The Taiji Cake 

When teaching Taijiquan (Tai Chi Chuan), as is the case with many subjects, it is often useful to use analogies, metaphors and similia to help explain otherwise difficult to express principles and methods of practice. Some analogies resonate more with some people than others depending on experience. If, for example, a student was familiar with motor mechanics then likening a taijiquan principle to some aspect of the combustion engine might be really useful. The student will suddenly “get it” even though the same principle had been explained in different ways a hundred times before. A student though who had no experience or knowledge pertaining to motor mechanics might not find the metaphor of any use at all.

Most teachers will probably use analogies and metaphors to explain the whole process of learning and teaching taiji. Grandmaster Chen Xiao Wang uses the analogy of riding a bicycle for this purpose. When learning to ride a bicycle there has to be a period of falling off, making mistakes, before one finds ones balance. Once successfully riding the bike the beginner still cannot make tight turns or keep their balance over rough terrain. With time and experience these problems are overcome. Success and understanding in taijiquan only comes with sustained practice. In another metaphorical story he likened learning taiji to paddling a canoe upstream. Paddle everyday and you make good progress, stop paddling and you will inevitably slip back down river. In an analogous description of teaching taiji one might compare ones own role to that of a tennis coach. One might develop a high level of skill and can match one's level to any other local teacher but you will probably never play at Wimbledon. Learning taiji could be compared to climbing a mountain, we might never reach the top but even if we only progress a little way up we are in cleaner air and have a much better view than we had below. 

Hopefully using the theme of baking a cake as a metaphor for the process of laerning taiji will not be lost on the majority of readers. There are many elements, principles and methods of practice in taijiquan that need to be understood and mastered in order to progress to higher levels. We could liken these principles to ‘ingredients’ which need to be refined, combined and processed in order to achieve the desired outcome. The Daoists often use the metaphor of the “firing process” when describing the slow refinement of the mind in meditational practice. If presented with a cake, with no prior experience of baking, one would not be aware of the various ingredients within, one would have no idea how the ingredients were combined, in what quantities, or how to bake a cake at the correct temperture for the correct anmount of time. One would require a recipe provided by someone with knowldge of what was involved.

In order to make a cake we must have knowledge of the essential ingredients and know where to source them. It is not enough to just find the ingredients, we must contiually refine each one. If we likened two very important principles for beginners that are essential to the learning of Taijiquan, the loosening of the joints (Fang Song) and extending within (Peng), to flour and water then we would not want any impurities in either. The combining of these two vital ingredients in correct proportion might not be sufficient to bake a cake but would be enough to make chapatti’s. At least one can produce a nutritious meal. At first  it is difficult to work out how to combine the ingredients correctly. Perhaps we use too much flour and not enough water and the chapatti’s are too hard and almost inedible or the reverse where the end result is a sloppy mush. One might overcook (try to forcefully) or undercook (losing focus) with equally poor results. At the beginning our ingredients are not of the best quality. Ultimately we will find a more refined flour and purer water and produce a better quality chapatti.

With time we are introduced to new ingredients, new taiji principles, that we add to the mix. Flour, Liquid, yeast, eggs, butter, sugar, salt and fat for example are seven essentials to making a cake. Taiji is similarly comprised of different ingredients. We could take correct posture as one of these. This essential ingredient though includes hundreds of important sub-ingredients, such as head suspension (from Bai Hui acupoint), correct weight distribution, joints open and unlocked, chest relaxed, back raised, saeted hips and so on. We must gradually have knowledge of and refine, through repeated prcatice, many other essential ingredients such as rotating Dantien, opening and closing, internal spirals, mind intent to name a few. These again may be comprised of many parts, such as opening and closing involving correct use of the Kua and spine, chest, scapula. With experience understanding the nature of all the ingredients and combining them correctly baking a taiji cake to an acceptable standard becomes achievable. It will take considerable practice though to become familiar enough with the correct mixing and cooking procedure to make consistently well made cakes.

So, with the learning of tai chi, it takes considerable time and practice to understand and combine all the essential principles to an acceptable standard of achievement. One could say that the quesst of taijiquan,  in order to be competent in Taijiquan, is Chansujin (internal spiral movement), which, for the sake of metaphor, can be considered the Taiji Cake itself. It might take us a few years to finally bake a cake that is of a desirable consistency, tasty and nourishing and decades to become a notable cake maker. Many years of burnt casings and soggy bottoms before we can turn our hands to creating cakes of all kinds. We might say of one the great Taiji practitioner, Grandmaster Chen Xiao Wang, that he always bakes exceedingly good cakes.