Softness and Continuity (Winter 1985-86)

We stress “Softness and Continuity” in T’ai Chi Chih, and the importance of the former can be seen in the following examples:

The teeth are hard and the tongue is soft, but it is the tongue that outlasts the teeth.

Water is soft and stones are hard, but it is the water that wears away the stones.

Oak is sturdy and stands staunchly against the storm, while bamboo is pliant and bends with the wind. When the storm is over, the inflexible oak has cracked and comes crashing down, but the bamboo snaps back, unhurt.

* * *

One cannot strive for “softness”; the very effort of trying to be soft creates tension. It is the absence of any pressure, moving ‘slow motion in a dream’, that allows softness to prevail. The best way to forget worries and ease tensions is to shunt the ego-center aside, so that no-one is doing T’ai Chi Chih, but TCC is doing itself. In this sense, TCC becomes a meditation.

– Justin Stone
Carmel, CA