Not being there

Sun-Tzu says "Just don't be there, man."

Amongst our tai chi band, it is held that to "not be there" is the highest technique of all, much like ol' Mr Lee when he tricks the fellow into the rowboat and cuts him adrift. Of course, normally we speak of this at a purely physical, spatial level. Not being somewhere means not being present when violence occurs, whether that's avoiding a certain street or not provoking someone verbally. As a "technique", Not Being There means our  use of footwork, evasion and relaxation to avoid what may be coming to us.

It struck me that Not Being There also has a spiritual/psychological component, whereby we are not making some hairtrigger personality or ego for someone to bump up against. Obviously, we all have our sticking points and our flashpoints. But in tai chi we can learn to minimise these. So, when the wide-shouldered youth barges into you in the street you don't become a slave to your own anger.

Having slated the practice of Fixed Step Pushing Hands in a soon-to- be- released article for the TCUGB magazine, I'd like to say here and now that it can be useful for seeing the ego in full effect (we just don't need to make a competition out of it...) and thus lessening our reactivity. The Buddhists have the parable of the empty rowboat. If a boat full of people bumps into you, you may become angry and full of blame. But if the rowboat is empty, you simply nudge it away with your oar and forget it. So tai chi chuan can help us to see more empty rowboats where before they were fully inhabited, and really bloody irritating.