Softness overcoming hardness, stillness
overcoming motion, and a slight force overcoming a great force are some of the
traits that distinguish Tai Chi Chuan (TCC) pushing hands from other martial
arts.
Suppleness and neutralization are not
only the pathways that will lead to the state of softness overcoming hardness,
but they are also the best tools that one could have to adapt to any
circumstance.
Suppleness and neutralization enable you
to easily dissolve forceful blows without being injured. In the same manner,
blades of grass survive a storm by swaying with the strong winds. On the other
hand, tall trees, lacking such suppleness, often take the brunt of such winds
and collapse. Likewise, the softness of the tongue helps it survive
in the mouth while the hardness of the teeth makes them fall off one after
another.
TCC pushing hands practitioners often
use fajing (discharge of power) to show off the skills that they have attained.
They mistakenly believe that being ultimately supple will enable them to
possess ultimate internal power, so they practice tirelessly to pursue
breakthroughs in fajing techniques. They become overzealous in trying to beat
their partners in pushing hands practices.
In my opinion, overcoming hardness with
softness does not mean that something soft can defeat something hard. Instead,
it means that the soft goes with the hard and prevents the hard from exerting
its force and achieving its goal. The hard is defeated by itself, not by the
soft. Likewise, the tongue cannot possibly defeat the teeth, and the grass
cannot defeat the tree. The strong is defeated by its own rigidity.
Therefore, the power of a TCC
discharge comes from the integration of intangible energies. For them to
naturally unify, a practitioner must let go of the egos in his body, mind, and
spirit so that he moves with the opponent.
The integration of energy in a tsunami
or a typhoon must be nurtured in nature. The key is that water and air are soft
and that they go with their surroundings as they accumulate energy unceasingly
until it is time to release their energy. Then nothing can stand in their way.
The discharge of energy in TCC pushing
hands is just like tsunamis and typhoons. When one is light and agile, she has
a firm grasp of the direction in which her opponent is about to fall out of
balance. She has only to go in that direction to “go with the flow”, which is
referred to as the momentum in TCC form.
Momentum originates
from the ground reaction force, which comes up through the leg, the waist, and
the arm to the hand. Therefore, the Tai Chi Chuan Canon states,
“Your movements will appear like long rivers or great oceans, rolling on and on
unceasingly. Suppleness and integration are the keys to connecting a
series of momentum. When you have a firm grasp of its essence, you understand
its magic, and you fully appreciate the real meaning of “softness overcoming
hardness.”
Written by Wu
RH, Chinese Tai Chi Institute
Translated by Tang YY
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