Joe Deisher's Relationship with Zhang Yi Zhong

An article about Zhang Yi Zhong would not be complete without discussing his relationship with his long time student Joe Deisher. They have been together for nearly thirty years, all of Zhang's instruction in the United States since 1979 has been through Joe Deisher's translation, and, true to Zhang's teaching, Deisher has taken what Zhang has given him and explored it on his own terms, arriving at some very interesting theories of his own about the relationships between internal arts practice, the mind, the emotions, culture and lifestyle. In this section, we will discuss Zhang's history with Deisher and then talk about some of Deisher's interpretations and explorations of Zhang's teaching.

Joe Deisher and Zhang Yi Zhong met in Japan in 1967. Deisher had moved to Japan in 1964. He went there specifically to study the game of Go and learn Aikido. Deisher had been a math major in college and the mathematical strategy of Go intrigued him. He had not studied Aikido prior to going to Japan, but what he had heard of the art gave him an interest in pursuing its study. One of the things that drew him to Aikido was a quote by its founder, Morihei Uyeshiba, which stated, "If you cannot keep an open heart when a person is swinging a sword at your head, you will not be able to cope with him." The meaning of this quote is that Aikido is an "open hearted" self-defense system.

While Deisher was in Japan he taught English two hours a day, five days a week to make enough money to support himself. He also studied the Japanese language along with his study of Go and Aikido. He eventually became very proficient in the language, earned a black belt in Aikido, and earned a similar "dan" ranking in Go.

During his second year in Japan, Deisher went to an "all-Japan" martial arts exhibition (in April 1966). Zhang Yi Zhong demonstrated his Tai Ji Quan at the exhibition and Deisher was very impressed with what he saw. This was not the first time he had seen Tai Ji. Deisher had taken a trip to Taiwan in 1965 and studied a bit of Yang style Tai Ji while he was there. After watching Zhang's demonstration in Japan, he was interested in studying what Zhang had to teach and so he went and, in the traditional manner, "stood on his doorstep." Joe went to Zhang's studio about once a month and simply watched the class. In June of 1967 Zhang invited him to practice.

Deisher says that Zhang began the instruction with a set of basics such as simple standing and arm swinging exercises (moving from side-to-side while rotating around the body's center). He said that the standing practice was first performed with the arms hanging down by the sides. Deisher says that Zhang believes that a beginner is not ready to assume the standing postures which involve holding the arms up; they will always hold too much tension. Zhang starts beginners with the simple standing practice while the arms are relaxed so that they can learn how to relax the body and explore the skeletal structure while holding the correct body alignments. After a set of simple basics, Zhang moves his students directly into the Chen Pan Ling Tai Ji form. However, every class began with at least ten minutes of standing meditation.

I asked Joe Deisher why he wanted to study from Zhang Yi Zhong. He already knew some Tai Ji, he was already studying Aikido, why learn something new? Deisher said that it was not the form that he wanted to learn from Zhang, he wanted to study with Zhang because he was impressed by the man. He was impressed by Zhang's kindness, righteousness open heartedness, and self-discipline. Deisher said, "Zhang was living a disciplined life, living with the correct attitude and teaching by example, not preaching at his students. He treated everyone with kindness, even those that came into the school to challenge him. He had the open-heartedness which Uyeshiba spoke of in his quote about Aikido. Whenever he demonstrated an application of Tai Ji, whether it was during a challenge. or to a student, Zhang would create a situation which clearly demonstrated that the opponent was open, he would make the connection, but he would never apply enough power to injure the person. It was his kindness and righteousness that attracted me to him."

True to the teaching of his tradition, Joe Deisher has not only taken from the art which he studies, he has given back to it as well. He explains that Chen Pan Ling and the group which developed the Nanjing Tai Ji form were able to take the essence of proper physical structure and naturally efficient body motion and synthesize it in creating the Tai Ji form. Zhong Yi Zhong took that physical knowledge and added to the transmission by diligently researching and passing along his ideas about diet. From this base of knowledge, Joe Deisher has moved on to explore the emotional energetics of internal arts practice. Like his teachers exploration of diet, Deisher has studied and continues to study the dynamics of emotional energy and its relation to physiology.

Deisher says that through the self-cultivation and self-management process of the internal martial arts, a person can learn take an emotional state, be it fear, anger, joy, sorrow, grief, etc., and use the energy of that emotion to energetically charge the body instead of energetically deplete the body. The key Is in recognizing that the emotion is an internal energy state and not try and attach it to an external object. If you say, "I feel angry because . . .," it is a mistake. You are then attaching your emotion to an external object. Deisher recommends that people learn to stay with the emotion long enough to convert the energy into a positive thing. The tough part is learning how to stay with the emotion long enough to convert the energy state. People tend to want to look outside to attach or blame the state on something external, that is the easy way out. The hard way is in looking inside for the source of the emotional state and transforming that state into a positive energy. Learning how to cultivate oneself by looking internally and developing internal awareness during martial arts practice is a way to begin the energy transformation process.

Deisher has a very wide ranging view of the benefits of Internal arts practice. He sees this practice as away to develop the spirit, increase the fields of imagination, provide a basis for cultural advancement, and offer a lifestyle philosophy. He says, "In this country, we have educated people, but not a traditional culture. People cannot survive long without a culture. What we have developed in the place of a traditional culture is a culture by coercion. Ours is a culture based on controlling people by scaring them into doing the right thing, this is not the way to produce a smooth and functional society. What is needed is a philosophical base that will help people loose their fear." Deisher continues, "A lot of things in life you have to figure out for yourself. You provide your own answers to your lack of knowledge from your philosophy. If there is no philosophical base, no root, no stable reference from which to make decisions, people can feel as though they are lost." Deisher believes that the Daoist philosophy and approach to culture can work in our country because it is clean enough that it can be presented with out entanglements.

The internal martial arts and its accompanying philosophy can provide a stable reference from which people can make decisions and gain experience. Deisher says, "If this stuff works on a battlefield, it will work anywhere." He continues by saying that, "If you have a root, you can absorb the pushes and pulls of everyday life. You will have slack, cushion, play, and flexibility. This applies to the physical body, diet, and lifestyle." As an example Deisher said that if you maintain a balanced and stable diet and there were an occasion where you did not get something to eat for a period of time, the stability of your healthy body would allow your body to continue to function normally until you got something to eat. You would not be susceptible to the wide mood swings experienced by people who have an unstable diet.