A discussion of Tai Chi

Nei Jia: the Qigong and Taijiquan Forum Taijiquan and the Internal Martial Arts
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My statement about Sanda or Sanshou boils down to a set of very simple premises:

IF

Taijiquan IS a Martial Art

AND IF

A person trains it AS a Martial Art

THEN

it should hold its own in open competitions with other styles or even with people doing no discernible or MMA styles.

NOW…

I will grant that understanding HOW to use and apply Taijiquan methods and principles is harder than other styles.

So, if what you are proposing is adding another rung in the ladder so it goes something like:

Stationary Tuishou
Fixed Step Tuisho
Moving Tuisho
Taijiquan Sanda

and then having people logically move into fully open Sanda…

OK. that 4th level is indeed missing and it may indeed be necessary to make the transition from Tuishou to Sanda. However, the limiting factor is the hesitance of the Taijiquan community to even full populate the Moving Tuishou divisions.

To my observation, if a person can’t hang in a fully open stepping moving Tuishou environment where a judge keeps them in contact…the likelihood that they will hang in there for an even rudimentary level of Sanda is slim. While Tuishou is NOT Sanda, it IS where a Taijiquan person is supposed to learn about force, yielding, borrowing, movement, and distance… all of which are core to doing Sanda.

One of the things that has to be avoided is rewarding people for violating rules. I have all too often seen situations where one competitor was NOT doing well following the rules and went beyond them out of frustration. Then their opponent, who WAS following the rules, either gets injured or disqualified because of responding to the first person’s violation of the rules.

Esssentially, in competition, if you can’t follow the stated rules, either get them OFFICIALLY changed…or don’t join in. Anything else is bad sportsmanship and lack of Wude.

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(It is amusing that so many people find so many reasons NOT to raise the art to a more robust level within its own right.. many suggest that we go to Sanda or Sanshou and play by their rules.. as Josh and Dan’s letter suggests, let them come to a Chen Village Rules event.. bring it back to Taiji.)

this is only the perception of people looking for others to do this, it is not my perception nor of those that I have trained with.

.
(we have nothing within Taiji events that rewards Taiji’s true Martial potential.)

again I cannot agree, not that it matters much.. if by raising the game you mean level, only by practicing with people of higher level can one do this. Taiji its self should be enough to prompt one to try to deepen their practice, usually this comes after meeting one whose practice is very deep.

Why would one practicing an inner art look for outer rewards?

43

Greetings..

GLW: Thank you for your well thought-out response.. That is exactly what i am suggesting.. that we build a bridge to open competition.. under the current moving push-hands rules and training methods, most competitors would struggle mightily in an open Sanda event.. and, i couldn’t agree more with the premise that we do not reward players for abandoning the rules.. safety being the primary concern, but also as demonstration of the level of control we are “supposed” to have cultivated..

I hope no one believes that i would discount the magnificent benefits of Taiji’s “soft” power.. in fact, i believe this type of contest would elevate it to its rightful position in the MA world.. My personal training regimen is evenly divided between the subtle cultivation of Qi and its expression in the “gentleman’s way”, and the same energies as applied in Sanda-like sparring.. with time and experience, i know we can demonstrate Taiji’s “soft power” in world-class events..

Be well…

44

Greetings..

GLW: Thank you for your well thought-out response.. That is exactly what i am suggesting.. that we build a bridge to open competition.. under the current moving push-hands rules and training methods, most competitors would struggle mightily in an open Sanda event.. and, i couldn’t agree more with the premise that we do not reward players for abandoning the rules.. safety being the primary concern, but also as demonstration of the level of control we are “supposed” to have cultivated..

I hope no one believes that i would discount the magnificent benefits of Taiji’s “soft” power.. in fact, i believe this type of contest would elevate it to its rightful position in the MA world.. My personal training regimen is evenly divided between the subtle cultivation of Qi and its expression in the “gentleman’s way”, and the same energies as applied in Sanda-like sparring.. with time and experience, i know we can demonstrate Taiji’s “soft power” in world-class events..

Be well…

45

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