The Secret of Tai Chi

"The secret of Tai Chi is simply this, yield yourself and follow the external forces."
-- Master Wong Chung-Yua (ca. 1600 CE)

 

A friend asked the other day if we should yield to all external forces. To which I answered "Well, yes."

 

This is a fundamental principle of Tai Chi.

 

Even though it says yield and follow, it does not imply surrender or defeat. The objective of Tai Chi, as any fighting art, is to win. However, the methods emphasized in Tai Chi to achieve that goal are different that those advocated in other arts. Let us say they are more in line with helping and leading the attacker to go on his own way to destruction rather than setting out to actively drag or drive him there.

 

Tai Chi adopts neither aggression nor passivity but active cooperation.

 

Furthermore, Tai Chi training is mostly about learning to "walk and chew gum at the same time." The solo form, push hands, are about learning good efficient body mechanics. You must learn to yield within yourself and get out of your own way before you can throw a powerful punch, maintain your balance while moving, properly lock a joint or throw an opponent. Your mind must be clear and unimpeded by doubt, fear, worry, or anxiety. Parenthetically, I feel most of the great health benefits of Tai Chi come directly from this mindful practice of properly living in your own body.

Another example of a similar fighting art is Japanese Ju Jutsu. Ju can be translated tenderness, weakness, flexibility, or yielding. Jutsu is technique, skill, magic and in the martial arts context refers to a warfare or fighting skill.

 

Thus Ju Jutsu is the art of winning in battle through yielding and flexibility.

 

This is directly related to the concepts expressed in the name Tai Chi Chuan.

 

• Tai = "The" Great, Ultimate, Zenith
• Chi = Great, Very, Ultimate, The first principle [of the Taoist conception of how the Universe works])
• Chuan = literally the fist, boxing/fighting system

Thus Tai Chi Chuan is "The" Grand Ultimate Fist," or "the fighting system based on how the universe really functions."

In tai chi we seek to understand how the forces (both internal and external) work and to act in accord with them not in opposition.

 

Two other modern interpretations from other martial arts may help illuminate this idea.

 

In Aikido (a simplified derivative of Ju Jutsu) the saying is "If he enters (pushes) I turn. If he pulls I enter."

 

In Judo (a sport derivative of Ju Jutsu) the saying is "If he pushes, I pull. If he pulls, I push."

 

You cannot succeed in Tai Chi without completely abandoning yourself to this concept. Any half measure will spell defeat because you will neither be fish nor fowl and your mind will be bound by hesitation and your body unable to move effectively.

 

Either commit yourself to hard aggressive external methods (use your head to batter down the walls), or commit yourself to yield and like water flow into the weak spots, erode them and sweep the wall away in a devastating flood of power.

 

The first choice implies that you must be stronger, faster, and more powerful than your opponent, while the second only requires you to be more observant, flexible, and skillful.

 

In life, your strength, speed, and power WILL eventually fail you. Someone else WILL be faster and stronger than you. (See the UFC for regular illustrations of this).

 

Technique, properly developed, only gets better with passing time and training.