Metaphors, Qi and the martial arts
Hello! I think this is my first post here (about a year ago I was lurking around, especially interested in a conversation about fencing vs. tai chi sword form).
Anyway, I was really interested in this article over on the e-magazine about qi as a metaphor. I have a few questions about it, some of which I suppose I should ask in the taiqiquan forum.
But mainly, I was interested in the idea of useful metaphors in martial arts practice. I'm a lousy martial artist, but I write for a living, so the idea of stories as tools was one that clicked for me. I also have had similar thoughts about qi during particularly useful taiqi classes (I was studying under Weilun Huang in Miami, but parenthood has kind of thrown the brakes on that for now).
Anyway, I'm curious – the guy who wrote the article mentioned that there were a few other useful metaphors, stories that help guide practice, or make certain things make sense.
Do you guys know of any? What kinds of stories or images have you found useful? I can think of a crane cooling its wings, hands waving like clouds… but it seems like there are more of them than that, and especially ones that aren't specifically about a single move, but about martial arts practice in general.
Got any good metaphors to share?
I should make you subscribe first...
We occassionally run martial chengyu in our concluding feature of Kung Fu Tai Chi called 'Kung Fu Wisdom'. We did a classic one in our Jan Feb 2006 - Zi Xiang Mao Dun with calligraphy by none other than Iron Crotch Grandmaster Tu Jin-Sheng. We get masters and grandmasters who also study calligraphy for these features. Here's the text of that one:
Quote:
Zi (fourth tone) means oneself or one’s own. Xiang (first tone) means mutually or each other. Mao (second tone) is an old word for spear. Dun (fourth tone) means shield. This idiom comes from an old tale of a man who was selling a spear and a shield. He claimed that his spear was so mighty that it could penetrate any armor and his shield was so strong that it could retard any attack. When the people heard this, they all laughed and said “What happens when your spear attacks your shield?” The weapon seller was humiliated. This idiom is said of anyone that contradicts themselves or can’t justify themselves in their words or action, usually politicians. Mao Dun alone means contradiction.