered, the force of release will not be great. It must be strongly obtained before the released force is great. If you want to release, first gather strongly. If you want to gather strongly, first release.
Being and nonbeing unified: being and nonbeing are one thing. Only when this thing is present can one see its absence. Formed things will ultimately vanish. From formed things one can see the things that are not there. If there were no nonbeing, one would not know what might yet come out. In short, once there is being, there will be a day of nonbeing. It should be used flexibly. This is the same as human feeling and principle. A proud and arrogant person is certainly disliked by others. The more modest a person is, the more he receives respect, and in people's hearts and eyes he is present. Learning, material things, affairs, and human feelings are all like this.
Following force by moving opposite: when the hand pulls backward, force goes far outward. When the hand points forward, force comes backward.
Hook, cross, blade, and fork: this includes both formed and formless sides. Speaking from image, the hand going out is like a steel file, and the hand returning is like a hooked pole, though in reality neither has yet moved. The whole body seems to have raised great waves, though no one can see them. The force of the whole body makes the hairs like spears; on the arms it is as if there are blades and forks everywhere. This aspect is sometimes not easy to describe. Within it there is also spiritual force. The formless is an imagined setting of intention. It should not truly be made outwardly. Between intentional and unintentional, it does not reveal form.
The movement of nonmovement: the more the outer form does not move, the faster the inside moves. When the outside moves a great deal, the inside instead moves slowly. The reason is that one does not know how to move. What is called knowing how to move is being able, within one movement and one stillness, to grasp the principle that movement is stillness and stillness is movement. A person who does not know how to move should especially not move when first practicing. The movement of nonmovement is the living and unceasing movement. Once there is movement, true movement is destroyed. If a person knows how to move, will the inside then be even faster? This depends on how one moves. If one can move by imagined borrowing, then head, hands, feet, body, shoulders, elbows, knees, and hips can all borrow. Spirit moves, intention moves, force moves, but it is not made in outward form. Then the force is greatest. It should not be looked at from form. This too is the meaning of movement and stillness mutually rooting. The two words movement and stillness, when studied, have no end; when done, they are still more complex.
Slant and straight mutually consult: the slanted surface is the front surface, and the front surface is also the slanted surface. Because the support surfaces differ, all the body's force and joints influence one another. But one must reach the point where force is round. One movement is horizontal; horizontal is the front surface. One action is the slanted surface. Yet during action, people cannot see it. It is only a tight crossing of the positions of front and slanted surface.
Many-sided spiral: with the slightest movement in any part of the whole body, there is spiral force. The reason this force forms is that in any movement, the large and small joints of the whole body must all have supporting force, and all parts form obtuse triangles. At this time, force wants to expand and wants to gather, so every part of the whole body gives rise to spiral force. Even below the legs it should be like this. This force is like electricity: when a person touches it, he is sprung far away. When using this force, the whole body must certainly form obtuse triangles, and then suddenly change direction. Like an explosion, with one peng it issues spiral force.
Surface-area emptiness and solidity: it is not enough to explain surface-area emptiness and solidity with phrases such as "not having flat surface area" and "not being fixed." The main thing is to make the muscles of every part of the whole body preserve a state like a pearl in a dish, always rolling, with no time of stopping.
Form bent, force straight: if form is not bent, force is not straight, and there is no way to truly use strength. The study of art is also like this. If one makes a straight surface, there is no response front, back, left, or right. If form is bent, there is force front, back, left, and right, and it can be used wherever it arrives. If form is not bent, the body is certainly broken and force naturally comes out to a point. This kind of force has no use; it may be dissolved by another before it can even be used. If form is bent, force has no direction, and can be used on all four sides. It is like a painter painting a stone: if he paints it round, it has no meaning. It must have bends and folds, and no flat surface is allowed. In short, if there is flat surface area, there is no force, and therefore its function is not great.
"Rising and falling," "advancing and retreating," "swallowing and spitting" express the general meaning of emptiness and solidity. Straight force is not easy to describe. Straight force can only be said to have force in every direction, and can also be called round force. Though it goes straight, it contains spiral force, forming wave-like advance. On the surface, it is not easy to see. It may also be called a force that spirals around a straight line. Spiraling and straightness are unified contradiction. When doing it, one must also make it concrete; yet without force it will not work.
Spirit released and intention tight: the source notes that spirit may here be a mistaken character for form. Spirit released is easy to understand. Intention tight is sought out in training. To put it concretely, the difference between spirit and intention is this: spirit is the first signal system. Sudden startling is spirit moving. Intention is the second signal system, that is, after being startled, considering what to do. One can say that spirit is instinctive reaction, while intention includes subjective active function. Spirit released means making the whole body release, with no place not released, so that the movement of muscles, hairs, qi, and blood has no obstruction. Intention tight is intention leading qi. Precisely because intention is tight, qi and blood can move somewhat faster.
Hard and soft mutually complete: hard is not stiff, and soft is not limp. The hardness of a hundred refinings, the softness that can wind around a finger, can be counted as hard. Softness is true hardness. Hardness refined a hundred times and softness entering straight to the bone: steel is only hard after being tempered. If it is only hard on the surface and shatters as soon as touched, it is not true hardness; it is only stiff. Hardness is hardness only when trained out. A hundred bends without yielding, making people unable to grasp it: only this is hard and soft mutually completing.
Formless spiritual resemblance: the form does not move, but spirit and intention are full, resembling swimming in air.
