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.