Dim Mak and Tai Chi Pushing Hands - feasibility, applicability

Dim Mak and Tai Chi Pushing Hands

By John Chow, of Tao of Tai Chi Chuan Institute, Melbourne, Australia.

Dim Mak (Tian Xue – “Striking at the Blood Vessels”) is the Chinese art of striking certain parts of the body, within a system of human biological time to produce paralysing, debilitating, incapacitating, or even fatal results to the victims.

Tai Chi Push Hands is a safe practice that emphasises effortless manoeuvres of pushing, shoving, pulling, unbalancing, tripping, etc.

This short article discusses the viability or applicability of Dim Mak in Tai Chi Push Hands practice.

Tai Chi Push Hands practice is essentially a safe method to practise the martial techniques of Tai Chi Chuan. In short, these are the 13 Postures, which comprises:-

· Ward Off

· Roll Back

· Press

· Push

· Elbow strike

· Shoulder strike

· Splitting

· Pulling Down

· Advancing

· Retreating

· Turing Right

· Turning Left

The idea behind Tai Chi Push Hands is have contact with one’s partner so that one may sense the partner’s intentions, and the force, direction, speed etc. of his attack. Sensitivity is developed to such a high degree that the instant an attack is launch, it is immediately detected and the appropriate response is enacted to neutralise it, and an appropriate counter attack is launched. The attack may be a push, trip, sweep, punch, kick, or any type of strike. A skilled Tai Chi Push Hands practitioner will be able to instantly sense and repel any fist or foot attack and the attack will be thrown back several feet, sometimes violently. The more forceful, powerful and aggressive the attack, the more forceful and powerful and violent the repulsion because the repulsion is actually a re-direction of the attacker’s force, with a little additional force from the defender.

It is thus unwise to attack a Tai Chi Chuan expert with brute force.

External Shaolin, on the other hand, relies on techniques, and thus is dependant on striking with fist, foot. Elbows, knees, palm, fingers, knuckles and other parts of the body. Practitioners train also in striking sandbags etc. in order to harden their body parts. They train in speed and power to block and strike at heir opponents in order to overcome them. They also have specialised striking techniques. One such specialised technique is Dim Mak.

Traditional folklore says that there are some conditions for Dim Mak to work. Some of these that I have heard of are:-

· Great power of the strike: sufficient power to penetrate and block and seal off the blood vessels so that a either a big blood clot is formed to block blood supply or the nerves are damaged.

· Great Speed of the strike: aid in delivering the force of the strike as well as to prevent the victim from seeing the strike and having the opportunity to move the target area away. Certain Shaolin styles, such as Zhu Jia Praying Mantis have amazingly fast and power snappy strikes for Dim Mak.

· Hard surface of the striking implement (the fingers or the knuckles): so that there is no “give” when the target is being struck.

· Strength and toughness of the striking implement: the fingers or knuckles must be strong and be able to deliver powerful strikes.

· Accuracy of the strike: because the target may be as small as 1 cm in diameter.

· Time of the day: attacking the energy that travel in the body organs and acupuncture channels at their weakest time, the practitioner must know which points correspond to which organs and channels.

· Angle of striking: even if all the above conditions are met, if the point is struck at the wrong angle, it is not effective.

· Combination set up: must strike other points to set up the blood pressure and neurological impulse before the main target is struck.

Failing to meet any of the conditions may mean failure to obtain the desired result.

Not much is known about Dim Mak and there is a myth and secrecy surrounding it until George Dillman and Rick Clark exposed the art to the world by openly teaching it in workshops around the world. They proved that Dim Mak does exist and can work. They especially used Dim Mak to stun a willing partner to “unconsciousness”. A Tai Chi Chuan by the name of Erle Montaigue then followed after their footsteps.

However, as far is known, it appears that both George Dillman and Rick Clark, for all their skills, were able to demonstrate quite easily how they can knock a willing, non-moving, and usually fixed partner unconscious. It is not known whether they can just as easily demonstrate against a living and moving partner, especially a real attacker. This is because the points to hit in Dim Mak may be very small, and the target is moving, so it is difficult to hit the target. In addition, the target must present itself at the right place, and at the right angle.

Let me put it this way:- I would have enough trouble trying to defend myself and trying to hit a target as big as another human being, so I would have even more trouble trying to hit a moving and living human being, and even more trouble setting up my points hich involve hitting his hands and arms which can move very fast, and very much alive, and even more difficulty trying to hit specific points in a series, points which may be as small as 1 cm in diameter – all moving!!!!

I conclude that I would have difficulty in applying Dim Mak in actual combat application (except in cases where the attacker does not move or is pinned down in a fixed position where he does not move readily). Perhaps other martial arts practitioners can have better luck with Dim Mak.

The same situation applies to tai Chi Push Hands. Both practitioners are moving. Both are sensing each other and very sensitive. The moment one practitioner attacks to move, the details of his movements are already known and neutralised. Strikes, especially those strikes which are forceful (such as Dim Mak strikes which need to be forceful) are easily detected and neutralised. Therefore, Dim Mak in Tai Chi Push Hands is not practical.

In fact, I have not heard of any Tai Chi Push Hands practice in which the practitioners strike each other’s Dim Mak points.

John Chow,

Tao of Tai Chi Chuan Institute,

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.