You should always use what is outside of contacting point, not inside of it.
Knowledge : Principle-Technical
Present at the class: Clinton Jurke, Allan Belsheim, Trevor Juuti, Alex Nay, Scott Hess, Camille Lipford and Blake Norman.
- When you make contacts with your opponent, you must assume that this occurs at the 9 o’clock position. Your opponent is climbing when pushing on you.
- You must also climb up his hill till you reach the top. In this case the top is 12 o’clock and it is the point.
- You must find a way to move beyond this point, causing a fall down from 12 o’clock to 3 and then to 6 o’clock.
- This must be done by holding the front contacting point in position and then stretch what is behind it. Usually this means the spine and the back.
- So when you are pushed, you make sure that your spine is locked and only move the front part of your body.
- When you push back, you lock the front part of your body and only push/extend the back/spine.
What are the Three Pans of Taiji?
- Upper Pan: Shoulders and Head section.
- Shoulders down and Kua above.
- Below the Kua.
Elbow Sticks to the Ribs
“Elbow Sticks to the Ribs” is a principle that is shared by all martial arts, not only Taijiquan. It’s a pity that most martial artists only pay lip service to this age-old aphorism. This is indeed a secret training method to higher levels of martial attainment.
Chen Style Taijiquan Practical Method regards this aphorism as a major principle to follow.
So the objective is to “lengthen”, to expand (not collapse) from our central balance point. We create a line, which intersects our center, from two longer points. For example, a line might be drawn from a shoulder point near the neck, to connect with a point on the bicep above the elbow. This opens the shoulder, while letting it rotate into the center of our structure, instead of “popping” up or out (which would collapse the point).
Taiji Push Hands is always about the state of mind, body, structure, angle, space, timing, etc. It is not an emphasis on responding to the opponent. It is always about adjusting my structure, to sustain my center and stability of the structure. It involves rotating joints, to reorganize my inner body relationships, creating appropriate angles, to occupy the optimal space for my center balance to be sustained, while my opponent’s space and center is taken away.
- Split: The action of two (or more) parts of the body moving away from each other. The key is that there must be a fixed spot (does not mean a real physical spot) in this action. This fixed point is also the center of the action.
Xian (1) Ru (4) Wei (2) Zhu (3) 先入为主
Xian: first, early, before
Ru: enter
Wei: become, be
Zhu: host, master
“One who enters first is the host”. The second part of this idiom is “He who enters later is the guest.” This is a special type of idiom in Chinese. It is called “Xie Hou Yu”. In using it, the speaker leaves out the conclusion. The listener has to fill the gap. This is a clever play of language, however, it also causes confusion or problems when the listener does not have the necessary knowledge to complete the whole idea.
When Richard Nixon went to Beijing to pay an official visit to Chairman Mao in 1972, Mao started the conversation by saying that he was an old monk holding a broken umbrela. The unspoken conclusion of the idiom is “No hair, no sky.” The meaning of the unspoken part is, “For me, I am above all laws, even God.” Nixon’s interpreter did not know this particular idiom. He made a mistake by interpreting the Chairman’s idiom into “I am humbled to meet you.” This small error in interpretation made history.
Other examples of Xie Hou Yu.
- Hit the dog with meatball buns. (You won’t get it back).
- Clay Buddha crossing the river. (You cannot even protect yourself!).
- Bamboo basket fetching water. (You will get nothing).
Let’s go to the second part of this lesson: the relevancy of this idiom to Taiji.
In learning, whatever is introduced to you first becomes the standard for your subsequent learning. This is a nasty and stubborn problem for everyone. The proper learning process should/must involve learning new things and eliminating previous mistakes. This is the ideal situation but in reality, it does not work like that. Xie Ru Wei Zhu is the dominant method of learning. It is the default learning mode. This mode actually overrides the ideal scenario of learning and the elimination of mistakes. Fist of all, when the wrong thing is set as the standard, you won’t learn anything correctly. Secondly, you won’t have the ability to find out the mistakes to eliminate them.
Now you realize that whether you are right or wrong is largely a toss up.
What do we do from here? How can we get rid of this pesty Xian Ru Wei Zhu?
Grandmaster Hong Junsheng offered a few advice:
- Follow the real transmission.
- Do not trust/believe yourself.
- Subject everything to simply tests.
Transmission has to be directly from one person to another. Simple and straight forward. It cannot be that there are one million justifications but no transmission. What should we look for in a transmission? 1. Did the two people in question meet? How long were they together? Were there others present? Is the choreography identical? Are there others in the class who also have identical choreography?
Taijiquan is a physical science. It is not a belief system. Do not trust yourself. Use physical measurements and objective standards. Do not trust your instinct. Do not go with the flow.
Use simple tests. Do not devise complicated tests that involve too many parameters. Many of the parameters are falsely established. Many of the “Taiji Principles” in classics are simply erroneous. For example, the story of Chen Fake’s learning grew from 10 yilus a day to 20 a day, then 40 a day and eventually 100 times a day. Some even claimed that he did Yilu and Cannon Fist a hundred times a day! People quoted these unfounded claims exactly the same way gossip is spread in tabloid papers! I asked Todd Elihu, John Dahms, Dave Dahms and others to complete 100 yilus in a day. They started at 4:30 in the morning and went till past 9:30 at night. They had prepared food ahead of time to save time and did not take lengthy breaks. They were able to do 100, 104 and 110 respectively.
Just imagine that. It is certain that Chen Fake did not practice from 4:30 in the morning till 9:30 at night each day for many years!
LET GO of the precepts, principles, habits, ideals, beliefs and techiques you hold to be dear! Embrace the simple practical method. You will see yourself improve quantumly.
The eight techniques of Taiji: peng, lu, ji, an, cai, lie, zhou and kao.
1. Peng: overall expanding energy.
2. Lu: energy that catches the opponent and make it come towards you.
3. Ji: energy that gets in close to the opponent but will not act on him.
4. An: energy that pushes but mainly separates from opponent.
5. Cai: energy that severs opponent by a pull or a jerk.
6. Lie (Lieh): energy that severs opponent by a even break (power on both ends or hands).
7. Zhou: energy that twists the opponent.
8. Kao: energy that is whole body action.
This is a photo slide show of master Chen in 2007 on Daqingshan. At the end of the show, master Chen shows the concept of “dots, not surface” with a video clip.
In this video, Chen Zhonghua and Gord Muir showed how a structure can bring out power in Chen Style Taijiquan Practical Method.
Read more
In this video Gordon Muir and I demonstrated how to match your opponent’s power with your angle changes and other subtle adjustments. Read more
