One of the new students at pushing hands class plays quite rough. While it is an unspoken rule at our class that we don't use the more violent and rough techniques like bashing, elbow jabs, grabs and pulls, this new student, being very competitive, has been using these techniques. Looking at him, it is fortunate that no one has gotten hurt yet.
But do we really need to play rough in order to win? And do we really need to win in the first place?
The way I see it, if you really want to win that badly, and you are willing to play rough (and thus maybe even hurt your opponent), then you should also have nothing to say when your opponent ends up hurting you. After all, in order to protect himself, sometimes, he may have to use more extreme techniques to counter your violent and rough moves. A more experienced practitioner may be able to slowly counter your rough moves, but the more inexperienced one may not be able to be as gentle as well, when he needs to protect himself from getting hurt. He may not be able to soften your brute force before returning it at you.
So if you want to play rough, go ahead. But be ready to take responsibility should you really hurt someone badly. And you have no one to blame, if someone hurts you badly. After all, if you don't respect your opponent, he won't respect you too.
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Playing Rough
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2 comments:
We should learn, progressively, how to play rough. Our art should help us cope with extreme violence. But beginning rough tends to cause fear-reactivity.
One must soak in the cold waters of ease, while the heat is turned on. Eventually, we should find that we can cope with violence.
These days, Taiji is weak; merely pretending self-defense and enlightenment without struggling to earn it.
Yes, it is true that an experienced practitioner of taiji will be able to cope with those who play rough, by neutralising his brute force attacks and channeling that force back at him. In fact, skilled practitioners are able to control the amount of force being returned, or simply just neutralise that force without returning it.
The problem is when newcomers who don't understand the principles of taiji, and end up playing rough just to win. No taiji in that. When they end up hurting someone or themselves, who's to blame?
The best is to find a good partner willing to progress together with you. Start with patience, learn how to listen to each other. Start slow... and you will actually find that after some time, you learn to pick up even the smallest of brute force, and no matter how fast your opponent may be, your patience in learning how to move slow actually allows you to counter the fast moves of your opponent.
Taiji is a martial art. It is not just a skill on how to defeat your opponent. It is a way of life. You know a true taiji master from one who is "not there yet" because the true taiji master is humble, patient and kind.
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