They did say that the goodness that results from hardness consists of righteousness, being straight, decisive, severe, firm, determined and resolute; to this I'd add honesty. On the flip side, the evils resulting from hardness include ruthlessness, intolerance, force, and violence; to this I'd add rudeness.
As for our old friend, softness, they said that the goodness that came from it consisted of compliance and docility; to that I would add amiability and civility. The evil resulting from it consists of lack of will, indeciseveness, and sycophancy; to this I'd add pandering, keeping quiet when good men require support and excessive politeness.
The great Taoist philospher, Chuang Tzu, had, if nothing else, a sense of humour. He remarked that when the Great Bird (Peng) migrates to the Southern Ocean, it flies above the water for three thousand miles. Then, travelling on a whirlwind, it ascends to ninety thousand miles for a flight lasting six months. Yet the cicada and the dove laugh at the Peng, saying that when they really try they can fly up to the trees, sometimes when not reaching their targets , they fall to the ground midway. So what is the use of climbing ninety thousand miles in order to start for the South ?
The point is to be true to your own nature. Yet this is something which parents, teachers and society do not always approve of. Maybe that's why there aren't too many Peng around these days. Although for the Peng it's nothing remarkable to travel such vast distances, the cicadas and doves are envious and rather than be content with being true to their own natures, they'd seek to prevent the Peng being true to his.
Not just this. There are cicadas and doves who like to think that they are really Peng and Peng who'd rather deny their birthright and try to be cicadas and doves. Oh yes, and there are many denizens of our particular little world who can't even rise to the level of cicadas and doves.
Recently I was in Amsterdam for a Tai Chi competition in which a number of my students were competing. I didn't see many Peng there, but there were some cicadas and doves and some smaller creatures too.
One of the Dutch instructors gave a long and detailed explanation of the correct use of posture and force with half a dozen tame cicadas and doves. Strangely, in the competition he lost all three of his contests by a wide margin.
When it gets to the stage that my students are being warned by the Dutch referee before they even start their contests, when a strong push (against one of his own students) is classified as a throw, when the same referee treats us all to a demonstration with his own students on how soft Tai Chi is, on how violence does not belong in Tai Chi Chuan; when it gets to this stage I want to start my migration to the South.
All this I have seen before, I have heard before. I don't mind questions; I don't mind criticism, but only if it is informed criticism based on extensive personal experience. I have rarely met with this type of criticism.
After seeing a series of demonstrations of mine in Hong Kong in 1993, a matronly Chinese lady, who was then the Honorary President of the Hong Kong Tai Chi Association, was heard to remark that this wasn't the right way; that in Tai Chi Chuan we always talk about redirecting the opponent's force.
Well of course she's right, partly right. The vast majority of Tai Chi techniques involve redirecting, but not just redirecting. Redirecting is the Yin; there should also be a Yang, this we call discharging and usually involves throwing or striking the opponent. All the techniques which I demonstrated that evening involved precisely this combination. The same lady remarked that more than any of the other demonstrators that evening I was able to use the waist to lead my actions, but couldn't work out the reason for this.
She didn't work out that the waist, no, the body movement was first in one direction then the other, one Yin, one Yang; that if you only train to redirect then you can only redirect. Just like my outraged Dutch friend who thought it was enough to teach his students the soft aspects of Tai Chi Chuan and when things didn't work out for his gentle students, branded my students as violent thugs.
Fortunately the judges in the forms competition gave the lie to this when they judged Godfrey Dornelly, one of my best students, winner of the forms competition against more than 40 competitors from many styles and various countries.
Not everyone is a Rennaissance man like Godfrey. Most Tai Chi people only practice the Yin aspects and many haven't even learned these properly. Some Tai Chi people only practice the Yang aspects and so only possess qualities resulting from this type of training.
For example when I was in Hong Kong in 1991 for their International Pushing Hands Championships, one of the Mainland Chinese coaches told me that his young charges only trained in competition pushing hands and conditioning such as weightlifting and that there was a separate association for forms training.
I try, not always successfully, to make every student something of a Renaissance man by making them train all aspects of Tai Chi Chuan. The Hong Kong Chinese couldn't beat the tough young professionals from the Mainland; my best people, my Renaissance men, could.
I suppose that when you've been around for a while, it's inevitable that you develop some kind of reputation, for better or for worse. It's natural for us to view the words and deeds of people whom we like in a positive light and the words and deeds of those whom we dislike in a negative light.
For example, recently when I was teaching in Dublin I got negative feedback from two different sources. The one source said that I'd closed a lot of martial arts schools. The other said that I was a violent psychopath. As Britain's greatest poet had it ,
"O Wad some Pow'r the giftie gie us
To see ourselves as others see us!"
The reality is that the only other schools that I've visited are ones which have invited me to teach; I don't think any of these have subsequently closed as a result of my visits. As for being a psychopath, well there may be some truth in that, but I'm only violent when violence is required and in any case nobody's perfect.
So let's be soft when it's appropriate; let's be hard when it's appropriate. If we are cicadas and doves, let's behave like cicadas and doves and not criticise Peng for behaving like Peng. If we are Peng, let's not be afraid to migrate to the Southern Ocean when the time comes. Let's be true to our own nature.