Tongyuan Shrine Da Zun Quan

Tongyuan Miao Da Zun Quan
demonstration by Lin Qita
Tongyuan Da Zun Quan practices San Zhan as it's base form.
Some martial historians in mainland China believe that it is the Tongyuan lineage of Da Zun from which Cai Yuming took the core San Zhan of his Wu Zu Quan system.
Other empty hand boxing forms include Meihua Zhan "Plum Blossom Battle", Luohan Dian, and Hudie Zhang "Butterfly Palms". The system also includes Damo Hu Shen Gun "Bodhidharma Self Defense Staff", Meihua Gun "Plum Blossom Staff", Chan Zhang "Monk's Staff", Tie Chi "Iron Ruler", Shuang Jian "Double Truncheons, as well as Fei Biao "Flying Darts" (throwing spikes).
This lineage of Da Zun Quan traces back to the monks of Zhangzhou's Kaiyuan temple through the Tongyuan Shrine.
Located in Longxi county in the Xiangcheng district of Zhangzhou prefecture, the Kaiyuan temple at it's peak was one of the largest temples in Fujian and was famed for it's collection of Tang and Song dynasty art. As the largest and one of the oldest temples in the region, the monks of Kaiyuan were known to preserve a wide variety of ancient traditional arts.
However the temple was looted and burned by the Taiping army in 1864.
After the destruction of the temple many of the monks spread out into the many local subsidiary temples and shrines that were under the jurisdiction of Kaiyuan temple.
As a result of this there are a number of martial skills, medical skills and recipes, and performance arts such as cymbal and clay pot juggling, meteor hammer performance, staff juggling, and acrobatics that spread from the Kaiyuan temple after it's destruction to the smaller local temple, shrines, and hermitages in the area and in many cases from there to the local folk culture.
Today the main martial lineages of Kaiyuan temple trace to the Tongyuan Shrine where a number of Kaiyuan monks and lay monastics who were skilled in the traditional boxing and weapon arts of the temple had settled after the destruction of the main temple.
Most Kaiyuan Quan lineages trace to this shrine as does one of the main Da Zun Quan lineages of Zhangzhou.
A century ago Zhangzhou had many different Da Zun schools tracing to various lineages and founders. However today Da Zun styles have become very rare.
Lin Qita of the Tongyuan Shrine system of Da Zun Quan believes that this is because Da Zun styles put heavy emphasis on Neigong and Post Standing practices which has made them much less popular than styles such as Taizu or White Crane which are more dynamic featuring many different forms.
For whatever reason today Da Zun has become very rare with many schools now having ceased practice or having lost sections of their curriculum.

[@TeaSerpent]

Please Read the full description for information on this system or any style on any of my videos.

[@jadenng7569]

Meihua Zhan is just another name for this system’s San Zhan. Tongyuan Dazun Quan only has eight single person hand sets (forms) but quite a few internal training methods, which are not easy to learn.

[@The-Contractor]

A lot of good stuff in that taolu. Some solid combinations to unpack, pressure test, and possibly incorporate. Thanks for putting up the vid.

[@darth8freak]

Nice little treasure you got here! You wouldnt happen to have a video or know of somethign that might look that the Hudie Zhang "Butterfly Palms" sequence by any chance?