Episode 41 - Lock Horns

Photo taken by Gogo Tsang







Occupying the Center (Part V)

This is one of the Mid-Autumn Festival Lanterns exhibited at the Wong Tai Sin Temple.

The lock horns position is a typical example of positive force versus positive force. He who is stronger will win the contest (the "Strong Man Principle"). However, no matter how strong you are, your body condition will decline as time goes by and you will meet people stronger than you.

The Taiji Classic said, if the stronger person will always win, what's the point of learning an art (of martial)? Most martial art schools have their own specific application techniques to overcome the Strong Man Principle.

In Taiji, the Yin Yang Conversion Principle is the answer. Applying the Yin Yang Conversion Principle, a weak party makes use of the strength of the strong party to defeat the latter. It does not mean that a strong body is useless - you still need a strong physical body to support your skill. It's just that muscle strength no longer plays a decisive role here. The weak party and the strong party have equal chances. He who has the higher skill and can apply the yin /yang principle creatively has a higher chance to win.

As a starting point, a taiji practitioner should first go through the "Know Your Own Self" stage to recreate the coordinated body condition. This is the foundation of the art. Up to this point the practitioner has only acquired a balanced body (or a natural body) - no matter how powerful he has become, he is still a slave of the "Strong Man Principle". A buffalo is strong. We appreciate the strength of a buffalo, but we do not want to act like a buffalo. With the suitable skill, a small boy can control a buffalo by knotting a string to the buffalo's nose. That's where the application techniques come into the picture.

Taiji lays importance on the Yin Yang Conversion Principle. It is inappropriate to talk about "Taiji Powers" in their pure forms. All "Taiji Powers" involve Yin and Yang. That's why the art is called "Taiji".

A Taiji practitioner will not be able to skillfully apply the Yin Yang Conversion Principle in the absence of a natural body. With a natural body, a Taiji practitioner is qualified to enter the "Know Others" stage and start learning the Taiji skill.


(Links to Part I, Part II , Part III , Part IV , Part VI and Part VII)