The Jings of Pushing Hands

The understanding of pushing hands (Tui-Shou) is extremely important to the vital forces and practical principles that influence the yin/yang schools and to those who adhere to the “Five Element” principles. One of the foundations of tai chi chuan is called the “Eight forces,” or “Eight Gates,” or “Eights Jings.”

pushing hands
Sifu Saleem Alamudeen practicing Push Hands with his Sifu, Grand Master Wing Lam

The Eight Jings are: peng,  ward off; lu, roll back; ji, press; an, push; ca, pluck; lie, splitting/rend; zhou, elbow stroke; and kao, shoulder stroke.  The first four Jings are directional and recognized as the four main energies protecting the directions of North, South, East, and West.  The “Song of Four Directions,” is a concept that reflects the principle of the four main jings.

These eight forces/energies or Jing, all combine with the following five active movements which are step forward, retreat backward, look left, and gaze right, as well as hold the center.  Combined together the Eight Jings and the five active movements are called the 13 postures. They are the concealment of possible strategic initiatives and conceptual realism’s dealing with absorption and expansion.

These eight powers act as a multiple value function and conceal energy techniques and theories in harmonic progression.  This conjugates the principle theorems of yin soft energy and yang hard energy into a body of energetic density.  In turn, it agitates the capacity to store energy within every movement, making tai chi chuan the containment of energy in motion.  This containment is in the posture and alignment and the gathering of the principles, while linking them into a shape in which they can be expressed.  The focus will be as clear as its opposition, meaning that the movement will reflect both the imminently real or probable, and the imaginable.   It will be direct yet the concept will exist in a state of fluidity.  However, the motion isn’t primarily external, it generates internally and resonates and is expressed externally as a type of conceptual realism.

Within the study of the governing concepts of the Eight Jings, there are three more jings (ting jing, hua jing , and fa jing}, which are very important in the learning and development of Push Hands.  Jing translates to mean force/energy, and it’s the expressive energy that is embedded in the mechanics of proper technical skills and understanding of the principles and concepts as they should be performed.  All movements can be expressed within a certain concept, at will, with jing power.  The combination of “yi,” mind intention, and “shen,” spirit/mind, and “chi,” vital energy, should permeate and gather internally and be felt and seen externally. Ting Jing” teaches the skill of listening not merely with the ears.  However, your entire skin must come alive and be elevated to a heightened state of sensitivity. “Hua Jing” teaches the skills of redirecting/neutralizing the opponents force, and “Fa Jing” teaches the skills of issuing energy.  A reasonable amount of time should be given to developing a relationship with each of these concepts to assure proper development.

 

20160425_090335“Peng Jing” translates as ward off.  It’s an explosive outward energy of expansive mind/body connections.  Energy is expressed upward and outward, disrupting the opponents center and using one’s whole body/posture, unified, through gathering, strengthening, transforming energy and returning it back to the opponent explosively. “Lu Jing” translates as rollback.  The challenge is to receive and lead the oncoming force into the emptiness while dissolving into the void.  “Ji Jing” translates as press and the idea is to squeeze energy by collapsing and gently squeezing inside the elbow while collapsing and concentrating the force of energy into a small area.  “An Jing” translates as push.  The goal is to merge with the opponent’s force, either pushed downward or upward received, and return force pushing into the earth.  “Cai Jing” translates as pluck, and implies disturbing the opponent’s balance/structure by executing a quick plucking/pulling motion downwards, and usually on an angle uprooting the opponent.  “Lie Jing” translates as rend.  Here, the purpose is that while one limb or body part pushes or pulls, another moves in the opposite direction in a kind of ripping or tearing action.  The responding energy should balance out the action splitting opponent’s energy.  “Zhou Jing” means elbow.  Usually the use of the elbow is an advanced technique and is within the form, hidden within the general movements of the form itself.  The use of the elbow is very forceful.  It has penetrating power when combined with intention and proper alignment of the body using full body weight behind it.  Elbow, forearms, shin and knees are used with this jing.  The striking surfaces execute penetrating force when used properly against the opponent. “Kao Jing” translates as shoulder stroke.  As mentioned above, the entire body is used in tai chi as a weapon.  Tai chi also uses the back, stomach, waist, and body bumping which uses the entire body to strike or block. There’s an old saying that describes the concepts of expressing energy in tai chi chuan, it states:

Energy is rooted in the feet, absorbed by the legs,

directed by the waist, then manifested in the hands/fingers.

