SUNG and the ART of TAI CHI CHUAN
The art of Tai Chi Chuan is based upon classical principles. These principles are at once physical and metaphysical. They are almost always metaphorical. A good metaphor is like a dwelling with many entryways. As a person develops in the art a new, better suited doorway may appear. Many western students find initial difficulty comprehending the principles as they are translated from the Tai Chi Chuan Classics. The Classics are written from the perspective of another time and another culture. They are our closest access to the source of the art. The water is always purest at the source. My teacher often told us to comprehend the Classics and then, should we not like the translation, use our own words to get at the meaning.
The quintessential principle of Tai Chi Chuan is “sung,” a Chinese concept most often translated as relax. Experienced players of the art know that the English meaning of “relax” is far from adequate. It is very close in meaning to the idea "collapse"- the antithesis of Tai Chi Chuan’s resilient awareness. Children, skilled Tai Chi Chuan practitioners, and people everywhere who exist in a state of easy, calm awareness exhibit this principle. My teacher Benjamin Lo, made it clear that if a person embodies the first principle, that is “sung and ch‘en”, they have no need to study Tai Chi Chuan for everything they do will be Tai Chi Chuan.
Here are some words on the subject by Professor Cheng Man-ch’ing from Thirteen Treatises.
Kayo Robertson, Senior Instructor
Bear River Tai Chi Chuan Society
1. Relax (sung). My teacher must have repeated these words many times
each day. 'Relax! Relax! Relax completely! The whole body should
completely relax!' Otherwise he said, 'Not relaxed, then you are like a
punching bag.'
To comment on the single word sung is extremely
difficult. If you can relax completely, then the rest is easy. Here I
have written down what my teacher told me daily in order to make his
teachings understandable to others. Relax means to soften the tendons
and blood vessels of the whole body. You cannot permit even a little
tension. This is known as "A soft waist that can fold a hundred times
as if it had no bones." If you had no bones and only ligaments, then
the ligaments could relax and open up.
2. Sink (ch'en). If someone can relax
completely, then this is ch'en. If the ligaments and blood vessels
relax, then the whole body (of which they are a part) sinks down.
Basically, ch'en and sung are the same thing. Ch'en
means not floating. Floating violates Tai Chi Chuan. If your body can
sink, this already is good, but you must also make the chi sink. If the
chi sinks, then the spirit (shen) gathers. That is very useful note:
"When the shen is gathered the mind becomes clear."
