Posted by Louis on January 04, 1999 at 16:38:38:
In Reply to: hello! new to this board and seeking advice/discussion posted by rick on December 30, 1998 at 18:58:09:
Greetings rick,
This is a belated response to your initial post. I suppose that I am a classicist, but I don’t think that a referral to classical wisdom necessarily implies the type of ossification that you warn against. There are some lines in one of the taiji classics, “Song of the Thirteen Postures” that state:
“Entering the gate and being led to the path, this must come from oral guidance.
To ceaselessly exert oneself in the method, this is self-cultivation.
If you ask: What are the criteria of essence and application?
The intention (yi) and qi are the authority, the bones and tissues the subjects.”
In addition, Yang Chengfu stated that although it is very important to study with a trained master and with fellow students, individual study is even more important.
In other words, each student must eventually become an independent investigator. My own sifu used to say, “I am my own test-tube.” The implication was that the taijiquan student must enter into the spirit of experimentation in his/her investigation of taiji principles. One cannot understand them merely by rote means, but must engage them experimentally and experientially.
I find these ideas to be quite progressive!
Take care,
--Louis