Finding the Connection

The development of high level martial skills in Taijiquan involves cultivating the ability to connect one's own intention with the intention of the opponent, according to Wang Hao Da, one of the top students of the late Master Ma Yueliang. Wang, who has exceptional push hands skills from his training with Ma and his own research, said he tries to match his own intention, or yi, with that of the opponent. He then harmonises with the opponent in such a way that the two become one so that he can direct the opponents movement. This is done while concealing his own intention and energy so that the opponent cannot control him.

The groundwork for this kind of skill is accomplished by practising the Taiji Form, creating a strong, lively, needle-like centre of equilibrium (zhongding) that the opponent cannot find. The method is based on Master Ma's key points: Don't use strength; use quality, not power; use the invisible, not the visible; use the internal, not the external.

According to Wang Hao Da, Master Ma's practice entirely emphasised the internal, to create a strong and deep centre of equilibrium that he could rely on for power rather than external force. This enabled him to remain loose and pliable when he had to repulse the external strength of his opponent.

In his own development, Wang focused on 4 key aspects of practice. The first is zhao, or searching. "You have to be continually searching for your zhongding (central equilibrium) whenever you do push hands and forms. You want to find your zhongding and understand your zhongding. At the same time, you also have to search for the other person's zhongding and understand their zhongding. Then you can know their power and neutralise it."

The second is qiao, which means the body has to be skillful. "You have to be able to let other people touch and push you so you can become skillful and smart. You can create this skillfulness. Qiao really means a well trained body."

The third is hua which means to yield and dissolve. "Your jin or internal strength can absorb others energy and become like a compressed spring. By doing this it is possible to make ones own centre very small so people cannot find it. This is both to hide the centre but also to first store energy before sending it out to throw the opponent."

The fourth is qiu which means to probe for your own root. "The root must be made strong to give the ability to use folding power and issuing power. It is from a strong root that you can gain the ability to suddenly disappear and reappear. Your root has to be deep, your hips have to be loose."

The specialty of Master Ma and Wang is the use of invisible jin. Most who use pengjin or fajin are too visible in the way they use their energy. But Master Ma and Wang use more yi (intention) and qi (non-physical energy) and less external jin. Their pengjin is just the internal strength of the Mind working through the qi. This is developed through Taiji Form practice to internalise the jin and make it more subtle.

Another technique that Wang uses is to let other people become part of an outside circle while maintaining his own inner circle. He wants the opponent to be outside so that if you push you go outside. He is at the centre and has his inside circle. When he finds the opponents centre he discharges his energy.

The sensitivity that Wang cultivates enables him to read the opponents centre and the depth of root they have in their feet. Master Ma and Wang had very deep roots as opposed to many whose roots barely penetrate the surface. Those many may relax and sink but they do not use the yi and qi to nail down into the earth. To do this it is necessary to sink the qi and loosen the hips so that they become alive, strong and stable. The problem for many is the hips are not stable, or if stable, not loose and alive. It is this sinking of the qi together with the establishment of zhongding that Wang uses to repel an opponent. He remains soft to sense the opponents jin and root, then he uses the yi (intention) and qi to activate the jin which issues from the zongding, and throws the opponent. Wang avoids using his arm jin which the opponent could lock onto and use back against him. Using jin in the arm would de-stablise zongding and allow an opponent to lock his arm and throw him.

Wang said: "There are 3 ways to make the dantian low so the zongding becomes very strong. First do the Taiji Form and basics, always letting the dantian sink. Relax and sink the body. Second the hips must open and close appropriately to let the legs express yin and yang. Then the energy from the dantian can drop down. Third practise Master Ma's secret form taught only to a few students, the 24 Cannon Fist. This helps the dantian to connect to the ground."

In push hands Wang said: "Gathering is issuing. You must not receive the incoming force then issue your own. It is too late. You have to gather the opponents force and issue at the same time. Gathering and issuing happen in a moment, in one continuous motion." Wang is always sensing the energy of the opponent so that he can know the moment to gather and shoot. the higher the level of the practitioner, the more subtle the gathering and issuing.

