Jingshen

A general Q & A forum

Moderator:Scott M. Rodell

Scott M. Rodell
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts:1364
Joined:Wed Jan 28, 2004 4:50 pm
Location:Virginia
Contact:

Post by Scott M. Rodell » Wed Sep 14, 2005 9:36 am

josh stout wrote:Please forgive me for...


No need for any apology, I was not suggesting you were saying this, simply speaking in general about how things are today... Your thoughts & insights are welcome.


josh stout wrote:Actually my teacher has specifically told me that taiji and shaolin have incompatible energy systems that would work at cross purposes, but that taiji embodies the highest goals in tuishou/sanshou and therefore should be looked at...


Sounds to me like you have an honest teacher of good character. I agree with his comments concerning taijiquan & shaolinquan, doing them together is indeed working at cross purposes. I also agree that looking at other systems can be useful & we can learn things from each other in many areas.

G-Man
Rank: Wang Yen-nien
Rank: Wang Yen-nien
Posts:55
Joined:Wed Jan 28, 2004 5:25 pm
Location:Virginia

Post by G-Man » Thu Sep 15, 2005 10:48 am

...improving or cultivating jingshen.


I believe the "Five Secrets of Success" by Li Yixu has some insight into this (C-25 and 26 in Master Wang's first book, pg. 73-77 in The Essence of T'ai Chi Ch'uan by Lo, et al.). The first four secrets of the classic are, respectively, to calm the mind, develop agility, gather qi, and unify the jin. The fifth secret is to concentrate shen (which I hope in this case can be taken to mean jingshen). The beginning of this fifth section in Master Wang's version reads:



Only after realizing the above four secrets will you be able to concentrate your shen. With the shen concentrated, qi is unified, roused and molded. Refine qi and return it to shen. Do this with fervor. When the mental spirit is concentrated, opening and closing are coordinated and empty and full clearly distinguished.



Whereas other classics treat shen as the root of mind-intent and, therefore, of movement, this treatise implies that working on shen is the highest level of the art, attainable only after "realizing the above four secrets." To me this says that the relationship between jingshen and our art is a two-way street. Not only does our spirit determine the quality of our practice, but by practicing with the first four secrets in mind, we work towards concentrating our spirit.

G-Man
Rank: Wang Yen-nien
Rank: Wang Yen-nien
Posts:55
Joined:Wed Jan 28, 2004 5:25 pm
Location:Virginia

Post by G-Man » Thu Sep 15, 2005 11:12 am

From my own experience, I also feel that sanshou practice has helped me move towards an understanding of jingshen. During those moments when I've felt most effective in sanshou class, I've felt a bit of what Laoshi has described as "fish bowl" vision -- one is powefully and completely focused, having given up ego and emotion as much as possible in order to stick and follow with the duifang. I have tried to take the feeling of those moments and put it in my form practice. This has been quite difficult, mainly because it's hard to recreate the reality of a sanshou encounter when one is alone. This is, I think, yet another reason why we put so much effort into practicing applications to ensure their accuracy; it makes imagining applications in the solo form that much easier, which in turn helps one produce the reality necessary for maintaining this powerful mindset.

black matt
Rank: Yang Chenfu
Rank: Yang Chenfu
Posts:41
Joined:Thu Jan 29, 2004 11:41 am

Post by black matt » Thu Sep 15, 2005 12:20 pm

This thread has made me ask myself why I practice and what my goals are. I think I am least effective in my training when I do not have a clear goal and, maybe more important, a clear idea of what I am doing every day to work toward that goal. G-man and I talked a little last week about staying positive about practice. I think this is most important even when things aren't particularly progressing at the rate I would like. I try to not get down about my practice because I feel like there is something just bad about that. When I do get frustrated or down, I sometimes have the thought that I just don't have the right tools, or I've got too crap going on in my life. I think of Laoshi, who has said several times, "if I can do this anybody can", and I realize that absolutely everybody has their own obstacles, which are usually large. I also think of somewhere in one of Wolfe Lowenthal books, where Cheng Man-Ching said something like: some people get it after 100 times, and some people get it after practicing it 1,000 times, but once they get it, they are at the same place.

I like G-man's interpretation of the five secrets in Master Wang's book as a "two-way street", and I think it applies here. If our jingshen is weak, and our practice suffers, there is only one thing to do, and that is practice correctly and practice hard. In this way we can work toward improving our spirit which will in turn stimulate our practice.

Post Reply