the rum soaked fist: internal martial arts forum

Years ago I remember starting the thread "the pussification of taijiquan", the latest thread trying "resurrect" taijiquan is just another reiteration...

But is it too late now? Perhaps it is? Taijiquan is virtually dead as a combat art. It is now a health dance for the masses courtesy of CMC and the purple pajama people. How many teachers/individuals can we name who can use / teach taijiquan for combat? Even before we start to disagree on who should be on the list, the list will be extremely short in comparison to the number of worldwide practitioners of taiji. I think its a lost cause, let the homeopaths, yoga masters, and tai chi "sifu's" share a studio in the mall with their mail order Chinese art and incense. Let them keep it - RIP Taijiquan, RIP.


Thoughts???

G

Seems like too many people are crying because there are a lot of bad apples in the bunch. Time spent better practicing imo.

Did you ever hear of the student's responsibility?
Here in Taiwan, TJQ is not dead, and ZMQ people still fight, seems it depends who studies it?

Time to HTFU Gary

Who cares about the "state of the art"? Find someone who teaches the skills and qualities that you're after, and if you really care about the art that much then become good enough that you've got something to pass on. Within a 5 mile radius of me are a number of scarily good tai-chi practitioners. And even if I wasn't happy with what they do (hey I'm not a tai-chi guy) then you've also got hsing i, ba-gua, silat, grappling, boxing, krav maga, systema etc - more than enough to fill a lifetime. If the tai-chi in your area isn't giving what you need then it's time to either move or think beyond the style.

You only need to find one teacher, when you've found what you're after who cares if everyone around you is practising glorified callisthenics?

Matthew.

The K Prodigy wrote:Seems like too many people are crying because there are a lot of bad apples in the bunch. Time spent better practicing imo.

I love the irony of people complaining online about people wasting time complaining online...

G

mrtoes wrote:Time to HTFU Gary

Who cares about the "state of the art"? Find someone who teaches the skills and qualities that you're after.....

Matthew.

Matthew,

I agree, I don't care about the state of the art, or resurrecting Taijiquan, or defending the name etc. Perhaps I wasn't explicit enough...

best,

G

taiwandeutscher wrote:Did you ever hear of the student's responsibility?
Here in Taiwan, TJQ is not dead, and ZMQ people still fight, seems it depends who studies it?

I have been to Taiwan, not long enough make any definitive statements about TJQ there. But how many good teachers are there in TW? Who can fight? How many in the rest of the world? Vs. how many practitioners? Do the math, and then you will see my point...

Oh, and a students responsibility only goes so far, ignorance as to what TJQ was or is is not uncommon given the health dance version has spread like a virus. Thats why I say RIP to Taijiquan--RIP as being known as a combat viable art, as for good reason it is thought to be merely a health dance/meditation.

G

I think people really overstate the combat art is dead line. Really I do. Some people are in places where they can go find a number of folks without huge difficulty who fit the bill, others can't.

But you can say that even those that are gagging for the funeral they surely must have experienced the good stuff to tell the difference. Otherwise they must be talking from ignorance.

So if everyone has at least one good experience to draw from or can point to, the global maths might tell a different story. Cancel the funeral, it ain't dead yet !

Non martial taiji (park exercise etc) doesn't deserve to be included in the statistics, just like boxercise would be ignored in asessing real boxing gyms.

Can't understand why people think that Taijiquan is dying, or even dead. There are a bunch of brilliant practitioners out there. A whole bunch.

After many, many years GaryR finally moves up from nutriding on other peoples whiney threads to verbally masturbating on his own.

Here's to ya, Gary....

There’s room in TCC for everyone.

If a Hippy wants to "grow" his Chi with a slow dance then let him. If a guy wants to spend years getting to the stage of fighting competence he would be at after 6 months of Muay Thai then this is also great.
My only problem is when that Hippy is told that his slow dance will make him combat effective and that there’s no need for the blood sweat and tears, or when the guy if the "fighting" TCC school is shown a series of applications and then is told that its the true art, or when people look at pushing hands competitions and say it cant be TCC because force is involved (which is like people saying that it cant be boxing because they are getting hit in the head so they are clearly not training bob and weave like real boxers).

So to sum up....only I have the real TCC and this thread has BTDT written all over it.

liokault wrote:There’s room in TCC for everyone.

I definitely agree with that (everything you wrote actually), it's something nice about tai chi. Few of us can be 'fighters' or 'martial artists' 24/7. with the possible exception of Chris M

I like that tai chi can touch different parts of life.. Oh Gawd, my inner hippy is breaking out!!

liokault wrote:There’s room in TCC for everyone.

If a Hippy wants to "grow" his Chi with a slow dance then let him. If a guy wants to spend years getting to the stage of fighting competence he would be at after 6 months of Muay Thai then this is also great.
My only problem is when that Hippy is told that his slow dance will make him combat effective and that there’s no need for the blood sweat and tears, or when the guy if the "fighting" TCC school is shown a series of applications and then is told that its the true art, or when people look at pushing hands competitions and say it cant be TCC because force is involved (which is like people saying that it cant be boxing because they are getting hit in the head so they are clearly not training bob and weave like real boxers).

So to sum up....only I have the real TCC and this thread has BTDT written all over it.

Exactly, which is why RIP....

shawnsegler wrote:After many, many years GaryR finally moves up from nutriding on other peoples whiney threads to verbally masturbating on his own.

Here's to ya, Gary....

Thanks Shawn! Cheers! Actually the verbal masturbation is more on the reversal of thought I've had over the years...

Your still quick to add little of substance to a thread I see

Hope all is well...

G

GaryR wrote:

Exactly, which is why RIP....

How does constant growth and the ability to embrace everyone = RIP?