Advance, retreat, turn, and side: when retreating, make every step a camp, containing and storing while waiting to issue. When advancing, once all must advance, the whole body must move as one, without a form of withdrawing, dragging, or wavering. If horizontal, wrap his force; opening and closing, none dares resist. Turning and side have the same meaning as the slanted angle and the same function, guarding left and right.
Spiraling, bracing, and twisting: it looks like spiraling, but in reality it is bracing and twisting. Pulling back and contracting, left, right, front, and back bracing-twisting forces are all like this.
Rolling and crossing double-stacked: use rolling and crossing to break open the opponent's force, then use the hand to squeeze near the wrist. The force of the squeezing arm spirals through and strikes in a slanted direction. This force is body moving, force moving, spirit moving. If the hand moves by itself and breaks the body, then the whole appearance is changed beyond recognition.
Half yielding, half following: this is combat force. It is yielding and also following. In the instant of half yielding and half following, one's own force acts and strikes the opponent.
Following-yielding and drawing-following: when the opponent's hand presses on one's own body, follow it and draw the opponent to follow and move, while the center of gravity is placed on one's own body. Then brace once, and one can brace the opponent out. This force must be done boldly and truly in order to be done well.
Meeting-following and tight-following: the function of this force is great. In actual issuing force it can all be used. It means meeting the opponent's force and also following it. Therefore it must be tight. If it is loose, it is not this kind of force.
Cutting-yielding and cutting-meeting: within following and yielding there is the function of cutting.
Swimming in air: this means that on all four sides and eight directions of the whole body there is resistance. In use, how does one increase or reduce resistance? It is like swimming in water. The method of reducing resistance is entirely the twisting and crossing, or filing, of shoulders and hips. A person's cleverness and liveliness lie entirely in the shoulders and hips. When shoulders and hips move, the waist can move with them. Swimming in air also contains the meanings of leisurely mutual dependence, empty numinosity alone remaining, and listening to touch. At the same time, it must also be like meeting an object. In this way, force can issue and gather freely.
Hammering strike: the body is like a hammerhead, and force is like machine-wheels issuing in linked beads. The force issued goes out by twisting; it is not upside down. Even if there is a straight line, it is very short and urgent. It cannot be made outwardly. If it is made outwardly, the force is wrong. The force used is not continuing force. One must reach "intention breaks, spirit connects."
Push and pull mutually used: there is no absolute force.
Controlling balance: controlling force makes a bird unable to fly. It is like catching a bird. If one uses force to catch it, that will not do; but if one uses no force, it flies away. Therefore one can neither grasp it dead nor let it fly off. This is controlling balance. Thus force must be clever and suitable. It is also said: "Force is like gunpowder and the fist like a bullet; when the numinous mechanism moves, a bird can hardly fly." It is like sucking the bird in. This is controlling, making what is unbalanced obtain balance. The pressure of the great atmosphere between heaven and earth, the attractive force of the earth's center, and the motive force of the human body have no "absolute balance." In general, this force is called snake-moving force or python-moving force. Rabbit rises, hawk falls, dragon hides, eagle courage, tiger gaze; there is movement in stillness and stillness in movement. Not one feather can be added; mosquitoes and flies cannot land.
Single and double, light and heavy: this is close to controlling balance. Controlling balance means making what has no balance balanced through control. Therefore it has connected relations with single and double, looseness and tightness, emptiness and solidity, lightness and heaviness. Controlling balance also comes from single and double, light and heavy.
The above gives twenty-eight explanations. The following sixteen have not yet been explained:
Extending and contracting; pressing and raising. Rising, sudden settling, swallowing, spitting. Vertical and horizontal; high and low. Far and near; long and short.
Separating and closing; opening and joining. Lifting, pressing, resisting, crossing. Leisurely, bracing, embracing. Turning over, raising, wrapping, twisting.
Sinking, supporting, lifting, drawing upward. Drilling, lifting, searching. Twisting, rolling, inertial swelling. Raising, resisting, pushing, spiraling.
Searching, chopping, drilling, stabbing. Slanted surface and triangle. Lever and pulley. Stored spring and startling explosion.
Poems
Release the shoulders, loosen the arms, lazily bind the waist; spirit, feeling, intention, and force are like sticky cake. Wanting no knowing and feeling of any kind, in the quiet room, long exposed, naked and bare.
Standing practice has never liked flatness; health-preservation from ancient times values plainness. Spirit moving is obtained beyond appearances; intention stored has its marvel within no-thought.
The muscles of the whole body hang in the blue sky; every hair-root sways in warm wind. Wisdom-eye silently observes three thousand guests; gathered ears and resting breath listen to two beauties.
Blue sea flying waves, swimming dragon at play; flowing clouds spit out the moon, purple tiger howls. Infinite imagined borrowing, infinite images, as if Penghu treads the six giant sea-turtles.
Spirit like a misted leopard that a tube can glimpse; qi like a numinous rhinoceros that can clear dust. Health-preservation opens a new face; sinews contain strength and bones store spirit.
Still as a crouching leopard standing across space; moving like a soaring dragon running between waves. Exhalation and inhalation from the numinous source join with the universe; the shouting voice scolds and runs with wind and cloud.
Who knew that a thousand years after the Suwen, more people would break through the fence. Unmoving as mountains; pointing south like moon-shadow.
