What it is & how to play it
by Richard Farmer
Price: £3.50 (mbs), £4.50 (non-mbs) - plus £2.50 p&p
Contents - To give a flavour of the book here are some excerpts from it.
The Diagonal Links
The practice of the Short Form essentially is to discover a body which moves naturally. In the Long Form, the emphasis changes from the outer movement to the inner movement, to a deeper level. This level consists of finding the dynamic links which bind dynamic movement together. The Chi rides the dynamic movement and the links that the dynamic movement travel along are found diagonally across the body.
Tranquil Abiding
By identifying the diagonal link and the meaning or direction of the dynamic movement through that diagonal, the third stage is revealed which is to see the use of intention in triggering the whole process.
During the study of the Short Form we have learnt to concentrate the mind in a gross way by remembering the sequence and retaining the principles of the form.
Yet to penetrate deeply enough, to feel directly the three phases of the Long Form, we need to develop the mind of concentration further, until single pointed concentration is attained. In fact whether you do the Long Form or Short Form, this ability to stick or concentrate without interruption is a very important goal.
Why Bother?
Having spent a great deal of time and effort learning to discover the internal and external aspects of the Long Form, the big question is, What do you use it for? Having established a valid object of concentration and using the correct quality of sticking, Tai Chi Chuan can develop in one of two ways.
The Tao of Man
The first is a more Yang oriented way as it is working primarily with the intention and movement, so that perception, intention and appropriate action, are all simultaneous. Dr. Chi calls it the Tao of Man.
Learning to have the reactions of a tree, becoming like water, but in a technical way - rather like the difference between the two ways of concentration. When I asked Dr. Chi if this way leads you to enlightenment, he said, "No, only close".
The Tao
Advice on using practice which leads to resting with Universal Energy
Some sayings of Dr Chi and others
"Tai Chi and God are not connected, but Tai Chi is a philosophy which can help you get peaceful mind and so be nearer God. Long ago Chang Sang Feng developed Tai Chi, not just for fighting."
"The Great Way is not difficult for those with no preferences. When love and hate are both absent everything becomes clear and undisguised."
Advice from a friend
Before, in the Short Form, we were only getting the postures partially right, and it was our teacher who pointed out the difference. Now in the Long Form it is the posture of the mind we are only getting partially right .
So perhaps for the first time we are coming to grips with this split. Before, it was an outer split, the teacher who could see and we who could not. Now it is an internal dynamic, we make the mistake and we see it! It is this meeting that we feel difficulty with and frustrated by, particularly because there is nothing to physically do. If our leg is in the wrong place we can pick it up and correct it. If our concentration is wrong there is nothing tangible to correct.
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