Balance and caligraphy

 “̴𝐀̴𝐠̴𝐢̴𝐧̴𝐠̴ ̴𝐬̴𝐞̴𝐞̴𝐦̴𝐬̴ ̴𝐭̴𝐨̴ ̴𝐛̴𝐞̴ ̴𝐭̴𝐡̴𝐞̴ ̴𝐨̴𝐧̴𝐥̴𝐲̴ ̴𝐚̴𝐯̴𝐚̴𝐢̴𝐥̴𝐚̴𝐛̴𝐥̴𝐞̴ ̴𝐰̴𝐚̴𝐲̴ ̴𝐭̴𝐨̴ ̴𝐥̴𝐢̴𝐯̴𝐞̴ ̴𝐚̴ ̴𝐥̴𝐨̴𝐧̴𝐠̴ ̴𝐥̴𝐢̴𝐟̴𝐞̴.̴”̴ ̴𝐊̴𝐢̴𝐭̴𝐬̴𝐭̴𝐲̴ ̴𝐎̴’̴𝐍̴𝐞̴𝐢̴𝐥̴𝐥̴ ̴𝐂̴𝐨̴𝐥̴𝐥̴𝐢̴𝐧̴ (っ◔◡◔)っ "𝐀𝐠𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝, 𝐀𝐠𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥" 𝐉𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐑𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐡 "𝐁𝐀𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄" 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐭. 𝟕 - 𝟐 = 𝟓 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝟐 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝟓 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞

𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝. And, to those "medicos" and researchers, In addition for some ineffective Tai Ji Quan "interventions", participants may not have obtained a sufficient “dose”. Participants may have attended classes infrequently or the program may not have continued long enough to demonstrate its effectiveness.

(っ◔◡◔)っ Thank you, Bob Wilder, for the great Graphics work in "Balance,"

One of the few articles I have come across that does the subject justice, thank you. In the numerous styles there is really only one that has a “round” form and a “square” (fang) form. The Wu Style with all its own derivatives often surprises people at the directly opposite requirement between Square and Round. This is not unique however:

Just think how one learns the art of calligraphy. My own teacher echoes this in the video link. My own experience had me learning how to write in print form (brush and ink of course). Then one learns the cursive form. The differences between these two writing forms are very much analogous to the differences between those two Tai Chi Forms.

Square Form is analogous to the block printing of (pinyin) Kai Style or what is called “Kai Shu”. The round form analogous to Tsao Style or “Tsao Shu/Cao Shu” or the cursive script.

In Square form, as in calligraphy, movements take place in relatively straight lines, between points (start and end points of inflection). The Round form with its curves has the curves going through those points…the square is like a template for the round.

Like the Calculus of mathematics however, I would like to point out that the round form is like the calculus which integrates a tiny segment of a curved motion as a straight line to form the curved motion. Square form is like taking one of the important tiny straight lines expanding it into a straight movement. I guess the way of the universe is based on similar principles for everything which appears to be unrelated.

I think it is in Jou’s Tsung Hwa’s book: Tao of Tai Chi where he makes a statement about movement being like individual frames in a movie film. Taken separately or even 2 or 3, it makes no sense and one sees no motion. Only when one puts all the frames together do we have the illusion of motion.

In regard to square form and perhaps to the critics: Although the major purpose is to teach students to delineate yin and yang, there are many, many individual “points”, “stops”, “pauses”, etc. As it was said, “changes of direction occur at those points”. It would seem then that much like the individual frames in a film being many but producing a fine product that gives us the illusion of motion. That, the more “points” are present in something such as square form, the more capacity there is for those points to join and produce a round form.

If I only have 2 or 3 points, it would be hard to see the round if I join them with straight lines. If I put 10 points in that same situation and join them, one begins to see the round very clearly. Much as in the 8 straight lines joining and changing direction in the I Ching diagram and one can draw the circle around those 8 points. it would seem as well that lines joining thusly form angles at the joints. Ideally, one would think a good place to mount an attack would be at an angle or “tangent” as well.

The points where one changes direction are referred to as “Dingdian” or fixed points actually inflection points. Those starting and ending points provide definition to the curved movement in the round form. Of course nothing ever starts or ends in Tai Chi, like ocean waves, breathing, each has its own peak and trough…sine waves come to mind. This takes the concept of “reversal” into consideration which is a mainstay in the I Ching.

When I was learning calligraphy, I appreciated the stop and go of the strokes in Kai Shu. It gave me opportunity to reflect on the stroke I just did and to prepare the next movement. The square form of Tai Chi allows us to gather energy, align the joints, gather strength at the “points”. I can prepare the next move by gathering energy for the coming move. This is why the moves in the Square are resolute and appear abrupt.

Based on this, I would say that Tai Chi is not only very analogus to calligraphy, but also very scientific…in light of the Calculus one can appreciate the mathematics as well.

Thanks

James Roach

p.s. Read the biograpy of the Chows at this link. They were both outstanding artists, calligraphers and Tai Chi teachers. They both learned from Wabu Young who was my own teacher’s teacher.

http://www.enlighteners.com/history.html#transcript