The phrase "don't have anything in your hands" reflects the most basic true transmission of Taijiquan. The old-timers will point out that this person is "not in the hand", that person is "there is something in the hand", or that the person is "not the movement of the hand" and that the person is "the movement of the hand". And "there is nothing in the hand" and "it is not the movement of the hand" is in line with Taijiquan, and "there is something in the hand" and "it is the movement of the hand" is not in line with Taijiquan. Therefore, these old-timers always take the trouble to demand that students who have just learned Tai Chi and those who are slow to make progress must pay special attention to "nothing in the hand" or "not hand movements", and for those who do not know Tai Chi, these old-timers will say that it is "something in the hand" and "hand movements". Some Taijiquan seniors over the age of 70 or 80 in Hangzhou also demand and think so.
"Don't have anything in your hand" or "not the movement of your hand", in the written language of modern scholarship, refers to two aspects, one is that there is no local autonomy at all in the follow-up movement of the arm in contact with the limbs of others. Specifically, with "I" For example, if someone else's hand touches my hand, except for a fleeting exertion, etc., if someone feels that my hand is as if it has nothing to do with my body, a strip of meat is placed on his hand or pasted with his hand, and his hand, this strip of meat is carried by his hand or pasted with each other's hand, and this strip of meat has only weight, without the slightest independent active force, and no matter how others push or carry my hand, the other person's hand always does not touch my body, then I am"There is nothing in the hand" or "not the movement of the hand";
If, on the other hand, he feels that my hand has active movements and strength, or even forcible movements and strength, then I have "something in my hand" or "hand movement". The second refers to the initiative and force of my arm to move or rotate when I am straining, etc., this initiative and force is not caused by the contraction of the muscles of the arm itself, but the strength of my waist, hips, legs and feet is driven and transmitted from the bottom to the top, my hand is like the whip of a whip, my legs and feet are like the handle of the whip, the whip is driven by the movement of the handle, the fulcrum of strength is the foot, or my arm is not active and passive for my body, then, I am " There is nothing in the hand" or "not the movement of the hand";
On the contrary, the active movement of my hand is formed by the local autonomous active force of my shoulder and arm, and the local active force is based on the wrist as the fulcrum, or the elbow as the fulcrum, or the shoulder as the fulcrum, or the chest, abdomen and hip as the fulcrum, etc., then my movement is "the thing in the hand" or "the action of the hand"; and the higher the fulcrum of the hand activity, the more "things in the hand" or "hand action" are.
Obviously, "don't have anything in your hand" and "not hand movements" doesn't mean that there is no movement in the arms, no strength or weight reflection in the hands. In the description of Mr. Zheng Manqing's "Thirteen Chapters of Zhengzi Taijiquan", Mr. Yang Chengfu expressed it as "those who practice Taijiquan do not use their hands". The so-called "no hands" does not mean that the hands do not move and rotate in the space, but that there is no autonomous initiative, such as Mr. Yao Jizu said in the "Wu's Taijiquan Quanshu" that "when pushing the hand, although the upper limbs are connected with the person, because my upper limbs do not move, it ......", this situation is what Mr. Yang Zhenji said, "I don't move, go with you", "don't move" and "walk" are at the same time. If the movement of the arm is not such a "no hands", it is the "automatic movement" that Mr. Li Yaxuan repeatedly said in his "Essays". In fact, the words "don't have anything in your hands", "not the movement of your hands" and "don't use your hands" all mean the same thing, and it is this meaning that expresses the fundamental mystery of Tai Chi.
Because the root of Taijiquan is the "adhesion and follow" of "sacrificing oneself and obeying others", which can make the attacker "ultimately weak" and "fall short everywhere", so that the attacker not only fails to achieve the purpose of the attack at the moment of attack, but forms a back posture of being beaten, giving the practitioner of Taijiquan an opportunity to take advantage of it, and at the same time, it makes the practitioner of Taijiquan in addition to exerting strength to always relax and maintain physical strength and recuperate, so that "static braking", "overcoming rigidity with softness" and "defeating the strong with weakness" It has become possible, and because it is very relaxed, Tai Chi has become a particularly good martial art for dispelling illness and fitness, and turning from weak to strong. Of course, although these words embody the fundamental principles of Taijiquan, if you do not get the correct guidance in learning and practicing Taijiquan, you will either be confused by these words, or self-righteously make all kinds of wrong disapproving understandings, and think that these words are wrong.
Indeed, according to the innate habits and positive thinking of ordinary people, the movement of the arm is naturally the active action of the arm, but this is a one-sided understanding. Because the human body is a multi-joint structure, the action of any part will affect and involve the action of other parts, the so-called "pull a hair and move the whole body"; and the force of a certain part of the human body can also be transmitted in the human body under certain conditions, which is called "momentum transfer", which makes any action posture of the human body can be completed by a variety of methods.
