ChiDragon

mYTHmaker and Steve... I want to commence compliment you two for having a full knowledge of Tai Ji. Those who speak Chinese like me, a first, I didn't even know what "Tai Ji" meant until I learned from the English Translation. Tai Ji was only known to the natives as an exercise in slow motions and breathing was not even considered in the art.

Welcome to Tai Ji or Tai Ji Quan. Please try not to give it a new name like "Yin Yang Boxing"....

Stigweard... I like you very much as you are. There was only a missing link in our conversation. That's all....

Stigweard... I have one of Chen Man Ching's books. I know what you were saying. Your comments are will considered as in general for the over all conceptual philosophy of Tai Chi. I just sensed that there were something still missing or maybe you have not mentioned or something that I see but you don't. Anyway, nice talking to you...

After that, what will be will be. However, you don't have to treat him as the "last" will be. One may be treating you as an enemy. In your mind, you may still respect him as your friend but stay at a distance away from him......

1. It means that those are, only, and only your honest opinion. Tai Ji Power is Jin to me. Jin are distributed all over the body that can be initiated from anywhere of the body; but not just in the feet, legs or hips. 2. All the power were reserved when not in use. The word "frozen" is a terrible term for Tai Ji Chuan. In terms of Tai Ji, it was referred as the "Yin state" implicating that the energy was being preserved and ready to strike at any instance. If all the power were being applied to the body before a strike, it was considered a waste of energy. What you were saying really defeated the purpose of Tai Ji. The Tai Ji concept was if you don't move, I don't. If you move, then I'll move before you. The idea was when the opponent was in motion, actually it was a waste of energy. While you are standing still and reserving your energy, it was said to be that you are in a Yin state. By the time your opponent gets to you, then he was changing from a Yang state to a Yin state, but you will be in the transition from a Yin state to Yang state. Indeed, that was why we hear the statement all the time: "The softness always overcome the hardness". By that time, your opponent was at the end of the Yang state against your beginning of the Yang state, you have an advantage over your opponent. It was because your opponent had exhausted his power(Yin state) while your energy was being reserved(Yang state). 3. Any martial arts was considered to be an art for body development. If one think of it as martial arts, then one will degrade its original virtue of the martial spirit.

Rainbow_Vein... The prerequisite for a Taoist cultivator is not to have any enemy.....

Hehehe... You are cute...!!! Steve, I think you have the right idea about the small fish. However, in accordance with my source, we should handle the small fish as little as possible. Like scale it or clean it are OK to do. The critical part was when you cook it require a little special precaution. It was better try not to flip it too much which might break the small thing apart. Thus the theme here was to handle a small country with less interference as possible. I know why Marblehead did not buy the ghost story. Perhaps, I might be a better salesman on this one. LaoTze says: I don't believe in ghosts. Even though if they were existed and since Tao is here, they have loss their power. Hence, there were no ghosts ever existed....

Chapter 63 - The Lowest to the Highest Extreme 1. With an attitude of Wu Wei, 2. Handle all affairs with no interference, 3. Taste the tasteless as a delicacy. 4. Large becomes small, more becomes less, 5. 報怨以德。(out of context) 6. Handle the hardest start with the easiest; 7. Start big project with the minor details. 8. The most difficulty in the world, 9. Always start with the easiest; 10. The world's biggest affair, 11. Always start with something microscopic. 12. Because a sage was never boasted, 13. Then he can accomplish a big mission. 14. One gives promise lightly; shall break them easily 15. Too easy bound to be very difficult. 16. As a sage assumed it was difficult, 17. Thus, there was no difficulty at the end. Chapter 63 1. 為無為， 2. 事無事， 3. 味無味。 4. 大小多少， 5. 報怨以德。(out of context) 6. 圖難于其易﹔ 7. 為大于其細。 8. 天下難事， 9. 必作于易﹔ 10.天下大事， 11.必作于細。 12.是以聖人終不為大， 13.故能成其大。 14.夫輕諾必寡信， 15.多易必多難。 16.是以聖人猶難之， 17.故終無難矣。

