I think the single most important component is that Yang Lu-chan was a true genius, the "Albert Einstein" of internal martial arts. He obviously had a keen mind, and could observe closely, and use both these facilities to "see" deeper than most - after all, who among us today could hide in the bushes, observing others practice the Chen-style, practice alone in secret in the dark of night, and then arrive at what Yang's teacher described as "the essence of the art"?
The second important thing imho is that he wandered about quite a bit after leaving Chen village and tested his skills against many other martial artists before making his way back to Yongnian - there are the usual tales of "mountain Taoists" and the like, but how many of these are reality-based, no one really knows. But this must certainly provided him with other points of view and other perspectives not available solely thru the Chen training...
The third important thing to remember is that sudden "Inspiration" is something that's always available to ANY human being - but especially one with a deep traditional practice, like Yang Lu-chan.
Lastly, I think all these other streams of information, plus years of practice before he finally arrived in his final 'fully-matured' form in Beijing helped to crystalize a new and different "realization" in the person of Yang Lu-chan - something that didn't exist before in the Chen-style tradition.
I draw this final conclusion from the fact that all the styles that originate from the Yang-style have this new type of fajin, whereas the Chen-style simply does not, even to this day...
Adam Mizner wrote: " i dont think what YLC learned was Chen fist at all, but rather a Wudang transmition. YLC teacher was buried outside of the village as an outsider, he was not considered "one of the gang", perhaps this is due to his not practicing the family art..."
Yes, and of course this raises the ultimate question:
What the heck was the reason Chen Changxing was teaching his martial arts at "midnight", according to the traditional tales?
One often-quoted statistic is that "95% of the inhabitants of Chen village practice Chen TCC", and people who have been to Chenjiagou will tell you even some "little old ladies" can whip thru an admirable demonstration of one of the forms.
In other words, Chen-style TCC is pervasive all throughout the village - virtually 'everybody' does it.
So the question then remains, why in god's name did Chen Changxing feel compelled to practice in secrecy in the dark of night???
If he was merely teaching the same "family art" as everybody else, why not simply practice earlier in the light of day, so everybody can see clearly?
If he was just teaching the family art, then he was just one of all the many villagers who did, since virtually 'everybody' in the village did so -
So why the need for secrecy?
Just one more of those "interesting questions" of Tai Chi "history"...
Michael Koh wrote re: Michael Phillips: "What the heck was the reason Chen Changxing was teaching his martial arts at "midnight", according to the traditional tales?"
"An answer was offered in one of the chinese documentary about Chinese culture and tradition. I believe it applies here. When an art or traditional or heritage is considered as ???, meaning, not to be transmitted out. They do not even teach the female members of the family. The logic is the female members of the family might marry out of the village and thus will bring the art outside the village. Thus the teachings are usually done at night...also leaving the day time for farming and occupation."
Michael Phillips wrote re: Michael Koh: "The logic is the female members of the family might marry out of the village and thus will bring the art outside the village."
Ah, of course you are right, Michael - funny how I already knew about that factor somewhere in the back of my mind, but I conveniently "forgot" about it in the course of stating my case, hah-ha-ha!
Also, the issue is probably much more 'real' for a person born into Chinese culture, rather than just an afficionado like myself!
