Tai Chi explosive power (commonly known as 'Fajin' in Chinese) is the 'holy grail' of Tai Chi Quan.
Many practitioners are pre-occupied with such power.
It's like the gold rush of the 19th and 20th centuries where everybody clamoured to be the first to discover gold especially high-grade gold.
We are seeing a plethora of video clips suggesting the discovery of 'high grade gold' or the attainment of such power.
It has also created a lot of controversies as demonstrated feats get more and more incredible.
The literal translation of 'Fajin' is 'exploding power'.
It is to issue or discharge power explosively.
Other definitions also include 'releasing power', 'uprooting' or 'displacement'.
Basically 'Fajin' can be grouped under three levels:
The keyword here is impact.
Force is concentrated in a local area of the body.
Damages are normally localised in the area of the impact force.
This is the easiest level to attain and of course the most effective.
Tai Chi Chuan especially Chen Style does it in a very relaxed and explosive manner that can generate very strong impact force.
Level 2: Structural Displacement Most Tai Chi styles work on structural displacement by using the body structure to displace another body structure.
The Tai Chi practitioner receives the force, dissolves it, feels the weakness and the core of the partner, returns the force through her body structure and movement to the partner's core via the weakness, and causes the whole body of the partner to be displaced.
There is no impact and the partner does not sustain any injury.
This can work based on pure classical physics alone without invoking Qi (Fundamental Energy or Vital Force).
However if practitioners embrace Qi into this 'Fajin' practice, it makes their 'Fajin' even more powerful and subtle.
Level 3: Energetic Displacement At this level of 'Fajin', practitioners enhance their sensitivity to energy to the level that enables them to displace their partners based solely on energy.
There is a spectrum of such application from the lower end with touch but no bodily movement on the practitioner part to no touch (also known as 'empty force') to displace the partner.
This level of 'Fajin' has created a lot of controversies as it seems to defy classical physics.
There are many doubts as to the efficacy of such practice as people who demonstrated such ability are unwilling to step up for objective testing and for those who graciously accepted the test, they failed the test miserably.
There is no doubt that we can affect others' energy.
When someone projects energy of enthusiasm, somehow you will also feel enthusiastic.
Now to move somebody physically solely on energy projection alone is another matter; it requires all the conditions of a compliant partner to be in place for it to work.
To set the conditions for a non compliant person to behave at the same level of a compliant person is a tall order.
It's unfortunate that demonstrations of such feats have been put out of context as it seems to imply that demonstrators can move anybody with energy alone even though the subjects are compliant and are feeding (cooperating) energy consciously or unconsciously.
When the uninitiated asked to try out, the demonstrator would either refuse for fear of hurting the subject or revert to structural displacement 'Fajin' to move the subject! It is indeed an effective marketing technique because for the uninitiated, it looks very impressive and it can generate a lot of interests.
While there is nothing wrong for advertising purposes, it can be misleading without the appropriate context and the context must be prefaced in the advertising medium not in a separate footnote which can be separated from the medium.
Putting the hype aside and without getting delusional, the real purpose of this level of training is to raise the energy awareness.
By having your partner feeding the energy, you are able to increase your sensitivity to it.
At this level, the mind plays a very big part.
We not only borrow the Qi, we also borrow the Yi (mind intention) from your partner.
There is some degree of hypnosis when you get into borrowing mind intention.
The visualisation and internal processes involved for such energy work become more acute through practice which in turn enhances your power expressed through your physical structure.
We need to be mindful of such practice as prolonged feeding without reality check can lead to a delusional grandiose of superhuman power as tragically exposed by those who failed the test of integrity miserably.
Conclusion Tai Chi explosive power or 'Fajin' helps us understand Tai Chi as we learn to harmonise forces and explore the path of energy flow.
It is a means to an end not an end in itself.
Practitioners need to master all three levels of 'Fajin' to fully understand Tai Chi Quan.
The controversy with Level 3 'Fajin' has detracted many practitioners from the real practice.
It needs to be based on reality to avoid delusion.
If we were to map out the spectrum of pure physical (where no Qi is invoked) to pure energy (empty force), the reality range for good Tai Chi Quan tends to be 20-40% physical and 60-80% energy.
While it is theoretically possible to use 100% energy to displace a physical structure as shown in some demonstrations on compliant subjects, it remains in the realm of possibility.
We need to substantiate any claims of Level 3 'Fajin' attainment through rigorous test of integrity before celebrating such human achievement.