Chapter 62 1. Tao is the abyss of all things. 2. It's a treasure of a kind person, 3. It's the safe-keep for an unkind person. 4. Kind words will gain respect. 5. Good deed may be praised by others. 6. Even to an unkind person, 7. Why would he abandoned Tao? 8. Thus crowned a ruler. 9. Established the positions for three ministers, 10. Though a solemn ceremony with precious gifts followed by four horses, 11. One would rather offer this Tao as a gift! 12. The ancients praised Tao, why? 13. Is it not to say, 14. Hope to be gained, 15. And the guilty to be pardoned? 16. Thus that is why Tao was praised in the world. 1. 道者萬物之奧。 2. 善人之寶， 3. 不善人之所保。 4. 美言可以市尊。 5. 美行可以加人。 6. 人之不善， 7. 何棄之有。 8. 故立天子、 9. 置三公， 10.雖有拱璧以先駟馬， 11.不如坐進此道。 12.古之所以貴此道者何。 13.不曰： 14.以求得， 15.有罪以免邪﹖ 16.故為天下貴。

I would like to give a little emphasis on Tai Chi Chuan to be a little more precise. Tai chi chuan = supreme ultimate fist = the martial art which involves in slow movements and slow breathing at the beginning level; and at the higher level, the breath goes deeper into the Dan Tian and the movements may be quicker. Another word, the breath was sunk deep and concentrated in the Dan Tian. Dan Tian simply means it is an imaginary location below the navel at the abdomen. It is not a physical tangible object. It was only a name given to this particular location.

To the best of my knowledge, Chi Kung practice was not part of the TCM program. It was up to each individual TCM practitioner to be practiced on his own.

BTW... In the video, if you have noticed that I was hesitated at 1:04 because I was thinking about something else and lost my concentration at the moment. This is an indication of the importance of the yi or intent of the mind. Thus it was just a split of a second will cause an error in the movement.

I want to thank some of you for your sincere compliments for one's bravery. I would like to think it was not a matter of bravery rather than confidence and principle. I had learned all that from this forum and all of you, the practice and the Tao Te Ching. It was like what LaoTze had told Confucius: We are here to learn from each other but not to compete with each other. You might know more than me today, then you are my teacher. I might know more tomorrow, then I am your teacher. This was just balancing the Yin and the Yang in action and reaction. No problem. My thread is your thread.

Please make some critical comments.

1. Yes. 2. Yes, I have found that there was more than love in practicing Chi Kung. I found every movement and breath will promote that aspect as well. 3. Exactly. You welcome and I thank you too.

Yes, I know what you are saying. One cannot take the work from another without trying it. Any method require a substantial time of practice to feel its efficacy. It cannot be done over night...!!

Thank you for clarifying. 1. Yes, my body felt more energetic while in the standing position. Since I had done this for eight years. Even when I go for a walk, I felt the Chi flowing all over my body. It was just a great feeling. 2. It was completely different from aerobic workout because the speed of the breathing and movements are much slower than aerobic. 3. It makes a big difference in standing than sitting.

You welcome. Informer. These movements are decided to exercise the whole body. However, it can be done while sitting down also; but obviously the legs are not being exercised.

Thank you very much. I hear people have different things to say about the dan tien. I am just so curious why dan tien does not have a uniform meaning throughout the martial arts industry. What do you mean by "let the dan tien turn....."....???

Since somebody had mentioned Qi Gong following Tai Ji principles; and Tai Ji was my initial form of practice. I just wanted to share my part of understanding. I am only speaking for myself because others do have their own concepts. I think it's worthwhile to discuss the subtle difference between the two. Unfortunately, I know some of you do not agree that Qi Gong may or may not involve breathing. For discuss sake and those who do not agree, please bear with me. Otherwise, I cannot shared my thoughts. Tai Ji is Qi Gong but Qi Qong is not necessarily Tai Ji. From this simple statement, one will see that breathing is something in common. However, there is a subtle difference also. Let's narrow it down. Based on my experience with Tai Ji and others as well, breathing was not emphasized at the beginning. The first thing taught in Tai Ji are the basic movements. From the continuous practice, the breathing spontaneously improving which it has an indication that the movements were guiding the breathing. In Qi Gong, the first thing taught was breathing. Then have the slow movements follow the breathing. The movements of Qi Gong aren't as complicated as the sequential movements in Tai Ji. The movements of Qi Gong do not require to stand on one leg to support the weights of the whole body as Tai Ji does. Both methods of Qi Gong, do develop a tremendous body strength. The body strength in high level of Tai Ji was referred as Jin(勁). There was no specific term for Jin in Qi Gong, sometimes, it was just referred as Chi.

