The 8 gates is something I have written about before and consists of peng, lu, ji, an, lie, zai, zhou, kou. You can read more about the Tai Chi 8 energies or gates here. In the Tai Chi classics it is said that the Eight Gates (or energies/Jins) together with the Five Directions make up the “13 postures. “

The 13 postures, or “shisanshi” is also an older name of Tai Chi Chuan itself. However, the five steps are not postures or techniques. So in my own opinion, it would be better here to translate the 13 postures to “the 13 principles”. And in fact, not even the 8 gates or “jins” are anything near fixed methods, but rather general ideas and principles that can be applied as methods or together with specific techniques.

The 5 steps in Tai Chi Chuan

The five steps are: 進步 (Jìnbù)、退步 (tuìbù)、左顧 (zuǒ gù)、右盼 (yòu pàn)、中定(zhōng dìng). Or in english they are: “Advance”, “retreat”, “look to the right”, “gaze to the left” and “central equilibrium”. In the Tai Chi Classics it says that “the 5 steps correspond to the the five elements: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth.”

In Chinese tradition, directions in general are mostly referred to the geographical directions North, South, East and West, and the fifth “direction”, which is the Middle, or Zhong. So it is clear that the 5 steps corresponds to traditional way of dealing with 5 directions. In Chinese tradition, the 5 directions, even if the geographical names are used, are often meant as subjective directions which means that they are often not absolute to the geographical directions, but instead relative to your own, or an object’s placement in space.

So when you look at old maps, buildings or constructional drawings “North” does not always represent the geographical direction, but often just means forward, the point to where something is directed towards. This can be seen on old military maps as well as in more modern manuals on taolu (form) and qigong type of exercises. Here, the directions traditionally means where the individuals are heading and the space around them.

If you would interpret north as actually the North and south as the actual South, in such a manual, the directions you use would be wrong. You would get a wrong appreciation of how you move in space. And this is the reason why people believe that you should start your form or qigong practice facing in a certain direction. This mostly have to do with a mistake coming from the wrong understanding that the directions would actually correspond with the real, geographical directions.

Doing this kind of mistake is very much removed in Tai Chi Chuan by calling the directions “steps” and naming the 5 steps “forward”, “back”, “left”, etc instead of the geographical directions. But as Tai Chi theory as represented in the Tai Chi classics, is very much derived from older thought as military strategy, you can still learn a lot about the five steps by getting to know how directions were understood in Chinese traditional thought.

So what is in the middle?

So let’s take a look at the center, the “zhong” of the Chinese 5 directions represented by “earth”. In Tai Chi Chuan, the center is called “zhongding”, but as a traditional direction, the middle is just called “zhong” or middle. Historically speaking, the Chinese are often accused for believing that their country is the centre of the world. After all, China is called “Zhonggou”, or “the Middle Kingdom”. Well, in fact “guo” just mean “country” and many different countries as England, France, Germany and America all have “guo” in their Chinese equivalent names.

In reality, the name of Zhongguo, or the “middle country” is just a consequence of the way that the Chinese traditionally look at directions as something subjective. The name “Zhongguo” actually just means the country where you are resining in for the moment or were you live. The other countries around your own country are “wai” or “waiguo” which means outside your own country. “Waiguoren”, by the way, is the common word for “foreigners” in Chinese.

But your own country, regardless you live in China, England France or in a country as Egypt, is your own “zhongguo”, your own “middle country”. Because it means the country where you are or where you live. This is the real and very simple explanation of the name “middle kingdom”, which we have translated to “China”.

Central Equilibrium explained

However in Tai Chi, the centre is called “Zhongding” and not only “zhong”, or “middle”. In Tai Chi Chuan “zhongding” is mostly translated to “central equilibrium”. These two characters together, “zhong” and “ding” means centralisation and it has the notion of “calmness”. It means that something is still or perfectly in place in one spot. The word with those two characters “zhong” and “ding” together has the connotation of “fitting in” and that other things are organised around a center.

Zhongding is an old expression, but we can find this constellation of the same two characters in the modern language as well. In the modern Chinese language we can find “zhongding” in various fields as in chemistry as “中定剂”, a translation of the English “centralite.” In an older, traditional expression we can find it in “姻缘命中定”, or “marriage comes by destiny”.

“Zhongding” means the place where you are centered in space, and that you are centered in one spot. However, the zhongding also determines all of your own directions. If you go back and forth or move to the left, you are still organising your directions in the same manner, or in keeping the same directions. Your own forward is still your forward.

How to make use of zhongding

However, if you turn around your own centre line, facing another direction, thus establishing new directions, you have made use of “zhongding”. You have “ding”, or centered yourself so that your “zhong” or center faces a new direction.

So zhongding means where you are in space, and how your directions are organised. But using zhongding means to move in space so that you establish a new set of directions. If you are heading one opponent in front of you and one to the left, and first take care of the opponent in front of you, and then turn your body facing the second opponent, you have moved and established a new center with new directions.

Just “gaze” to the left, but stay in place

However, if you only turn to the left with your body to deflect an incoming attack from the second opponent, or adjust your posture to the left in order to prepare to defend yourself from another attack, but still maintain your main posture and keep your feet in the same place facing your opponent forward, you have “gazed to the left.”

So “gazing left” and “looking right” means that you have made use of your left or right, or adjusted yourself in a predatory manner. But still, your main direction haven’t changed as you haven’t turned and moved around your central axis.

So this is the reason why the 5 steps doesn’t say just “left” and right”, but “look” and “gaze” together with the two directions. If you have been facing forward and move to the right so you now face the right side, thus establishing new directions to move within, this is not considered “look right”, and instead, this is considered using the “zhongding”, or establishing new directions.

Combining gates and steps

There are a few ways that the 13 Gates and 5 Steps can be combined. The first four “gates”, or peng, lü, ji, an, can be performed against an opponent without moving yourself physically in space. However, if you meet your opponent’s fist or attack with any of these four methods, as with peng or with lu, and you would want to follow up these movements with the secondary “Gates” or “jins”, as attacking with elbow or shoulder, you would need to move yourself in space.

There are other ways to use the 5 gates to organise your strategy against one or multiple opponents, but we will leave that for another time. In general, the 5 gates in combination of the 13 gates can help you in an intellectual way with things as how to organise your strategies, how to structure down different types of techniques, and how you deal with the space between you and your opponent. However, if you don’t like thinking too much or del with the theoretical, intellectual side of the art of Tai Chi Chuan, there is no real necessity to take up time and make too much effort thinking about the implications of the “13 Gates”.

It is always important to understand what you do and be clear about how to make most use of your opportunities in a real combat situation. And in Tai Chi Chuan the “13 principles” might be helpful to understand them better. However, a name is still just a name.