The Dao has no shape. Everybody lives it without knowing it.
大道无形。人在道中却不知。
strong will beat weak
Big will beat small
Technique will beat force
Gong will beat technique
Qi will beat gong
Intent will beat Qi
Longer will in the end beat the shorter. Length can be equated to strength.
Mind-intent is one of the most important ideas in Chen Style Taijiquan learning and practice. It is also one of the most confusing concepts. Let’s take a look at this concept from a simple point of view to facilitate learning.
- The learning of Taijiquan requires that the student have correct mind-intent because Taiji is an internal martial art.
- Mind-intent is to know what you are doing.
- There are many levels of “to know what you are doing”.
- The first level is to simply copy the choreography correctly. In this sense, to know the choreography is to know the meaning. Nothing else should be involved. At this stage avoid this question: What is this move for? Instead ask, “How did you do that?” “Show me how?”
- The second level is to know what you are doing in terms of energy circulation in your own body.
- The third level is to know what you are doing in terms of how your body interacts with your opponent’s body.
- The fourth level is to know what you are doing in terms of how to always make your body the lever and your opponent’s body the load (as in a leverage).
- The fifth level is to accomplish the above naturally. This means that the above scenario will be the case no matter what.
- Mind-intent is not what you think that it should be. It is what the situation requires.
- Mind-intent is not a skill. It is not something you can learn. It is a result. It is like saying that when you walk, your mind is directing it. Therefore, the real mind-intent in walking cannot be felt or known. In most cases, when someone is conscious of an action, it usually mean there is a problem with that action. In this sense, we say, “The real intent is when there is no intent.”
- It is nice to know about this concept but if you focus on it, you are guaranteed to be lost.
Good deeds leave no traces behind; Good advice contains no blame;and Righteous calculations come without thought. Read more
The Foot is Faster Than the Hand.
—Hong Junsheng
—Hong Junsheng
Many people regard Taijiquan as a slow, gentle and soft art. The orginal principle, however, points to a different and more reasonable direction.
“The two hands are just two doors. The fight is done by the feet”—martial adage.
“The hand is there but not the foot. The fajin is not clever. When the hand is there, the foot is there also, the fajin is clever. When the foot is there before the hand, the fajin is beyond wonder.”—martial adage.
“The hands will take 3 years to train. The feet ten years”—Xiaowushou adage.
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.
- 1. Choreography.
- 2. Coordination.
- 3. Clarity and Energy.
- 4. Application.
- 5. Flow.
Notice that most people follow this:
- 1. Choreography.
- 2. Flow.
- 3. Clarity and Energy.
- 4. Coordination.
- 5. Application.
Slight change in order but big difference in the end.
It was a hot summer day in the practice hall of the Wah Lum Temple in Orlando. A young Danny Abrahms was trying to learn Chen Style Taijiquan from master Li Enjiu. Danny had been a student of the Wah Lum system for many years. He was quite eager to learn this new system but he was finding it difficult.
There were only a few students studying Taiji. They were surrounded by people practicing other forms and weapons. (Wah Lum is famous for its weapons repertoire. At that time, Danny had experience training with more than thirty weapons.) Suddenly, Danny heard a whip sound; he saw a white flash darting towards Master Li’s chest! Just as the white flash touched Master Li’s chest, Li turned sideways.
There was a loud crash, as a window was shattered! The spear dart at the end of a 9-section chain whip had separated from its chain, as the student was whipping it. The dart was traveling at lightening speed— it certainly could have killed Master Li had it struck his chest directly.
Everyone rushed to see if anything had happened to master Li. He was calm, quite normal and untouched, as though nothing had happened. Experience and quick reflexes had saved his life. When he heard the sound of the traveling dart, by instinct, he spontaneously reacted with the perfect response. He raised his head, and seeing the incoming object, turned his chest precisely 40 degrees. The dart touched his chest but was redirected to the window. What an incredible demonstration of martial skill, effortlessly averting the life threatening danger!
As a martial artist, you will recognize that this was by no means blind luck. One cannot dodge “bullets” with luck. The dozens of years of diligent taijiquan training had endowed him with the ability to act instinctively and appropriately in a dangerous situation.
Danny was duly impressed. With this remarkable inspiration, he was ever more motivated to pursue the path, to learn Taijiquan from master Li. Today he is an accomplished master of both Praying Mantis and Chen Style Taijiquan.
Wudang Warrior, Summer, 2007, page 7
Throughout the workshop, we were exposed to concepts that are simultaneously very simple and yet infinitely complex. Read more
All movements in Taijiquan are extracted from daily life. If you don’t understand the interchanges of shun and ni, you don’t understand Taijiquan. You don’t understand life either.
—Hong Junsheng
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.
Open: shun Close: ni Shun: the arms move towards own body. Ni: the arms move away from own body.
