Taijiquan was once The Supreme Ultimate Fist or Great Extremes Boxing. It’s lost its edge, relegated, in many cities and towns, to that-yoga-like-thing for-old-people or demented-folks.
Yang Lu-ch’an wasn’t called Yang Wu Di (Yang the Invincible) for acting like a wuss, and he created Taijiquan amid violent upheaval in China. So anyone who fails to teach ass-kicking, combat-foray must be teaching something pathetic: it cannot be Taiji!
Any yo-yo who teaches something fabulous like enlightenment-without-fighting is blowing soft air up your yoo-yoo. If your teacher pushes and pushes you, punch him! As Stanley Bing suggests:
Raw, amoral, naked aggression and the over-powering will to win each time, every time, all the time. Once you have that, you can add other attributes that will not only aid you in war, they will create war (p.61).
In his book, Sun Tzu Was A Sissy, Stanley Bing poignantly and humorously examines the subtleties we grow so soft with as martial artists. He chops down our silly strategies and mops up our ridiculous, petty squabbles about energies and niceties. Too bad it’s about Sun Tzu; it could be Chen Fu Was A Sissy, or, even better, Chen Man Ching Was A Wuss.
Come on. Admit it. You want that, don’t you? You’re a warrior, aren’t you? And as such, you have certain characteristics that might be considered flaws in other people, but in you are assets:
- You’re never satisfied with your fair share.
- You are swept with great drafts of Greed, Desire, Hostility, Lust. The will to Power. Free-floating Anger.
- You suffer from a monomaniacal dedication to getting your way, a passion for having things the way you want them (p.62).
….If you don’t you’re probably a sissy like Sun Tzu (or Chen Fu) and the guys who get so excited about him…(p.63).
I recommend reading Sun Tzu Was A Sissy. Get your blood boiling.