Inexhaustible as heaven and earth; full like a great granary. Health-preservation does not love flatness; who knows it values plainness? The body moves beyond images.
The method lies within no-thought. Deeply study and seek refined making; use empty nonbeing and space. Intention-force is like an ape; footwork is light like a cat.
Spirit and intention change from within; force is heard from far away. Neither attached nor separate, after a long time success is achieved. Under the eyes and wrists, traces remain.
Take straight the spiraling force and brace horizontally. Contradictions interwoven must be unified. The spiritual lever must stretch long.
The principle of boxing study is most refined; its use lies in emptiness and solidity. The numinous mechanism changes from within; force is heard from far away.
The body moves nimble as an ape; the step treads light as a cat. Do not forget and do not help it grow; after a long time, one naturally climbs the peak.
The body moves, wielding waves in dance; intention-force travels over the water surface. Swimming dragon and white crane play; smiling, it is like a startled snake.
Muscles contain motive force; spirit is stored and bones raise edges. Wind and cloud spit out the splendid moon; heroic qi pierces sun and rainbow.
Blade-light flashes and rolls dead leaves. Within one foot, heaven's edge; birds fly cut off. The hands grasp lifting, pressing, slanted bracing, and crossing; light-rays without limit, force like iron.
Wrapping and coiling, crossing and circling, cloud, dragon, and snake. The feet tread muddy half-foot snow. Thunder and lightning cross; light is also heavy. Under the eyes and in the heart, sweep the whale's cave.
Refined poverty gives rise to heroic acts; leisure obtains a generous voice. The great atmosphere encloses the world; Wielding Waves rolls the northern wind. Wu hooks rise linked and spit a long rainbow. The issued-field shout: mountain shakes and valley answers. Dance dragon and elephant.
Flying like pear-flower shadow, composing a long song, preparing mountains and rivers and settling them. A seven-foot body, allowed to move vertically and horizontally, is whole like mountain collapse and tide surge. Suddenly open the golden lock and let the flood-dragon run. Break the fence and dance.
Miscellaneous Talks
Health-Preservation
Our country's health-preservation learning has a long history, but much of it has been lost and scattered. Gates and sects have emerged in layers, too many to name, and each has specialized accomplishments made alone. As a result, in profound and refined old hands, each has its special strength. Their theories mostly generate one another through crooked and straight, mutually used in relation. The results mostly arise from contradictions interwoven, dialectic and dialectic again, bringing forth the special spirit that is uniquely endowed in the human body and many kinds of living things.
Humans do not fly as well as birds and do not run as well as beasts. Therefore they take the strengths of birds and beasts to supplement the shortcomings of the human body. All of this lies in "taking intention from form and imaging form by intention," using overturning and inversion mutually, experiencing and keeping, and gradually obtaining arts that can seize lightning and thunder, startle spirits and make ghosts weep. But this means studying their spirit and their special abilities. If one only studies their bodily forms, then bearing, endowment, character, and special innate capacity are completely destroyed.
This method lies in "seeking only fullness of spirit and intention, not seeking resemblance of bodily form," and forever preserving the intention that the hairs are like spears. In general, birds and beasts often have fearless spirit. Their intelligence may not increase, but their special instincts always remain. The heads of birds and beasts are lively, their eyes sharp, shoulders braced, elbows crossing, fingers bent, claws twisting; head and neck increase top-lifting and contracting force. Eagle eyes, ape spirit, cat walking, horse running, chicken legs, snake body: understand their meaning. Stillness is like tide surging and rising; movement is like wind and cloud moving.
The earlier master said: "Spirit is like a misted leopard glimpsed through a tube; qi is like a numinous rhinoceros that can clear dust." In this method of practice, the muscles always contain living changing motive force, and in the bones there is spiritual force of horizontal bracing, twisting, turning, and stirring. The issuing of force may be formed or formless, intentional or unintentional, with fixed position or without fixed position, passive or automatic, whole-body or local. It can be concrete and subtle.
During practice, it does not lie in what the posture is like, nor in whether the form is complicated or simple, and still less in the sequence of before and after. It lies in the general meaning of emptiness and solidity directed by spirit, taking comfort and obtained force as highest. Someone asks: "How does force count as activity?" From the crown above to shoulders and feet below, if one hair is drawn, the whole body moves. Hands, feet, knees, and hips all act without expecting it, and no one knows their arrival. Within the five organs there is also coordination. This is called "living force like a snake" and "resembling swimming."
Someone asks: "Since it is called health-preservation, how can it be motive force?" According to this, health-preservation and training are one thing. Once the foundation of health-preservation is settled, one must study training through stability, inner comfort, empty numinosity guarding silence, and answering ten thousand changes. In general, spirit loves stillness but intention divides and disturbs. Intentional nature is originally settled, but desire comes and disorders it. In reality these are all empty images. One should face objects and forget objects, not falling into vulgar foolishness; dwell in dust and leave dust, avoiding sinking into the ten thousand thoughts of gain, loss, fear, and worry. Movement with movement comes from nonmovement. Action with action comes from non-action. In non-action, spirit rests. When spirit rests, ten thousand thoughts are all forgotten. Ears, eyes, heart, and intention are all forgotten. This is the roundness of all marvels, and it is rather close to what is called the living intention of ears and eyes.
