Tai-Chi太极拳

卜杭宾

Its been three years since I learned the rudiments 1 of the Tai-Chi “forms，” as theyre called. Slow-motion kung fu—thats probably the best way to describe what Tai-Chi looks like. But its not primarily a martial art. Its a series of continuously shifting stances2 which the mass and energy of the body flow through with serene slow-motion grace.

Tai-Chi is better than yoga because yoga is a series of static forms， the isometrics3 of energy exercises， while Tai-Chi is constant movement and flow. It offers the experience of moving muscular grace rather than the mere statuelike “correct postures” of yoga. I know yoga addicts will howl at4 this， but its true. Tai-Chi will give the spinal column， joints and ligaments5 the same limberness6 and resilience7 as yoga but without all that cross-legged sitting around.

In addition yoga sessions tend to leave you so relaxed and blissed out8 that youre ready for a nap， while Tai-Chi relaxes and energizes—its more of an upper9 than a downer10 among Eastern exercises.

Tai-Chi offers you more than weight lifting. It builds the strength and resilience of the muscles from the inside out rather than just piling lumps of tissue on top. Tai-Chi in a way is like lifting weights internally—it strengthens the body by lifting and shifting ones own weight. And it shifts more than weight; it moves harmonizing energy through your body in the way the stressful straining of weight lifting will not. This energy the Chinese call chi， and instead of “pumping iron，” Tai-Chi has the effect of systematically pumping chi throughout the body.

Tai-Chi offers more than the specifically therapeutic “bioenergetic” type exercises11 that have become popular in various forms of the human-potential movement， although some of those are based on Tai-Chi principles of centering and activating growth energy. Tai-Chi acts more subtly on the whole body rather than attacking specific physical and emotional complexes with the often dramatic， tearful and painful results of bioenergetics and rolfing12.

The only problem with recommending Tai-Chi so highly—also a problem with writing about it—is that you cant learn it from a book， you cant really describe it in words—you have to see it in action. You have to learn it from a live teacher and not from stop-action still photographs of the exotically named “forms.” Because its the movement from one form to another， the motion rather than the postures， that is the essence of the exercise.

There are several different schools or styles of Tai-Chi， but the important thing is not the denomination13 of your Tai-Chi teacher but whether hes able to communicate the feeling of what youre looking for.

You need an inspiring teacher because the learning can seem strange and mechanical at first， and it takes a while before the grace emerges in your own movements. At first its hard to remember all the steps and hand movements that you have to make for the transition. The connections seem arbitrary.

But if you practice it daily， slowly step by step， eventually the movements begin to lose their formal mechanistic quality. They seem to have a flowing liquid muscular logic to them; each one grows out of the other. Each becomes inevitable， satisfying， graceful， just. Your mind becomes more absorbed by the movements and they seem to propel themselves as you fill and empty one form after another.

Its hard to explain the purpose of the slow-motion movement through the exotic forms but an oceanic metaphor helps.

If you imagine rows of ocean waves rolling toward a shore， think of the body as the mass rolling its liquid weight through the rising and falling wave forms of the Tai-Chi movements. Indeed there is something oceanic about the deeply satisfying rhythms of Tai-Chi movement. People who meditate and are used to achieving the experience by keeping the body still and rising up through the mind will be pleasantly surprised by the way Tai-Chi allows the body to become the ground of meditation， the site of transcendence14 rather than something to be escaped from. People familiar with Taoism will discover that Tai-Chi incarnates15 Taoist principles in the flesh， that it is a way to the consciousness described in the Tao Te Ching of Laotze. Yoga students will be amazed that the prana16， or life energy， can be evoked and propelled throughout the body by the exercises.

Tai-Chi communicates a sense of purposefulness to the other areas of life， a sense of the way to gather energy， concentrate， direct and fulfill it in movement.

Tai-Chi can take the jangling17 discordant mental electricity of nervous energy， anxiety and stress and channel it through the passageways of the body， transmuting18 it into harmonious and useful energy.

It can center you， get you back in touch with your body， gradually break up neurotic character armorings and all those things bioenergetic therapies focus on. Its better than Valium19 for tension and works more quickly.

It will subtly， gradually but permanently transform your internal musculature20 so that your breathing and posture will naturally fulfill their greatest potential for energy and power. Even the very act of walking becomes a newly pleasurable experience of rising from and sinking into the propulsive forces of your body.

