It is said that the Five Birds Play was created by Hua Tuo on the basis of the "Two Birds Play", which mainly imitates the physical movements of animals in nature. The "two bird play" refers to the "bear through the bird stretch", so the five bird play was born from the "two bird play" of "bear through the bird extension". So, what is "bear through the bird extension"?
In the book "Zhuangzi", there is such a passage: "Blowing hǒu (pronounced "roar") breathing, spitting out the old Naxin, the bear through the bird Shen, for the sake of life, this guide, the person who cultivates the form, the good of the Pengzu Shou examiner." ”
There are similar texts in the Huainan Zi: "If you blow a bird (hǒu, pronounced "roar") breathe, spit out the old inner new, bear through the bird stretch, yu (fú) bath bug (yuán, ancient tong "ape"), jué (pronounced "absolute"), bird (chī) to see the tiger Gu, is a person who nourishes the form, does not slip the heart, makes the gods gush without losing its fullness, day and night without injury and spring with things, is the dry heart when it is born together.
In the "Baopuzi", it is more straightforward: "For example, the breath of the Xuan Fetus, the breath of the breath, the inner vision of the scene, the bear through the bird extension, the art of immortality." ”
Ancient Chinese fitness has two methods: "guide" and "guide". Guidance, that is, "guiding qi linghe", citation, is "pulling body ling soft", bear sutra, bird stretch both belong to the "introduction" method. In other words, "Bear Through Bird Extension" is the earliest health exercise in China.
The "Bear Sutra" refers to some of the bear's daily ecological body movements, such as: "If the bear climbs the tree and induces the breath", "like a bear climbing a tree and hanging itself".
The earliest evidence for the "Bear Classic" was the "Guide Map" in the Mawangdui No. 3 Tomb in the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, and the forty-first figure of this "Guide Map" is the "Bear Classic". Unfortunately, when I went to the Hunan Provincial Museum, I did not see this "Bear Sutra" in the public exhibition. However, we can see from the Western Han Dynasty gold and silver staggered tubular car excavated by Baoding in 1964, there are six "Bear Sutra" figures, from which we can glimpse the prototype of the bear sutra action in ancient times.
Interestingly, many poets in ancient times wrote the "Bear Sutra" for health maintenance into their poems:
Xiong Jingxian Has a Technique (Song Liu Yun's "Genus Disease")
Stretching Birds and Miscellaneous Bears (Song Qi, "Sending Wang Chong")
Xiong Jing tried a bird (Song Xiang Anshi," "Again Former Governor Zhou Zi Asks in the Snow with a Poem of Illness")
Drama Climbing Garden Tree as Bear Sutra (Song Zhang's "Two Songs for Giving Feathers")
Although there is no bear bird technique (Song Lu You, "Sleeping in the Middle of the Night, Two Eyes Every Light Is Like the First Calendar Calendar Illumination Chao Wen Yuangong")
Staying with the Guests Xiong Jing (Ming Sun Yiyuan's "Seclusion (Second Song))")
The Book of Sickness and a Bear (Song Song Kuo' "Early Summer Three Divisions Straight Su")
Xiong He (Song Wumai, "Father Zhi Dehua Chen Zai Shu Shu Ning Shi Hezhi")
Spinning Lecture Bear Sutra Massage (Song Xiang Anshi,"Ciyun Tao Festival Pushing Question Disease")
Bear is confident in peeking into the truth. (Ming Tang Shunzhi's "Gift to Yuan Imperial Physician Fangzhou")
Magu Xian Knows the Bear Sutra. (Qing Wang Tu Bing's "You Xian")
Of course, the development of the present, the "Bear Classic" has developed into the modern martial arts, very mature "Yin Yang Bagua Fist" in the bear-shaped paw. In short, Xiong Jing is the oldest health exercise in China!