Grandmaster Tse’s Tàijí Fist 195

Advanced Level Bā Jìn 八勁 – Part 4

Àn 按 means press down, like pressing a button, so the movement is pressing down. movements Liù Fēng Sì Bì 六封四閉 – Six Sealing and Four Closing we can see after the hands push out together with Jǐ Jìn 擠勁, they separate and go down, this is Àn Jìn 按勁, and then we bring the hands back to the body. So, Jǐ Jìn pushes forwards and the Àn Jìn, with the hands separated, pulls backwards with Lǚ Jìn 履勁. In Six Sealing and Four Closing we actually use Péng 掤, Lǚ 履, Jǐ 擠 and Àn 按 – four Jìn. These are four proper Jìn and they are the most common and most useful.

Àn Jìn, like Jǐ Jìn, uses both hands, but this time they are separate and open (not touching together). The hands can be Péng Jìn 掤勁, so Àn Jìn and Péng Jìn can be together and we can see this in Yěmǎ Fēn Zōng 野馬分鬃 – Wild Horse Parts The Mane and Dān Biān 單鞭 – Single Whip. In both, the hands end separate to both sides, but in the beginning they are together with a twisting motion, which is Jǐ Jìn. This means when the hands are together, it is Jǐ Jìn and when they are separate is an Àn Jìn. We should remember that underneath both can be either Péng Jìn or Lǚ Jìn.