Many practitioners are pre-occupied with such power.
It's like the gold rush of the 19th and 20th centuries where everybody clamoured to be the first to discover gold especially high-grade gold.
We are seeing a plethora of video clips suggesting the discovery of 'high grade gold' or the attainment of such power.
It has also created a lot of controversies as demonstrated feats get more and more incredible.
The literal translation of 'Fajin' is 'exploding power'.
It is to issue or discharge power explosively.
Other definitions also include 'releasing power', 'uprooting' or 'displacement'.
Basically 'Fajin' can be grouped under three levels:
- Explosive Impact
- Structural Displacement
- Energetic Displacement
The keyword here is impact.
Force is concentrated in a local area of the body.
Damages are normally localised in the area of the impact force.
This is the easiest level to attain and of course the most effective.
Tai Chi Chuan especially Chen Style does it in a very relaxed and explosive manner that can generate very strong impact force.
Level 2: Structural Displacement Most Tai Chi styles work on structural displacement by using the body structure to displace another body structure.
The Tai Chi practitioner receives the force, dissolves it, feels the weakness and the core of the partner, returns the force through her body structure and movement to the partner's core via the weakness, and causes the whole body of the partner to be displaced.
There is no impact and the partner does not sustain any injury.
This can work based on pure classical physics alone without invoking Qi (Fundamental Energy or Vital Force).
However if practitioners embrace Qi into this 'Fajin' practice, it makes their 'Fajin' even more powerful and subtle.
Level 3: Energetic Displacement At this level of 'Fajin', practitioners enhance their sensitivity to energy to the level that enables them to displace their partners based solely on energy.
There is a spectrum of such application from the lower end with touch but no bodily movement on the practitioner part to no touch (also known as 'empty force') to displace the partner.
This level of 'Fajin' has created a lot of controversies as it seems to defy classical physics.
There are many doubts as to the efficacy of such practice as people who demonstrated such ability are unwilling to step up for objective testing and for those who graciously accepted the test, they failed the test miserably.
There is no doubt that we can affect others' energy.
When someone projects energy of enthusiasm, somehow you will also feel enthusiastic.
Now to move somebody physically solely on energy projection alone is another matter; it requires all the conditions of a compliant partner to be in place for it to work.
To set the conditions for a non compliant person to behave at the same level of a compliant person is a tall order.
It's unfortunate that demonstrations of such feats have been put out of context as it seems to imply that demonstrators can move anybody with energy alone even though the subjects are compliant and are feeding (cooperating) energy consciously or unconsciously.
When the uninitiated asked to try out, the demonstrator would either refuse for fear of hurting the subject or revert to structural displacement 'Fajin' to move the subject! It is indeed an effective marketing technique because for the uninitiated, it looks very impressive and it can generate a lot of interests.
While there is nothing wrong for advertising purposes, it can be misleading without the appropriate context and the context must be prefaced in the advertising medium not in a separate footnote which can be separated from the medium.
Putting the hype aside and without getting delusional, the real purpose of this level of training is to raise the energy awareness.
By having your partner feeding the energy, you are able to increase your sensitivity to it.
At this level, the mind plays a very big part.
We not only borrow the Qi, we also borrow the Yi (mind intention) from your partner.
There is some degree of hypnosis when you get into borrowing mind intention.
The visualisation and internal processes involved for such energy work become more acute through practice which in turn enhances your power expressed through your physical structure.
We need to be mindful of such practice as prolonged feeding without reality check can lead to a delusional grandiose of superhuman power as tragically exposed by those who failed the test of integrity miserably.
Conclusion Tai Chi explosive power or 'Fajin' helps us understand Tai Chi as we learn to harmonise forces and explore the path of energy flow.
It is a means to an end not an end in itself.
Practitioners need to master all three levels of 'Fajin' to fully understand Tai Chi Quan.
The controversy with Level 3 'Fajin' has detracted many practitioners from the real practice.
It needs to be based on reality to avoid delusion.
If we were to map out the spectrum of pure physical (where no Qi is invoked) to pure energy (empty force), the reality range for good Tai Chi Quan tends to be 20-40% physical and 60-80% energy.
While it is theoretically possible to use 100% energy to displace a physical structure as shown in some demonstrations on compliant subjects, it remains in the realm of possibility.
We need to substantiate any claims of Level 3 'Fajin' attainment through rigorous test of integrity before celebrating such human achievement.