Yang Style Masters and Variations

[bamboo leaf]

an answer to a question.

Some can do it, within a few yrs others with more and others may never get to the point where they can let go of the idea of using their bodies directly and never get it.

Push hands is a way of testing and developing taiji skills nothing more. In the right context all questions concerning how things are used become quite clear.

A good fighter? I often wonder what does this mean? Is a good fighter one who mugs others on the street or one who competes in a ring? Taiji will help in either case but in the later unless ones skills are really true and quite good, speed, strength and endurance is what the contest is about if ones skills are not good.

Taiji history has many stories of masters just showing what they could do with a high level skill showing just the skill as well as many stories of people who where either killed or hurt quite badly by taiji masters using the same skills.


( if the other guy felt it or not) the point being is that one can not defend or act against what one can not feel in time. With out this idea all actions tend to be in the past tense instead of present and future. Future meaning that something is felt and acted on before it reaches a physical expression.

yes taiji is called an internal art. What does this mean to you? How is it different for something that is called external?

Each persons answers will depend on their experiences and understanding. Mine reflecting my teachers views are; internal practices or arts develop the shen (sprit), yi (mind) and qi (inner power)

What are called external arts develop the bone, skin and tendon.

These are my answers and views others may be different.

[MoMoJuice]

Dear David,

Thank you for the information, and sorry for the late reply.

Some can do it, within a few yrs others with more and others may never get to the point where they can let go of the idea of using their bodies directly and never get it.

I’ve read this many times already, but I’m not sure if I agree with it. So that means even if the student has a very good teacher, and the student practices diligently and persistently, he might not get it because he can’t let go?

Push hands is a way of testing and developing taiji skills nothing more. In the right context all questions concerning how things are used become quite clear.

Push Hands is a great way for developing Tai Chi skills, that is for sure. But if a Tai Chi Chuan practitioner is very good at push hands, does it automatically mean that he’s good in a real fight?

A good fighter? I often wonder what does this mean? Is a good fighter one who mugs others on the street or one who competes in a ring?

Here I meant a good martial artist from external styles, say Muay Thai, Boxing, Karate etc. These guys will defeat Tai Chi practitioners almost every time, even ones that are good at push hands. Hmm, what happened to all those “Taiji skills?”, or do they only work in demonstration.

Taiji history has many stories of masters just showing what they could do with a high level skill showing just the skill as well as many stories of people who where either killed or hurt quite badly by taiji masters using the same skills.

I really enjoy reading the stories of the past masters, I’m sure many of them had amazing skills. But I believe we can’t compare the “Masters” of today with the past masters.

yes taiji is called an internal art. What does this mean to you? How is it different for something that is called external?

Tai Chi Chuan, being an internal martial art; improves health, energy, longevity, self defense, mental sharpness, and spiritual development. External martial arts are only concerned with developing the physical body. External arts use brute strength, whereas internal martial arts use internal force (inner power).

Respectfully,
MoMo.

[bamboo leaf]

(what happened to all those “Taiji skills?”, or do they only work in demonstration.0

when you find someone who is good in taiji then you will know how they work

[MoMoJuice]

Hello everyone,

when you find someone who is good in taiji then you will know how they work

I already did. That's why I practice WahNam Tai Chi Chuan as taught by Sifu Wong Kiew Kit

Your post makes it sound like there are very few people good in Tai Chi today, and I'm sure it's true. It also makes it sound like these few good ones are probably old masters who practiced Tai Chi Chuan all their life. It's only speculation on my part, but I imagine that their select few students are not that good even after practicing Tai Chi Chuan for say 5 years or so.

Yang Ban-Hou (1837-1892), Yang Lu-Chan's eldest son, was a very good fighter even as a teanager, why was he able to "let go" so fast? Are the "masters" of today missing something? Are the students of today bad practitioners? Or maybe both?

I do not mean to belittle other Tai Chi Chuan styles or masters by my posts here. It's just that I'm very sad that Tai Chi Chuan (and Kung Fu in general) has degraded so much compared to say 100 years ago. Most people these days are content to learn and practice Tai Chi forms (dance) maybe coupled with some push hands. Of course if that's what they want, then it's their choice.

But what about the other students who are led to believe that they are practicing an internal martial art, and are told that they will need to practice for 10-20 years and "maybe" will be able to "let go", then "maybe" they will become good in Tai Chi.

I read a post on another forum by a Judo practitioner, that said he practiced for a few years. One day he met a Tai Chi practitioner of more than 10 years. He asked the Tai Chi guy if they could have a friendly sparring. The Tai Chi guy accepted with confidence. The Tai Chi guy ended up on the floor everytime, he was thrown around like a little kid. Why did this happen? Simple, the Judo guy practiced throwing people around for a few years, the Tai Chi guy practiced graceful dancing for 10 years. The Tai Chi guy was surprised and sad that all his shen (sprit), yi (mind) and qi (inner power) have failed him. Weird.

The thread below shows Siheng Robin competing in a San Shou match against a strong kick boxer. Even though he only practiced Tai Chi Chuan for about 3 years, he was able to win the match using "genuine" Tai Chi Chuan patterns.

http://wongkiewkit.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4748

I really hope that the few skilled masters in China and around the world would open up more to share their knowledge of traditional martial arts with deserving students. If this doesn't happen now many different styles of Kung Fu will only be a shadow of what they used to be.

Thank you, take care.