Grandmaster Tse’s Tàijí Fist 200

Advanced Level Bā Jìn 八勁 – Part 9

The Bā Jìn 八勁 in Tàijíquán 太极拳 are Péng 掤, Lǚ 履, Jǐ 擠, Àn 按, Cǎi 採, Liè 裂, Zhǒu 肘, Kào 靠. The make up four pairs of Jìn 勁. Jìn is energy and it can be used for attack and defence.

The first pair is Péng and Lǚ, and they are the most important. Péng is expanding and Lǚ is contracting. All of Tàijíquán is based on expanding and contracting, opening and closing, forwards and backwards, left and right. This means that Péng and Lǚ are found in the other three pairs of Jìn.

The next is Jǐ 擠 and Àn 按. We use this pair when contact our opponent’s hands or body. Jǐ happens whenever we touch our opponent with both our hands contacting each other, make the opponent squeezing in by our hands.  Àn occurs whenever we touch our opponent with both our hands but this time they are separate from each other, lead the opponent off balance, like pulling them in whatever directions, those Jin are a pair.

The third pair is Cǎi 採 and Liè 裂. Cǎi is controlling and holding, Liè is breaking or deforming, and so these techniques are together.

The last pair is Zhǒu 肘 and Kào 靠, which are elbow and shoulder striking. Whenever we use the elbow, the shoulder, the fist, or palm, or kick, knee, in fact whatever part we use to strike, this is Zhǒu 肘 and Kào 靠.

We need to look at the pairs of Jìn and then we can get a deeper understanding of the Bā Jìn 八勁.