Today, Master Chen Zhonghua talked about 别过去 (bie guo qu). The diagram above shows how fiber optics work. The light bounces off the walls on each side, and keeps going forward. Every reflection is 别 (bie) because there is a restriction (the wall) that prevents the light from going straight. If the tube was straight, and the light shines straight through the tube, there is no 别 (bie) . Our taiji action is that we need to have 别 (bie). For example, in six sealing four closing (SSFC), the two elbows go into the line formed by the two hands, and the two hands keep staying on that line.
- Dribbling in basketball, we must adjust the angle we bounce the ball as we walk or run, so that the ball can travel forward with us.
- How we hit a golf ball off the ground in order for it to fly high and forward requires the club to hit the ball towards the ground at a specific angle, it is not to scoop the ball (which is what a beginner typically does). The correct swing makes the ball compresse and bounce off the ground.
We need to have both a shield and a spear, they go equally against each other, and that is 掤 (peng). We need to find the specific spot to break the stalemate situation. We aim the spear at 45 degree angle at the shield. I actually had an experience of this in the first year of studying Practical Method. I was shoveling dirt in the yard. I found that it was easier to get the shovel into the ground at 45 degree angle. At the time, I remembered the lesson from Master Chen was about double negative circles. We need to establish two walls coming up from the thighs to provide restrictions. The 3rd count of the negative circle makes the hands look like going up at the end, but the hands do not go up by themselves, they need to press against the two walls, and somehow they go up.
When a ball rotates, every part of the ball behave the same way. We use intention to create a function, such as using a specific part of the ball with its rotation to hit something, but every part of the ball still behaves the same way.
If there are two men, one is rich and one is poor. When the poor one becomes richer, it does not make the rich man any poorer from an absolute perspective.
Wuji is that one big thing. Taiji is to have polarities. While we have taiji, there is still wuji.
The taiji illusion of being soft is the rubber pencil illusion:
折叠 (zhe die) – Folding
- Training with arms going from left to right.
- Right shoulder going down, right kua coming up.
- Right fist lines up with the left foot on the ground.
- If we are sitting on a chair. the right fist lines up with the left buttock.
- The forearm does not move, we use the right elbow to drive the right fist.
- We need to create a snap at the shoulder, like snapping the fingers. The torso goes down, the arm goes out.