 20160425_090054In the studying tai chi chuan, these concepts should be studied and expressed in all thoughts /movements. The Eight Jings are visually simplistic wrapped in intricate complexity.  Becoming acquainted with concepts such as Ting Jing, Hua Jing, and Fa Jing will increase your ability to execute the concepts within the eight forces.  However, you should spend time with understanding the concepts that are so deep and rich within the soil/strata of yin and yang and are infinite in the combinations that may be expressed.  Limitations exist upon the individual’s lack of understanding of the Eight Jings.   Having a better understanding of the three jings, Ting, Hua and Fa, will elevate the concepts of join, stick, and follow.   Join reminds and teaches us to forget about the self and to join as one with the opponent in all of his moves.  Stick brings to mind the concept of becoming one …no separation.  It reminds us that there should be no separation between us and the opponent.  Follow teaches us and reminds us to stay in the moment and adapt every minute motion that is executed by the opponent, then change it immediately to shadow the opponent.

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The Journey to True Self

jpg-EarthHands372x340At the same time as the internal Self begins its collective organization of knowledgeable principles, the Five Senses along with the emotions, have begun to establish elementary relationships and connections with both the material elements and how the senses perceive them. The Self becomes aware of Self and the physical world by way of interaction of senses. This interaction causes stimuli of the emotional intelligence, creating a reciprocal effect with powerful psychological influences and imprinting on the perceptions and sensory cortex. This establishes a foundation of the development of schema, which will become self-perpetrating within one’s self, if patterns, exposures, and habits remain.
So true is the description : “creatures of habit.” The early self is attracted to the pursuit of self gratification. Inspired by pleasure principles and curiosity, this early influence that the emotions have on Self can evolve into an internal emotional struggle for self-awareness, expression, and self-identity. This is the stage of consciousness expanding, of heightening of perception and awareness. Self proceeds to search for True Self, and emotional balance over negative influence and distorted sensory retrieval. Perception, one of the traits of the senses, allows the Self to mentally capture an image and imprint that image within the mind, giving the Self the ability to experience it. We dwell within an ocean of sensory and emotional stimulation. The Self operates as a combined conscious/sub-conscious receiver of data. It’s the interpretation of this coded data, and the emotional relationship and the degree of sensory sensibility that shape us into the Self we become. Self is always going through different degrees of metamorphosis. The Five Senses, or Five Perceptions, of hearing, smelling, seeing, tasting, and touching, along with the primary emotions of Love, Joy, Anger, Sadness, and Fear, resonate within our body’s energies at extremely deep degrees of acceptance. As they clash and merge into a synthesis of expressions of Self, the Self will become what Self chooses and attracts.
The journey to True Self is filled with successes and failures. The Self aspires to acquire knowledge and experience, and to store away such knowledge and experience to use as a compass to guide an individual through life. True Self is your mental image of Self, and resides in conscious awareness of Self.

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Am I Body, or am I Mind?

Stepping Stones
…Oh Ye who sits high on the throne, I bow my head to your creation of perfect imperfection called Man. …Am I Body, or am I Mind?
When I look into a mirror, is the image looking back at me really me? … or am I just a product of that twisted ladder-like DNA arrangement that transforms genetic characteristics into all life forms. The self is an organic biological combination of systems internal, and external that intertwines metaphysical principles and sensory distinctions to express original existence and individuality. The subjective mind and objective body exist in a harmonious unification able to operate independently within the self. The external self and body is the collector of, and interpreter of sensory information, and recorder of physical worldly influences through absorption and interaction.
The physical characteristics that you receive isn’t the true You, it is a combination and reflection of your ancestry (chromosomes), building material merging X’s and Y’s through a creative process called Life. We experience life from inside-out (mind to body) and outside-in (body to mind). The body gives us independence to go and conquer, discover, build and destroy. The body also gives us the ability to control physical elements in our world, and have dominance in it.
The body, the great “Crafter,” instrumentally molds into existence and physical reality, ideas, dreams, and strategies that are requirements for our assured, secure intellectual sensory awareness expansion. The external self is dependent on Nature’s support to sustain and attain superiority in the natural social order. We can never arrive at the nature of things from without. The internal self is the center of Psyche, making Man the wearer of the Crown of Creation. How and what a man thinks internally will be mirrored externally. The internal self is formless contemplation that is nurtured through mental interaction and conceptual imagery within a creative electrical storm. This conceptual framework can become the foundation for your mental schema and your internal self.
The internal self exists outside of space-time, not being subject to the Universal Laws regarding space-time, while generating a creative vortex of energetic realities. This independence is absolute. The internal self operates in a mental and physical liquid vortex that is influenced by conscious intelligence, which provides nourishment for growth of the internal self. The oneness of self lies within the unifying of conscious and subconscious mind into whole brain thinking or one mind bonding. The self is always striving for perfection. The subjective mind and the objective body operate as one integrated whole within the self, and yet in a state of contrasting cognitive equilibrium.
I am Harmonious in Mind and Body.

