Most Mysterious Martial Artists in Chinese History - Zhang Sanfeng

[Music] a Taoist stands observing two animals a snake and a crane poised for combat he sees the animals making slow evasive movements followed by explosive releases of power but each time the opponent manages to evade after several minutes of these seemingly deadly attacks the pair realized that they are evenly matched and thus to go on fighting would be futile they simply go their separate ways with no damage done it is this encounter that inspires the Taoist to create a martial art known for slow evasive movements and sudden releases of power that don't necessarily injure the opponent this art is Tai Chi boxing Tai Chichen and the Taoist is Zhang San Fung one of the most mysterious martial artists in Chinese history [Music] hi I'm Ben Hedges and welcome to learn Chinese now on this channel we not only teach Chinese language but also introduce you myths and legends from Chinese history according to the history of the Ming Jung San Fung was born during the Song Dynasty and lived for 200 years through the song Yen and Ming dynasties and if you are wondering how he could have done that Zhang was said to have become a Taoist Sage or general through his practice of the Taoist cultivation Arts he reached immortality classical texts also record him having supernormal abilities the history of the Ming states that sometimes he would not eat for several months and could travel a thousand Lee that's several hundred miles in one day how did Zhang get to this stage well he supposedly studied Kung Fu and Buddhism at The Shaolin Temple for 10 years before wandering around mountainous areas of China studying Taoist cultivation Arts he traveled for many years without much success but at 67 years old he finally met a Taoist named horlong general or fire dragon Immortal he studied with this Immortal obtaining the Dao and becoming an immortal or general himself Zhang developed a reputation as a mysterious Sage who would miraculously reward people for past Good Deeds there's a record of one Ming Dynasty official who hosted Jung in his house for some time when Zhang left he said that in less than 1 000 days tragedy would before your household he then left his cape and hat and said that in times of need the official could put them on walk in a circle and call Zhang's name well two years later the official was involved in a court case and the entire family was put under house arrest they quickly exhausted their food supply and were about to starve so the official put on the cap and Cape and did as John had said walked in a circle in his yard calling Jung's name miraculously a crop of wheat sprung up in the yard and saved the family from starvation there are other accounts of Miracles performed by Jung such as curing children of disease and another account of him using tea leaves to dissolve a coin in a child's stomach that he had swallowed when he visited mudangshan or wudang Mountain for the first time he said one day this mountain will be very prosperous Wu dang would later on become the place where Jung San Fung would develop his martial arts and Taoist energy practices but more on that later according to the history of the Ming at some time during Zhang's life he seems to have faked his own death he stated that he would die on a certain day and then really did proceed to pass away the locals put him in a coffin and started to carry out a burial but like other great Masters in death his power only grew greater people heard noises coming from the coffin and they opened it up to take a look and discovered that Jung San Fung had come back to life he then returned to wudang Mountain and continued his development of Taoist internal arts or nature the history of the Ming states that the first Ming Emperor sought out zhangsan Fung after hearing about his great abilities but didn't succeed in finding him then his son the yonglua emperor personally wrote a sincere note and gave it to a man and sent him out to look for Jung he didn't find him either but eventually Jung San Fung responded with a poem he knew exactly what the emperor a man who already had everything was looking for longevity just like the first emperor of China who sent out 3 000 young men and women to look for a Taoist Immortal to learn of the elixir of eternal life every Emperor after him has pondered the same question how can they live for when or 10 000 years well the last line in Jung's poem to the emperor was this calm one's mind and relinquish desires this is the secret to longevity it seems the emperor took it to heart and sent over a hundred thousand laborers to build new temples and buildings on wudang Mountain they were even designed by the same architect as the Forbidden City in Beijing and he also built a copper statue of Jung San Fung the mountain with its huge array of Taoist temples is now a world heritage site to give an idea of the scale the temple compounds are connected by a 70 kilometer or 43 mile long approach from the foot of the mountain to its highest peak there were nine palaces nine monasteries 36 nunaries and 72 temples on the mountain during Ming times and 53 ancient buildings survived today thus Jung's prediction that wudong Mountain would become very prosperous in the future came true but what about his boxing art well jangsan Fung is