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Ward off Left (Peng) The Chinese name for this movement, usually referred to, for short, as “Ward off Left,” has the character peng at the end and is usually translated as “Grasp Sparrow’s Tail Left Peng.” If you show several Chinese people the characters for something in T’ai Chi (these are usually old characters), often each person will have a different interpretation. One such interpretation here is “The Sweep of the Peacock’s Tail Left Peng.” Peng is upward, outward movement. However, in T’ai Chi, all movement is initiated by jin rather than li. This distinction is something that T’ai-Chi practitioners often have a hard time understanding. Li is the strength that most people are accustomed to using. In my interpretation, li arises from contractive muscular action (muscles contracting, causing bones to move). Jin, on the other hand, is strength that is cultivated from practice—usually of T’ai-Chi movement. In my interpretation, jin arises from extensive muscular action (muscles extending, causing bones to move). Jin can be maintained for much longer periods of time than li and is much more beneficial to the body (more conducive to the flow of ch’i). When it comes to using strength against another person, li is brittle and awkward, but jin is unified and enables the one who uses it to be “rooted.”
In the above photograph, four people are pushing Cheng Man-ch’ing’s extended arm. Cheng was renown for not collapsing his arm not moving during such demonstrations. (From T’ai-Chi Ch’uan, Body and Mind, published by Tai Chi Chuan Association, 211 Canal Street, New York, NY, 1968.) |
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