Describing the Arts Part Deux

I know I kinda let this die but I had posted my last entry in haste and then just let it sit there.

So back to describing what most consider the three primary internal arts, Tai Chi Chuan, Xing-i, and Baguazhang.  I often think of the analogy of a ball and a how it relates to a pool of water:

If you take your hands and place them on a ball so that you are able to begin pushing the ball under water, that can be used to describe the art of tai chi. If we go back to the last post where tai chi is about moving the center and how the center moves in relationship to what's going on around it.

The hands must adjust the pressure on the 'center' to keep the ball tracking it's way under water. That means that the push under water has to be continually adjusting itself for the push to be successful.

The same is true in tai chi, where one tends to seek out and then control ones center.


Baguazhang takes a little bit different approach. Think of the ball and the pool of water again. Now think instead of two hands controlling the ball, it's a lion cub. The cub bounces the ball in the water and the ball goes up, down, turns around tries to get away, and  it's basically  going all over the place.  And while that's going on with the ball, the lion cub is there playing with it and frollicing right along in perfect tempo or even a step a head.

This is bagua's ability to move around the center.

Okay, Xing-i ready for this??

Go back to the ball sitting in  a pool of water. The lion cub is gone and we have one of the hands back. In the hand is a very sharp knife. Imagine taking the knife and with a hammer motion, striking down with enough force that it puntures the ball and it implodes right there.

That's the blast through your center characteristic of Xing-i.

The points I made can and are argued ad naseum, but they sure work if you need a quick way to describe the two.

The Difference between Tai Chi and BaguaZhang.

That's what someone asked me the other day. I thought about how to say that consicely and came up with this, paraphrased and stolen from Luo De Xiu: Tai Chi is about moving the center. Bagua is about moving around the center, and Xing I is about blasting through the center.

I'll expand on that in my next post.

Be well,

Bret