considered the grandfather of all the wudong martial arts which include mudang Tai Chi he took the hard styles that he had learned at Xiaolin and started incorporating Taoist philosophy and practices making a softer more profound fighting style when he witnessed the fight between the snake and the crane actually some people say it was a magpie but a crane sounds better he realized the importance of yielding in combat rather than meeting force with Force just like when the crane yielded to the snake stepping backwards allowing the snake to advance and attack its leg with a bite which the crane then lifted out of the way letting the snake bite Into Thin Air Tai Chi employs this method of yielding letting the opponent attack and allowing them to fall into emptiness fighting a Tai Chi Master should be like fighting a feather there is nothing there for you to hit more often than not your fists will simply fall into empty space you may then suddenly and unexpectedly be hit with what Tai Chi practitioners today call fading or a sudden release of power and be thrown several feet but you might not be injured the original taijichuan developed by Zhang San Fong was based on the Heim moral standards of Taoist philosophy remember his recommendation to the emperor calm one's mind and relinquish worldly desires a Taoist Immortal has no desire for violence or revenge against an attacker it is simply about stopping an attack without creating a negative Tie by harming your opponent Zhang left a multitude of writings to the world such as the classic of Tai Chi or Tai jijin and other texts that focus on the cultivation of the Dao such as da Dao Lun and these texts are attributed to Zhang San Fung and focus on the spiritual side of what he practiced but are not commonly read by Tai Chi practitioners now and perhaps are a little too cryptic for modern people to understand anyway but without the spiritual aspect Tai Chi practitioners movements can never go beyond the human world and reach a supernatural level in addition Tai Chi has now been divided up into different family Styles zhangsan Fung is said to have created the original form out of 13 movements which all subsequent Tai Chi is based upon but there are now five family Styles and all these Styles Trace their lineage back to a place called Chen Village or chandiago and one man Chen Wang Ting who was born in the year 1580 and probably learned from one of Jung's disciples now these family Styles have produced some incredible martial artists such as Jan luchan Yang the Invincible or Yang Udi who is said to have learned in the Chen Village and then created the Yang style which is the most popular style around today then there was also the legendary martial artist sunlutan who created the sun style of Tai Chi but these Masters were merely people they were not Taoist Immortals and with each generation they added in their own things and moved further and further away from what Zhang San Fong originally taught now China's folk literature and Art Association doesn't even recognize Jung San Fung and in 2007 they recognized Chen Village in Hunan Province and not mudang Mountain as the birthplace of Tai Chi with Chen Wang Ting as the founder this is just one more step in a process that has been going on for centuries Tai Chi turning from a Taoist practice through which one can achieve immortality into a mere physical exercise that can provide some degree of longevity and health benefits and can enable one to defend oneself but no one's becoming a Taoist Immortal or general through Tai Chi these days the true teachings of Zhang San Fong are lost to history zhangsan Fung was indeed a mythical figure and some of the stories that we've talked about are possibly hard for people today to take us true but all the miraculous stories we mentioned in this video do come from real historical writings apart from the one time when he died and came back to life the history of the Ming does not record Jung's death and even ends his biography saying it is not known if he is dead or alive so maybe the Taoist Immortal Jung San Fung is still out there watching over Wu dang Mountain keeping a clear heart and mind and steering clear of worldly desires practicing the original Tai Chi that he created he truly is one of the most mysterious martial artists in Chinese history thank you so much for watching guys please leave your comments below and do subscribe to the channel if you're new on this channel we teach both Chinese language and give you incredible stories from Chinese history if you want to learn more about Chinese arts and culture my co-host on this channel Jared is the MC for shenyon Performing Arts the top Chinese Performing Arts company in the world they tour the globe every year during winter and spring it's their off season now but they do have an online platform called shenyon Creations or shenyon sorpin where you can watch their classical Chinese dance performances from the comfort of your own home I will put a link to shenan Creations below and if you happen to be watching this video in the future when a tour is going on we also have another link below where you can get a discount on shenyon tickets in the form of a waived booking fee once again everyone please subscribe if you're new thank you very much for watching and we'll see you next time bye bye