Mastery and Ability

There has been a longstanding belief amongst Tai Chi players that one must come from a certain lineage or tradition or culture or manifest certain specific skills, otherwise they’re not really doing Tai Chi. Among the principal skills claimed by the aficionados of the so-called indoor schools to be necessary for real Tai Chi to exist is Fajin. This Fajin must furthermore be of a particular style in which the mechanical aspect of using the foot Pump and Hip is minimized. Some people will say that this no-force Fajin by definition will not work against inanimate objects like its cousin the more external Fajin. BTW, I use Fajin in a general way here.

Here’s the deal, it appears to be necessary to learn good clean mechanical Fajin first. As one becomes more proficient, the exaggeration of bouncing into the feet or sitting with the pelvis becomes less pronounced. That is to say that the Useful Exaggeration that most of us go through becomes less useful.

Level three Fajin begins with one pressing into the other person or them pressing into to you and you causing their reflexes to fire. As the wave energy passes into them their reflexes involuntarily fire. This “Wave Energy” comes from the Dantian and is transmitted through the Myo-Facial Web and the body structure; not through muscular contraction. At the moment that their reflexes fire, you can add level two Fajin at the soft or hard level of kinetic energy to their reflex response. The high level player seamlessly combines and sequences all 3 levels of energy at will.

Level three Fajin done without a mechanical element grafted on to the end often looks like the partner has simply jumped backwards.

Now back to the discussion of what Tai Chi is or isn’t. I remember a discussion in music school over what was music at what was not music; or even what is art and what is not art. In music one can become a true master in Classical performance without having even a proficiency in improvisation. One can be a Jazz master at the highest level without a mastery of the Classical idiom. One can be a Master Player without being a Master Composer.

I feel that likewise in Tai Chi the lack of one particular aspect or another does not invalidate one’s true skills. The main thing about the highest level is that I know it when I see it and it all comes down to Mastery and Ability.

A Search for Self

I see people on the Internet chat groups abandoning all principles of Taiji Push Hands. Instead of a conversation they want an argument and they usually find one. I see them abandon all principles of Scientific Inquiry which should be an important component of our personal work. For instance I’ll say that something is a component of high level practice. They will respond that since this thing is a component of something else as well then I am wrong (There are cows in NH – No, there are cows in VT so there are no cows in NH). Of course furthermore it’s people like me that pollute this art, their teacher can beat up my teacher, I did not get the secret indoor teaching that they did, I study the wrong system or lineage, am not Chinese, that their no-ego system is better than my no-ego system. I swear to God I’m not making this up. Yeah, you can’t make that up because it’s too unbelievable. Of course it can be useful seeing your own words staring at you from the computer screen reminding you that you have not become the kind of person that you want to be, that you still have some personal history that no longer serves you to let go of and that this Art may not confer those gifts of insight and growth simply by showing up...

It gets worse. There are no Masters any more, nobody gets it. You have to be a Master to transmit the Art, therefore nobody has the right to teach. All the people going through the early stages with other teachers or styles at a lower level are wrong. Well my friends, I worked that area of the Mountain and was thankful to have some firm ground from which to progress until those temporary truths no longer served me. Eventually I moved on to truer systems and areas of the Mountain. Why would I deprive others of that experience; of their own experience? Many claim that Spiritual Progress is an emergent property of Authentic Taijiquan, they claim to be some of the very few to be doing Authentic Taiji and yet they are angry, judgmental, intolerant, close-minded, unkind and prejudiced. It’s an interesting juxtaposition and while I believe there is a time for righteous indignation and putting the disrespectful children in their place I don’t think you have to live there!

When I go to a party I don’t stand there wondering if this person I am speaking with is smarter than me or not. I see if we are having an interesting conversation or not. I’ve been bored to tears by those with greater intellectual prowess than me and been moved to tears by those who I could have easily dismissed as less intelligent. It should be the same in Push Hands, it’s not always a contest to see who can push whom. Actually that is the beginning level and you don’t learn as much there. I prefer the volley; catching and returning energy. I allow the flow to happen and find ourselves in cooperative and supportive roles regardless of how vigorous the level of play.

I would rather light a single candle to illuminate an idea than come to burn down the castle armed with torches and scripture. I try to conduct myself in class and out of class, as a teacher or a student in a way that would not prevent our studying together in the future. It takes a lot to cross that line. I write to see my thoughts from the other side so I can see what I think and what I need to work on next. The thing that helps keep everything in balance and not cross those lines is to keep it what it’s about - A Search for Self