On Dance
Exercise is a learning plain and near to people, yet its feeling and delight are inexhaustible. The ancients mostly took ritual, music, archery, charioteering, writing, and mathematics as the foundation. By the early Qing this had been destroyed completely. Formerly, whether literati or martial men, none did not study carefully. Literati were good at boxing skill, and martial men often could write. Since the Qing, although boxing study has been almost entirely submerged, the way of dance has been unknown for even longer.
People do not know that the way of dance is a learning that opens and develops the living force of humankind's natural innate capacities. It is also the highest art for expressing feeling and arousing spirit. It can remove illness and nourish life, temper temperament, and further allow those who love it to lengthen years and increase life.
The way of dance is divided internally into four items: Swimming Dragon, Startled Snake, White Crane, and Wielding Waves. When first practicing, the muscles of the whole body stretch, the bone joints raise edges, the head is upright, the eyes correct, the spirit solemn, the voice quiet, and fingers and wrists twist. There is force of hooking, scooping, twisting, crossing, wrapping, bracing, crossing, and rolling. The two feet are like seeking movement in mud and snow. The two knees lift upward. Force is like drawing silk. The gaze looks far away, and traces remain under the hands. Only after grasping these basic movements can one advance to studying and practicing the more complex dance methods.
Editor's note: Essentials of Yiquan is Mr. He Jingping's notes on practicing boxing, recorded and organized in Beijing in the 1960s.
Colophon
Translated directly from the Traditional Chinese text of 《意拳要點》王薌齋（何鏡平錄）, captured from the HK Yiquan Society public article archive and live-verified against the archive index on June 2, 2026.
Published in the Good Work Library under rights clearance received by the New Tianmu Anglican Church on June 2, 2026.
