Force On Force

Someone asked me during pushing hands class about using shoulder to hit someone. For example, when doing single-hand pushing hands, if the opportunity arises, can we use shoulder bash to counter? He proceeded to demonstrate what he meant by shoulder bash, which is basically zhuang 撞. I told him that taiji is about using soft to counter hard, so using zhuang is a bit contrary to that principle. A better way is to use kao 靠.

It got me thinking, though. So why shouldn't we use zhuang but instead use kao? I think it is because if we choose to use zhuang and the opponent returns in kind, one of us will become injured. Why? Assuming my zhuang has a force of 50kg. If my opponent returns in kind with a zhuang of 100kg, the impact will be 150kg. Ouch! And the resultant movement will be against me (because his force is stronger), which means 50kg on force pushing me back. Thus, when we meet force on force, the stronger force wins. The weaker force ends up getting very seriously injured.

I guess this is an oversimplified way of explaining things, but it does serve to illustrate why we shouldn't try to use force, because we never know how strong our opponent can be. If he turns out to be stronger, we end up injuring ourselves instead. So the next time you think about using the hard application of taiji, think again. It may not be worth it.