Unshaken by wind or rain

Thank you Coach XiaoZhou for today's lecture (Sunday rainy Sunday)

The importance of respect for the art was emphasized (尚武崇德, shang we chong de (suggested translation: To honor martial skill, first uphold virtue. Or perhaps: To advocate martial arts, one must first uphold virtue). Also, the importance of practicing every day, regardless the circumstance, was emphasized: 风雨无阻, feng yu wu zu. Your translation ‘Proceed regardless of wind or rain’ is clear, but ‘Unshaken by wind or rain’ could work too. But yours is very direct and clear.

Today, the directions and the importance of ‘awareness of direction’ became increasingly  clear. We both noticed when I was not facing in the right direction. You can see it immediately of course, but even I could realize.


If I remember correctly, we went from northeast to southeast and ended up in the south where the initial movement began.

The names of the movements are important, not only to ‘understand the movement itself’ though they point that out. They also help me to know which movement comes next. I’m going “oh yes, now I’ll shut the window and…”. To me, they are important also in that sense. If my body don’t remember the name can support where to go next (assuming I remember the order in which ‘the names appear’). This was especially clear when I was practicing,  repeating, repeating, repeating at home after today’s practice.

临崖勒马（lin ya le ma)：Rein in the horse at the cliff’s edge (small changes for ‘flow’). Personally I would have expected a ’drawing the bow’ name to this movement, but I can see the similarity between the two if you steer your horse with long reins.

闭门推月 （bi men tui yue) shut the window and push the moon. I think I can see the ‘shutting of the window’ (blocking your opponents view?), and ‘pushing the moon’ (assuming it is the left hand pushing the moon) in this movement clearly.

拨云见日 （bo yun jian ri): ‘part the mist to  reveal the sun’ could possibly work, or “clear the clouds, reveal the sun’. I’m taking away one of either mist or cloud because it sounds better. If both are needed, just use both. Maybe mist sounds more ”water quan”-appropriate? I think you can use words like clear, part, or sweep, and reveal, unveil, or emerge (like sun emerges).

During practice, I noticed that I'm focusing a little bit too much on the hands. I'm trying to get the hand movements right and miss out on the legs. I also realized I don't know how to turn. Where to put my weight to ‘effortlessly move my body around’.  Plus, as you pointed out, when I’m not where I’m supposed to be (either direction-wise, or posture-wise) I add some extra foot movements to end up in the right place. 
It is very helpful that you point these things out to me, another insight from today.

谢谢老师

Veronica

06/01/2025

Another insight  from the Sunday practice I should mention is the importance of the martial arts application. For example, when you show me what I, or my opponent, can do during a movement or when standing in a specific ’position’, then I always go like ”Aaahhh(!) I see!”. An aha moment! The actual connection to martial arts is extremely important for clarity and understanding. Other important aspects you mentioned are the hand alignments, for example, thumb pointing to middle finger or middle fingers pointing towards each other, or the creation of a circular space by placing the hands in a certain way. All this seems important and are  likely key to understanding the water boxing, as well as  other forms of martial arts.

Here are some suggested translations that I didn’t come about to do until now. 混沌开基（hun dun kai ji）: the first separated from Chaos. If I understand this, it is something like wuji > taiji, if so, perhaps one of these suggestions could work: From chaos the foundation rises or Primordial chaos yields the beginning, or The beginning emerges from the primordial mist.

This is a difficult one as I am sure it has layers of meaning that I cannot grasp, and all the translations sound pretty pretentious. Perhaps ”The beginning emerges from chaos”. It is less pretentious, and a bit more aligned with your translation.

教学相长（jiao xue xiang zhang）: Teaching and learning grow together, or Teacher and student advance as one. The original translation works nicely too!

（附：Veronica的学拳小记翻译） 

感谢晓舟教练今天的课程（周日，雨天） 

课程强调了尊重武术精神的重要性（尚武崇德，建议翻译：To honor martial skill, first uphold virtue. 或 To advocate martial arts, one must first uphold virtue）。同时也强调了无论环境如何都要每日练习的重要性：风雨无阻。你翻译的“Proceed regardless of wind or rain”很清晰，“Unshaken by wind or rain”也可行，但你的版本更直接明了。 

今天，“方向意识”的指引和重要性愈发清晰。我们都注意到我方向不对的时候——当然你一眼就能发现，但后来我自己也能意识到了。

如果没记错的话，我们从东北方向练到东南方向，最后回到了最初动作起始的南方。 

招式名称很重要，不仅能“理解动作本身”（招式名确实指向动作），还能帮我记住下一个动作。我会想“哦对，现在该‘关窗’然后……”。对我来说，它们在这个意义上也很关键：如果身体记不住动作，名称能帮我回忆接下来该做什么（前提是我记得招式名称的顺序）。今天练完回家后反复练习时，这一点尤为明显。 

临崖勒马（lin ya le ma）：Rein in the horse at the cliff’s edge（为了流畅稍作调整）。我原本以为这个动作可能会叫“拉弓”之类的名字，但如果想象用长缰绳控马的样子，确实能看出两者的相似性。 

闭门推月（bi men tui yue）：shut the window and push the moon。我能清楚看出动作中“关窗”的意象（可能是阻挡对手的视线？），以及“推月”（假设是左手推月的动作）。 

拨云见日（bo yun jian ri）：“part the mist to reveal the sun”或“clear the clouds, reveal the sun”可能都不错。我倾向于去掉“mist”或“clouds”中的一个，读起来更顺口。如果需要保留两者也可以。或许“mist”听起来更有“水拳”的意境？我觉得可以用clear、part、sweep等词，搭配reveal、unveil或emerge（如太阳“浮现”）。 

练习时我注意到自己有点过于关注手部动作，一心想把手上的姿势做对，却忽略了腿部。我还发现自己不会转身——该把重心放在哪里才能“轻松转动身体”。另外，正如你指出的，当我位置不对时（无论是方向还是姿势），会不自觉多挪几步来调整到正确位置。很感谢你指出这些问题，这是今天的另一大收获。 

谢谢老师！ 

Veronica