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.”

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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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An Empty Vessel

The interconnecting and true expression of a movement exists in the moment of execution of  thought. Since water jugaction follows thought, it is necessary for an opponent to allow his mind to exist from the reference point of the adversary. This means not to force your actions against the action of the exchange, but to harmoniously engage the opponent’s thoughts as they are expressed and committed. It is a necessary position in order to form a reference point for that adversary. The reference point reveals a multitude of possibilities, and these references dissolve from moment to moment and may not be the same upon repetition.

In order to allow one’s mind to exist from the reference point of the adversary requires insight. Insight is granted in compatibility to one’s intelligent foresight. Information is brought into the mind by way of sound and images. In accomplishing our desires, we succeed or fail based on calculating theories and cunning estimations of probabilities of distance and directions. All shapes tell the story of the thought process through the travel and degree of energy. The goal is to elevate your thoughts and perceptions to form a network of accurate triangulation while establishing a distance between two points, or the relative position of two or more points. The relative position will indicate the complexity as measured by time, skill, and intelligent foresight, merged with a mindset of adaptability of “change to fit change.” Change may be needed to create suitability with possibilities of motionless motion. The concept of concealing motion in stillness permeates the mind, body, spirit and emotions, which leads to an interpretation of possible configurations. Let’s refer to this as Motionless Motion because it permeates and resonates in one’s spirit through subtle hints. However one must first understand the actual configuration that is imbedded and observed in the stillness. This interconnected network of motion (external to internal), and stillness (internal to external), is extended outwardly and expresses in nonverbal communications by way of points and lines. This equation of free motionless motion has within it the ability for grouping the fundamentals of essentials of motion as dictated by the invariable physical laws regarding reference points, lines …both straight (direct) and curved (indirect) and that are revealed and exerted in certain circumstances. These circumstances require specific actions for specific results. Stillness contains motion in shape and motion is born out of stillness. The misunderstood sophistication of stillness is a simulation of calculated measures of perceived mutual dealings in the engagement. It is this relationship that gives birth to the process of interchangeability of roles of the points and lines becoming the thought and thought action. This thought substance reflects in silence the simplicity and perfection of dualism or action/ reaction. This Action/reaction Law states: “When one body exerts force on another, the second body exerts a collinear force on the first, equal in magnitude, but oppositely directed.” Action and reaction are equal and opposite concepts.

A second concept is to meet and join, blend and absorb, and conceal your intent to produce consequences of actions. It is necessary to merge, consolidate and hijack patterns to interrupt all elements of engagement to include distinct outlines or all shapes. This theory of disturbance is quiet and still.

The third concept is to acquire the capacity of an even temperament by subduing emotions and uplifting the spirit. It includes suppressing conscious thoughts and manifesting through your innate capacity as you coexist in the continuum of perception, reaction, and time. This is governed by psychological adaptation requiring one to live in the moment and inherit mechanisms of unknown elements, or stimulus/response. Allow the concepts to unfold the sense perception like a kaleidoscope of illusions, attacking and distracting mental calculations. Enclosed within this thought system that gives life to all gestures is the concept that all things are revealed to he who is patient. Decisions are born out of situations, and choices out of skills or abilities to bring forth solutions which must be absolute in response to transformations.

Harmonious effects and results are created by perceiving through the senses. This intelligent interpretation of movement is an expression of mathematical functions which bond with the economy of motion, maximizing reaction and efficiency of movement, minimizing energy dispersion, to include conservation of energy. The fourth concept, Conservation of Energy, which states that the principles that are in the system (in our case this will be referring to shapes), is not subject to any external forces (actions). The amount of energy is constant, despite its changes in form. This refers to the energy that resides in shapes to include the energy that resides in stillness. It is through the experience of mathematical functions that one can connect and express physical calculations that develop within a structure through developing and deconstructing.

 

Simple stone upon a hill, teaching the art of being still.

…….author unknown

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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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Reality 101

reality

 

I exist to be manifested in all things.
I am indisputable.
I belong to the Past, Present and the Future.
…I am Reality. (Sifu Saleem)

