origami_itto wrote:D_Glenn wrote:wayne hansen wrote:That does not make sense
One is being added one taken away
Yin/yang
Might as well say 2 flies or two feathers
They are both being added
Alight and land are synonyms. They basically mean the same thing. Alight is just a bird perching or landing on something.
I just hate the word ‘alight’, that’s why I prefer the second. And I think this phrase occurs in two different classics.
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Understand that those are english words.
羽 (yǔ) - Feather
不能 (bù néng) - Cannot
加 (jiā) - Add
蠅 (yíng) - Fly
蟲 (chóng) - Insect
不能 (bù néng) - Cannot
落 (luò) - Fall
加 (jiā) - Add - to add / plus / (used after an adverb such as 不, 大, 稍 etc, and before a disyllabic verb, to indicate that the action of the verb is applied to sth or sb previously mentioned) / to apply (restrictions etc) to (sb) / to give (support, consideration etc) to (sth)
落 (luò) - Fall - to fall or drop / (of the sun) to set / (of a tide) to go out / to lower / to decline or sink / to lag or fall behind / to fall onto / to rest with / to get or receive / to write down / whereabouts / settlement
So Wayne is right, stylistically at least, one word is adding and the other is taking away, even if they are both referring to an increase in OUR mass.
Or does the "fall" refer to the fly LEAVING? Like the proverbial sparrow in the palm?
It’s a statement that is expressing how a feather cannot land on your arm, nor can a fly land on your arm. Because your awareness of your surroundings is so strong.
【解】練功旣久。感覺靈敏。稍有接觸。卽能感覺而應之。一羽毛之輕。我亦不䭾。蠅蟲之小。亦不能落我身。蠅蟲附我身。如著落琉璃瓶。光滑不能立足。蓋我以微妙之化力將蠅蟲足分蹉也。能如此則太極之功成矣。昔班侯老師於夏日行功時。常臥樹蔭下休息。偶或風吹葉落其身上。隨落隨脫滑落地。不能停留。又常試己功。解襟仰臥榻上。捻金米「卽小米」少許置臍上。但呼一聲。小米猶彈弓射彈丸。飛射屋頂瓦面,班侯老師之功誠不可及。同志宜勉之。
Once you have worked at it for a long time, your sensitivity will be acute. When there is the smallest contact, you will be aware of it. You will not carry something even as light as a feather, and something as small as a fly will not be able to land on you. When a fly lands inside a glass vase, the surface is too smooth for it to gain any footing, and likewise when you use the subtlety of neutralizing energy, making the fly’s feet slip instead of grip. At this stage you can consider your Taiji skill complete. There is an old anecdote about Yang Banhou to illustrate this:
When practicing in the peak of summer, Yang would often lie down in the shade from a tree to take a rest. One day a breeze took a leaf off and it fell onto his body, but it could not stay on him and slipped off onto the ground.
[Another anecdote:]
Yang would often measure his skill by unbuttoning his jacket and lying back on his bed with a handful of yellow grain (i.e. millet) and put a few of the grains on his navel, and then with a shout it seemed the grains had been shot from a pellet bow and flew up to hit the tile-roofed ceiling.
Yang Banhou’s skill could be considered to be at the summit and you all should emulate him.
origami_itto wrote: [Another anecdote:]
Yang would often measure his skill by unbuttoning his jacket and lying back on his bed with a handful of yellow grain (i.e. millet) and put a few of the grains on his navel, and then with a shout it seemed the grains had been shot from a pellet bow and flew up to hit the tile-roofed ceiling.
Steve James wrote:, what should happen when a feather lands on your right shoulder? If the answer is nothing, then what would happen if the feather weighed a half-ton?
The real question is what is one sensitive to. It’s not about the weight
Steve James wrote:The real question is what is one sensitive to. It’s not about the weight
Obviously. I thought you'd see that.
D_Glenn wrote:
First you have to listen to your own body before you can understand it. First you have to listen to other people’s body’s before you can understand them.
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wayne hansen wrote:I don’t like the word grabbing but to seize or lock should use the same energy as anything in tai chi ...
origami_itto wrote:If they grab you can use that contact to control them as easily as they can use it to control you.
Push hands is a poor name for the practice. It's about controlling them on contact.
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