“He starts late but arrives first”
How can this be, he starts late but arrives first. A couple of ways of looking at this.
A: A short cut knowing the destination.
B: Being the destination one is already there.
If one knows the destination and attempts a short cut the other can always change. Many Chinese martial art styles are predicated on what some call zone protection or gate theory. In this sense they are blind, and unresponsive as they are actively attempting to control the next interaction by guiding, blocking, or parrying.
If one is the destination, the focus is helping the other to reach it, while at the same time changing it.
One is actively passive, the other passively active. One allows the other to understand and follow the change , the other does not, and leads the change. It is said following is leading, leading is following.
To read the transcript in Chinese go to /settings/subtitles cc1 / auto translate/ Chinese or English/ The captions will be displayed in the language selected.
Peter Ralston a modern 20th century taiji exponent who has fought in the 70s in full contact venues proving his art. “in 1978 Peter Ralston became the first non-Asian to win the full-contact Martial Arts World Tournament in China.”
He presents a very different concept of control by leading, outlined in the video clip, echoed by past masters of the art but not often used or demonstrated by present masters.
One reason for this is the none usage of force, which most taiji proponents advocate, repeating it, they know the theory, when examined very few really achieve it. Even fewer can use this in a live setting.
