Grandmaster Tse’s Tàijí Fist 144

Wáng Zōng Yuè’s Tàijíquán Poem王宗岳太極拳論 Part 7

Wáng Zōng Yuè’s Tàijíquán Poem 王宗岳太極拳論 says, “一羽不能加，蠅蟲不能落, The energy in the body we should be balanced – with not even the weight of a feather or a fly out of balance.” Everyone should understand this because this the reason we practise Tàijíquán 太極拳 to find balance. However, we will never be 100% balanced, we will just keep getting nearer to it. It is just like being in a boat in the sea, it will always bob up and down a little bit, but the boat will always remain balanced when we are sailing it, and this is the key.

“Not even the weight of a feather or a fly out of balance.” This means that balance needs to be very precise, so that even the weight of a feather or a fly will break the balance. Therefore, we need to make the body very sensitive, and then we can tell whether we are heavy or light. Of course, this is a very exaggerated example! But maintaining balance is very important so that when we are practising Tuī Shǒu 推手, we can tell when our opponent moves, even very slightly in any direction, and so we already know. Then we can instantly respond and control them. In Tàijíquán we always follow the opponent’s energy and divert it as this is the best way. Resisting and going against it is not a high level and is not the principle of Tàijíquán.