Delving into the Ultimate Mysteries of the Tai Chi Sword
It is a loser as far as weapons go. Thin and underweight, it is not able to take the bashing of force like a full grown sabre would. Having curve only at the tip, it is not able to slice through mighty armor as would a legendary samurai sword.
Yet, in the skinny of that slight blade is the strength of the soul. And in the lack of cutting curve is the art of the True Martial Artist. Indeed, for the true artist, the tai chi sword may be the ultimate weapon, and the ultimate means of achieving a warriors goals.
Skinny, it is light and quick, more like a knitting needle than a sword. Yet a knitting needle carves the most beautiful garments. And to watch knitting needles in the hands of a practiced granny is to see the twinkling of art come alive.
Down the length of steel the tip curves, a mere inch of cutting surface. Yet, who among us has not experienced the scratch of needle tip. Indeed, a mere scratch can leave jagged wound that is unwilling to readily heal.
The real point here is that such a fine and delicate tool as the tai chi sword is not meant for bashing or massive slicing any more than a doctors scalpel is meant for pounding in nails or sawing beams of wood. It is meant for sliding in past the guard and tickling in behind the swing, and…tipping. It is meant for the delicate move which comes in under, past and over the mighty swing of the basher and the cutter.
A delicate insertion of the wicked, little tip, a quick flick of the firm and practiced wrist, and the aims of the warrior are attained. This art, this true art, is an appreciation of the sphere of space surrounding true warrior. This appreciation of space is truly at the heart of all martial arts.
Bashers and cutters, not to be disrespectful, are but fence painters, splashing their liquids indiscriminately, and ruling by dint of whatever force they can muster. The wielder of the slight and skinny tai chi sword, however, is a doctor, an artist, and a sculptor. He rules by by dint of his endeavors to seek and make flourish intelligence.
For he who parries and thrusts with the tai chi sword must hold sway by exercising the intelligence to perceive the true geometries of the world, and thus undo, the ruthlessness of the cutter and the force of the basher. He must cut under and over brute force with intelligence to prove that he is equal to and better. And within his strivings are the heart of the artist, the accomplishment of the unique individual, and the manifestation of the true art.
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