The English translation was independently prepared from the captured Chinese source for the Good Work Library. Source-text punctuation and evident web or OCR artifacts are retained in the Chinese appendix; the English follows the sentence sense of the captured text.
Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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Source Text: 《意拳要點》王薌齋（何鏡平錄）
Source: HK Yiquan Society article 6
一、總則︰
1、以形為體，以意為用，以靜為和。
2、以形取意，以意象形，形隨意轉，意自形生，式隨意從，力由意發。
3、松即是緊，緊即是松，松緊緊松勿過正。
實即是虛，虛即是實，實虛虛實得中平。
動即是靜，靜即是動，動靜靜動互根用。
顧即是打，打即是顧，發手便是處。
4、靜中求動，動中求靜，動中不動動有靜，靜中不靜靜有動、動中之靜是真靜，靜中之動是真動，動靜互根，錯綜為用。
5、神不外溢，意不露形，形不破體，力不出尖。
6、內空虛，外脫化，隨時注意，遍體輕靈。
二、樁法︰
1、站好姿勢，意念放大，先由頭部開始，逐漸使全身毛孔放松，有過堂風吹拂之感，然後左右伸展，挺拔項部肌肉使之起變化，要求達到虛靈守默，具體悠揚，毛發如戢之感。
2、初練時宜遠看，靜觀宇宙，默念全機。覺得有懶惰心情，再將全身舒放，身形中正，腹內空虛，悠然蕩然如浮太空之中。
3、綿綿若存，似有若無，身在烘爐大冶中，無物不包容。
4、練功時不可有執著之心，從虛無中求實際，不可著象，著象的非真。
5、神動，意動，力量動。
6、勁斷意不斷，意斷神猶連。
7、形體不動，意念不住，精神充沛，氣血猶如汪洋大海，波瀾壯闊，滔滔不絕。
8、心比烘爐，雜念若雪花紛飛，入爐即熔，從而心胸開闊，膽氣壯大，正氣旺盛，邪氣自敗，猶如烈日當空，濃霧消散，舒適緩中，以應無窮，運動時保持渾圓，動作如一，不拘形式，不可執著，一法不立，無法不備。
9、在松靜中求挺拔，在運動中求舒放，寂靜調息，內外溫養，內輕松而外脫化，由動而靜，接近神明，使氣血肌肉處于氤氳太初之中，生生不息，蘊靈雖動，仍須保持靜中原狀。
10、神動得自有象外，意存妙在無念中。
11、只求神意足，不求形骸似。
12、站樁的單雙重，不偏不倚的調配方法，使渾身血行曲折，路線適當，要使曲折面積得力，無處不有單雙重、松緊、虛實、輕重之別。調配有養息、治療、鍛煉之分，總之是因病設式，因人而異。
13、加強鍛煉一定要解除疲勞才可以加強鍛煉，總要留有余力、留有余興，不超過身體負擔能力為適當。
14、練功時切莫發急，先找個適宜場地，凝神靜心，調息站立，身軀宜直，兩足分開與肩齊，渾身關節都含有似曲非直的一點意思，內空靈外清虛，兩手慢慢輕松向上提，高不過眉、低度不過臍，臂半圓、腋半虛，左手不往身右來，右手不往身左去，往懷抱不沾身，向外推不逾尺，雙手變化在範圍里，不計較姿式好壞繁簡和次序，須察全身內外得力不得力、守平庸，莫好奇，非常原來極平易，這種運動也算真稀奇，不用腦，不費力，行站坐臥都可練，這里邊蘊藏無限神思、精金和美玉，鑽研起來生天趣，有誰能知這種自娛能支配虛空宇宙力，鍛煉的愉快難比喻，飄飄茫茫隨他去，精力充沛神不疲，注意頭頂有如線系，遍體松淨力如泥，慧眼默察細胞系，如醉如迷，如瘋如痴，虛靈獨存，悠揚相依，浸在海闊天空滌萬慮，管他日月星球在轉移，只要恆心去站立，就有意想不到的舒適，此即前人不傳的秘決。
三、技擊
（一）提綱
1、頭直、目正、神莊、聲靜。靜、敬、虛、切、恭、慎、意、和。
2、全身關節形曲力直，神松意緊，肌肉含力，骨中藏稜，神猶霧豹，氣若騰蛟，神意放縱如巨風卷樹，拔地欲飛，擰擺橫搖之力，有撞之不開，沖之不散，湛然寂然，穩如泰山之勢，外形笨拙，意力靈巧，平凡中求非常，抽象中求具體。
3、筋藏勁，骨藏稜，悠揚相依，虛靈獨存，渾身毛發直豎如戟，齒欲斷筋、爪欲透骨、發欲沖冠。
4、鷹目、猿神、貓行、馬奔、起如舉鼎，落如分磚，雞腿蛇身。
5、動靜、虛實、快慢、松緊、進退、反側、縱橫、高低、爭斂、遒放、鼓蕩、開合、伸縮、抑揚、提頓、吞吐、陰陽、邪正、長短、大小、剛柔等，都是矛盾的矛盾，錯綜而為。做到圓融的圓融，反回頭來學初步。
6、高則揚其身，若有增長收斂之意，低則縮其身，若有鑽提放縱之形，縱則放其勢，勇往搜索而不返，橫則裹其力，開合分爭力，側顧左右，無敢抵擋者。
7、足佔七分手佔三，身如弓弩拳如彈。
8、肩撐、肘橫、指彎、頭頂更多增強頂縮力，腰胯如輪，扭、挫、提、旋、交叉互換，膝縱足提，全身力如抽絲。
9、靜如潮漲，動似風雲。
10、態若書生若女郎，偉大猶比楚大王，一聲叱 風雲響，神情豪放雄且壯，遇敵接觸似虎狼，舉步輕重如履溝壑深千丈，一面鼓，一面蕩，周身無點不彈簧，齒扣足抓毛發似金槍，一經觸覺立時緊即張，如同火藥爆發狀，炸力發出意不亡，無形機變卻以深深暗中藏，閃展進退緊提防，打顧正側絲毫不虛讓，勢均力敵須看對手方，去勢猶如鷹鶻下雞場，翻江倒海不須忙，丹鳳朝陽勢佔強，撥鑽擰挫斷飛蝗，勾錯刀叉齊互上，腿足提縮似螳螂，揣敵力量有方向，察來勢之機會，度已身之短長，勢如龍駒扭絲韁，谷應山搖一起撞。
