Part 3
In Biu Gee, every movement in the arm displays the peak of the kinetic power of the body. The difficult part is how to converge such peak power onto a particular point of the limbs to turn it into a spearhead for attack. This entails techniques – finding the Centre of Weight of every hand-form in motion and using it to launch attacks; in this way generating massive attack power yet seemingly consuming no power – that are not made up but rooted in the scientific base. Of course, Nim Tao must be brought into play, else the structure will lack stability.
An object must have Mass. When the object is in motion, regardless of its shape and structure, there must exist a centre of weight in the object along the direction of movement. The centre of weight, if desired, can be caused to locate at a particular point of the object.
To achieve it, the direction of movement must be properly utilised; of course, experience and sensitivity are crucial for achieving it instantly. Any hand movement in Biu Gee, when in motion, is capable of cumulating the body power onto a particular point. Harnessed by Nim Tao, the Centre of Mass caused by such power cumulation can position at the point for offence or defence.
This is the reason for the overwhelming attack power delivered in Biu Gee, and is the essence the learner should pursue. When the structure of a hand-form is changing, the position of its Centre of Weight changes accordingly.
Thus, in the same movement various positions of the Centre of Mass can result. Imagine that, in the entire Biu Gee Form-set, all Centres of Mass of all hand-forms in motion are revealed one by one – the whole picture would become so complicated that the drawings will only overflow any canvas of the illustration.
Some similarities can be revealed when gymnastics are used as an analogy. Take the pommel horse and the parallel bars as examples: the gymnast performs artistic moves on the pommel horse or the parallel bars; the points his hands contact the equipment are then the centres of mass of the body.
Obviously in these sports the centres of weight are accelerating towards the ground due to gravity, whereas in martial arts such acceleration is instead produced by the body moving towards the point of contact so as to fully exert the body momentum onto that attack point.
Another difference is that in pommel horse and parallel bars the palms serve as a relatively fixed base for the body to perform a variety of movements; on the contrary, in martial arts, the body is more stable and serves as the base for the arms to perform a variety of hand-forms. In the latter case, it is very difficult to converge the body momentum into the arms, for it entails considerable pondering, comprehension and practice.
The Centre of Mass in exercising Drawing Power, the opposite of Propelling Power described above, can be shown with the horizontal bar gymnastic, in which the pulling momentum is focused on the palms. The direction of pulling represented by this focal point changes according to the change in the direction of body movement. Similarly, in martial arts, such directional change of body movement is used to magnify the drawing power. In general, drawing power leveraging body momentum appears to be a normal human ability – only that the orchestration of the joints in arms and the body movement still relies on form structures that are to be familiarised by practising form-sets.
Nevertheless, the form structures in martial arts and the style structures in gymnastics are themselves distinct, and their applications are apparently different. For example: in gymnastics the centre of weight acts to support the body’s balance, whereas in martial arts the Centre of Mass is converted into momentum power for launching attacks.
The two are widely divided in concept. In addition, in all the gymnastic sports mentioned above, the centre of weight only situated at the palms; while in martial arts, the Centre of Mass can situate at various locations including the fists, the palms, the forearms and the elbows, although the instant change in such situating can only be achieved through careful exploration.
In summary, if the Centre of Mass, when advancing forward to deliver Propelling Power, can function as the actual point for launching the attack, it largely follows that the opposite – the Centre of Mass retreating backwards to cause Drawing Power – should act as the focal point that converges all the pulling body weight- is utilised as a momentum. This is the way the kinetic power of the body Mass is utilized as the power source – the most fundamental yet the most enormous power in martial arts.