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Reason and Logic: Two Sides of a Coin

The Universal Intelligence in all of it’s infinite glory designed a creation of unlimited excellence. sides of coinWithin Man, lies the seeds of perfection as well as self-destruction. Within the mind of man is the crystallization of everything that was and everything that can be. Nothing has been or will be physically manifested into this world of man except by or through the mind of man. This requires a harmonious mental/emotional environment to assist in developing in a natural and creative state through reason. The mathematical decisiveness of the reasoning abilities of man stand as judge and jury in his logical upward development. Reason is the stairway to logic. Reason must follow a path of subjective and objective contemplation to arrive at a logical summation.
Reason is attracted to a collage of variable shades of inter-connecting levels of experiences, choices, thoughts, beliefs, and actions. Reason then interprets, and emotional pulsations create within the mind only what we can comprehend at that point of our life. There is an emotional and intellectual metamorphosis that we go through as we journey through life experiences.
Reason has many aspects such as informal and formal processing. Formal reasoning describes the process and stages of utilizing the science of deduction, while informal reasoning derives through critical and rational evaluations. Deductive reasoning is an argument for a truth upon conclusion based on fact or that which is assumed fact. Inductive reasoning formulates general statements based on general observations, recurring patterns, and degrees of probability, all based on informal logic or critical thinking.
It matters not the path taken since rationality is the goal of all thinking men. A man who is striving to be of a rational nature and should instruct his powers of the mind to arrive at logical conclusions. The road to becoming a rational and logical person is clustered with major distractions such as emotional choices. When reason is called upon, it must gather and intelligently express itself through the emotions and the values, all the while borrowing from the knowledge and experiences to arrive at a logical point of view.
Reason is pure in its original state of neutrality. First there is thought which triggers an emotion either positive or negative. That emotion scans your value system to see if you agree or disagree with the thought and/or emotional feedback. Then your knowledge/experience begins to support your choice, and you may begin to reason your position. Actions reflect thought, and thought is reflected by your rational or irrational behavior or actions in a given situation, be it reasonable or unreasonable.
The mind of limited resources (knowledge) has a limited reasoning ability, as the conclusions of any individual will be in direct relationship with that person’s knowledge base and that which supports it. Knowledge impacts the direction and position of one’s point of reference. To expand the knowledge/experience is to expand an unseen inconceivable reasoning power. The mind must filter through our value system all the information intake that it is exposed to. After this filtration it goes through a process that assigns values or categories such as importance, beliefs or fears. Your individual reasoning abilities begin to take shape. The relationship between knowledge and reason can even be seen in infants. Before we have accumulated knowledge, we experience instinctual reasoning, which is derived from our five senses of touch, taste, smell, sight, and hearing. Everything we perceive through the senses is categorized within our system of importance in order to strengthen our elementary foundation and our reasonable actions. Imperfection lies in Man’s ignorance. The will of man has multiple value functions to strengthen positive actions or to derail negative actions. This is done in harmony for accomplishing a goal while communicating with the inner voice of reason. The will power places itself over reason to help instill self-discipline and self-control. The power of the will controls all inhibitions and directs the thoughts and actions on a path of mutual innate reasoning.
The survival of man depends on a mastery of his mental faculties and skills. Reason is a rational means to adding or eliminating information to assist one to arrive at a logical point of view, not only with problem solving but also in creative/critical thinking. Reason must be treated with pure honesty since reason can and may justify any deed that we deem to be of a vital nature. Reason has no intelligence of its own, it is merely relative to the individual, borrowing from the cumulative value system, which fluctuates with growth. Learning how to arrive at logical conclusions, judgements, and form intelligent arguments, that are structured on solid foundations, is the fundamental use for reason. The mental powers of man require a complex interdependent weaving of contemplation, and reason is but one faculty of the mind’s mental process. Reason allows man to interact with the physical and the mind’s non-physical realm. Through reasoning power, there is an ignition of magnetic attraction for creativity and intuitive knowing leading to an intellectual “lighting of the way” through man’s conscious, super-conscious and subconscious mind to arrive at higher states of wisdom, comprehension, sensing, and knowing.