（二）、拳式
蟄龍探首 進退卷臂 滄海龍吟 波浪頓首
半窗觀雨 兔起鶻落 徹地追鼠 勒馬听風
驚蛇遇敵 怒虎搜山 提弓捉狐 白猿斗鶴
（三）、試力
1、由不動中去體會，再由微動中去認識。欲動又欲止，欲止又欲動。有動中不得不止，止中不得不動之意。
2、體動為作用，動則為靜守，靜則是發動，動靜互為根用，顛倒變化無定。
3、動則有奇趣橫生之感，四肢百骸終歸一貫，行動如趟泥，運勁如抽絲。
4、動時不要散了不動時之均整，不動時不要減低了動時之力量，其作用之巧妙，從體會而得之。
5、上欲動下自隨，下欲動上自領，上下動中間攻，中間攻上下合，內外相連，前後左右相應而動。此為試驗力之功能，力由試而得知，由知而用。
（四）、發力
1、本身發動力量，是否有前後左右上下的平衡均整，具體螺旋的錯綜力量，和無往不浪的力量，輕松準確慢中快的惰性力量，是否為本能發動的，不其然而然，莫知至而至的力量。
2、注意單雙重的松緊，單雙重不單指手足而言，頭、身、手、足、肩、肘、膝、胯，大小關節，四肢百骸，即些微的點力都會有單雙重、松緊、虛實、輕重之別，撐三抱七，前四後六，顛倒互用。
3、發力有形無形，有意無意，有定位無定位，自動被動，整體局部，應用時當別論。各種基礎完備，再學輕松準確具體而微的力量，兩足重量、永無定位，發力無論進步發、退步發、順步發、橫步發，以及前後左右上下百般的發力，要以前步作後步，後步作前步，以前步作後步之前步，以後步作前步之後步，顛倒互相，虛實為用，前後力量交叉，使人不可捉摸（撐抱力即開合力）。
（五）、實作
1、拳擊一道尚精神，內要提，外要隨，手腳齊到法為真，意要遠，氣要催，拳似炮，蛇倦身，應敵猶如火燒身，充華必強骨，飾貌須表真，計謀須遠劃，精神似劈雷，心毒稱上策，手狠方勝人，何謂閃？何謂進？進即閃，閃即進，不必遠求尚美觀，何謂打？何謂顧？顧即打，打即顧，發手便是處，力如火藥拳如彈，靈機一動鳥難飛。
2、敵不動，我沉靜，敵微動，我先發。
3、不動如書生，一動如龍虎，發動似迅雷不及掩耳。
4、手要靈，足要輕，進退旋轉如貓形，身要正，目斂精，手足齊到定要贏，手到步不到，打人不得妙，手到步亦到，打人如拔草，上打咽喉下打陰，左右兩肋在中心，拳打丈外不為遠，近者只在一寸間，手出如巨炮直沖，足落似大樹栽根，眼要毒，手要奸，步踏中門，鑽入重心奪敵位，即是神仙亦難防。
5、鷂子入林燕抄水，虎捉羊群抖威風，取勝四梢均要齊，不勝必有懷疑心，聲東擊西，指南打北，上虛下實，靈機自揣摩，左拳出右拳至，單手到雙手來，拳由心窩去，發向鼻尖前，鼻為中央之土，萬物生產之源，沖開中央全體皆靡，兩手結合迎面出，自然把定五道關，身如弓弩拳如彈，弦響鳥落見奇鮮，遇敵猶如身著火，打破硬進無遮攔。
6、推手時心須保持自已中線位置不受侵犯，還須用最大能力控制對方中線，雙手永不離對方鼻口部位，意如牽牛任我所為。
7、推手時更需注意步法奪位，往往進半步或退半步，即足以將對方擊出而並不在于手臂的動作之大小。
8、力發出是在一剎那間，在有形無形、有意無意、有定位無定位、整體局部、自動被動，具體而微，使力時多半是舉、抗、推、旋、摟、劈、鑽、刺。
四、力量
（一）、總綱
劈、摟、搬、撥、撐、展、抗、橫、抖
順、提、趟、扒、縮、滾、錯、兜、擰
沉、托、分、閉、捉、頓、吞、吐
（二）、分布
1、頭︰撐、擰、頂、縮 2、肩︰撐
3、肘︰橫 4、手腕︰勾、錯、斂、抗
5、腰︰搖、旋 6、胯︰坐、挫、懸（旋）、提
7、膝︰撐、縱 8、足腕︰刀、叉、分、刺
（三）、運用（四十四種）
1、渾元爭力︰爭力是無所不爭，四肢百骸，大小關節，無處不爭，所謂虛虛實實，松松緊緊，實際上就是爭力，不爭就使不出來，宇宙間無處不爭，人身之四肢百骸，無時不爭，總之即渾元一爭。
2、大氣呼應︰使大氣與人體有了呼應關聯，一動一靜，都能利用，使它有所反應，站樁日久，內部日漸膨脹，有與大氣發生聯系的感覺，這時就易入門了。
3、渾噩逆體︰全身任何地方，都像沒有空隙，處處都有逆力，從任何地方打來都不怕，沒有很順當的力量，但又極順當，這也是矛盾中統一出來的力量。
4、動靜互根︰動靜是一個整體，互為其根，所謂動即是靜，靜即是動，一動一靜，互為其根，松即是緊，緊即是松，松緊緊松勿過正，虛即是實，實即是虛，虛實實虛得中平，也就是此意，作用力與作用力起錯綜復雜的作用。
5、遒放本同︰力量不遒勁，放的力量也就不大，必須是遒得勁，放的力量才大，欲放先遒，欲遒先放。
6、有無統一︰有無是一件事，有了這種東西才看見到它的沒有，有形的東西，終究要消滅的，從有形的東西中，才可看見到沒有的東西，如果沒有就不會知道還會出來甚麼東西。總之，有了就有沒有的一天，應當活用，這與人情道理相同，自高自大的人，別人一定討厭，越謙遜的人，越受到人尊敬，心目中也就有了他。學術、物質、事情、人情，都是如此。
7、順力逆行︰手往後拉，力量就出去得遠，手往前指，力量則往後來。
