by Walter Wong » Wed May 04, 2005 8:14 am
Oh, thanks. I forgot the poetry is in the White Crane book.
Poetry is prominent in Chinese Martial Arts for good reasons and I speculate:
Poetry was spoken during the form coordinating the poetry with each move as it was executed. This for one, would keep them from holding their breath during a form. If you look at alot of beginners doing Kung Fu, you'll notice alot of them hold their breath. If poetry is taught along with the movements, then by speaking them during forms, you have no choice but to inhale and exhale throughout the form. Another is each poetry described the movement that's executed so to help the student remember the movement as the poetry describes something that looks like the executed move. Also the poetry spoken in Chinese has a nice sound to it. It helps keep a rhythm like a song.
The same poetry spoken in English doesn't sound as pleasant as when spoken in Chinese so it could affect the way it feels to do the movement. Perhaps that is one reason poetry isn't heavily stressed in some schools and possibly that some Chinese masters's English isn't that good so giving the poetry a rough or direct translation. And you know direct translation from any language changes the whole tone and makes it sound awkward at times.
That is my speculation. I'll have to ask Master Yang the real reason for poetry in Chinese Martial Arts.
This is a thought world part of a thought universe. Man is the center of thought. "I think. Therefore I am."