Taijiquan's "Potential Strength"

Taijiquan's potential by Mary Johnston

Taijiquan teachers often use the expression - “be strong in eight directions”.  But what does this actually mean in practice? Fundamental to understanding how the Chinese understand dynamic processes is coming to terms with the character shi which can be loosely translated as the “configuration of energy”, or we could say latent energy. In texts from as far back as the Warring States and Qin period the term shi can often be found paired with the character xing, “external shape”. For example, a boulder has a shape. If it is balanced at the edge of a cliff it is said to have shi. The term is used widely in the Chinese tradition to describe the manifestation of energy from potential. China’s most revered military strategist Sunzi described the potential of a rock perched on the edge of a cliff and the devastating power that could be released from this quiet and harmless state. The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him; not on the chance of him not attacking, but rather on the fact that we have made our position unassailable. Similarly, Taijiquan appears quiet on the surface, but a highly trained practitioner seeks to be in a place of balance where they can instantly react to a force coming from any direction. 

Sunzi would have seen the potential of this
 rock perched high above the Grand Canyon
perch

John Hay (1994) in his introduction to Boundaries in China describing shi wrote: “Its boundaries are therefore in time as well as space; they are never geometrically precise. Instead of exterior planes, they have a changeable envelope of textured energy”. Little wonder then that western Taijiquan players often misunderstand their Chinese teachers. During one training camp in Chenjiagou a student asked whether a particular movement was peng or lu. The answer he received was, “It could be peng and it could be lu”. That is, it had the potential to be either depending upon the intention at that moment. The student walked away confused and disappointed that they had not received a “straight answer”.