The most important
part of all this is the body structure. Your feet must be planted directly into
the earth. Your legs must be bent at the knee for strength and springiness.
Your feet turn out from your body and a little bit inward toward each other.
But not much. If I am your opponent in front of you, you turn outward from me.
So now your shoulder faces me. Notice how easily the seeking hand reaches out
for the bridge. Then the lead foot lifts slightly and moves half a step. Not
the back foot, which feels natural. The lead foot moves half a step and the
body naturally moves forward because you must go back to an even balance. Not
too much forwards, not too much backwards.
You lift up a little
with the front foot, then take half a step forward, one more time. Now the hips
swing in a circle around the front foot and the entire body turns in one
motion, including the _wu sao_. Good. The _wu sao stays back as long as
possible, as this generates all the power from the ground, to the feet, to the
hips, to the shoulder. Then as the stance firms up, the guarding hand comes
forward in a fist, from the shoulder and straightens out at the elbow only at
the last moment. You do not hit with the fist, you hit from the ground.
If I push you here,
you should not move if your stance is correct. You see? You moved again. Why?
You are not connected to the ground. Sit down in your stance, and feel the
earth spirits rise in your feet and legs. If I swing my arm against your _man
sao_, like this, do you move? Yes. You do. Try again. Feel the earth. I swing
my arm again. Again. You must feel the stone from the earth rise up and into
your legs and hips. If I am pushing your arm like this, you should not move one
hair. You are stone. Better. Once more.
2711 drew in the earth
spirits and swung his arm hard against her guard. He was surprised to find a
solid rock positioned in front of him and his arm stopped sharply. He pushed
again, harder but she did not move. He tried one more time quickly and she did
not move. The whole rotation of the earth fought against him through her body.
He smiled. Then he
said, you have learnt something. Good. Now you must learn the basics of
yielding. We say that you should not meet force with force. We say that you use
your opponent’s strength against them. You use their strength and add your own
to defeat them. If your opponent is hard and insistent, then you should yield
and circle or deflect. If you opponent is soft and inquisitive, then you should
hit hard and quickly. It is stone versus water. If I move in a straight punch
like this, you notice my arm is strong and stony.
She tried to use _pak
sao_, the slapping hand and her blow merely glanced off. He said, you have
failed. I have the advantage.
She looked down and
his hand was at her throat in _biu sao_, or darting hand, with the fingers
pointed directly at the wound in her neck. A punch or finger jab or a knife
blade would finish her in a few seconds.
He said, try again.
He moved in a straight
line with stone and this time she circled around to the outside her feet moved
instinctively to shift around and her _wu sao_ moved up to his chin. He smiled
finally.
He said, the learning
is finally settling in. Try again, if I grab your elbow like this. I am using
_lop sao_ to pull on your elbow, now get out of it. No, that is not enough. I
am stone, you must use water to escape. Your whole arm turns into a completely
relaxed state, and you must use a circle to redirect the stone back toward me.
No, you cannot do it. Let me show you. Pull on my elbow here. Yes, pull on it.
She pulled his elbow,
but there was a sound of water splashing and a wriggling fish appeared. She
could not hold onto the fish. Suddenly the water splashed away and she was
holding a rock shaped like an arm. The sun shined over her father’s shoulder
and the sudden light made her sneeze. The pain in her neck cried out like
burning flames. Her father stepped back and looked at her strangely. He crossed
himself with a superstitious gesture.
He said, we do not
sneeze. When you sneeze, tension goes throughout your whole body and you lose
control for long enough to be killed three times over. Sneezing is full or
_druj_: disease, discord, disorder, deceit, and dispute. Ahriman is the one who
created the first sneeze.
They did some more
drills until it became too hot under the sun to continue. They went inside the
yurt to escape the heat and 2711 lectured 9001 while he prepared the afternoon
meal.
He said, the training
of the body is mostly useless without also training the mind. The first
intention of a thought is in the mind. This is the true weapon that you wield.
If you look toward my arm before you strike, then you have revealed your weapon
before you have even moved. You should keep your mind clear and empty of all thoughts.
Strike where it is most deadly without revealing your strategy. On the other
side, you must keep your mind open to observing where your opponent’s mind is
going. The enemy’s mind is their weapon and you should try to observe it. If
you can observe the enemy’s mind then you do not need to worry about his body,
for you have already defeated them before they can move.
You can see that a
tree exists by looking at the shadow. The object itself gives rise to the
shadow. This is the same with the intent of the weapon. The enemy’s movements
and attacks are only a shadow that emanates from the intent in their mind.
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