Master Kuo referred to Tai Chi Chuan as Peng Ching boxing because without this energy there is no Tai Chi.
Master Kuo referred to Tai Chi as Peng Ching boxing because without this energy there is no Tai Chi. Peng Ching is responsible for the attainment of awareness (larger in scope than listening energy) energy which allows one boxer to follow another boxer and may ultimately lead to the attainment of spiritual perfection through the combined integration of internal energy and external martial arts. Although pervasive throughout the whole body, Peng Ching refers to eight different uses of energy chiefly utilized but not limited to the hands and upper body
OUTWARD EXPANDING LU CHING=RECEIVING/COLLECTING ENERGY- INWARD RECEIVING CHI CHING= PRESSING/RECEIVING ENERGY AN CHING=DOWNWARD PUSHING TSAI CHING= GRABBING ENERGY LIEH CHING= STRIKING ENERGY, (also in some literature on the subject referred to as split=action and/or strike=result) CHOU CHING= ELBOW STRIKING ENERGY K'AO CHING= FULL BODY STRIKING ENERGY
PENG, LU, AN, AND CHI are the four primary energies. PENG and LU are for evading. PENG is moving energy (also used in striking) and LU is collecting energy (also used in reversing). AN and CHI are for adhering. AN is a forward, downward pressing energy. CHI is pressing/receiving energy and is more often than not a provoking energy. These are the main qualities used in push hands. Moving energy is the skill of change ... receiving energy is the skill of sticking ... collecting energy is the skill of pulling and striking energy is the skill of attack. TSAI, LIEH, CHOU AND KAO are secondary energies and are used more often than not to support the primary energies when a practitioner loses control of the circle in push hands. They are referred to as the four corner hands. They may additionally be used in striking. Holding these qualities together is the idea of sacrificing oneself to follow the opponent. To succeed in following: you must know inward and outward drawing of silk, you must have lightness (the spirit of vitality is aroused, top of the head is suspended and the neck relaxed), you must know sinking (the breath is sunk to the Tan Tien and you sink in both the forward step and backward movement's receiving rotation of the waist), you must have dexterity (the change from empty to solid must be lively). This sinking should be slight and may be said to contain more feeling than action. Additionally, when a boxer closes without stepping back or pushing away he uses:
K'UNG= (empty), a force that causes the opponent to overextend and drain his energy. CHIEH= (binding/tie up), a force that causes the opponent's peng ching to be insufficient. By increasing one's energy the opponent cannot express energy. TSO= (break), a forces that causes pressure not emptiness so energy can be delivered. The energy must sink down and afterwards fall. This is the inside use of draining. It is internal pulling energy, which pulls the opponent's foundation. JOU= (rub), a force that causes the opponent's energy to become weak. It is outside drawing of silk.
I quote from master Kuo's book;Generally, K'UNG, CHIEH, TSO, and JOU are used after the opponent moves and depend on the circumstances. It can be said that their use is completely passive. If you follow your opponent then it is easy to be lively. When you can sacrifice yourself to follow the opponent, then you can feel whether his energy is great or small, light or heavy. When this feeling occurs, it causes you to move and afterwards adhere, stick, connect, and follow.... Follow the square and assume the circle. Follow the bent but assume the straight.Although peng ching is the name given to the fullness of energy expansion that occurs inside the body while practicing Tai chi, an additional explanation of the eight gates is offered by Master Chiang, Yun-Chun that are derived from the eight trigrams of the I-Ching.
They are: Chien-heaven, k'un-earth, ken-hardness, chen-quickening, sun-mildness, li-brightness, k'an-water and tui-straightness
If we pursue the meaning of the eight gates from the eight directions and their energies as detailed in the ancient Chinese philosophical work The I Ching (pronounced Yee-Ching), we should take the Sequence of Later Heaven or Inner-World Arrangement as our guide because this arrangement clarifies how energies actually work in the phenomenal world. All living things come forth in the sign of the Arousing. The Arousing stands in the East. They come to completion in the sign of the Gentle. The Gentle stands in the Southeast. Completion means that all creatures become pure and perfect. The Clinging is the brightness in which all creatures perceive one another. It is the trigram of the South. That the holy sages turned their faces to the South while they gave ear to the meaning of the universe means that in ruling they turned toward what is light. This they evidently took from this trigram. The Receptive means the earth. It takes care that all creatures are nourished. Therefore it is said: 'He causes them to serve one another in the sign of the Receptive.' The Joyous is mid-autumn, which rejoices all creatures. Therefore it is said: 'He gives them joy in the sign of the Joyous. 'He battles in the sign of the Creative.' The Creative is the trigram of the Northwest. It means that here the dark and the light arouse each other. The Abysmal means water. It is the trigram of due north, the trigram of toil, to which all creatures are subject. Therefore it is said: 'He toils in the sign of the Abysmal.' Keeping Still is the trigram of the Northeast, where beginning and end of creatures are completed. Therefore it is said: 'He brings them perfection in the sign of Keeping Still'.
The directional delineations with Chinese names and season are as follows: Chen-Spring-East, Sun-Southeast, Li-Summer-South, Kun-Southwest, Tui-Autumn-West, Ch'ien-Northwest, K'an-Winter north, and Ken-Northeast. The South points upward at the top of any traditional chart of the eight trigrams because ancient sages looked to the light. This infers, of course, that the sages were seeking wisdom through contemplation; but if we take note that the Sun and its light comes from the Equator, this arrangement reveals a practical side to the wisdom in the I Ching when considering China is situated in the Northern Hemisphere.
To understand the eight gates' energies on a practical level,
let's take two examples from the set and analysis them. First, let's examine SINGLE WHIP.
The extension outward from the body is PENG. It is an expanding energy. The open hand is pushing outward and the back hand is pulling backward. The two hands are separating something. The front is expanding along the outside of the arm and back of the shoulder while the back hand is expanding outward from the inside of the arm and inside shoulder (it can also expand along the outside of the arm and outside shoulder-double outward peng ching). We can call these two expressions of energy PENG CHING outward pushing and LU CHING inward pulling. AN CHING is a sinking downward as the hands and body come to completion of the movement. Also present in this movement is CHI CHING, TSAI CHING and to a lesser extent KAO CHING. CHI CHING is present when the two hands begin the separation as a defense of the chest. TSAI CHING is present in the use of the fingers grasping and pulling backward. KAO CHING is present in that the movement might bump the opponent with the shoulder, hip or knee. Lieh ching or the small strike is used as the palm rotates outward. Invariably more than one expression of energy is present in a movement. (Lieh-ching is sometimes referred to as split but this is to note only the outer part of the action and energy of Lieh ching. Strike is the end result of split.)
Second, let's examine GRASPING THE BIRDS TAIL.
PENG CHING is in the forward hand and LU CHING is in the back hand when reaching with both hands. Both hands grasp an opponent's arm. The front hand presses downward and the back hand grasps and pulls slightly upward and inward while turning the waist outward (this action of differing pressures works like a vise grip). TSAI is present in the grasping quality of the fingers. As the body shifts down and backward, the waist turns outward and then inward. The back hand wrist revolves palm outward to begin a push. The front hand also revolves to a lesser extent so that both palms are in forward motion. As the two hands are in front, the wrist can be used in pushing-AN CHING. The pushing is accomplished with a sinking of the body-followed by an upward thrust. Push down to first break an opponent's root, then, thrust upward using the back leg. The concept of striking is included in the idea of the open palm push (palm outward), closed fist punch (straight wrist) and kicks. All strikes involve the release of energy from the spine (Fa Shing). As you can see, striking is accomplished with the whole body not just the upper body and that leads us to the footwork.
