Taijiquan Fajin

[khinbu]

I have read many posts here regarding Taijiquan Fajin, and as a serious Taijiquan practitioner I come to some very serious questions. How many of you who know the 'real' Taijiquan Fajin? Do you know that before you can do Fajin effectively and efficiently, you must have Tingjin (Listening Jin) and considerable amount of Dongjin (understanding Jin) to be able to sense your opponent and to be able to Hua his Jin (neutralize his Jin), then to control him (Najin) and then, only then, you can do Fajin correctly? And do you know that to be able to Tingjin you must have Zhannianjin (sticking and adhering Jin)?
Even more, do you even know what to listen to?

I think the worst thing to do in Taijiquan practice is to emphasize more Fajin than Tingjin, Dongjin, Huajin. What's the usage of strong strike if it lands on emptiness? You must be able to Hua before you Fa. If not, then you will go power against power. What will our Taijiquan be, then? Demise of Taijiquan?

At last I hope that all of us can follow the correct path in training so that our Taijiquan is not the shell, but the essence.

Wish for peace

[MaFuYee]

i for one, don't think i know the 'real' tai chi fajing. - what the heck is 'real' tai chi fajing anyway??? - i know how to hit someone as hard as a mofo... does that count?

can you please explain; what is fajing, and what is it's purpose?

DoD #pending
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Flame to Live

[Daniel Madar]

I think people like to talk about fah jing, because it's easy to "fake" and easy to misunderstand.

I mean, you can say, "I hit him hella hard, and my fah jing made him fly". People will nod and say, "Yes, it's good."

If you say, "I felt his chi move before he did..."

People will say "You felt what?" Despite the fact that movement of chi proceeds physical movement. It's a bit too mystical for most, which is pitiful

Fah jing is something that people can easily comprehend. I can't say the number of times I've seen fools shaking the hell out of themselves at the end of a strike to demonstrate "Fah Jing", as if the external shake is all there is to it.

I'm going to have to agree with this. What I find amazing is, once the concept of internal fah jing became popularized, you see all sorts of articles from hard styles about "Shaolin Fah Jing" and such like.

[8stepsifu]

too true. I've done real fa jing, once on accident, I was real chi'd up and did is durring a tai chi application. I didn't even get halfway through the technique and my 230 lb opponent flew to the side and his upper body hit the mat first. it was a chi thang right up the spine and it felt like I barely moved a centimeter. It freaked both of us out. I can't do this consistantly, my chi kung has to be GREAT. But I can consitantly do what everyone else calls fa jing. IE barely touching a door and having it fly open without clenching the shoulder, cuz its coming from the center of the foot to dan tien to extension. They are related, but what I did to the 230 lb. guy was the next evolution of it. You have to trust the softness to pull it off

don't worry be happy

[Brett Again]

but, in a pinch, I'll use Beefeaters Jin.

"This is harder than it looks... and it looks impossible!"
-Chuckie Finster

[MaFuYee]

yeah, but for some real fun... get loaded on jagermeister. - brings out the psychopath in the meekest of individuals! :eek:

DoD #pending
Live to Flame
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[gazza99]

You took the post right out of my mouth,,see "the demise of taijiquan" post in the taiji forum. What you are talking about is simply people, and instructors, not taking the time to learn everything their art has to offer, or seeking out what is missing. This is truly sad, I hope one day taijiquan and arts alike will be as great as they once were.
Gary
"god is dead, we killed him" (so is most taiji) -Neitszhe

[khinbu]

You are welcome, Gary. :)

I actually post this because I cannot stand it anymore... people are talking about Fajin but never discuss Huajin or else. Not to mention Zhannianjin. As a very serious practitioner I think I must bring this up to the level. How can we Fa if we don't have control (Na)? How can we control if the opponent doesn't wish to be controlled? How can we neutralize (Hua) if there's nothing to be neutralized, i.e. we don't understand (Dong) it? How do we understand if we never even hear (Ting) it? And what to hear if we never come into contact (Zhannian) with it? How can we come into contact if there's no move from the opponent?

Isn't it funny to see people leaving many levels off? If hitting people as hard as possible (crushing type or whipping type) is the same as Taijiquan Fajin, I believe everybody can do it. Then why bother studying Taijiquan as martial art? What do you think?

MaFuYee (is this from Princess Huanzhu film?),

Fajin is releasing. It is used to attack your opponent after getting him/her controlled. The result if you do it properly is, I can say, clean winning.

That is one story about Yang Banhou fighting, that he won the fight but had his sleeves torn. When he told his father about his winning, Yang Luchan only laughed at him and said that he wasn't using Taijiquan.

Fajin must be done in correct sequence. I usually tell my students, "it is good that you have great strength to hit, or even kill, your opponent. But what if your opponent turns out to have greater strength than you? Are you not the one who will be hit or dead?" So Fajin is not the most important. The most important is that you are listening (Ting) and understand (Dong) what you are listening to. Then you can Zou (walk away), Hua (neutralize), then Na (control). After then, you can Fajin with satisfactory results. You must know what to listen to as soon as you see or touch your opponent.

Wish for peace