The eighteen steps, also known as Shaolin boxing, are the basic exercises of Pakua. By themselves, these postures stand as a complete martial art, effective against all styles. All Pa Kua practitioners must learn the eighteen steps before they choose between the circular style or the synthetic style of Sun. Nobody likes the eighteen steps because it is looping, most humans prefer the parry and punch of Tai Chi or the consecutive step attack of Hsing-I. The question this author asks is why the most complete and economical system in Chinese boxing is relegated to an esoteric antiquity suitable only for old people. Is it because only old people get into a fight over money or women?
The movements of the eighteen steps mimic the movements of insects. Insects are the most efficient and effective predators and this author delineates why. The eighteen steps are the static movements of the preying mantis, the grasshopper, and the assassin beetle. A small insect will play dead or instantly converge and throw circular movements at its adversary, at something it eats, or battles for a meal. For the rest of us, human beings, a circle is a long way to get to a straight line, but if an intrepid soul practices the art for twenty years or longer, the circles become faster and eventually approach the speed of a straight line, this fact is easier said than done and most people will not continue the silliness. The reason the circle is so effective is that a circle produces a strike three times more powerful than a linear blow. If F=MA, then F= mv squared/r in a circle or stretched out to a Newtonian vector, F=3.14MA. A circular punch is three times more powerful than a linear strike if the practitioner can swing it very fast. A bug attacking prey scurries with weight distributed 50/50 into striking range and then throws punches. The punches happen from horizontal and vertical positions and if done rapidly, are hard to block. An insect will scurry into position, throw hooks, overhand rights, and hookercuts, until the prey can’t defend itself and the insect begins to eat.
In comparison, the style is like the white crane, flying, bumping, and bending the bow. Or like phoenix-style Tai Chi, with piercing, flapping, and flying. However, it is more. The eighteen steps include three postures of short boxing also known as fighting in the clinch, and a form of circular jiu jitsu that enables practitioners to escape grasps and crane kicks. The final movement is a kick, called the scooping foot which resembles Thailand boxing in that a person uses a kick to the lower leg when nothing else works. In Chinese boxing, kicking is denigrated because a big football player will tackle a victim and start punching. When a person stands on one foot, they are unstable and easily taken down, and this is exactly what grapplers do best. Never kick a grappler. If anyone ever has been tackled and taken down and terrorized, they know exactly what I mean. So let us begin. Remember everything except the spear hand and the double impact punch moves in a circle.
- Deflection attack
This is the defense and attack of the preying mantis. With the hands up like a mantis a person will hammer fist with the same side a hook strikes. The Chinese believe that defending a hook opens up an opponent on that side. The deflection attack can also be used as a double hammer fist to the face of an opponent.
- Double duty hand
This and this alone is the signature movement of Pa Kua. A person strikes with a hand and when finished uses the same hand to deliver a horizontal back fist to the face. Classically, a fighter throws an overhand right like brush knee and press in Tai Chi but then loops the hand to the face afterward. The student can do this with an open hand or closed fist. Done quickly, this movement looks like two circles in a figure eight. A student practices this movement until it is lightning quick and when it is, the opponent will never see the back fist come from the side to the face. The double duty hand is the basis for Pa Kua and all its strikes and maneuvers.
- The spear hand
The spear hand is the same as drilling in Hsing-I or step up and punch in Tai Chi. It is known in boxing circles as the one-two. With the hands up like a mantis in front of the face, a boxer spears outward in two fist bursts.
- The double impact punch.
This movement replicates crushing in Hsing-I or press down, parry, and punch in Tai-chi. Using the standing fist a person with their torso strikes the midsection in half horse and articulates the thumb downward, creating a double impact. This movement is designed to beat the midsection of the opponent like a drum.
- Knuckle punch
This is the straight right hand with an upward block against the overhand right. This is the same as fan penetrate back in tai chi and in Pa Kua it is to the midsection, the punch can also be directed at the head
- Sword hand
This is the second major movement of the eighteen steps. Moving your hand like a sword, open or closed in a sweeping fashion, or with both hands like a two-handed hook or reverse flying like white crane or crossing in Hsing I or slanting flight in Tai chi. However a sword moves, this is the way the hand moves also. This can be with one hand or two, one at a time, or two together like two hands cutting. Remember always the circle.
