Tai Chi Chuan’s ‘Hovering Force’ – Unlocking the Final Secret
When talking about 'Lingkong Jin' (Hovering Force), books invariably portray it as the highest attainment of Tai Chi Chuan. People who can cultivate to this level are said to appear only once in a hundred years. This is not the case; many eminent masters and experts have already possessed 'Lingkong Jin' technique without realizing it, or have been misled by the misinterpreted concept of 'Lingkong Jin'.
What 'Lingkong Jin' literally means is 'hovering force', like a flying bird, neither up to the sky nor down to the earth, suspended in the air while generating force. To generate 'Lingkong Jin' in Tai Chi Chuan, one must have correspondingly corresponding Tai Chi Chuan technique and realm.
'Like a cat stalking a mouse, and an eagle diving for a falcon,' these eagles and falcons originally fly low; 'Tai Chi Chuan is like walking on water', fearing to sink into the depths, does this not imply a state of no foot touching the ground, flying with the wind? 'The feet are light, starting from the empty space, like stepping on cotton', does this not imply rising into the air, soaring like a cloud? 'Like stepping on high heels, with a force of three feet off the ground', these techniques and realms of Tai Chi Chuan are 'Lingkong Jin'?
In Western boxing and external boxing, the feet are used to grasp the ground, stable as a mountain. At this time, it can only be the result of 'small force, less force, hand slow, let the fast hand', which is a habit that has become familiar. This is external boxing's boxing method, not because of strength, just brute force, and even harms health.
Internal force generation in Tai Chi Chuan is different from external boxing's force generation. Internal force originates from the 'cold tremor force' and 'trembling force' in the waist and abdomen, without relying on foot traction to generate force from the earth. Therefore, there is a saying among the older practitioners of Tai Chi Chuan, 'rotating and (rotating and)'—that is, internally generating force while moving. Tai Chi Chuan's training process is a transition from foot contact to no foot contact, and finally to generating internal force continuously. Therefore, one can generate 'Lingkong Jin' at will during movement, which is the supreme advantage of internal boxing and Tai Chi Chuan, surpassing external boxing.
Boxing and external boxing's force generation relies on the use of the back foot to 'step on the ground' to generate the impact force, most commonly the big bow step and big horse step. It can be said that anyone who generates force by using the back foot to step on the ground is not a Tai Chi Chuan or internal boxing technique, but rather the force generated by the muscles of the waist, legs and body – like in boxing and gymnastics. Tai Chi Chuan's internal force will never appear with the big bow step. Anyone who has the big bow step, internal force is slack, and cannot be used; it is only the muscle and stiffness of the waist and legs.
According to online information, the first record of 'Lingkong Jin' appeared in the 1943 'Tai Chi Chuan Knife and Rod Pole Combined Compilation and Compilation', and there have been nearly fifty volumes of Tai Chi Chuan treatises published before this. This shows that the name 'Lingkong Jin' must have appeared in the late Republic of China period, and the author of this book is unclear about the meaning of 'Lingkong Jin', only used as a game. However, I think that the name 'Lingkong Jin' vividly expresses the best way to use Tai Chi Chuan's internal force – 'four two pound thousand jīn (four two pound thousand jīn)'—that is, generating force with a small force, as in the final application of Tai Chi Chuan, when two people quickly move, use the momentum to generate force, this is 'Lingkong Jin', truly a stroke of genius, simply wonderful.
As for some people's saying that 'long-distance shooting' is 'Lingkong Jin', or 'two people do not contact each other can also knock people down', if that's the case, it's only believable by himself. Or if two people are performing an opera together, it's for entertainment, and has nothing to do with 'Lingkong Jin'.
There is also a training method that can be called 'Lingkong Jin', namely the mutual hand-holding of two people's training, transforming into mutual non-contact, two people at a distance of one or two steps, moving forward and backward, one generating force and the other dissipating force, echoing from a distance, to fully exert force and dissipate force without harm, this is just a training method, just like Tai Chi Chuan master Wu Tu Nan's 'Lingkong Jin Song' says: 'Mutual respiration becomes one, and moving back and forth is natural. If you learn 'Lingkong Jin' at this time, persist for one or two years. Dance and dance according to your will, then it is truly Kung Fu.'
Therefore, 'Lingkong Jin' is the last secret link in Tai Chi Chuan's self-training system, namely the ability to generate force in motion. This is the ultimate goal of Tai Chi Chuan and internal boxing. Many Tai Chi Chuan masters have the ability to generate force at will when performing the stepping technique – they have 'Lingkong Jin'. If you seek other things, you're like a donkey looking for a donkey; you're delusional.
This discussion on 'Lingkong Jin' is merely a demonstration of ability and eloquence, please kindly correct the netizens.
November 11, 2020 Wednesday 'Tai Chi Chuan No. 1' Thank you for watching and welcome your attention