“Taijiquan is the method of Chanfa…”
If this is not understood, there will be no undersanding of Taijiquan.”
—Chen Xin, 16 generation Chen Taiji Grandmaster
Chanfa literally means twining method.
To Adhere.
This is one of the central concepts that used to be in the daily Taijiquan vocabulary. It is hardly mentioned today. Zhuo is very illusive as it encompasses several actions.
-
To adhere to the opponent and not change position or angle.
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To catch the opponent by the above means.
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To transfer one’s power into the opponent’s center through Zhuo.
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Make feel sticky-like.
“Don’t Move Your Hands!” Contrary to what most believe, the hand in most cases move too much. Everybody wants to learn how to move the hand. In fact, they should learn how NOT to move it!
When the hand moves too much, the following will occur:
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The hand will skip off the contacting surface, resulting in loss of power on the opponent.
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The power leaks out to the hand which is not directed towards the opponent.
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Power becomes front-drive: flexibility but less power.
So it is very important to keep your hand inline (that’s a different topic) and don’t move it around too much!
“When you follow the rules to the extreme, every unintentional action becomes part of the form!”
—Hong Junsheng Read more
Thursday, 15 November 2007
The shoulder cannot move sideways on its own.
It can move downwards and rotate on its seat. It must always staying right on top of the kua.
The five positions of Taijiquan are: Advance, Retreat, Look, Gaze and Central Equilibrium.
1.
Advance: move forward.
2.
Retreat: step backwards.
3.
Look: size up the opponent.
4.
Gaze: examine the oppnent.
5.
Central Equilibrium: keep the balance and not fall down.
Here is a clip of the activities at the 2007 Taiji Tradition.
Another way Master Chen teaches the students how to stick to your opponent. Master Chen believes that one of the most common errors in modern Taijiquan training is the use of other energies before “Squeezing” (press) energy is developed. The sequence of the primary four energies are:
Peng as a initial energy
Lu as a change of direction based on Peng
Ji as a step in (further energy) in addition to Lu, and
An as a result of the three previous energies.
Most people perform the four energies in an unrelated manner. They will not have progression in this way.
In the video clip below, Master Chen Zhonghua shows how two people are tied up with rubber cords to experience “snot” (sticking) energy. The aim is to make the lower body move and power up, while making the upper body to adapt and to adhere.
One of the most difficult things to do in the CTS system is to keep the elbows in. Master says “the elbow must be no more than 3 inches from the ribcage.”
While we cannot take these words literally, it does remind us just how important it is to keep the elbows in. While the hand moves outwards, the elbow must always have the orientation of moving towards the center, or the Dantian.
Here, Master Chen Zhonghua uses rubber cords to ties the students down at the elbow so that they will always keep their elbows in.
One of the more remarkable things about studying taijiquan is how learning a new concept changes your whole approach to how one practices the form. Read more
Introduction
Feng Zhiqiang is the ultimate example of Taiji. He is a paradox and a harmonized contradiction. He is the most common retired old man and yet the most feared legendary master. He is our only link (as of 2001) to the time of fists and swords, of legends and heroes, and of dedication and bitter struggle to survive. Read more
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, master Chen Zhonghua shows the positive circle and negative circle using a rubber cord. This exercise is very effective in getting the pulling energy and the pushing energy to move along the correct line.
from http://practicalmethod.com/?p=18680
youtube version
Dear Master Chen
(please forward to master Chen)
My name is David Fadjar, and I appreciate very much your effort to translate GM Hong’s book. I have a question about Bow stance as described by GM Hong’s book (page 10) Read more
…
As for training, we are doing the things you showed us and I feel as though we are starting to
… Next is rotation and spirals. In any of the stances of the circles the weight on the feet is mostly caused by the torso and if your torso moves the weight will change. Therefore if your torso is truly rotating then the centre is not moving and you don’t shift so the weight should remain the same. And if your weight never changes and you are pushing hands, the opponent’s moves must be having no effect.
Also a rotation keeps the centre intact and a true centre is just a straight line but rotation is not enough you need another direction and that movement is downward. This creates a spiral. All the spiral does is move everything in such a way so that the straight line in the centre moves and remains a straight line.
Using the torso as an example. If your torso were to be rotating and moving downward or spiraling then any force that hits it will only be moving with it. This is because when a force comes in contact with a rotation the rotation is always moving 90 degrees to that force and in physics I learned that every force is made up of component forces. These components are just forces in different directions that when you add them up they are really only in one direction.
However there is no 90 degree component in any force. And the downward movement we do is also 90 degrees so if you move down as much as you rotate then the result is you are moving at a 45 degree angle with depth to the push. And there is so much talk about 45 degrees in Practical Method taiji. So if all body parts moved this way then they would all actually moving in straight lines.
