Grandmaster Tse’s Tàijí Fist 278

The two most important energies in the Bāguà 八卦 are Qián 乾 – Heaven and Kūn 坤 – Earth. In the Bājìn 八勁 the two most important energies are Péng 掤 – expanding and Lǚo 捋 – contracting. Therefore, Qián relates to Péng, it is like heaven expanding with no limit, or at least it feels like that.  Kūn – Earth, is solid and decomposes everything, so it is like Lǚo – contracting, which is why Kūn and Lǚ match each other.

The second pair in the Bāguà is Lí 離 – Fire and Kǎn 坎 – Water, and so they are the second most important pair in the Bāguà. They match with Jǐ 擠 and Àn 按. Jǐ 擠 is two hands crossing to create power, so it is like squeezing the opponent to make them lose their balance. However, the in application our hands, or arms, must cross over. When we use it, it can be very powerful and push the opponent away. As it is so powerful, it matches to Lí which is Fire. Kǎn on the other hand is water and Àn is using two hands separately, to direct the opponent’s body, hands or energy to make them lose their balance. It is like water flows along to anywhere and is why Kǎn and Àn match one another.