8、勾錯刀叉︰也包括有形無形兩方面，就形象來說，出手如鋼銼，回手如勾桿（實際上都還沒動），全身如起了大波浪（誰也看不見），全身力量，毛發如戟，胳膊上好像處處有刀叉一樣。這方面有時不易形容，其中還有精神力量的存在，無形就是一種意念的假設，不應該真的做出來，在有意無意之間不露形。
9、不動之動︰外形不動，內部就動的越快，外部動的很多，內部反而動的慢了，其原因是不會動，所謂會動，也就是一動一靜中能掌握往“動即是靜，靜即是動”，的原則，不會動的人，初練功時更不應動，不動之動才是生生不已之動，一動就破壞了真動。如果會動的人，內部是否就會更快了呢？這須看怎樣來動，假如能假借的動，頭、手、足、身、肩、肘、膝、跨，都能假借，神動、意動、力量動、但形式上不做出來，那力量就最大，不應從形式上看，這也是動靜互根之意，動靜兩字，研究起來沒完，做起來就更復雜了。
10、斜正互參︰斜面就是正面，而正面也就是斜面，由于支撐面的不同，全身力量關節互有影響，但必要做到力圓為止，一動是橫，橫即是正面，一作用是斜面，但作用時使人看不見，只是緊錯了一下正面與斜面的位置。
11、多面螺旋︰全身各部位稍一動作，都有螺旋力，這種力的形成原因是︰在隨便動作時，全身各大小關節，都要有支撐力，所有部位形成鈍形三角，此時力欲膨脹又欲收斂，因而全身各部都起了螺旋力，連腿下也應如此這種力如同電力一樣，使人踫上就被彈出很遠，在用這種力時，全身一定都成鈍三角形，然後突然變換方向，如同爆炸一樣，“砰”的一下子就發出了螺旋力。
12、面積虛實︰用“不有平面積”及“不是固定的”詞句來解釋面積虛實是不夠的，主要是使全身各部肌肉保持住如“盤內之珠”永遠滾動，無停留的時候。
13、形曲力直︰形不曲力不直，無法將力量真正運用出來，研究藝術也是如此，在成了直面積時，前後左右就沒有了呼應，形曲則前後左右都有力量，用到那里都行，形不曲則必破體，力量也自然出尖，這種力就沒有用處，甚至不等用上就被人瓦解了，形曲則力量沒有方向，四面都能用上。如美術家畫一塊石頭，若畫出是圓的，就沒有意思，而一定要曲曲折折，不許有平面積。總之，有平面積就沒有力量，因此，作用也就不大。“起伏升降”，“進退吞吐”，把虛實大意表達出來，力直則不易形容，力直只可以說各方面都有力，也可以說力圓，雖然直去，其中也含有螺旋力，形成波浪式的前進，而表面則不易看出，也可以說旋繞一條有直線的力量，旋繞與直是矛盾的統一，做時也要具體而為，但是沒有力量也不行。
14、神（疑為形字）松意緊︰神松易懂，意緊是在鍛煉中尋求出來的，具體的說，“神”與“意”的區別，神為第一訊號系統，突然受驚是神動，意是第二訊號系統，也就是受驚之後考慮怎麼辦。可以說神是本能反應，而意就包含了主觀能動作用。“神松”就是使全身放松，無處不松，使肌肉、毛發、氣血的運動無阻。“意緊”也就是意領氣，正由于意緊才能使氣血運行的更快一些。
15、剛柔相濟︰剛不是硬，柔不是軟，百煉之剛，是繞指之柔，才算是剛。柔是真剛，百煉之剛，直入骨之柔，鋼經磨練才算是剛，表面上硬，一踫碎了，就不是真剛，也只是硬而已，剛是鍛煉出來的才是剛，百折不撓，令人不可捉摸，才是剛柔相濟。
16、無形神似︰形不動而神意足，與在空氣中游泳相似。
17、進退反側︰退時步步為營，含蓄待發，進時一要俱進必定統全體而動，無抽撤游移之形，橫則裹其力，開合而莫敢當。反側與斜角是一個意思，同樣作用，左右防備。
18、旋繞撐擰︰看著是旋繞，實際是撐擰，後拉回縮，左右前後撐擰力全是如此。
19、滾錯雙迭︰用滾錯破開對方之力，然後用手擠（腕部附近），而擠之胳臂力量旋轉達而向斜方擊進，這種力量是身動、力動、精神動、如果手一動就破體，則面目全非了。
20、半讓半隨︰是技擊的力量，是讓又是隨，在半讓半隨之一剎那，本身力量就發作了而打擊對方。
21、隨讓牽隨︰當對方手按在自已身上時，隨著就牽動對方跟隨走，而重心放在自已身上，然後要撐一下，就可把對方撐出，此力應大膽真做，才能做好。
22、迎隨緊隨︰這種力的作用大，在實作發力時都可以用，也就是迎著對方的力又隨著，所以要緊，松了就不是這種力了。
23、截讓截迎︰隨讓當中有截的作用在內。
24、空氣游泳︰是全身四面八方都有阻力的意思，運用時怎樣增加或減少阻力，如在水中游泳一樣。減少阻力方法，全是肩胯扭錯（搓）。一個人的巧妙靈活，全在肩胯上，肩胯動，腰才能隨著動，空氣游泳也包含著悠揚相依，虛靈獨存，以听其觸之意在內，同時也必須是如與物遇，這樣力之發作、收斂才能運用自如。
25、鋃頭拷打︰身如鋃頭，力如機輪似的連珠發出，所發之力是擰著出去而不是顛倒的，有直線也很短促，不能做出來，做出來力量就不對了，用出之力不是繼續之力，一定要達到“意斷神連”。
26、推拉互用︰沒有絕對的力量。
27、控制平衡︰控制力，鳥難飛，猶如抓鳥，用力抓不行，而不用力就飛了，所以既不能抓死也不能讓其飛掉，這就是控制平衡，所以要靈巧力合適，又曰︰“力如火藥拳如彈，靈機一動鳥難飛”，也就像把鳥吸住一樣，這就是控制使不平衡的得到平衡，天地間的大氣壓力，地心的吸力，人體的動力，沒有“絕對平衡”的，一般稱這種力為蛇動之力，或蟒動之力，兔起、鶻落、龍潛、鷹膽、虎視、靜中有動、動中有靜，一羽不能加，蚊蠅不能落。