The most common ones can be divided into three categories: (1) the body does not swing the thighs up, (2) the body swings forward and the thigh is lifted, and (3) the body swings backwards and the thigh is lifted.
Each type of leg lift has a variety of body forms, such as the body swings backwards and the thigh is lifted on one side, some bodies swing backwards above the waist, and the hip bones swing forward. The amplitude of the body swing in these types is very small, and there seems to be no difference between each other at the rough, but the internal response of the body is different, and among these leg lifts, only the hip joint retracts and causes the thigh to lift the most effort. For this most labor-saving leg lift, people who have experience of tai chi will feel a little as relaxed as practicing tai chi. For example, many women dancing in various fitness venues in the morning look the same movements, and their postures are all soft and graceful.
However, those who have experience of tai chi will find that some of their arms are passively driven by the body like streamers, and feel that their arms are somewhat relaxed like practicing tai chi, while some of them have their arms formed by local autonomous active movements, and feel that the softness of their arms is tense and stiff. For example, there are two kinds of people who play badminton in the fitness field, one kind of person swings the racket to hit the ball, the whole body is like a whip, the racket is like a whip, the foot is not only the lower support point of the body, but also the fulcrum of the hitting action and strength, just like the handle of the whip, the whole body has a wavy dynamic taste when swinging the racket, and people with Tai Chi experience will also feel that their bodies are a little relaxed like practicing Tai Chi;
On the other hand, the arm moves with the shoulder as the fulcrum like a telescopic lever, the body is only the pillar of the arm, and the foot is only the lower support point of the body, not the starting point of the force used, and the body is tense. The same is true for sword practice, some of the actions in swordsmanship, such as flirting, hanging, splitting, cloud, collapse, point, etc., the hand shape is often constantly changing between the pliers, the full handle, the screw handle, the lifting handle, the cushion handle, etc., the five fingers often need to change frequently, in fact, the rotation of the wrist of the person who knows swordsmanship and the frequent activity of the five fingers are mainly driven and caused by the rotation of the body, the arm, wrist and five fingers are relaxed, the wrist is basically not bent, and the Taiji sword is also practiced in this way; The wrist is actively exerting force on its own, and the shape of the hand changes very little, and its arms, wrists, and fingers are all tense, and in this regard alone, it is not a Tai Chi sword practice. It can be seen that the activity of the human arm does not have to be completed by the initiative of the arm, and even the change of the little finger in swordsmanship can also be caused and driven by the change of the body.
One of the characteristics of Taijiquan is the pursuit of the legs, feet, waist and hips to drive and cause various movements of the body and arms with the highest efficiency, so as to implement the adhesion that makes people "unable to end", so that the body does not accept the enemy's attack to the greatest extent. Therefore, the identification standard of Tai Chi mainly lies in whether the human body completes the boxing posture in this way and whether it has the effect of adhesion, not mainly in the shape of the action posture. And one of the basic criteria for these discernments is "don't have anything in your hands" and "not hand movements", that is, "those who practice Tai Chi do not use their hands", because these words directly reflect the fundamental principles and mysteries of Tai Chi.
Obviously, "don't have anything in your hands" is the unquestionable fundamental principle of Taijiquan, is it affirmed that this sentence is a watershed in the concept of Taijiquan and foreign boxing, and it is also a sign of whether Taijiquan is an entry. If someone thinks that the movement of the hand is the initiative of the hand, that "there is no thing in the hand", "do not be the movement of the hand", "it is impossible to practice tai chi without using the hand", think that these words are wrong, and think that it is necessary to practice tai chi, then such a person does not understand tai chi. Because as Mr. Yang Chengfu said: "Hands are not Taijiquan". Of course, affirming the concept that "hands are not Taijiquan" and "don't have anything in your hands" does not mean that you understand Taijiquan. Because concept and reality are often two different things. For "don't have anything in your hands", although the concept is affirmative, there are still a variety of situations, the common ones are:
(1) Those who are both conceptually aware and able to fully do it in practice are of course superior Tai Chi masters.
(2) Both conceptual awareness and can be done in practice, but can not be completely achieved, this is the vast majority of Taijiquan practitioners who still need to continue to improve and progress. This is because "don't have something in your hands" is not isolated, it is used for sticking, and it is a part of the whole body technique that not only makes the opponent "ultimately weak" but also makes the opponent unable to attack himself but also forms a back, and to achieve such a technical level, it is not only a completely correct understanding of the concept, but also a conditioned reflex that can cope freely in various situations without thinking, which cannot be formed in several years of hard work, so it is necessary to achieve "nothing in the hand" everywhere It takes a long process and effort.
