Training devices - Tai Chi ruler 太極統治者 Other names:  Tai Chi Chih

One persistent legend is the famed Taoist Chen Tuan (871?–989! CE), by some claimed as the inventor of Liu He Ba Fa  ( = Six Harmonies and Eight Methods) kung fu, taught ruler to the Emperor Taizu (Zhao Kuangyin), first of the Northern Song dynasty. It is very unclear (to me, at any rate) if Chen Tuan actually stayed two decades at Wudangshan or when he resided at Huashan. Even less clear is whether he was taught ruler or invented it, much less, when and where. I actually learned ruler from a Yang style Tai Chi Chuan master. I am skeptical that he got a full transmission. He did, however, claim that grandmaster Chen Fake knew and taught ruler, bang and ball. Certainly, the late Grandmaster Chen Qingzhou taught them as well as bent bang. I have no idea (yet) if GrandmasterChen Qingzhou learned the tools from Grandmaster Chen Zhaopi or someone else. Master Jesse Tsao of San Diego California wrote to say that Grandmaster Chen Fake did indeed teach tai chi bang (but not ruler): it was based on a gan-mian-zhang which is a wooden stick to make dumpling wraps. As far as I can tell, Chen Zhaopei (陈照丕; 1893–1972) did not teach bang or ruler when he taught in Beijing in 1928 or later in Nanjing.

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