The Decreasing Relevance of Online Forums

When I first began reading and posting on rec.martial-arts in the early 1990s, I saw online forums as a way for martial artists to explore and make sense of Chinese martial arts paradigms, and to connect with like-minded people. I didn’t expect to encounter so many people disillusioned with kung fu itself and who had “moved on” to other things.

As Usenet faded, I moved to other forums: Empty Flower, the Yang Family Tai Chi forum, Kung Fu Magazine forum, and more recently, MartialTalk. Although, I spent the most time on Rumsoaked Fist. There is a lot of good information posted there. Also a lot of garbage. Mostly garbage, by people who are pretending. But in comparison to rec.martial-arts, it’s a goldmine. However by late 2024, things began to change. I couldn’t believe my own eyes, but it became clear to me that AI tools like ChatGPT were being used to fake expertise in arts like Tai Chi. For me this was the last straw.

Of course, there have always been people who pretended to be good at Tai Chi or who misrepresented their martial art as Tai Chi in order to make money. But in this new era, misinformation wa louder, more confident, and more often wrong. Unlike before when people were earnestly trying to understand Tai Chi, today’s voices declare how it works, often contradicting one another. I believe it represents a generational shift. Something fundamental has changed in the community.

Back in the ‘70s and ‘80s, the Kung Fu craze left many disappointed due to a lack of authentic training, which eventually led to the rise of MMA. Many of those disillusioned students became today’s kung-fu skeptics and Chi-deniers. But the Tai Chi generation that followed had its own failure—those who practiced Tai Chi without believing or understanding Chi. This opened the door to distorted theories and false lineages. Groups like Taoist Tai Chi and modern push hands competitors, who often practice something that’s not really Tai Chi at all, are the fruits of what happened, not the cause. I don’t blame them, I pity them.

Today, that confusion is deeper than ever. Fundamental misunderstandings like equating wu wei with passivity, or mistaking mental void for meditation are promoted as wisdom. And forums I once respected have become irrelevant, either inactive or filled with misinformation. Often, the loudest voices are from people practicing something else entirely. Usually someone claiming MMA, hard weight training, or some other valid practice like Reiki, Feldenkrais or Wim Hof trying to pass themselves off as a Tai Chi expert. That’s not to dismiss a other arts; it’s just that Yoga isn’t Tai Chi, and vice versa.

Yes, we all know “fighting matters.” But not every school trains the same way. And now, many who spent decades on a misguided path are realizing they’ve come up empty and they’re looking for someone to blame. The truth? They were told. I was told by my sifu. So why weren’t others? The painful answer is: they were. But they didn’t listen. And today, the people who didn’t listen are the new experts. I fear that this is the last generational mistake before the end. When today’s MMA and progressive weightlifting crowd realizes they’ve failed (give them another 5-10 years) there will be nowhere left for them to turn.

Ultimately, the failure arises out of a lack of Wu De. Wu De is not “being a good person”. It is the code underwriting the internal arts. This is why it is said that the civil must be together with the martial, and it is why it is said that one needs a high level of wu de to learn high level martial arts.

If you care about Tai Chi Kung Fu, and you recognize the importance of Wu De, you will need to study it in order to learn about it. The answer is found in the four books.

There are many sets of “four books”. One is commonly called the Tai Chi classics. I don’t mean that, although you must also read them to understand Tai Chi in general.

I also do not mean just the Tao Te Ching, I Ching, Huangdi Neijing, and Transmission of the Lamp (for which the Blue Cliff Record can substitute in a pinch). Those are excellent books which you must also read in order to get a grounding in the Chinese philosophy which underpins the internal arts. Many people will say that one or more of these books are “must-reads”. Well, sure, they all have great things you can learn which will help your Tai Chi. But they do not teach Wu De.

The four books you are missing, the ones which are really important, are the four books that define Wu De. I’m talking about the Four Books that begin with the Da Xue (Great Learning). This is not Wu De from a dry, critical academic standpoint. It is Wu De in practice, it is practical, and it will directly inform your training.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 36 Commentary

Bend before breaking,
Weigh before bending,
Enter before Weighing,
and don’t think about seizing;
It’s a subtle insight,
four ounces defeat a thousand pounds.

Like a fish hidden in deep waters,
the final chapter needs not be revealed.

–(Tao Te Ching Chapter 36)

All famous translations I have checked seem to botch this chapter. They give a direct translation, which disjoints the first and second parts of the chapter. Examples abound; Leary, DT Suzuki, Leggae, Lin Yutang, even Red Pine, none of them seem to understand the author’s intention is to convey what the subtle insight is to the reader.

Spoiler alert, the subtle insight is not “the weak defeats the strong”. That is, rather, an effect — or, enabled by — the understanding and application of the subtle insight.

For example, which translation explains the nature of the imagery of the fish in a deep pool of water (not merely in “a pool of water”, but a “deep pool”)? It is like water moved by an unseen fish; the fish cannot leave the pool, but nonetheless it’s effect is seen from outside. I think catching that fish goes a great way towards making a meal out of the subtle insight of Chapter 36. Another harmonious proverb is the story of the doctor who treats people before they get sick.

Here I have rewritten the chapter to apply to traditional martial arts such as Tai Chi, or Aikido, in an attempt to point out this “subtle insight.”