No， its not a panacea21， but as people get more sophisticated about their physical highs22， looking less to drugs and more to the potentials of the body as a source of transcendence， Tai-Chi has a lot of unique advantages.               ■

我学习所谓的基础太极拳“招式”已经三年。慢速功夫可能是描述太极拳样态的最佳用词。但太极拳本质上不是一种武术。它是一系列不断变化的姿势;身体的质量和能量以平静慢速的优雅流通其中。

太极拳优于瑜伽，因为瑜伽是一系列静态姿势，是关于能量练习的静力锻炼法，而太极拳是不断的运动和流动。它提供了一种优雅的肌肉运动体验，而非像瑜伽那样只是雕像般的“正确姿势”。我知道瑜伽爱好者会怒吼反对，但事实的确如此。太极拳能像瑜伽那样让脊柱、关节、韧带变得柔韧、有弹性，但不用像瑜伽那样盘腿坐。

此外，瑜伽练习容易让你感到放松愉悦，以致昏昏欲睡，而太极拳则既能讓人放松，又使人精力充沛——在东方人的锻炼活动中，它更多的是让人兴奋而非加以抑制。

比起举重，太极拳给人更多裨益。太极拳由内而外增强肌肉的力量和弹性，而非只是在上层猛力堆积组织块。某种程度上，太极拳就像内在的举重——通过提举和转移自身重量强健身体。它转移的不只是重量;它让起调和作用的能量在体内运动，这是举重运动压力巨大的拉伸所做不到的。中国人称这种能量为“气”;与“举重强健肌肉”不同，太极拳将“气”系统地注入体内，使其流贯全身。

特定的“生物能量”治疗锻炼以各种形式的人类潜能运动而盛行，尽管其中一些以太极拳聚气和运气的原则为基础，但太极拳带来的好处超过那类治疗锻炼。生物能量疗法和罗尔芬按摩疗法能够解决特定的身体与情绪问题，但常常带来流泪、痛苦等强烈效果;太极拳则不是那样，而是更微妙地作用于全身。

如此强烈推荐太极拳的唯一问题——也是写文章谈太极拳的一个问题——就是你不能从书本上学，你无法真正用文字描述它——你必须在动作中去看。你必须现场跟老师学，而不是跟逐格拍摄、命名奇异的“招式”静态照片学。因为太极拳是从一式到另一式的运动，是动作而非姿势，那才是这项拳术的本质。

太极拳有几种不同的派别和风格，但重要的不是太极拳老师的派别，而是他能否传达你在寻找的那种感觉。

你需要一个启发能力强的老师，因为学习太极拳可能一开始看似奇怪、呆板，需假以时日，你自己的动作才会变得优雅。一开始很难记住所有招式之间过渡的步法和手势。它们之间的连接似乎是随意的。

但如果你每天练习，一步步慢慢练，这些动作最终会开始褪去其拘谨、呆板的特性。肌肉似乎找到了流畅的运动规律，一招一式环环相扣。每个动作都变得顺理成章、圆满舒畅、优雅平稳、恰到好处。这些动作会让你的意念更加专注，随着不断地蓄力放力，招式会行云流水般自动推进。

很难通过太极拳的奇异招式来解释这项慢速运动的目的，但是以海洋打比方会有所帮助。

如果想象层层海浪向海岸奔涌而来的样子，那就把身体看作海浪般的质量体，其液态体重随着太极拳招式的起伏不断翻涌。太极拳令人心怡的节奏中的确具有某种海洋的特质。有些人习惯通过保持身体静止、达到意念跃升的方式进行冥想，而太极拳则将身体变成冥想之所、超验之地，而非某种要逃避之物，这会让冥想的人喜出望外。熟悉道家的人会发现，太极拳可谓道家思想的化身，它通向老子《道德经》中所描述的思维境界。练瑜伽的人会感到惊诧，太极拳可以唤醒和推动全身的生命能量（梵语为prana）。

太极拳向人生的其他领域传递一种目标意识，感受如何聚焦能量并在运动中集中、引导和利用能量。

太极拳可以抓住紧张、焦虑、压力这些令人烦躁且不甚协调的情绪，引导它穿过身体的各个通道，将其转化为和谐而有用的能量。

太极拳可以让你集中于自身，重新了解身体，逐渐破除神经质型性格防御，摆脱生物能量疗法所关注的全部事物。这比安定剂还适合减压，起效更快。

太极拳会微妙地、逐渐但永久地转变内在肌肉系统，这样呼吸和姿势自然而然会发挥其潜在的最大能量和力量。即便只是走路，也会成为新的愉悦体验，感受身体各种推力带动步伐的起落。

不，太极拳不是万灵药，但当人们越来越了解身体的最佳状态，越来越不仰仗药物，而是更多地依靠各种身体潜能来获得超脱感，那么太极拳便具有很多独特的优势。     □

（译者为“《英语世界》杯”翻译大赛获奖者）