About the Sword and the Fan
It is possible for everyone to produce some strange movements
with the tai chi sword without any knowledge of the principles
of Tai Chi Chuan.
Even professional dancers or gymnasts cannot perform
the tai chi sword form correctly
without understanding the basic principles of Tai Chi Chuan.
That's for sure.
Both male and female students
like to practice the Tai Chi sword form.
Remember you: style is a guide, not a jailer.
The Tai Chi sword is the king of Tai Chi weapons.
Each part of your body should be connected to every other part.
Style makes clear if you have integrated
the principles of yin and yang.
Tiny (Yin-Yang) turnings of both hands can make a world of difference.
Being a yin weapon,
the Tai Chi Fan is called the 'queen' of all Tai Chi weapons.
Being a yang weapon,
the Tai Chi Sword is called the 'king' of all Tai Chi weapons.
The use of legs and feet are as important as the use of arms and hands.
Circles, and semi-circles.
Spirals, and semi-spirals.
The position of feet and legs are very important. Why?
The goal should be to deflect the sword of your attacker
by using quick steps.
Such movements require:
flexibility and the ability of sliding and cutting in one single action
and the ability to stick without avoiding the next attack.
The Chien Juan narrow blade sword requires the highest level
of body-mind flexibility.
Performing the sword form, your hand must remain loose but still under control from a technical point of view.
So the sword form requires the use of sung chin.
Most important is the ability of understanding the opponent's power (ting - tong - nien - hua and fa jin).
We need to understand the whole Tai Chi body-mind vocabulary:
flexibility, body and mind coordination, sung, tantien, silk reeling,
fa jing, open and close, concentration, twisting and spiraling, connectivity,
to root and sink, correct breathing, chi projection, balance,
evenness and slowness, emptiness and fullness, relaxation, large circulation,
yin-yang complementarity in hands and feet, etc. to feed the Tai Chi sword form.
But we also need to strengthen the sword form from within deep in the unconscious mind to bring the mind in such state that there is no choice than to transcend itself.
When this becomes our fundament what power would be needed to shake us?
The Tai Chi Chien Juan small blade sword is the king of all Tai Chi weapons.
It is a reunion of Heaven and Earth.
Circle? Line?
Line? Circle?
The circle (yin) and the line (yang) are one.
Yin and Yang are one.
The circle (Yin) and the line (Yang) are not equal, they are one.
All things are one, and one is all things.
If many is one, one is many.
All things are one but all things are not equal (equality must be a thing invented by Western democraties).
The circle will always create the line, the line will create the circle.
Peace sister and brother; the circle will always create an argument (a point of view) as it drives every one and
every thing into two or more points of view. Understanding the circle helps the internal martial artist - the real warrior -
to deal with negatives we encounter by understanding where they come from. We must begin to integrate our circular sword
form into our intellectual processes, into our daily lives. An understanding of the circle teaches us that every person who
disagrees with us has right as we are, no matter how right we think we are. And vice versa. So, why do we argue with each
other, whatever we believe is true is true. Arguments are unproductive and waste of time.
No matter what our friends say, whether it is the same or different from what we say, they will be correct. Depending on
where we are and how we wish to look at it, the opposite is also true, no matter what arguments are unproductive and a
waste of time. Their being correct, however will not make us incorrect.
What we think, how we think, where our attention is creates reality for us, and sometimes it becomes reality for those
around us.
This relationship of opposites is found in every reality, science, philosophy, psychology, morality, religion.
Reality is what we choose to see, and what we see is reality for us. What we think creates reality for us, what we choose
to see, to say, to do, to show may end up reality for another.
"Tai Chi Chuan is a never ending circular process". We create our own problems by keeping our attention on where we have
problems, on where we have not achieved our goals. It 's better to move on.
An understanding of the circle teaches the relativity of all things. So, why do we argue? Whatever we believe is true is
true.
In Tai Chi Chuan lines, squares, triangles are specific versions of circles. But there is still a little problem: the
circle is 'still' and we are moving. That's the reason why we are moving the Tai Chi sword in spirals. Spirals are moving
circles, -circles on the move-.
Spirals are perfect circles, they are living circles.
(See item: "About spirals")