螳螂拳手法總論/Tanglangquan Shou Fa Zong Lun – Tanglangquan’s General Theory of Hand Methods

拳術為手上工夫，其手法之多，罄南山之竹不能盡書，今論僅十余則，知不免于蠡測管窺之誚，然五寸之矩，可盡天下之方，是在學者，舉一反三，于此十余手之中循環變化，自無儘期，如孩提之舉步，必逐一舉之，使一步未得穩，即中道而欲馬，幾何其不傾跌也哉，且如戚東牟所云，山東李半天之腿，鷹爪王之拿，千跌張之跌，張可敬之打，何嘗不以一著之妙，即名垂寰宇，學者果能于此數則之中，得一二手過人之處，安見不可出人頭地，不然則雖多亦奚以為。

This Boxing Art is Superior Hand Kung fu. It has many Hand Methods, & if you exhausted Nanshan’s bamboo you couldn’t write them all down. Now I will just discuss a few of them, while being aware of the ridicule inevitable in restricted views. Thus, like the Five Inch Rule, we will be able to exhaust the world’s methods. This is like the scholar’s “Raise one & infer three,” we take these few surplus hands & cycle through their variations. Surely, without sufficient time spent, it is like a young child’s moving forward. He will certainly raise the steps too quickly, causing them to lack stability. That is being on the road & wanting a horse, how could it not lean & fall over?! Moreover, as Qi Dongmou said, “Shandong Li Bantian’s Legs, Eagle Claw Wang’s Locks, Thousand Falls Zhang’s Trips, Zhang Kejing’s Strikes; how could I not use one of these clever maneuvers?” This is called Handing Down the Universe. Scholars are able to take these several Hands & train until the point  one or two surpass other people. A quiet appearance cannot stand out among one’s peers, otherwise what’s the point in having so many?