How to Peng part 3

I have written about how to peng before (see here, here and here). I have written about relaxing before. I have written about how not to resist, and how relaxing is different from going limp.

Today, I am going to write again about peng, because the most important movement in taiji is peng. Peng is not about resisting, yet it is also not about going limp. If you don't use some force, you cannot peng. Yet if you use too much force, you will not be able to peng as well, because you will not be able to listen to your opponent's force.

Peng is what taiji is about, it is how you can use four ounces of force to divert away a thousand catties of force (四两拨千斤). But 四两拨千斤 is not totally going without force. You still need a bit (four ounces) in order to do anything about the thousand catties of force. What it means is that you are able to use a little bit of force to move a very big force. And how you do that is because, when you are relaxed, you are able to sense (listen) the incoming force, ascertain its direction and magnitude, and thus use a small token force to divert away the incoming force.

Blocks in karate and external martial arts attempt to accomplish the same thing, which is to divert away the incoming force. But because they do not differentiate between the direction and magnitude of the incoming force, the force needed to execute a block is always the same. In taiji, because we listen to the incoming force to ascertain its direction and magnitude, we are able to tailor the force we use to block/peng.

And once you are able to listen to the incoming force and use peng, you can then redirect that force back to your opponent.