(3) In terms of concept, I really firmly believe that "don't have anything in your hands" is the unquestionable fundamental principle of Taijiquan, and I basically understand what "don't have things in my hands" is all about, and I often do this and say the same to my students, but I haven't fully understood, and in fact, I haven't done it everywhere, and sometimes I unconsciously "have something in my hands". For example, some seniors take the initiative to lift the other party's arm up when they are pushing their hands together, which gives the other party a chance to implement their strength, reflecting that "there is something in their hands", but they don't know it. This situation reflects that it is not easy to fully understand "something in hand" no matter how big or small, and it also reflects that the kung fu of Taijiquan is hierarchical in terms of understanding and practice, and it cannot be achieved in one step quickly.
For example, some people who say "don't have something in their hands" in order to win people, many places use the method of breaking through the straight, although Taijiquan does not completely exclude the method of breaking the straight, but it is completely possible to use the method of Taijiquan sticking and sticking with it, but the method of breaking the straight horizontally is used, which is not in line with the principle of "static braking" of Taijiquan, because such a method often has to be stronger than the enemy, and it is impossible to defeat the strong with the weak and overcome the rigid with the soft. For example, a single push hand makes the opponent's push deviate from the original direction, many people, including many predecessors, use the method of breaking through the straight, that is, it belongs to the "hand has something"; and some people even push the hand to use the grappling to forcibly cause the opponent's disadvantage, with almost pure active skills and strength, obviously this kind of behavior encounters Tai Chi kung fu is better or the strength of the foreign fist is useless, but also belongs to the "hand something".
In fact, such people do not understand that pushing hands is an actual combat exercise, and the situation that pushing hands are always in contact with each other and constantly repeating is impossible in actual combat, and the adhesion practiced by pushing hands is not continuous in actual combat, and often each time it happens, it may only be less than a blink of an eye. The so-called "one minute on stage, several years off the stage", performing a single action on the stage often requires tens of thousands of repeated practice. The same is true of Taijiquan, less than a second of superb adhesion and kung fu in actual combat, and the usual exercise may be a few years, decades of work, and the main form of this exercise is pushing, how can there be this kind of constant contact with the usual pusher in actual combat?
In fact, there is very little chance to forcibly capture in actual combat, and if you use forcible capture in actual combat, you may often be counter-captured, so the martial arts world is known as "it is better to fight than to fight, and it is better to kick than to fight". However, it is not uncommon for the pusher to be supplemented by forcible grabbing, for such a person, some seniors give him a nice title "there are many skills in the hand", in fact, this sentence is the same thing as "there is something in the hand", reflecting the impurity of Taijiquan Kung Fu of such people.
(4) The concept is indeed firmly believed that "don't have anything in your hands" is the unquestionable fundamental principle of Taijiquan, but the specific concept is not very correct, for example, some predecessors think that contact with others should make the other party have no sense of strength, which is obviously not in line with the theory of modern Taijiquan. Because the arm has weight, the "thing" of "not having something in the hand" obviously does not include weight, otherwise how can the arm of a taijiquan master give people a feeling of "softness and heaviness"? In addition, the strength of the Taijiquan is embodied in the buoyancy in all directions, and the buoyancy is a kind of strength, so how can Taijiquan not have to exert strength? Without the strength, how can it borrow the strength of others? In fact, this kind of "to make the other party have no sense of strength" It is also unrealistic, and this kind of performance can only be seen in certain presentations, and cannot exist in various other situations.
(5) The concept also affirms that "don't have anything in your hands" is the unquestionable fundamental principle of Taijiquan, because this sentence is taught by a famous master of traditional Taijiquan in a certain place at a great cost, and it is also followed by brothers and sisters, of course, I dare not doubt its correctness, but I don't understand what is going on. A person is said to have spent more than 100,000 yuan to worship a master of the traditional Taijiquan sect in Shanghai, and after coming back, it is said that he often talks about "don't have anything in your hands". Such a person can be said to be "a little monk chanting scriptures, with a mouth but no heart".
(6) Verbally admit that "don't have something in your hands", don't take it seriously in your heart, and don't have the reality of "nothing in your hands", this sentence is hearsay, and I don't understand what is going on at all, but I use this sentence as a signboard, first, to show that I am a genuine Taijiquan, and secondly, because ordinary people do not know the meaning of "don't have something in my hand", and I can't tell whether it is "something in my hand", just use this sentence as a pretext to belittle others.
It can be seen from this that verbal approval and conceptual understanding of the meaning of "do not have anything in hand" are two different things, conceptual understanding of the meaning is two different things from conceptually concrete and comprehensive understanding, conceptual concrete and comprehensive understanding is two different things from actually being able to do and form a conditioned reflex, and verbal approval is also two different things from actual recognition. It is worth paying attention to the fact that many people who practice Taijiquan are unheard of for the phrase "don't have anything in your hands", and there is no such concept at all, so will the Taijiquan they practice be the real Taijiquan? Therefore, if you want to truly inherit and develop Taijiquan, it is very important and necessary for the current Taijiquan world to often speak, discuss, and try "don't have anything in your hands".