"Internal energy has to be connected in order to be used efficiently. Many people have some internal energy but they cannot connect it to the external movement or deliver it to the outside. This is because the inside and outside remain separate. It is a problem of transmission from their teachers. There is a specific training in the practice of the Taiji Form that may be missing in this case. The main thing in training is the quality of the movements with all the internal energies executed correctly with softness, and energy concentrated in the bones. The internal strength is always used to do the Taiji Form. You use the yi (intent) to move the qi (energy) and the qi to move the body. This means the inside is alive."

Wang recalled that Ma, with whom he studied from 1961 to 1982, was always very calm. "No one could put pressure on him, even during the 'cultural revolution'. He would walk in the street to get water from a well and was happy to do menial work chores. When he went out to buy vegetables, political people would follow him to see what he would do, but he still remained very calm. A lot of people became depressed in those conditions, but Ma did not allow himself to be depressed. Mentally he was very open and strong. He was never rushed and when any problem came he was calm and peaceful, never anxious. Ma followed the middle way. He did not eat too much and his lifestyle was very steady; whenever he met anyone he was very happy and pleasant. All his practice was internal, pure internal, whereas for most people is the outside leading the internal or at best the outside and inside working together. They are not clear which is major or which is minor. For Ma the internal was always the major. Ma used internal yi (intent) and qi for maximum concentration. He used the internal energy to control the body. The internal was always activated first before the external body. This is martial art at its highest level."

"Ma also focused on improving joint and bone health, by moving them to preserve their range of motion. One of the ways he practised this was by softening the outside muscles and using yi to move the deeper muscles around the joint. Ma also did exercises to benefit the internal organs. While Ma still did the Taiji Form in his later years, he did not always do the whole Form, sometimes just half the Form. Because he focused on longevity he felt it not necessary to do the whole Form; but he also did internal circles and figure eights with various joints and internal organs to make them strong and alive."

"Ma's major theory was to use the yi (intent) and not strength. He used the energy he refined over the years and would never use raw strength to throw someone. He also emphasized zhongdingjin which is central equilibrium with internal strength. It is invisible and used inside, not outside. Central equilibrium, from the top of the head through the centre of the body to a point between the feet, is like a single post which cannot be allowed to move of centre. Master Ma was very concentrated and would not let his central equilibrium be disturbed. it was flexible because it was small. most people's zhongding is like a big piece of meat; move one place and the whole piece moves. Ma's zhongding was like water and at the centre it was like a very thin needle which is hard to touch; yet he could move very freely. If you didn't find his centre he didn't care, because his body outside was soft but inside it was hard. His zhongdingjin was very strong, but thin and small."

Wang said that Master Ma also concentrated energy into the bone and used this energy to do the Taiji Form with the whole body. "This enabled him to be very sensitive in Taiji Pushing Hands and to avoid disclosing his own intent to his partners. Inside there is a quiet, silent, concentrating energy that becomes very hard for your opponent to find. Once you find their centre you can project your energy combined with theirs as explosive power."

Ma and Wang used tremendous sinking energy to establish the root and Zhong Ding, while most others tend to float with little or no root. As soon as they touch you, their power connects with yours and they can bounce you away. Whenever Master Ma touched you you would start to float. It was because the quality of his sinking was so great that it neutralised your root. Another technique they used was to search for their partner's jin. When they find your jin they follow you and use it to uproot you; even if you don't have jin they can make you use it and uproot you. Sometimes they give you a little jin by using their own, and then when your own jin replies, they can use that to control you. But when their jin is inside you cannot reach them. "Ma's jin was very light and alive, but you could not borrow it. Ma always told that there are a thousand kinds of change but a million kinds of neutralisation. Change is easy since it is external and may mean just changing position, but to disappear inside, there are a million different ways; huajin (neutralisation energy) is a much higher level of skill than changing. Ma was very focused on neutralisation. If you touched his body you could not find his energy, but there was no rigidness or toughness. He could always change internally more and more as all his muscles followed his mind changes without rigidity or external physical actions. This ability comes from practising the Taiji Form and the basic exercises."

← MaYueliang