Fa Jing (發勁) & General Application

Discuss Taijiquan or other soft styles. Theory, practice and applications. Please stay on topic.

Moderators: nyang, Dvivid, Inga, taiqiman

Fa Jing (發勁) & General Application

Postby fullofvoid » Tue Nov 03, 2009 1:11 pm

I have observed some masters and other people practicing fa jing, but their applications seem particularly inefficient. Recalling physics, an object that remains in contact with another object of which it has struck gradually loses power as the time of connection increases.

Not to mention, that many times I notice applicants of tai ji push an opponent for great distances or high into the air. I understand that demonstrations of these express the power of taiji, but could the form benefit from more emphasis on other movements?
fullofvoid
Forum Newbie
 
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Oct 23, 2009 7:57 pm

Postby Josh Young » Thu Nov 19, 2009 6:45 pm

Taiji is not about mere impact physics like a hard style, it is about wave physics and fields. When you consider two objects impacting then that automatically means that taiji is not being considered. The fundamental aspect of taiji is reciprocal as a dynamic unity of kinetic momentum over time, this goes far beyond impact physics.

In application the process moves from wuji to taiji, where wuji is undifferentiated and taiji is whole but separated into two equal parts. For this reason the system is the system or "quan", of the origin of yin and yang.

This is far more advanced than striking things hard. However it can facilitate striking things with tremendous force, but the impact and the wave of kinetic energy do not have to be combined. There is also no way to learn this by striking the air or bags or anything like that. Trees that can flex a bit but are hard too are ideal. You can contact them and express an explosive jing into them without ever taking your hand off, and this type of jing can be employed for all of the 8 energies of taijiquan.

However what you have often seen is the most practical way of training, the prolonged contact on many fa-jing expression demonstrations is literally to lower the frequency of the wave of energy expressed, so that it is more of a momentum affecting motion than the shockwave it actually entails. What you are seeing with this is one of the only safe ways to express Fa-jing without injuring your training partner. When you express with a tree or a steel light pole you do to have to hold back, however if you try to merely strike a tree or a steel pole with hard style impact physics you will only receive injury. Done properly you will not harm yourself by training so.

As far as the pushing demonstrations, yes some are exaggerated. It is a shame.

Fa-jing is only one type of jing though, and there is far more to master in taijiquan than it. Many people with very good jing control rely too much on their ability to generate force while not having any real mastery over the force in a taiji sense. They might think they have a supreme ultimate fist, but the essence of the origin of yin and yang is often lost upon them.

At least this is my opinion.
Josh Young
Forum DemiGod
 
Posts: 720
Joined: Fri Mar 06, 2009 12:03 pm


Return to Taijiquan / Tai Chi Chuan

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 17 guests

cron