Compiled by Zhang Yaozhong (张耀忠) Translated by Joshua Hehr
Time: Late April 1984. Location: Beijing Shichahai Sports School. Receiving departments: Beijing Wushu Association, Shichahai Sports School. Reception personnel included: Secretary-General of the Municipal Wushu Association, leader of the municipal wushu team Fan Baorong, martial artist Wang Peisheng, and Chen-style Taijiquan master Lei Muni. Reception guests: American Taijiquan tour group, a party of 16 people. The headquarters of the American Taijiquan tour group was located in Seattle, Washington State. The group leader, Xu Xiantang (Taiwanese), was the president of Xiangsheng International Company. The group he led came to China for tourism, visiting renowned masters everywhere, going to visit any place where people practiced Taijiquan. In late April, they traveled from Sichuan to Beijing. After introductions, the foreign friends addressed Wang Peisheng and Lei Muni as Taijiquan grandmasters. Masters Wang and Lei respectively introduced the characteristics of Wu-style and Chen-style Taijiquan. The content of Teacher Wang's speech is as follows: He briefly discussed the origins of Taijiquan, with emphasis on the fundamental skills and basic training of Taijiquan. Characteristics of Wu-style Taijiquan: Based on one's own physical condition, following nature and seeking naturalness, there is no phenomenon of forced strength, no phenomenon of using clumsy force. When young people practice, the amplitude should be increased somewhat; when elderly people practice, elastic force is required, with contraction and extension naturally coordinated. This method of practice has great benefits for both health maintenance and self-defense. Several requirements for hand forms such as fist, palm, and hook in Taijiquan, as well as footwork and body method: Fist: Taijiquan uses the palm often and the fist rarely. Only five movements use the fist (five hammers): elbow bottom hammer, deflecting body hammer, planting, parry and block hammer, pointing to the crotch, etc. Other than these, most other fist forms use the palm. When using it, don't clench the fist too tightly; curl the fingers so that the finger pads can touch the palm, that's enough. The fist face should be flat, with the thumb pressing on the middle sections of the index and middle fingers. This is called the hollow fist. The hollow fist's strength can reach the outer perimeter. However, the fist in general long fist styles is clenched tightly to strike. After clenching that fist tightly, one feels powerful, but actually there's no strength on the outside—it's light and floating. Palm: There are yang palm, yin palm, and standing palm. Palm center facing forward or down belongs to yang palm; palm center facing backward or up belongs to yin palm; palm center facing left or right is called standing palm. Elbow: When the hand contacts the shoulder, the upper arm and forearm bend, the center point of the bend is the elbow, like the tip of a sword. Hook: There are empty hooks and solid hooks. An empty hook is when the wrist is relaxed, the five fingers are loose, the fingertips droop downward, and the finger pads seem to touch the ground. This is called an empty hook, and its strength reaches the wrist. A solid hook is when the five fingers pinch together, the hook tip faces backward, and the strength also reaches the wrist. Fingertips pointing down is a hanging hook; fingertips pointing up is a hooking stroke hand. Footwork includes sitting step and bow step. The main ones are bow, horse, crouching, empty, and squatting—several types of footwork. Several requirements for body method: relax shoulders and elbows, contain the chest, pull the back, relax the waist, withdraw the hips, round the crotch, tuck the buttocks, suspend the head from above.
