True Explanation of the Meaning of Boxing

Quan Yi Shu Zhen (A True Account of the Meaning of Boxing) is a martial arts text by Sun Lutang that serves as a bridge between earlier and later works in the traditional martial arts literature. Its value lies not in illustrated techniques but in elevating the practice and experience of internal martial arts such as Xingyi, Bagua, and Taiji to a discussion of "intention" (yi) and "qi," emphasizing guiding qi by intention and moving the body by qi, thereby leading martial arts from technical drills toward a path of cultivation integrating body and mind. The discussion is largely grounded in personal practice, concise in language with a traditional classical feel; readers need to combine it with their own practice and reflect repeatedly to grasp the essentials of relaxation and sinking, substantial and insubstantial, and the interplay of hardness and softness. This edition preserves the original book's appearance and is suited to reading as a traditional martial arts document rather than a fast-food technique manual. While reading, one may attend both to the intersection of boxing theory with Daoist cultivation ideas and to how the author uses words to describe bodily perception. For readers studying Republican-era martial arts history, internal martial arts theory, or traditional body culture, this book offers irreplaceable primary material; general readers may treat it as a window into the traditional martial arts way of thinking.