When I was studying with my Sīfú 師父, Chén Xiǎo Wàng 陳小旺, he told me a story about his father Chén Zhào Xù 陳照旭.
Sīfú was only seven at the time and one day when he went to school everyone was talking about his father and saying how powerful his father’s Tàijíquán 太極拳 was. Being so young, he did not understand. Of course, he had heard of Tàijíquán and had seen it all the time, but
he did not understand why everyone was saying his father was so powerful. It was only when he went home trust he heard the whole story. He did not ask his father, as he did not know how to ask his father directly, so he asked other people. After he had heard the whole story, he felt so proud of his father and wanted to be like him when he grew up.
The story goes, one day a close friend of the family came to visit. He had also studied some Tàijíquán, and he was a similar age to Chén Zhào Xù, both being in their 40’s. After greeting everyone, the friend suddenly grabbed Chén Zhào Xù’s arm from behind and began to lock it!
Grandmaster Tse’s Tàijí Fist 291
If we keep developing it, then we will become spiritual and wiser. If we develop our Qì in our physical body, we will have more power for martial arts.
Grandmaster Tse’s Tàijí Fist 290
This is why we must have a good Sīfú 師父 – Teacher who has higher level skill than us. Whatever we learn, if we want to be good, we need a teacher so that we can learn the proper skill. So, we need a good Sīfú to teach us the proper skill and then we can go and practise ten thousand times and get it right.
Grandmaster Tse’s Tàijí Fist 289
The other side of Tàijíquán is the fighting skill. The fighting skill also has a theory and follows the principles of Yīn 陰 and Yáng 陽. This means that when we are fighting, we can use the soft skill and the hard skill.
Grandmaster Tse’s Tàijí Fist 288
First thing we notice is we start to feel healthier and so for most things we feel more positive. Then we look good and our spirit is strong…
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