Sun Tzu's Art of War and Taijiquan

Taijiquan is like war. Or at least, that was the impression I got when I was reading a few passages from Sun Tzu's Art of War the other day, trying to kill time.

"Armies are without fixed disposition just as water is without fixed form." Similarly, in taiji, force is like water, flowing in wherever there are openings. There is no fixed "this hand must be hard and the other soft". Whichever hand is the one using force is whichever hand that is unopposed (ie. there is an opening provided by the opponent there.)

"Make the enemy adopt a disposition dictated by you." In taiji, using light and heavy, hard and soft, you shape your opponent's response. You make him move in the way you want him to move. In other words, you take the initiative away from him. He may or may not be the first to move, but you always end up having the initiative and making him respond to you instead.

"Adopt a position of no defeat." Master peng, and you will be able to ward off all attacks on you, and therefore place yourself in a position of no defeat. It is why peng is the most important of the taiji basic movements. Once you are able to prevent yourself from defeat, you get to choose when to sally forth with your attacks.