Ba Da Mu Zhang

Quick Facts

About the kata

Ba Da Mu Zhang is a set of eight palms on which the Cheng-style Baguazhang technique is built. The English Wikipedia calls it the technical foundation of all branches of the style, from which more complex sequences derive. In the line of Sun Zhijun and Liu Jingru, the eight palms are: dan huan zhang (single change of palm), shuang huan zhang (double change), shun shi zhang (palm of the smooth stance), bei shen zhang (body turned back-to-back), zhuan shen zhang (turning of the body), mo shen zhang (grinding movement), fan shen zhang (overturning of the body), and hui shen zhang (return of the body). Ted Mancuso explains the single change of palm as a change of direction, made with one row of steps along a small half-circle. The Xi'an Association for Baguazhang Research writes that each of the eight palms further branches into eight techniques, giving sixty-four in all. The Taiping Institute, teaching per Sun Zhijun, lists two follow-on sequences: Lao Ba Da Zhang with 126 steps and Lianhuan Mu Zhang with 64 stances, chaining the mother palms one after another. We have not been able to find a settled movement count for the whole form; schools compose and count it their own way.

The kata in different styles

Meaning of the name

Literally it means 八大母掌, 'eight great mother palms.' They're called mother palms because, per the English Wikipedia and an article on Sohu, further palms and sequences of the Cheng style derive from them. The Internal Arts International glossary notes that in some Baguazhang styles the same term denotes eight fixed walking stances (ding shi), in others a basic eight-part form. For the Cheng style, per Wikipedia and the Taiping Institute, it is the second meaning.

Creator and history

The style is named after Cheng Tinghua, a student of Dong Haichuan. Coming from Shen County, he ran a spectacles shop in Beijing and was nicknamed Spectacles Cheng; he died in 1900. The English Wikipedia states only the first three palms, called Lao San Zhang (老三掌) – the single change, the double change, and the palm of the smooth stance – count as the oldest part of the form, passed on by Cheng Tinghua himself. We have not been able to establish who added the remaining five, or when.

Differences between styles

Name and content differ by lineage. Chris Wilhite says Sun Zhijun and Zhang Jie call the form Ba Mu Zhang (八母掌), Liu Jingru calls it Ba Da Zhang (八大掌), and Liang Shouyu Lao Ba Zhang (老八掌); far from all Cheng-style schools practice the eight palms of Sun Zhijun and Liu Jingru. The Xi'an Association for Baguazhang Research (Gu Jianqiang) places san chuan zhang (三穿掌) instead of the body turn, and puts the body overturn before the grinding movement. Furthest departs Gao Yisheng's branch: in Xiantian Ba Da Zhang (先天八大掌), as taught by Luo Dexiu, the first three changes remain per Wilhite, but the sequence's structure and palm names differ.