Tai Chi Combat and Health

    The Great Polarity without poles is born
      Of negative and positive it is the mother
      In motion it divides,
      In stillness, it unites.
      It has neither over-reaching nor falling-short:
      Following contraction it proceeds to expansion.
      When men are hard, I am soft
      This is called "running"
      When I go along and men are turned
      This is called "sticking"
      Move fast and the reaction is fast,
      Move slowly and the reaction is slow.
      Though the metamorphoses be ten thousand,
      One principle pervades them. From familiarity with the moves, one
      gradually awakens to understanding power.
      From understanding power, one by stages reaches spiritual enlightenment.

      Without long application of effort
      One cannot thoroughly penetrate it.
      Unobstructed draw up the crown�s power,
      Let the breath sink to the point beneath the navel.
      Be neither one-sided nor leaning,
      Suddenly conceal, suddenly reveal.
      Left is full, then left empty.
      Right is full, then right insubstantial.
      If he turns upward, go higher,
      If he turns downwards, go deeper.
      If he advances, press in closer,
      If he retreats, draw out longer.
      One feather cannot be laid on one,
      A fly cannot alight from one.
      "Men don�t know me, I alone know men
      The irresistibility of the hero�s progress
      Is surely entirely achieved through this.
      This skill has many side schools.
      Although each one has its distinctive postures,
      As a rule they don�t go beyond strong oppressing weak,
      Slow yielding to fast.
      Have-force beating lack-force and
      Hands-slow yielding to hands-fast
      Is all from innate, natural ability,
      Not brought about through learning.
      Refer to the phrase: "Four ounces deflect a thousand pounds"
      This is clearly not force�s victory.
      Regard the image of the old man able to hold off a multitude-How could
      this be by speed accomplished?
      Stand like a level balance,
      Lively as a carriage wheel
      Depress one side and the other follows.
      When both are weighted they are impeded.
      Every time I see one of several years� pure practice
      Unable to manoeuvre and transmute
      Invariably causing him by men to be controlled,
      It is because the fault of double weighting has not been realised.
      To avoid this fault, one must know negative and positive "Sticking" is
      "running", "running" is "sticking".
      Negative does not leave positive.
      Positive does not leave negative.
      When positive and negative complement each other,
      This then is understanding power.
      After understanding power,
      The more practice, -the more skill.
      Quietly learning and experimenting,
      One gradually arrives at following what the heart desires.
      Its root is to discard self and follow men:
      Many mistakenly discard the near and seek afar.
      This is known as being out by a hair�s breadth
      And going wrong by a thousand miles.
      Students cannot but carefully distinguish.
      This is the theory.

     Commentary
      1/. This means that we do not practice Taijiquan (H'ao Ch'uan) for the
      sake of doing Taijiquan! It is only a tool that we use to gain other areas
      of learning, like spiritual awakening and the ability to heal others. The
      fighting art is only an interim tool that we use to gain the upper levels
      of Taijiquan.
      2/. This means that you as the Taijiquan practitioner are always in
      control of the situation whether it is a physical confrontation or a mind
      confrontation. You are grounded causing all bad Qi to be drawn into the
      ground and not into yourself. But first of all, to know others you must
      know yourself!
      3/. Here he is talking about the other schools of martial arts that have
      come out of Taijiquan, most have only ever taken the shell and not the
      internal part! In other words, they only exist for the fighting!
      4/. He talks about double weighted movements. But not only does he mean
      that we should not stand with the weight placed evenly upon both feet, but
      also that we should not have equal Qi in the hands, elbows, shoulders,
      hips, knees. This can be taken even further to each of the six organ pairs
      where we should also not have double weightedness. It goes even deeper
      into that the sub-conscious and the conscious should also not be double
      weighted!
      5/. We move in accordance with how the inner mind wants us to move and not
      because we have trained to move a certain way. In other words we move
      because the 'attacker' is moving and in compete accordance with that
      movement.
      6/. Unfortunately, many students are always searching for something
      better. And even though they might have found the very best that there is,
      they still look and search, missing out on what is in front of their noses!