Ideas, attitudes and perception all have a role in our assumption of reality. One of the most misconstrued states is the state of reality. A mountain of inherited myths adds to the clouded perception of what reality is. Over a period of time, one begins to reflect their external environment far beyond their internal understanding of reality. Reality requires knowing, … knowing requires experience, and experience requires reason. In order to have understanding, you must be able to place a “thing” into a category. To have knowing, you must have experience with that thing or knowledge of that thing. Reason is the filter which allows taking certain steps to arrive at a conclusive interpretation of reality.
Reality is birthed through ideas. When an idea is adopted, at that very second, your degree of reality has been adjusted. The adjustment could impact your entire perception and interpretation of reality. So, what is reality? …It is anything and everything that we assume to be real. In other words, reality is whatever we believe, from the monster under the bed, to having the ability to fly to the moon. Limit your dreams, ideas, and influences, and you limit your reality.
The mere thought of having, doing, or being creates a level of desire that activates a vibration that attunes us to a reality. This vibration of the desire stimulates our creative soul and arouses within us not only in the physical, but also mental, emotional and spiritual levels. It also arouses energetically in our external environment for a means to accomplish and express itself as a possible reality. Just a thought can draw the physical body into relationship with sensory information and conceptual imagery that craves to be expressed. All great accomplishments are a product of our conceptual imagery. Conceptual imagery has a direct connection to our sensory receptors, the absorption from which feeds our realities. With an idea, your physical body will respond as though it is a reality. To name a thing is to categorize that thing, which also places that thing into a certain idea/reality which eliminates or solidifies and magnifies the possible reality of the thing. This process of categorizing gives us the ability to create the reality we desire. We believe and focus on reality. Reality is ever adaptable and can be totally submissive to our expectations, understanding and needs.
Because of the potential for possible multiple realities, man will forever strive to understand or comprehend his place in reality and to reach an elevated knowledge and acceptance of the universal multi-dimensional truths and realities that are outside of the acceptance of possibilities.
Therefore, man must gradually elevate his acceptance of what is true in spiritual existence and vibrational energetic reality. Man must break out of physical perceptions and go beyond his bondage of physical containment. The mind must be elevated to the realities of Oneness and energetic unity that permeates the entire Universe in pure consciousness.
Reality is a complex, yet simplistic network that overlaps in layers the thought process of an individual based on his acceptance and interpretation of his experiences. The duality of self is one reality that man must explore. Such things as social realities or physical, or functional realities impact our social consciousness nudging us on the path of growth and development through a perceived interaction of mental, physical and emotional stimulation of our interpretation of life’s experiences. Life experiences are waning and waxing. In this sea of conscious/unconscious state of metamorphosis, the battle for reality is fought mainly by the conscious mind. This is sometimes called the logical mind. Reason must find its intellectual equilibrium in order for reality to manifest and be used to estimate the relative weight of importance of the stimulus.
The conscious mind is alert and interactively discerning in all the thought processes which give birth to our comprehensive actions. You can decide if you want to focus your attention on an action or not. However, keep in mind that all outside activity that is witnessed has a subliminal impact on your inside activity (mind) to the degree of your understanding. This means all things you witness will shape or reshape your reality, truths, and perceptions, to assist you in finding balance in your mind’s comprehensive digestion of reality. Some believe that reality, truth, and perception are all the same, yet reality reflects an individual’s experience and acceptance. Perception is an individual’s viewpoint, which is supported by clear vision, knowledge of the subject, and belief in the subject. Perception can exist without it being based in reality. Reality can exist without the understanding of truth. Truth is.

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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Perception

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I am a cluster of consciousness on a passage of growth. Existing in a Universe of multiple realities, there is a constant metamorphosis and fusion with epic possibilities.

Perception is the direct reflection of an individual’s knowledge, experience, and faith. Perception is ever changing and the reality that we hold today will or will not reflect in harmony with the perceived reality of the future. Our perceptional reality is limited and much like peering through a kaleidoscope. We only perceive the world as we believe it to be and according to our acceptance of this. Our beliefs are held together by our faith. Hence comes a perceptional reality that is individual for each of us. Our perception is relative to our reality and our interpretation and our acceptance of it. With each shake of the kaleidoscope the image of reality we are perceiving changes. In the same way, the experiences that we have in our lives may have a dramatic effect on our own perception of reality. The growth that we are challenged with will either carry us forward into new expanded perceptions or we will remain fixed in perceptual stagnation.

The sensory shower that we constantly bathe in from infancy to adulthood, allows the emotional connections to filter and blend with our perception. Experiences and thoughts are given emotional charges through sensations that reinforce them with emotional radiance. This strengthens the expression of the total experience not just with the perceptional point of view but also with a new combination of perceptual and emotional intertwining at a heightened level. Reminiscing over experience reactivates the emotional charges which increasingly serve to strengthen the perception.

This can be good or bad. The knowledge that we accumulate will reinforce our action in the direction of our perception. Our faith will contain it all together and give us the strength to stand and argue our perception.

As a martial artist, it is vital to have focused clarity coupled with open-mindedness that is married with possibilities of the unperceived. Such things as skills, seen and unseen, concepts, known and unknown, methods that are clear or unclear, must be calculated and regurgitated in a clear and concise manner in order for the martial artist to achieve his desired results.

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and The Seedling Grows

…and the student asked the Master: “What do you mean the movement must speak to me?” …and the Master only smiled.

seedling

So, the question is, how do you expand your vision? Exposure to superior challenges presents an opportunity to grow and strengthen the roots of your experience. Through the constant clashing with successes and failures, one develops a clarity of vision that leads to a path of accumulating the essential traits that will assist in developing along that path. Perception is a reflection of an individual’s state of mind, knowledge, and experience. Through clearing your perception you can refine judgment, enabling you to make better selective decisions. You have begun a journey of self-awareness and expansion.

Self-awareness is both physical and mental. and to begin the journey, it is best to start with the mental aspect, since the mind controls the body. A vital and important aspect of self-awareness is self-image. You must have a clear vision of your self-image in order to mentally see yourself accomplishing what you desire. Clarity of vision begins within oneself. Before you can have harmony in your outside world, you must first harmonize your inside world (mind). In the process of clearing vision a better relationship of ones own strengths and weaknesses begins to manifest. Through the process of expressing the desired movements through a variety of exchanges, a knowledge and clarity of possibilities develops. Movement must be able to fit within the confines of your abilities, strengths and weaknesses. When you are able to do so, they will be expressed naturally and effortlessly. Once you develop the mind/body relationship, you will begin to speak the language of movement, which is expand/collapse, hard/soft, straight/circle, and many more possibilities. However, you must allow the movement to communicate to your body. Through mastery of knowing, and achieving a clear mental self-image, you can combine the powers of the mind and the powers of the body to express the language of the movement.

…and the movement has spoken.