That 30/70 Dragon Palm theory.

[CC]

Back to a perennial peeve of mine.

I never got this essence of the 28/18 Dragon Palms theory where you only use 30% and hold back 70%.

e.g. When GJ first met GWM and exchanged palms. If GJ followed the essence of the DP, that meant he still held back 70%? If that was true, that 30% already injured GWM. Wouldn't 60 or 100% have broken his bloody arm?

Another one, when H7G did the final Kang Long You Hui against GJ in LOCH, the text description makes it sound more like a 100% strike then something where 70% is held back!

If its just holding back 70% when facing weak arsed opponents, then pffffffttt! Whats the big deal? Any damn lousy martial art can do that!

I think its one of those JY 'things' where over-analysing is pointless because JY himself never planned it out beyond a nice sounding plot point.

[PJ]

Yeah, but how many martial arts actually EXPLICITLY theorize that you should hold back 70% of your power? The genius extraordinary part of the Twenty Eight Dragon Palms is that it says it EXPLICITLY, whereas the other ordinary martial arts just practice it silently. Reward the EXPLICIT, Jin Yong says.

[Ardor]

30% is defendable, With every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Going all out 100 % will cause the tree to shake it off. 30% of energy is converted into real world kinetic energy.

70% is wuxia physics. Released only upon contact, with such speed that the only possible reaction is not shaking but snapping.

[siegefried]

I believe the idea is more like this. You unleash 30% of your power upon direct contact, and should you need to increase the force, you have 70% to call upon on. And the power behind that 70% is flooded in an instant, instantly snapping the tree instead of converting it into kinetic energy and have it shaking...

[K2Grey]

I agree with siegefried. I believe the power is split up into two parts. You use the 30% power to lead, and once the opponent reacts you use the other 70% in the most efficient way. For example, if you attack with XL18Z and miss, then you've only wasted 30%, you can use the other 70% for defense, or even offense if the opponent put himself at a disadvantage by dodging. Or if you attack a much stronger opponent, then your first 30% is for offense, but you can use the other 70% to try to hold him off by parrying or deflecting the attack, instead of trying to match power with him. And if the 30% attack looks like it will connect, then you can put the other 70% in as well for maximum power.

Also, I believe that it is because the power is split up that XL18Z is so powerful. With other palms, it would be too risky to go 100% because what if you miss or something bad happens? So you need to go down to say 65%, so you have 35% remaining to try to do something with in case of failure. With XL18Z, you can use 100% and not have to worry about if you miss or anything like that because 70% of the power will always be used after the opponent's reaction, when you know how it should best be used.

[Shulato]

IIRC, not all stances have the 30/70 principle. It's only the Proud Dragon has Regrets (Kang Long You Hui).

To understand the principle, I guess we must look at the meaning behind the stance itself, perhaps even literally.
The practitioner should imagine himself as a proud, arrogant dragon, who perhaps view the opponent with contempt. With such arrogance and pride, it is enough for the practitioner to unleash 30% of the palm power to initially engage the opponent.
But here in lies the genius or the trademark of the Dragon Subduing Palms, with only that 30% of extreme Yang, extremely hard hitting force, it is mostly enough to make your opponent back away or suffer injuries. That is the reason why I guess one needs to have a strong basis of internal energy before practising Dragon Palms.
And if for example, the opponent turns out to be strong enough to handle that 30%, the dragon will have its regrets, by unleashing another torrent of palm force as prove of the regrets.

[kyss of the sword]

Back to a perennial peeve of mine.
I never got this essence of the 28/18 Dragon Palms theory where you only use 30% and hold back 70%.
e.g. When GJ first met GWM and exchanged palms. If GJ followed the essence of the DP, that meant he still held back 70%? If that was true, that 30% already injured GWM. Wouldn't 60 or 100% have broken his bloody arm?
Another one, when H7G did the final Kang Long You Hui against GJ in LOCH, the text description makes it sound more like a 100% strike then something where 70% is held back!
If its just holding back 70% when facing weak arsed opponents, then pffffffttt! Whats the big deal? Any damn lousy martial art can do that!
I think its one of those JY 'things' where over-analysing is pointless because JY himself never planned it out beyond a nice sounding plot point.

he didn't really hold back 70% of his power, the idea behind HL18Z is when sending out a force of 100 catties, hold 200 catties in reserve in case you need to retract your force at the last minute and redirect it, this is to avoid wasting power, since HL18Z uses a great deal of inner power. if the palm strikes, there is no need to retract the power so you can send the remaining 200 catties for a 300 catties strike.