Page 8 - Robert W. Smith - Pa kua_ Chinese boxing for fitness & self-defense-North Atlantic Books (2003)

day Tung took the offensive and so completely defeated Kuo that
he made him a lifelong friend. Thereupon they signed a brother-
hood pact requiring hsing-i students to take Pa-kua training and
vice versa. For this reason—a most unusual denouement by any-
one's standards—the systems are to this day coupled and comple-
mentary.
Near middle age, Tung became a eunuch in the king's palace.
He did not get on with his fellows, however, and soon was assigned
to the royal family of Su Ch'in-wang as a servant. Su employed a
Mohammedan boxer and his wife as chief protectors of the house-
hold. Sha Hui-tzu, the boxer, held everyone to immediate obedi-
ence, and his wife, an expert pistol shot, made them a solid
combination. Once at a big banquet where the congestion was
beyond relief, Tung served tea to the guests by lightly scaling the
wall and crossing the roof to the kitchen and back. Lord Su Fig. 2 Master Yin Fu
recognized from this that Tung probably had boxing ability. Sub-
sequently, he ordered Tung to show his art. Tung did: he demon- wall collapsed and his disciples ran up, fearful that he had been
strated Pa-kua His sudden turns and fluid style enthralled the buried. He was found nearby sitting in the same chair leaning
audience. Thereupon, Sha challenged Tung but was defeated. Tung against another wall! But the grandest story, told by Wan Lai-
watched for Sha to attempt revenge. Late one night Sha crept into sheng, concerns Tung's death. Certain that he was dead, some of
Tung's bedroom, a knife in hand, while his wife aimed her pistol his students attempted to raise the casket prior to burial. But the
through the window at Tung. Tung quickly took the pistol from casket would not move. It was as though it were riveted to the
her and turned on Sha, who pounded his head on the floor seeking ground. As his students tried again and again to lift it, a voice came
forgiveness. Tung agreed to forgive him and even accepted Sha as from inside the casket: "As I told you many times, none of you
a student. has one-tenth my skill!" He then died and the casket was moved
Later in life Tung retired and taught only a few selected persons easily.
his Pa-kua. Although he withered, the stories did not.* One had Tung died at eighty-four. His most famous students (of a re-
him in the midst of several men with weapons who were bent on ported total of only seventy-two) were: Yin Fu ( ), Ch'eng
his blood. He not only emerged unscathed, but soundly beat his T'ing-hua ( ), Ma Wei-chi ( ), Liu Feng-ch'un ( ),
attackers. Another time he sat in a chair leaning against a wall. The and Shin Liu ( ).
Yin Fu (nicknamed "Thin Yin") was a native of I-hsien in Hopeh
* Lest the reader scoff too resoundingly, let him heed the words of R. H. Tawney:
"Legends are apt, however, to be as right in substance as they are wrong in detail." Province (see Fig. 2). Although his skill was superior he taught

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