A Series of Movements

Usually when we say that we are “doing” T’ai Chi, what we mean is that we are doing a “set” of movements. There is no “thing” that is T’ai Chi, and speaking as if there is reduces our power in relation to that study.

A set of movements is not T’ai Chi! How can we understand such a radical statement?

We usually hold a set of martial arts movements as knowledge, as something known. Do you know the T’ai Chi set? This is not where the power of doing a set lies. Without understanding the functional component around which the movements were designed, we really can’t understand the movement.

If we are going to do movements, why do the teacher’s movements? We say because the teacher “knows” the moves. This reveals our assumption that movements are like facts that our teacher knows. Yet we might be more accurate in saying that he or she has an experiential understanding of the function and purpose of the movements and so creates them with more precision and depth. In relation to the purpose for doing such moves, the teacher designs his movements more accurately than does the beginner. And yet the set of movements is not like a fact that once learned is done with.

We are learning the set of movements as a doorway into something more. These are doorways not only into martial arts but, more importantly, into the consideration of this whole event of being, and the possibility of becoming skilful, even masterful, in our living.

Many of us don’t think about becoming masters in a martial art, it seems so out of reach and beyond our capacity. But what about becoming masters in our own lives? The depth, richness, profound simplicity, and skill, the way of being that is the life of a Zen warrior, is available to us. Besides, what is there better to do?

Creating The Set of Movements

When we know a movement like a fact, then how does it live? It lives like something learned, like something outside of us-it doesn’t live as something that needs to be created by us. Then even if we “know” everything there is to know about a move, it is still outside of us because we have never taken full responsibility for creating it.

The set, when learned as a collection of facts, is always foreign, always “outside” and only “known.” We could teach somebody exactly what we know, but then if we are challenged with “Why that way?” all we can say is “Because I learned it that way.”

And yet, one of the fastest ways to get better is to copy our teacher exactly. Consider, even when we are copying the movements of our teacher (which is a necessary thing to do), who is copying the movement? Who is actually doing it? Who is creating it to look the same as the teacher’s movement? Yet we must not stop there.

What is the value of doing different movements than what we would make up on our own? What is the value of creating movements on our own? When somebody else says it is done “this” way, it empowers us not to follow our own patterns. When we are doing it exactly the way they are doing it, we have become responsible for creating something outside of our own habits and patterns. When we have trained extensively and begun to make certain distinctions, we are then creating the movement from “inside,” so to speak. The movement exists as a pure, honest, and functional process.

Our teacher droops his hand for some purpose. His movements are sourced from an experience of their function and purpose. We need to know and experience the function and purpose for the movement as well. When a Cheng Hsin master lifts his hand, his feet are in his hand, as is his whole body. The use of intrinsic strength, energy flow, sensitivity to timing, and perception all move powerfully and with integrity through him or her.

Here is something Peter had to say about his own practice:

When I am doing the set of movements, I am mostly aware of the presence or absence of integrity. Is my body broken anywhere? Is my energy flowing in a powerful and purposeful way? Are my thoughts distracted — am I thinking of things that don’t serve the purpose of the movements I’m doing? I have some sense of what the purpose is. When I am on purpose in my body movement and in my thoughts, I feel different in the body than I do when I’m not on purpose.

It sounds like I am noticing lots of negative things about myself in this way, but it is not a negative experience at all. The set of movements has purpose and function, and this is a consideration that takes all of my attention and demands that I create the actual feeling of the function in my body in a way that is so real that I can feel when I am functioning powerfully and when I am “missing the mark.”

The complete study of Cheng Hsin offers a real opening — something possible, not superficial and pretentious. It offers us an opportunity to move beyond where we are now.

 Set Classes at Cheng Hsin

Although T’ai Chi and Hsing I-Pa Kua are grounded in the same considerations, their approach is different. They are different art forms and they are different ways of fighting. However, they both require that we move outside of our own patterns, and that we redesign our body and mind. They are both sourced in the same principles-principles that can be found and trained in an infinite variety of methods or forms. Among these infinite forms are Hsing I-Pa Kua and T’ai Chi Ch’uan.

The roundness of T’ai Chi movement and method of interaction, joining and blending, are trained around the design of the human body, the laws of physics as we know them, psycho-physical interaction, perception, effortless power, etc. — in short, the most effective and efficient use of body mechanics and the principles and dynamics of interaction.

Sets are a place to practice what we learn in the classes, a way of grounding new possibilities. How can we know our movements fully? It doesn’t matter what we do; how we do it makes a big difference. It is in this way that we see what we are up to in the event of being alive, without which we cannot fully understand the sets.

T’ai Chi Ch’uan is a Chinese art which has been passed down through many centuries and which is currently studied at the Cheng Hsin School as a Way of Being. The T’ai Chi Ch’uan “set” is a graceful series of movements that have many varied benefits. The practice of T’ai Chi promotes strength and suppleness in the body as well as relaxation, sensitivity, and an integrity of the whole-body function.

The Cheng Hsin T’ai Chi mini set comprising 12 movements (performed each side) and the short form, consisting of 64 movements, is taught in the classes.

We use the set of movements to develop body-energy integration, centring, and intrinsic strength, but the study of T’ai Chi is not merely learning and practicing the set. T’ai Chi is attention in motion. It is bringing the Absolute to form. One may say that the purpose of T’ai Chi is to expand the sense of self and to realize the fundamental design and function of our own event of being alive. T’ai Chi Ch’uan as taught at the Cheng Hsin School is a powerful beginning to this endeavour.