Thank you for explaining your concerns in more detail.
Formosa Neijia wrote:So far I haven't seen the following addressed:
1. what is it supposedly about white crane shenfa that just ruins taiji shenfa?
This gets said like it's axiomatic but I've haven't heard a clear explanation other than "it's different so it must be bad."
Maybe we went a bit off track in the start of the discussion. I don’t think his Tai Chi is particularly good by any standard. In fact, I never said that his tai chi was infected by Tai Chi. You said that his white crane gave his Tai Chi backbone. I said that he had infused Tai Chi into his white crane, which is something else. What I said what he does is basically white crane and not Tai Chi. Or white crane disguised as Tai Chi. This is something very different from Huang that you were referring to, as Huang was someone who understood and could embrace the spirit of Tai Chi.
If YJM’s tai chi was great, I wouldn’t care if he added stuff to it. If or how his tai chi would be sort of infected by White Crane is not the main problem. His Tai Chi is not good, period. He started to learn tai chi from his white crane teacher who mainly focused on white crane. So what he studied was someone’s secondary art. I still have the first edition of YJM’s first tai chi book, Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan. His understanding was quite rudimentary back then and he had not very good understanding of how Tai Chi should be used as a martial art. And when you see how he performs his tai chi today it’s pretty much the same, which makes me wonder how much he has actually developed since then.
3. how is it that a different way of shenfa is only ever a negative instead of a positive?
It’s not always negative. There are differences in tai chi styles and lineages. There’s no absolute method. Chen stylists believe Yang stylists do things bad, Yang stylists look down on Chen stylists. Many say that CMC is too limp and many complains on William Chen’s raised elbows. Everyone does something wrong in the eyes of others. The question is if it’s good or not.
What some call a conflict others would call a supplement.
Maybe.
My Shenfa is not very strict to every “rule”. Some people would like what I did, others would say that I did things wrong. I use my spine more than the average player. I use my waist, ribs and scapula to store movement/energy/jin (or whatever) more than the average tai chi stylist. And in general, I focus more on internal movement than on how it “looks”. And no, I haven’t imported anything from other styles, I learned everything I do in my tai chi from tai chi teachers. So there’s no conflict or supplement. But it’s different from the general standards. If something is functional or obstructive would be of mine concern if I saw something different. How close to tai chi standards something is, well this is of less concern.
Does any other crane technique interfere with "opening taiji"? This seems to enhance it:
His frame seems strong, but it would be even better if he rooted himself and used this to stabilize himself all the way from the ground, He seems to have good qualities, though here at least, his legs lacks stability. Also, meeting force directly is not a very good strategy by any tai chi standard.