Stigweard... Thank you very much. I had been following the thread about Fa Jin. I had express my share with comments in one or two posts. Then, I had decided to back off for further comments. 1. No power being issued from the legs. I am "falling" from one leg to the other was a complete Yin-Yang cycle. I don't quite follow this: "powering up from the legs into the hips and waist" and the rest. 2. My hips and waist are dormant was because they in the Yin state while the hands are in motion in the Yang state. The Yin-Yang concept was only move the part of the body as require, otherwise, leave them in the Yin state. There was no need for the transmission of power, where do you expect the power to be transmitted to...??? My torso was frozen was because I had no intention to move it in any direction. FYI Call it frozen if you like. However, in the Tai Ji language, if there was any body parts do not need to be in motion, it was considered that they are in the Yin or energy reserving state. It seems to me that most people are not quite sure what "sunk Chi to the dan tien" means. It simply means take a deep breath and have the breath sunken down to the abdomen which known as "abdominal breathing". The deep breath reached to the dan tien was not an issue which related to the mind but the breath was. 3. I was not considered myself to be in a combat situation. It was only a practice in breathing and muscle control. The power you are referring to are the Jin in my muscles. The Jin are already developed in all the muscles, Fa Jin can just take place in any muscle, there was no need for the power to go from one place to another as the way you had described.

No, knocking down my bird to the floor was not a good feeling. It hurts me more then the actual doing. However, that was my natural instinct of quick reflex from the practice of Tai Ji. My intention was to show the result from the practice rather than boasting about my ability to knock the bird to the floor. You don't think Tai Chi was developing sensitivity...???

Thank you for your time and a good observation. I, also, appreciate that you are observing the Tai Ji principles and speak the Tai Ji language. However, a point of view from the beginning level was well accepted. If you have noticed the left foot was heavy, that means you are able to see the distinction between the primary and secondary levels. The terms you have used here, "full and empty" were reflecting your understanding of the Yin-Yang concept. The "full" was being hard or solid as the Yang attribute while "empty" was soft as the Yin attribute. You are correct about raising the hands above the shoulder which restricting the breathing. This is a good test for one's ability to breathe. Remember, I had passed the primary level, therefore, breathing is not a problem issue in the secondary level. I had demonstrated that I can raise my hands as high as I can and still breathe efficiently. If I follow your suggestion by raising my hands up for several cycles rather than raising and lowering repeatedly, then, this would be contradicting the principle of Tai Ji. Raising the hands is Yang and lowering is Yin. Hence, one must inhale and raise the hands to be Yang; and while lowering the hands and exhale to be Yin. This is the complete Yin-Yang cycle, by definition, in Tai Ji. If I have my hands in the airs and breathe several times, then it would not be Tai Ji. It is because the movements were not in sync with the breathing. At high level of Tai Ji, both breathing and the Jin in the muscles must be synchronized in order to Fa Jin. Otherwise, if there was no breath then there was no Jin.

1. In general, Tai Chi and Tai Chi Chuan are the same thing. In short, people just say Tai Chi for Tai Chi Chuan by dropping the Chuan at the end. 2. That was how it was defined in the Yi Jing, the Book of Changes. 3. It is not quite that way like the way you had described. It takes some explanations when it applies to Tai Chi Chuan. You will be surprised after I tell you what is Yin-Yang was all about in Tai Chi. 4. Not quite, but it has something to do with Chi and movements.