28、單雙輕重︰與控制平衡近似，控制平衡是把沒有平衡的通過控制使之平衡，因此與單雙、松緊、虛實、輕重，都含有聯帶（連帶）關系，控制平衡也是根據單雙、輕重而來的。
以上共二十八種解釋，尚有如下十六種未能做解釋說明︰
伸縮抑揚 起頓吞吐 縱橫高低 遠近長短
分閉開合 提按抗橫 悠揚撐抱 翻揚裹擰
沉托提縱 鑽提搜索 擰卷惰漲 舉抗推旋
搜劈鑽刺 斜面三角 杠桿滑車 蓄彈驚炸
五、詩詞
脫肩松臂懶束腰 神情意力似粘糕 一切知感全不要 靜室長露赤條條
站樁從來不喜平 養生自古貴平庸 神動得自有象外 意存妙在無念中
渾身肌肉掛青霄 毛發根根暖風搖 慧眼默察三千客 凝耳息听兩人嬌
滄海飛波游龍戲 流雲吐月紫虎嚎 無窮假借無窮象 有如蓬壺踏六鰲
神如霧豹容窺管 氣似靈犀可闢塵 養生別開面目新 筋含勁力骨存神
靜如伏豹橫空立 動似騰蛟夾浪奔 吐納靈源合宇宙 喊聲叱 走風雲
不知素問千年後 打破樊籬更多人 不動如山岳 南指如月陰
無窮如天地 充實如太倉 養生不喜平 豈知貴平庸 身動超象外
法在無念中 深究求精造 利用虛無空 意力似猿猴 腳步似貓輕
神意自內變 力由遠處听 不即亦不離 日久便成功 眼底手腕都留痕
直取旋繞力橫撐 矛盾錯綜須統一 精神杠桿要長伸
拳學理至精 運用在虛實 靈機自內變 力由遠處听
身動似猿捷 步踏如貓輕 勿忘勿助長 久久自登峰
身動揮浪舞 意力水面行 游龍白鶴戲 含笑似蛇驚
肌肉含動力 神存骨起稜 風雲吐華月 豪氣貫日虹
刀光閃閃卷枯葉 尺哧天涯鳥飛絕 手握提按斜撐錯 光芒無限力如鐵
裹纏橫繞雲龍蛇 足踏泥濘半尺雪 雷電交加輕也重 眼底心頭掃鯨穴
精貧出豪舉，得閑慷慨聲，大氣包寰宇，揮浪卷朔風，吳鉤連起吐長虹，發場聲喊，山搖谷應，舞龍象，
飛似梨花影，賦長歌，整備山河定，七尺軀，任縱橫，渾似山崩潮涌，頓開金鎖走蛟龍，打破樊籬舞。
六、雜談
（一）、養生
我國養生學歷史悠久，惟多失傳散佚，門派迭出，多至不可名狀，而各有專家獨造之功，以致奧精遂老手，各有其特長，所有理論，大都歧正相生，參互為用，而結果多自矛盾錯綜，辯證再辯證，發揮出人體及多種生物獨賦特有之精神，蓋人飛不如禽，走不如獸，故采鳥獸之長，補人身之短，都是在“以形取意，以意象形”，顯倒互用，體會操存，逐漸得來些掣電轟雷，驚神泣鬼之術，而是學他的精神，特能所在，如果光學其形體，則風度、秉賦、性格、特有的良能，就完全銷毀，這種方法是在“但求神意足，不求形骸似”，永遠保持有毛發如戟之意，大凡鳥獸多有無畏精神，它的智力不會增長，而特具的本能是永遠存在的，鳥獸的頭是靈活的，目尖銳，肩撐肘橫，指彎爪擰，頭頸更多增強頂縮力鷹目、猿神、貓行、馬奔、雞腿、蛇身，會其意，靜如潮涌漲，動似風雲走，先師云︰“神如霧豹如窺管，氣似靈犀牛可闢塵”，這種練功方法，肌肉里總含有活變動力，骨中存著橫撐擰轉動蕩的精神力量，力的發作“有形無形”、“有意無意”、“有定位無定位”、“被動自動”、“整體局部”可具體而微。
練功時，不在于姿式如何，也不在于形式之繁簡，更不在于次序之先後，而在于精神支配之虛實大意，以達舒適得力為上，有人問︰ “力量如何以為之活動？”上至頭頂、下至肩足，都是牽一發而全身動，手足膝胯，都是不期然而然，莫知至而至，五髒之內亦都有所配合，此之謂“活力如蛇” “游泳相似”以有人問︰“既雲養生又何以為動力？”按養生與鍛煉是一回事，養生基礎已定，就須學習鍛煉經穩定，內在舒適，虛靈守默，而應萬變。大致是神好靜而意分擾，意性本定，而欲來亂，實際都是虛象，應當是對境忘境，不墮于庸俗愚昧，居塵出塵，免沉于“得失懼憂”萬念之中，有動之動出于不動，有為之為出于無為，無為則神息，神息則萬念俱忘，耳目心意俱忘，即諸妙之圓與所謂“耳目生意”頗相近似。
（二）、論舞
運動是平易近人的學術，然而情趣無窮，古人大都以禮、樂、射、御、書、數為基礎，到清初就破壞無余，從前不論文人武士，無不精心研討，文人善拳技，武士多能文，自清以來，拳學雖被湮滅迨盡，而舞道更是久湮無聞，殊不知舞道是啟發人類天賦良能活力的一種學術，也是抒發感情，振奮精神的最高藝術，並且可以卻病養生，陶冶性情，更可使愛好者延年益壽。舞道內分四項，游龍、驚蛇、白鶴、揮浪。初練時渾身肌肉伸展，骨節起稜，頭直、目正、神莊、聲靜、手指腕擰，有勾、摟、扭、錯、裹、撐、橫、卷之力，兩足如在泥雪中求動，雙膝提縱，力若抽絲，目光遠望，手底留痕，掌握這些基本動作之後，方可進一步學練復雜舞法。
編者按︰《意拳要點》為何鏡平先生習拳筆記，六十年代記錄整理于北京。
Source Colophon
Source text: article 6 of the HK Yiquan Society article archive, captured in articles_with_content.json on June 2, 2026, and live-verified against the public archive index the same day.
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