Chen Po=Chen Hsi-I - is the often-said creator of LiuHo PaFa, 'water-boxing.
.....this is not believed by any historian of sino-martial exercise. Chen represents a rennaisance
of older ideas, rethought and repackage for then emerging neo-taoism//buddhism. Chen is an iconoclastic 'plug' used to create
a source. Chen does however have numerous bonefide credits given to him and both taoist and alchemical-numerology links.
There are many sources that accredit Chen with I Ching mathematics, numerology, and as a source of music; the martial
exercise community who only claim Chen as their founder, are usually ignorant of this. Most Chinese are unaware of either
history, but know to differentiate Chen Po, Tuan, from Chuang Po-Tuan, an alchemist and 'purple' taoist
who came later, but whom some continue to confuse.
The associations or alleged meetings
> of Chen with Chang San-Feng, a myth-legend himself
> or with General Fei, a popular legend-hero
> or that Chen is part of the lineage to 'Lao Tse', a myth-legend and a 'tome'
> or that Chen was a talented musician writting songs for the Qin.
... this is all myth-making and history filling. Chen was interesting for his addiction with the Book of Changes and
for his 'sleeping' meditation; there is no evidence that he 'created' any martial art or health exercise. [Note: there exists
a reciprocal realation between Hua Shan and WuDang Shan; however the stories that Chen 'first visited' Wu Dang temple before
residing at Hua Shan...or Chang SanFeng 'first visited' Hua Shan before residing at Wu Dang...this is padding with accolades
to enhance a story. Another factor of evidence, is that there are numerous 'notable' documents and persons from the Song Periods
and a substantial amount of this exists in its original form; no original document nor
documentary evidence related to 'LiuHe BaFa' exists no matter how often a link is said to exist.
Chen Po : Chen 'Tuan' 陳摶
X
{about 100-500 years later}
X
Li Tung Feng: 李東風
'discovers instructions' in a cave'
5-word 'song' is authored
||
Song Yuan Tong: 宋元通
There is then ...well over one-hundred years separation between Chen Po and
text 'student', 'Tomb Raider' Li Tung Feng who it is claimed found teachings in a cave at HuaShan. This
is followed by 'first student' Song Yuan Tong, who is the lineage 'Tome Writer' for the presented 'Five-words-adieu-farwell-song'
[Note: many medical-pharmaceutical manuscripts in Chinee history have been titled: 'precious instructions found in a mysterious
cave.'...again, myth making.]
The actual school lineage would be after ChenPo and in another locale:
Mount Yun [cloud] Shan, 'Hidden' Mountain, Southeast,Lok District. Hua Shan is also easily confused with Jiu HuaShan,
the scenic source for the HK movie: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, this is another possibility to consider.
Also, simple count
of timeline to present demonstrates incompleteness: there are too few levels of proteges from the First Song to the 1900's;
about 6-7 levels of about 600 years.