Wuji / beginning

[everything]

Maybe we should start at the beginning lol

Do you make something of it?

Do you pay attention to it?

Most of the writings say to give it primary importance.

[Taste of Death]

Nothing is nothing. Nothing becomes something. Something becomes nothing. Something is something. Nothing is still nothing. But sometimes nothing is something.

You move when your spirit tells you to move. Your body, not your mind must be attuned.

Do you make something of it? No.
Do you pay attention to it? Yes, but not in the way that most people understand the phrase "paying attention." Listening skills are just as if not more important when we listen to ourselves.

Have a soft focus and go within yourself without giving it much conscious thought. Eventually, you will know when it's time to move. It's an ephemeral thing we are searching for. It's there for a short time and then it's gone. Enjoy it while it lasts.

[yeniseri]

Form is emptiness. Emptiness is form. Just like "No decision" on a thing is still a decision

[Bao]

Sun Lutang suggested that you should stand in wuji natural stance for at least 20 minutes before starting to move.

Why? Because you need to give yourself time to empty and sink your mind, and sink the qi and the breath.

When you start to move, your body-mind-state remains the same, you bring the same emptiness and stillness into your movements, and keep it throughout the whole form.

This is why the beginning of the form, raise hands, is so important as it's a transition from physical stillness into motion. You need to be very careful so you don't lose your sunk, empty body-mind-state.

When you have practiced like this for a while, you won't need the same amount of time to sink and make your mind blank. You should be able to just switch on this body-mind state as you want. But it will still be good to do some wuji standing before beginning the form, so you know that you don't cheat yourself, and to be careful when starting to move.

[origami_itto]

Wuji is what Taiji is striving towards.

[Quigga]

You shouldn't ever have to step out of Wuji metaphorically speaking

Wuji is what's embracing Tai Chi

The proper mind state can't be reached without reaching the proper body state and vice versa

It's what you get when you combine non duality and duality

It's a state of being

Unregulated emotions, thoughts etc pull you out of it

I'm not a master

The world is perfectly imperfect

Wuji doesn't erase your cognitive functions or your ego

Sorry for being so mean

[origami_itto]

No, what I mean is entropy, oneness.

Undifferentiated stuff, which is essentially nothing. If it's all the same then one thing is everything is nothing, right?

So like, hot coffee. We know there's movement in the molecules but let's just talk surface appearance. Hot black coffee is your wuji. Homogenous, nothing moving, really, just vibrating in place.

You pour in your cold creamer and it swirls and moves and spreads and absorbs the heat of the coffee until everything is the same color and temperature again.

The taiji of cold and hot, white and black came from the wuji of hot and black and returned to the wuji of slightly less hot and brown.

So wuji in human action, zhong ding and wu wei. We expect and project nothing, just focus on our central equilibrium. If something comes to disturb it, if they pour cream in our coffee, we absorb it and return to a balanced state.

Entropy is the natural way, but we reverse Yin and Yang to inject energy back into the system instead of letting it escape, or let it spill as we like.

[everything]

these are really great answers, imho.

[Quigga]

That's the point, just because something is undifferentiated doesn't mean it's nothing. It's alive and full of potential. 'vital emptiness'

[Quigga]

Wuji is also alive and dynamic, it doesn't just absorb stuff to settle into neutral again

[dragonprawn]

Wuji the universe is in chaos. Then taiji separates yin and yang.
Just the other day I had two students finish leaning part one of a form. I suggested that they should stand in wuji for a little while before commencing their form practice to at least adjust their breathing.

[Taste of Death]

Sun Lutang suggested that you should stand in wuji natural stance for at least 20 minutes before starting to move.

Why? Because you need to give yourself time to empty and sink your mind, and sink the qi and the breath.

When you start to move, your body-mind-state remains the same, you bring the same emptiness and stillness into your movements, and keep it throughout the whole form.

This is why the beginning of the form, raise hands, is so important as it's a transition from physical stillness into motion. You need to be very careful so you don't lose your sunk, empty body-mind-state.

When you have practiced like this for a while, you won't need the same amount of time to sink and make your mind blank. You should be able to just switch on this body-mind state as you want. But it will still be good to do some wuji standing before beginning the form, so you know that you don't cheat yourself, and to be careful when starting to move.

When Robert Wilson performed Samuel Beckett's Krapp's Last Tape he sat at a table for 20 minutes with just the sound of the rain as his only accompaniment before he spoke the first line of the play. He wanted the audience to be "present."


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3xDjrLlCCE&t=72s

[Subitai]

Sun Lutang suggested that you should stand in wuji natural stance for at least 20 minutes before starting to move.

Why? Because you need to give yourself time to empty and sink your mind, and sink the qi and the breath.

When you start to move, your body-mind-state remains the same, you bring the same emptiness and stillness into your movements, and keep it throughout the whole form.

This is why the beginning of the form, raise hands, is so important as it's a transition from physical stillness into motion. You need to be very careful so you don't lose your sunk, empty body-mind-state.

When you have practiced like this for a while, you won't need the same amount of time to sink and make your mind blank. You should be able to just switch on this body-mind state as you want. But it will still be good to do some wuji standing before beginning the form, so you know that you don't cheat yourself, and to be careful when starting to move.

"Like" what Bao is getting at as he mentions Sun Tai Chi.

* In true Wu Chi (Ji) ...a person is completely empty: No mind (ie NO THOUGHTS), no root and no particular focus of energy. It's actually NOT Easy to be in a state of NO MIND. Most people overthink everything and are multi-tasking many steps ahead. To think that way prior to starting your tai ji means, "you were not actually in a state of Wu Ji." That is also another reason why Sun Lu Tang is trying to be patient to clear your mind before you actually begin to move.

! The good news is if your practice is correct, at the very end of your form it should be easy (or at least Easier) to truly be in a state of Wu ji. It is recommended to stay that way for as long as you wish (or can handle before your thoughts rush in)...ie No Mind, No root. It is very healthy for you mentally to let all that worldly crap that bothers you ...GO.

**Another thing he attempts to do is... once you are ready to begin moving, you must then try to make the Dan Tien more FULL prior beginning.

For example,
Upon, wrapping the hands back, gently squeezing the elbows and making the dan tien feel more full... you literally change how the lower abdomen feels.

In the video, I briefly describe whats going on in the beginning of Sun Taiji Wuji.

(The application afterwards is just an alternative version since most people don't show it that way. )

[Bao]

When Robert Wilson performed Samuel Beckett's Krapp's Last Tape he sat at a table for 20 minutes with just the sound of the rain as his only accompaniment before he spoke the first line of the play. He wanted the audience to be "present."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3xDjrLlCCE

Makes sense, I like his approach. Thanks for the clip. I am a huge Beckett fan and have watched and read several of his plays.

The good news is if your practice is correct, at the very end of your form it should be easy (or at least Easier) to truly be in a state of Wu ji. It is recommended to stay that way for as long as you wish (or can handle before your thoughts rush in)...ie No Mind, No root. It is very healthy for you mentally to let all that worldly crap that bothers you ...GO.

Agreed. Good post.

[wayne hansen]

If you have Wu chi at the start of the form no need to do the form
If it is at the end of the form something has been achieved