Dim-Mak's Four Cornerstone Forms
By Erle Montaigue ©2009

There are only four Dim Mak martial forms. Actually, there are many if you include those from Tai Chi ch'uan and Baguazhang which are the foundation systems for Dim-Mak, without which Dim-Mak is not that useful and is almost impossible to use in any other system.

When Tai Chi and Baguazhang and to some degree, Xingyi came out of the Wudang system, the masters of old kept the four cornerstones of Dim-Mak to themselves, preferring to make up their own forms in order to teach Dim-Mak. Eventually, the cornerstones of Dim-Mak were forgotten about until now, Dim-Mak is seen to not have any forms on its own. My main teacher Chang, knew the four cornerstone forms so I will now present them in their entirety on DVD.

One of the main reasons for the old masters keeping these dim mak martial forms back, was that they knew that almost everyone would prefer to simply learn these building blocks of Dim-Mak rather than do the hard work necessary to take Dim-Mak internally. Which is why these dim mak martial forms were always kept until last. It is impossible to actually learn much about Dim-Mak by simply learning these cornerstone forms, other than perfect body movement and a few points to strike, albeit the most dangerous and practical points. So, although these forms are really nice to learn, and give great benefits, it is always best to learn one of the foundation forms such as REAL Tai Chi or Bagua.

Nowadays, I have literally thousands of students worldwide who learn not only from my DVD titles but also directly from myself or my sons Eli and Ben. So I have decided that this is perhaps the time to put these four Dim-Mak forms out so that everyone who has studied and trained hard, can gain the benefits from them as I have done.

Form No. 1 is called "River Form" and is called such because of the flowing nature of each movement and how it flows effortlessly into the next movement, building up great power issued from a very short distance, gaining that power from how the body is moved, like the great river. Each movement is linked to the next in a complex, yet flowing set of postures that emulates the internal flow of Qi throughout the body. This is turn builds up an EMF, or "electromotive force" within by combining every bone, sinew and muscle in the body. Like a generator in a car, the hands are used in such a manner as to cut across the magnetic fields of the body causing a current to flow, be stored and issued when necessary.

The practical side of these dim mak martial forms is such that we are taught about the main striking points on the body. Initially, we are taught about every point when we first learn about Dim-Mak, its effect, how to strike them and the set up points as put forth in my Encyclopaedias of Dim-Mak. However, many of these points of course just aren't practical, hence the need for the Cornerstone Forms. We are taught with each movement, exactly which points to strike in order to gain the maximum effect with the appropriate set up points, how to strike them, and in which directions to strike or set up. For instance, the very first movement teaches us to strike to TH8 point on the forearm in a downward direction in order to set up the main killing strike to GV26 just under the nose with a "tiger paw" fist. At the same time, as usual, we are put into the worst scenario of having to defend against two or more attackers, so we are also attacking a 2nd attacker with a sharp cross kick to break his leg at the knee.

You will find when practicing these forms, that the energy builds up very quickly, giving a feeling of well being and power. This happens because the same energy we use for self defence, is also used for self healing.

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