Sunday 15 February 2009

An Encounter With a Taoist Master of Taiji

While wondering around Qingyang temple in Chengdu, I saw a westerner sat with an old monk, who waved me over. As I got closer, I saw a sign in English and Chinese saying Taijiquan school. The westerner had signed up to a month of studying here and not speaking Chinese, it was his first day. The master spoke some basic English, and I spoke to him a little in English, before switching to Chinese, when I told him Id learnt Wing Chun and a little Chen style Taiji. When he heard that, he said Wing Chun is too hard, and that it dispersed your Qi and that internal martial arts take you to a higher level. I felt a little skeptical of him, but was respectful, especially because of people being able to sign up for a months training. But after a while, he took my inside and invited me to push hands with one of his students, a young monk. He was like water, and every time I pushed on him, he flowed round it, and I was only able to unbalance him once, but kept getting unbalanced myself most times I tried. Then the master invited me to try with him, he told me to push him in his stomach, and I felt it go solid, and then he sent me flying, with a little push from his abdomin. It was a strange feeling. I tried to push him several times, and each time he sent me flying off. I was really impressed, and exchanged contact details, so hopefully we can meet again next time I visit Sichuan. He is the head of a large association for Yang style Taiji, and has many students around the world.


4 comments:

Stefan Kubiak said...

William, please don't let us wait for your next post. Do you have problems with the access to the Internet? Remember that we are 'hungry' for your news!

曾潇垚 said...

well, sorry, but theres really nothing interesting happening now. the semester has started and im back teaching in qingdao.

ambrotek6x8 said...

The reference to tai-chi exercise and to hua-shan, they could have been joined: hua-shan region has its own boxing, hua-fist...and hua-shan is often quoted as source of LiuHe-PaFa [water-boxing]..although is is unlikely.
The petra-glyph-stella is also somewhat of interest at Huashan.
http://waterspirit6x8.tripod.com

曾潇垚 said...

im sorry, i have no idea what you are talking about. the article doesnt mention anything about hua shan. i dont think ive ever written about hua shan.

六合八法 (liuhebafa) means 6 harmonies 8 skills and from what i read it is a good style. a guy showed me a form once and i liked it.