Expanding Perception

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Of all the ingenious qualities that have been nurtured within man, that of perception is immeasurably powerful and stimulating. Perception lures man to peer into the waters of inexhaustible possibilities.

Initially, there is perception, then comes a process of creative, exploratory, and conceptual thought, which leads to action. The original perception is neutral, then thought begins a search progression through old roots of embedded values, and supporting evaluations that lie deep within the mind and body, while at the same time striving to built new ones. In order for perception to be expressed, it must become charged either emotionally or intellectually. These two types of perception will have a dramatic impact on one’s mental attitude. Through filtering your emotionally charged perception and balancing your intellectual perception, you will be able to grow toward self-mastery with an expanded, more harmonious, and infinite consciousness. Perception is an invisible field of overlapping realities that are engaged by one’s own vibrational viewpoint. Most individuals are not aware of the overlapping of realities, until realities reveal themselves in relationship to changes in perception. This results in growth of mental attitudes and expanded awareness and possibilities. Conscious awareness expands and contracts. I expand and contract. The Earth expands and contracts reflecting a harmonious natural intelligence functioning in Oneness through divine expression. Perceptions are windows into realities, be they fixed or flexible. Thoughts are doorways to possible realities. Perception exists in perfect form and imperfect relationship with itself. The perceptions we have are the reality we create.

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Fear

understanding-fearThe obstacles to martial art’s excellence lie within each of us. One of these obstacles is FEAR. Fear is real. Yet, fear is unique because in actuality, fear is an illusion and a misunderstood reflection of an individual’s perception, experience, and lack of knowledge. For a martial artist, it is extremely detrimental. Fear has the capacity to choke out all creative expression, and can create doubt in the heart of every man. It can cause individuals to shake with the sheer thought of a thing. Fear expresses itself in many different locations throughout the body, and a martial artist must be aware of where fear resides. Fear expresses in the external body by freezing motion and instilling hesitation, locking down movement, creating rigidity in the muscles. Next, it can reside in the organs, creating extra stress, and it has the capacity to steal away the courage that resides in the heart, and causing anxiety and heart palpitations. Stress can also cause serious damage to organs and body cells. Very importantly, fear can attack one’s mind, scattering thoughts, and leaving doubt and worry to enter. Thus, it gives the martial artist an altered reality or perception of what he is actually facing. This allows it to steal opportunity, and hinder growth and development.

So, a martial artist, should not give in to fear and indulge in fearful thoughts, but to master fear, and utilize it to his benefit. For a martial artist to dedicate his time trying to eliminate fear would be a life-long endeavor, for we are bombarded with illusions or perceptions that induce fear. Time is better spent trying to understand the mechanisms that stimulate fear and those connections that extend inwardly to himself from the physical world. We have ways to do this. Fear in the body can be released through relaxation techniques. Fear in the heart can be released through deep breathing exercises and Qi regenerating exercises. Fear in the mind can be relieved through meditation, visualization and self-analysis, and focused intentional thought. Remember, fear’s effect is to keep you from accomplishing a thing, and your job is to forge your way through fear, coming out on the other side more determined and stronger than before.

“Perception is a relative dimension of the understanding of an individual’s abilities, to sift through the muck and mire, of the dominating influences that have their impact on the thought processes in each individual’s life.” ………Sifu Saleem