Grandmaster Tse’s Tàijí Fist 148

Chén Wáng Tíng’s Poem 陳王廷太極拳經總歌  – Part 3

Chén Wáng Tíng’s Poem 陳王廷太極拳經總歌says, “Hooking, pushing, squeezing and holding skills – everybody knows these 鉤掤逼攬人人曉. Flashing, surprising, tricky skills – who can really avoid or defend against them 閃驚取巧有誰知?”  Here, Chén Wáng Tíng is saying that Hooking, pushing, squeezing and holding skills were common skills in fighting and martial arts. Even though they are common, they are still useful, and so we should be good at them. However, if we use Flashing, surprising, tricky skills it makes it much harder for the enemy to avoid and defend themselves. We should only use surprising and tricky skills at the end or very rarely, therefore we must set them up correctly using the common skills. Common skills we can use most of the time, in this way the enemy will not notice them, but then suddenly you surprise them! you will win the fight, and this is what we need to do.

“Pretending to lose and running away- no one knows who has really lost 佯輸詐走誰雲敗. Trick the enemy to come in, then strike back to get victory in the end 引誘回沖致勝歸.” This is true and a good strategy. In Tàijíquán 太極拳, if we want to win, we can pretend to be losing, then the enemy, thinking they can win, will not pay attention to protecting themselves. So, we set a trap for them, and then suddenly strike back to win. This strategy has been used throughout history in many battles, especially in China.