Because the formation of each posture in Taijiquan must combine four aspects—hand method, footwork, body method, and eye spirit—achieving coordination between upper and lower, unity between inner and outer (integration of upper, middle, and lower sections). The upper section refers to the coordination of the head and eye spirit; the middle section is the torso and upper limbs; the lower section is the two legs, the support point from the hips downward. There are also several main postures in terms of balance, all of which must be formed through the coordination of hand method, footwork, body method, and eye spirit. The self-defense and combat application of Taijiquan is push hands technique. The basic eight methods of push hands are peng, lu, ji, an, cai, lie, zhou, kao. Peng, lu, ji, an have fixed-step push hands method: Fixed-step push hands has two types of footwork: bow step and sitting step. The two feet stand front and back, body weight on the rear leg, front foot is an empty step, toes must be raised—this is sitting step. When advancing, it changes to bow step, that is, the front leg bends like a bow, the rear leg straightens like an arrow, which is the bow-and-arrow step. The judgment of victory or defeat in fixed-step push hands depends on the rear foot; if the rear foot moves, you lose. Fixed-step push hands is mainly hand method, called "striking the wheel," which is the endless circular practice of the four hands: peng, lu, ji, an. Moving-step push hands is also called da lü. Lü means foot—it's the lü of履历 (resume), meaning foot. Adding a hand radical makes it 履. Da lü is moving-step push hands, which is mainly footwork with hand method as auxiliary. Da lü and fixed-step push hands complement each other. In fixed-step push hands, if the rear foot moves, you lose. Da lü involves moving away, using footwork to defeat the opponent. If hand follows hand and grasps the opponent, use footwork at the feet to draw the opponent in. Grasping and releasing: hand method coordinates with footwork, movements must be coordinated. The above basic eight methods—"peng, lu, ji, an, cai, lie, zhou, kao"—are the basic practice methods of Taijiquan push hands. In addition, there is "randomly plucking flowers," which is the combat application of each posture and move in boxing. Randomly plucking flowers has no fixed moves—strike where you see an opening, attack according to the situation—but this must also conform to boxing principles such as "stick, connect, adhere, follow; draw in and let fall into emptiness; await the exertion with ease; abandon oneself and follow others; yield when bent, extend when straightened." From the external appearance, it's pointing forward but striking back, pointing left but striking right, feinting east and attacking west, luring the tiger away from the mountain, besieging Wei to rescue Zhao—it looks like dancing, and also like bees gathering nectar from flowers, which is why it's called randomly plucking flowers. Randomly plucking flowers can also use movements from the basic eight methods, the eight types of energy, as well as the applications of each posture taken apart, also called dismantling hands, which is what is generally called free fighting. The characteristic of Wu-style Taijiquan push hands is following nature and seeking naturalness, emphasizing neutralization with softness as the main principle, not competing in strength with the opponent. If you can neutralize the opponent, then issuing force is very convenient. If you cannot neutralize the opponent, there's no point in talking about issuing moves. Taiji fundamentally has no method; movement itself is the method. Within the movements, you cannot separate from yin and yang, cannot separate from the changes of movement and stillness, emptiness and fullness. Leaving these behind means it's not Taijiquan. Using clumsy force and competing in strength are the most taboo faults in Wu-style Taijiquan. Afterward, one of the foreign guests asked whether practicing Taijiquan means you cannot practice qigong, or whether practicing qigong means you cannot practice Taijiquan. Teacher Wang Peisheng gave an introduction to the issue of practicing qigong: In China, qigong has three schools: Confucian, Buddhist, and Daoist. The Confucian school (that is, Confucius, the Confucian-Mencian way) also discusses self-cultivation. For example, the righteous path of the Doctrine of the Mean is the method of self-cultivation. The Doctrine of the Mean has these words: "What is not partial is called zhong (center); what is not leaning is called yong (constancy). Zhong is the righteous path under heaven; yong is the fixed principle under heaven. The mandate of heaven is called nature; following nature is called the Way. The Way cannot be departed from for even a moment; if it can be departed from, it is not the Way." This is the Confucian school's qigong (that is, yangsheng—nourishing life, anciently called shesheng—cultivating life) method of nourishing life, called cultivating the body and nurturing nature, dual cultivation of nature and life. The mandate of heaven is nature; following nature is the Way. This nature—what is cultivated is the heart, cultivating the heart means cultivating the brain (thought) (here, heart doesn't mean the physical heart organ but refers to the brain). Allow the brain to enter stillness and obtain true rest. Centrality and harmony means not being partial or leaning—this refers to the person's qi and blood achieving balance. When qi and blood are balanced, there is no illness; when qi and blood are out of balance, illness arises. This is also natural principle. The Confucian school's practice method is the doctrine of the mean, also discussing dual cultivation of nature and life. The Buddhist school has three stages of cultivation: The first stage is called seeing through, the second stage is called letting go, the third stage is called freedom. Seeing through all things having origin and end—that is, things have origin and end, affairs have beginning and conclusion. The Confucian school says knowing what comes first and what comes later brings one close to the Way. There is also: when things are investigated, knowledge is perfected; when knowledge is perfected, intention becomes sincere; when intention is sincere, the heart becomes correct; when the heart is correct, the self is cultivated; when the self is cultivated, the family is regulated; when