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When performing Tai Chi, it should be perfect, allow no defect. The form should be smooth with no unevenness, and continuous, allowing no interruptions.
The Tai Chi form should aim to be performed perfectly. In order to be smooth even and continuous, one must be totally immersed in the movement of the form. Interruptions may be actions by other people causing the practitioner of the form to be distracted, or it may be more mental distractions such as thoughts appearing in the mind which cause us to remove ourselves from the ‘immersed’ state of being completely absorbed by movement of the form. These can be termed interruptions, or defects.
This principle can be applied in everyday life. When engaged in a task or in a situation, it is best to be totally involved in that situation, in the ‘Here & Now’. Thoughts entering our heads which cause us to identify with events in the past or future take us away from the experience of being in the present. This is a cause of unevenness and a lack of smoothness in our actions. Allowing the ‘Here & Now’ to be in the centre of our thoughts ultimately improves our level of correct discernment of events and actions in our surroundings.
Smoothness and continuity are properties of curves and circular motion. The techniques of Tai Chi are based on evasion and counter attack, (sometimes together). This can only be done if one is flowing and circular in their actions. Tai Chi when correctly practised does not fight force against force. This is the same as Nature which is cyclical in its existence. Tai Chi adheres to the principles of nature, and does not try to fight them.
Again in ordinary life, this is an important lesson in survival so as not to get hung up on individual thoughts which we may not be able to overcome, rather to see them for what they are and move around them. We may use the notion of moving smoothly in our daily lives so as not to come up against ‘brick walls’ of thoughts from which we cannot easily escape given our frame of mind at the time. A person who can be flexible and adaptable in their thoughts will less likely be caught up in linear thought patterns which will lead to disjointedness in their lives.
To be smooth and even means having to rely less on the self and more to the nature of what we are. The craving of the ego is constantly trying to take us back to a past emotion or forward to a future imagination based on its interpretations. This causes disjointedness and interruptions as it is ultimately not the correct interpretation of any given situation. There is always a taint of future or past involved. To be really smooth and even without interruptions, is to give up the attachment to the self identity as reality, and accept the smoothness of uninterrupted nature.