- Circle and reverse press
With your hand make a big circle with a fist, scooping upward just like the hooker cut. This movement works great when your hands are high in the spear hand and you continue the circle and punch them in the groin
These eight movements are the ones a practitioner uses in a boxing match. They are the eight diagrams. Next, come the four short boxing techniques
- Circle and inverse press.
Move an arm in a huge circle to the left and push downward to the right and vice versa. The purpose of this movement is a strike where no room or leverage is possible. This concept is hard for the Western mind to comprehend. When a boxer has a hand on your clothes and wants to punch you in the side of the head, circle the arm as fast as possible and impact the groin. This is a punch given where no leverage or strength is possible.
- Pecking.
When an opponent grabs your collar to prepare a judo throw or wrestling takedown, with your hands shaped like a beak, a fighter gouges their eyes
- Folding elbow
This is the famous Gracie jiu-jitsu elbow strike. With thumbs down, fold to the elbow and swing the elbow like a hook. When an opponent holds the boxer in a two-leg takedown, fold the elbow and pummel the face.
- Uppercut.
This movement made Rocky Marciano famous. When an opponent clinches with over-the-shoulder hooks, a boxer punches straight upwards with the fist till he or she connects. A boxer can also make room with the folding elbow and then punch upwards with the uppercut
- Reverse the attack
When an opponent shoots in a two-leg take-down, a boxer squats deeply in horse and swings across with a right cross from either side. When the opponent transitions to a back clinch, a boxer twists to face them then slaps downward with the open hand. This is the only decent defense a boxer has for the front two-leg shoot.
- Clamping
In horse stance, a boxer swings his arms in a big circle counterclockwise with the right hand. This finesse move is best used by an expert. Making a big circle, he or she can deflect any strike to the midsection, a grab, or a side thrust kick and move the energy outside of the circle. At this point, after the deflection, the boxer attacks with, a spear hand, sword hand, or big chopping. The open hand can also be used as a slapping hook to the face like hands build clouds in Tai Chi.
- Reverse Clamping
Swinging the arm in the exact opposite rotation, in a horse stance, a boxer can block a crane kick to the face or trap a Thai kick to the knee. Reverse clamping and clamping are a movement a boxer usually discards as looping and slow, or esoteric. However, when insects meet to fight to the death, they circle their arms as they close and do it religiously. Circling helps them evade the grasp.
- Cross and Push.
This is the attempt by the boxer to evade a straight arm rush and grab by an opponent so they can infight or take the fight to the ground. Circle the arm in an inward arc and squat down as you swing. This movement breaks the grasp. Then push forward forcefully with both arms in a two-handed strike to the midsection. This is almost the same as the expansive push in Tai Chi Chuan.
- Big Chopping
The ancients leave this movement to last. Maybe the huge overhand right or left is too slow to be useful in a boxing match. Maybe it is used like the assassin beetle, to attack a huge grappler.
Pronate one arm and swing the member in a huge circle to impact somewhere in the head. Fan penetrate back is designed to block this movement, but if it hits, you have won decisively.
- Scooping foot
This is the only foot movement in the eighteen steps. A practitioner swings his leg low like a karate roundhouse kick in an attempt to hurt the knee joint or from an oblique angle to take the opponent to the ground. When the opponent is a Hapkido boxer, or Okinawan karate boxer, or drunken master, and dancing around, kick the leg to make him or her honest.
- Corkscrew Punch
This is the movement everyone hates. No one uses it. It is the attacking system of Shaolin boxing. When you scurry up to meet a grappler, a boxer swings the corkscrew punch because it is hard to defend or block it. This movement doesn’t work against the one-two punch of a prizefighter. When a boxer confronts a grappler who presents with their hands down, he or she lunges forward with the corkscrew punch and when it connects, swings big chopping to the head. The corkscrew punch moves like the threads of a screw. Start with a big circle moving inward, constrict the circle as the fist moves, and punch out to the midsection. At this junction, a boxer can swing the sword hand or big chopping against a grappler.
This is it. Practice the eighteen exercises wherever a person goes, in the morning, on trips, by yourself at night. This exercise will lengthen your life, add vital health, and yield a panacea for boredom that forever dogs your days. The internal systems are an exercise to promote health foster coordination and increase your lifespan. If a person wants to fight, go to a boxing gym and show them how tough you are.