the family is regulated, the state is governed; when the state is governed, the heart is at peace. In the Buddhist school, one must see through all affairs and things. This first stage of cultivation is easy to achieve. It sounds quite simple, but there are still those who cannot see through—if you cannot see through, greed remains. After achieving the cultivation of seeing through, you must still let go. It's like entrusting your most trusted friend to handle something—your friend says one word and your heart lets go; otherwise, you're always suspicious. Peace of mind comes from letting go at the end, which is truly letting go. So the second stage of cultivation is not easy to practice; generally, people cannot let go. If you can let go, then it's good. The third stage of cultivation: if the previous two stages of cultivation—seeing through and letting go—can be achieved, then the third stage of cultivation is also accomplished. The third stage is freedom and ease, carefree and unworried, following your heart's desires. Its training methods are many, but due to time constraints, I won't introduce them specifically. The third aspect is the Daoist school. The Daoist school requires immediate results; whatever they want to do, they must accomplish it. Therefore, the Daoist school has many methods and approaches. The Daoist school discusses dual cultivation of nature and life—for example, reverse breathing method, which shows results very quickly. Its training methods are many. I published "Clam Skill" in Chinese Qigong magazine, which is Daoist, including育肉功 (nurturing flesh skill), absorbing the true qi of greater yin and greater yang, the yin and yang of heaven and earth. This is breathing exercise. After introducing the above three schools' methods, each performed a boxing routine, and then Beijing Municipal Wushu Association Secretary-General Fan Baorong suggested doing push hands. The first American who came up was a head taller than Teacher Wang and immediately tried a surprise attack. As soon as his hand arrived, Teacher Wang glanced with his eyes, and that person fell backward tumbling and rolling. At this time, Fan Baorong ran over and said, "Teacher Wang, don't go easy on them." But the delegation leader Xu Xiantang came over and said, "No problem." After that, when pushing again, he didn't knock them down anymore. But as soon as they touched, they bounced back, feeling it was very strange. Later, another tall, large person with a curly beard came up, looking forty or fifty years old, but actually only 24. This type of person is not easy to push—he lowered his body, his hands and arms were very long, and you couldn't even reach him. He was afraid of being knocked down like the first person, so he deliberately shrank his body backward and stepped backward. Because Fan Baorong had spoken beforehand, worried about their losing face, he didn't throw him, but as soon as hands touched, it felt like touching electricity and bouncing back. It was like this with every person who came up—the greater the force used, the greater the reaction. Touching felt like hitting a wall and bouncing back, either leaning forward or falling backward. One by one they swayed east and west, stumbling and unable to stand steadily. It looked like they were playing around, as if it were fake. The leader was the group captain and also the head coach. He saw Teacher Wang handling people so lightly—just touching and they shot out as if electrocuted—so he also wanted to try. As soon as he tried, he knew it wasn't fake. Seeing that it wouldn't work for him either, he clasped his fists and cupped his hands, saying "very good, very good." More than ten people, each one in line, all had their turn. Among them were also several women, but they were all tentative, not daring to use force. As soon as they touched, they went back; following them a bit, they couldn't run away even if they wanted to. In the end, they all laughed joyfully, all feeling it was quite interesting. They kept shouting "very good." They asked how this kind of skill is practiced. Teacher Wang said it's practiced through Taijiquan and push hands practice. Push hands mainly trains the sensitivity of nerve endings—that is, fast reactions. Nerve endings are the contact points, just like the two antennae on a cricket's head, or like a snail's tentacles, that sensitive. When you extend your hand with heat, it retracts; when you move away and it cools, it comes out again. Taiji push hands trains nerve endings. When practiced to a profound level, when the opponent touches your hair, the hair has a reaction. The training method has mnemonic principles, such as "await the exertion with ease"—that is, don't use force yourself. You act as the center, making the opponent the wheel. You always remain in a state of ease while watching the opponent expend great labor—this is the relationship between wheel and axle. There's also "borrow force to use force"—that is, when the opponent's center of gravity is tilted and unstable, outside their body, then give them a little supplement. If they're advancing and falling into emptiness, you follow their direction and guide them a bit more, drawing them into the point of emptiness: "draw in, let fall into emptiness, and when joined, issue." This is also the principle in push hands. The push hands song must be memorized thoroughly: "Peng, lu, ji, an must be taken seriously; when upper and lower coordinate, people find it hard to advance. No matter how great the force that comes to strike me, leading with four ounces deflects a thousand pounds. Draw in, let fall into emptiness, and when joined, issue; stick, connect, adhere, follow—don't resist." Theory combined with practice is the scientific thing. The marvelous skill in push hands just now was trained through this series of methods. After Teacher Wang finished speaking, everyone applauded, saying "very good!" Then they had Teacher Wang perform the qigong "Clam Skill." Some of the foreign guests practiced Clam Skill along with Teacher Wang. The foreign guest leader led the group in performing a Yang-style Taijiquan routine. Their level was no lower than our general instruction station level; their postures even conformed to requirements quite well—truly very good, especially that curly-bearded person's waist and legs. Their kicking, turning, and balance movements were very stable. After finishing, we also applauded for them.