The four jings and Aikido

For many years I have been trying to figure out how the four principals Jings of Taiji, Peng, Lu, Ji and An. I first learned the terms Peng, Lu, Ji & An when I started practicing push hands. At that time I was told that I had very strong Peng. As far as I could tell at the time Peng was the same as unbendable arm. I think I now have a better understanding.

Peng

Peng is commonly translated as "ward off", it is associated with the pre-heaven trigram "Chien" translated as "Heaven" and the post-heaven trigram "Kan" or "Water". I have started to to think of it as "Rise Up".

Peng is the first part of the opening if every taiji form I am aware of. The arms rise while the hips sink and the spine lengthens. It is exemplified by yang energy rising from Earth to Heaven.

The Peng response to incoming energy is to bounce it off like a rubber ball.

It is NOT weight upper side, because the rising energy presses the lower body down.

I believe peng is the same as what voice trainer Arthur Lessac (http://www.lessacinstitute.com/) calls 'Buoyancy" in his 1978 book "Body Wisdom". He describes it as the feeling you get if you stand in a doorway and press the back of both wrists against the door frame, then relax and step out of the door frame and feel your arms rise of their own accord. He also describes many exercises to get this feeling in a tub of water.

It is used to hold an attack at bay. It is associated with the wei chi, the chi that protects the body from the external environment. Many sources say all other jings arise from Peng.

We use it in aikido for Immoveable Body. It is sometime used at the beginning of a technique to encourage the attacker to over commit, it can also be used to uproot an attacker, as when you come in under the arm and lift it in Ikkyo, or is some variants of ryote-mochi kokyu-nage irimi ude-oroshi, where nage gets under uke and lifts.

Lu

Lu is commonly translated as "roll back", it is associated with the pre-heaven trigram "Kun" translated as "Earth" and the post-heaven trigram "Li" or "Fire". I have started thinking of it as "Draw in".

Lu is the third part of the taiji opening. The arms and hips both sink. It is exemplified by yin energy being drawn into the center. It is cultivated by Koichi Tohei's (http://www.koichitohei.com/) Contraction Meditation, in which everything is drawn into the one point. In push hands it incorporates a twist of the hips to allow the press (it is generally employed to counter Ji) to pass by harmlessly, sometimes it can be used to unbalance your partner forward.

I remember reading a science fiction story many years ago in which a hard boiled detective kept running into aliens disguised as humans, each time he shot one it responded by thanking him for the gift of metal (he ended up killing them with a water pistol loaded with the booze from his desk as I recall, but that is not relevant to this discussion). This strikes me as the ultimate in Lu.

Lu is very common in aikido. You see it when moving back in fune-kogi (the rowing exercise), and in takubi-kosa (the wrist crossing exercise). It shows up in most tenkan or ura techniques and techniques where you draw the attacker into your center to establish control.

Ji

Ji is commonly translated as "press", and is associated with the pre-heaven trigram "Kan" translated as "Water" and post-heaven "Dui" or "Lake". It is the opposite of Lu. I have started thinking of it as "reach out".

Ji is the second part of the taiji opening. The arms and hips both rise. It is exemplified by yang energy radiating out from the center.

Ji is a squeezing, sticking energy the follows the opponents energy.

Arthur Lessac calls it "Potency" or "Muscle Yawn". He teaches unbendable arm as an example of "Potency", but I am beginning to suspect that unbendable arm can be an expression of any of the jings. He also taught something he called a "Muscle Yawn Push up". My mother was a small, not particularly strong, woman, but she could do a seemingly unlimited number of Muscle Yawn Push Ups without tiring.

Ji is cultivated by Koichi Tohei's Expansion Meditation, in which the one point expands to encompass everything.

I think atemi is Ji. The first two moves of both 21 count (or 22 count, depending on how your style counts) jo kata, the tsuki, seem to me to be expressions of Ji. But, I am drawing a blank trying to think of when it is used in technique.

An

An is commonly translated as "push", and is associated with the pre-heaven trigram "Li" translated as "fire" and post-heaven trigram "Zhen"> or "Thunder". It is the opposite of Peng. I have started thinking of it as "Press down".

An is the end of the taiji opening, the arms sink as the hips rise. It is exemplified by yin energy sinking from heaven to earth.

The downward force of An comes from the legs pressing into the earth.

Many people have said that An is the hardest of the jings to understand because you rise up to press down. Some people have said it is like lifting yourself out of a swimming pool, or maybe doing dips or chin ups (But Lessac uses chin ups to teach "Potency", which I think is Ji, so I could be way off).

Putting the pieces together

Looking at a single technique, and how the jings are expresses, lets consider kata-tori ikyo irimi.

First, as the uke reaches in, nage steps back, drawing uke in (Lu) to encourage him to over extend.

Second, nage brushes uke's hand down (An) taking his balance.

Third, nage brings uke's arm up pushing the elbow over uke's head (Peng).

Fourth, nage drops uke's arm in front of him, immobilising uke before taking him to the mat (An again? The side of the body toward uke seems to be doing An, but the other side is not, maybe its doing Peng? Or maybe it's Lieh? I'm nowhere near ready to go there. I'm not going to try to sort out Tsai, Lieh, Jou & Koo until I've got a firm grasp on Peng, Lu, Ji & An).