Today was one of those perfect early spring days with plenty of sun but still cool early morning temperatures that eventually rose to the mid-60s (about 18 ℃). I’m also hopeful that we are in the tail end of the pandemic and may eventually enter the endemic phase of COVID. While we are still masked in medical offices here in NJ, society is slowly feeling a bit more “normal.” In that light I’ve also been returning to one of my weekly rituals that has been going on for the last decade or so, minus some time at the height of the pandemic – weekly visits with my Taijiquan shifu, Wang Fengming.
Wang Fenming with Taiji Mace 太極鐧
When we practice together, we usually will work on some form (Tao Lu 套路) or other set exercise, and then practice Push Hands, the partnered exercises of Taijiquan. The last few weeks I’ve been working on the Chen Taiji Single Jian form. This is one of my favorite traditional weapons in the Chen repertoire, and something I suspect most people would not associate with Taijiquan. The word Jian (鐧) is usually translated as a mace, but it’s a bit different from the western versions of this weapon. Basically, it is a short baton of about 29 inches (74cm) made entirely of steel. The “blade” part, which is not sharp, is either traditionally rounded, or fashioned in a shape with angular edges. And, it’s heavy. The Jian I work with is about 3lbs 8oz (1.6kg). Compare that to my full weight traditional straight sword which weighs in at 1lb 15oz. A standard modern Taiji practice sword usually weighs about 1lb 3oz, and a modern wushu straight sword only about 1lb.
During the pandemic when I was unable to visit Master Wang I spent some time learning the Single Jian form from a video. Compared to most of the Chen style weapons forms the Single Jian is relatively short. Consider also that the main thing that you do with a Jian is simply bludgeon your opponent with it. It’s not what I would call a subtle weapon! Yet, when I meet with Master Wang we take one or two movements at a time and drill down on them for about an hour at a time, going into far more detail than I can absorb just from the video. What seems at first to be a rather inelegant club thus transforms itself into a tool to explore deep Taiji principles.
As I’m frequently reminded by one of my own students, when we practice and form or any weapon, it’s all Taiji. Over the last decade that I’ve trained with Master Wang I’ve heard him impart so many small detailed corrections that there is no way I could remember them all. However, on a deeper but still very real and practical level, he’s constantly imparting the same basic principles over and over again (perhaps I’m just too poor a student to internalize them in everything I do!). Taijiquan then reveals its true nature – it isn’t about specific techniques or forms, but core principles that are embodied in every form, weapon, or partnered exercise we do.
While the principles of Taiji are interesting, most of my readers here are Chinese medicine practitioners. Yet, the reason I bring up this story is because at a fundamental level Chinese medicine is the same. The medicine we practice is not about doing acupuncture, or prescribing herbs, but rather the basic principles that govern the way we see the world, and therefore approach patient care. Qi Bo tells us as much in the very first discussion he has with the Huang Di. Remember, the very first question in the Neijing is one of longevity. Huang Di asks why is it that people of ancient times lived easily to 100 with their full health, while people of today are falling apart at half that age? This question really gets to the heart of the matter in that he is really asking how can we understand and stave off disease.
What does Qi Bo answer? He never once says, “Oh, they like to do acupuncture.” Or, that they take natural medicines instead of pharmaceutical products. Qi Bo knows better, because he knows that medicine is not defined by technique, but rather principle, what in Chinese is known as Li 理. So, what Qi Bo says is:
The people of very ancient times knew the Way (Dao). They followed the pattern of Yin and Yang, and complied with the Arts and Calculations.
上古之人，其知道者，法於陰陽，和於術數
Only after this does Qi Bo give us some simple examples such as in how we should eat, work or rest. But fundamentally, Qi Bo tells us that Yin-Yang, and other theories such as Five Phases, Stems-Branches, etc… are the way we understand the Dao. Understanding the Dao and understanding the body are the same, since, as Zhang Jiebin said, the human body is a small Heaven and Earth. Looking at the body then is more than just knowing where the points are supposed to be, or what herb treats what specific disease. It is seeing the body as a manifestation of the constant expanding and contracting of the universe, albeit in smaller form.
As a martial artist (Taijiquan is a martial art), once we internalize principles there are no set forms. Likewise, in Chinese medicine, once we internalize principle then we are free from one dogmatic way of approaching diagnosis and treatment. As I’ve said in my classes before, if you are really good at TCM acupuncture, you should be able to look at a Tung protocol, or a Japanese acupuncture protocol, and understand what they are trying to do. Likewise, if you are good at Tung’s acupuncture and internalized its basic principles, you should be able to understand other acupuncture systems’ treatments and approaches. When a TCM acupuncturist looks at a Tung point and has no idea why it does what it does, then they can’t say they really understand TCM acupuncture, their own system. In the end we can have differences of opinions as to what is the best way to approach acupuncture in general, or some patient in specific, but the principles are always still there and fundamentally the same. This is why there are also no real secret techniques!
All of this of course is easier said than done, and I cannot say I am a true master of anything. But I know that the quest for deeper understanding is done by going back to what Qi Bo said: knowing the Dao is knowing the basic core principles. My hope is that we all take this admonition seriously.
A pair of maces 雙鐧