MASTERY

Two years ago I passed my last Taiji test with my teacher, Dr. Yang,Jwing-Ming. I achieved the Mastery level and Dr. Yang, thereby became Grandmaster. Both rankings were well earned. Dr.Yang has been teaching around the world for almost 40 years. I had been training in Martial Arts for 35 years to the day prior to that test. Many students have asked me to recall the testing experience. So, rather than repeat it many times, here it is.
Testing with Dr. Yang is a unique experience. From my first test, I knew that the promotion process with my Teacher was rich with information from within myself and especially from my Master. Dr. Yang could see me clearly and reported his findings accurately and without hesitation. All I needed to do was to prepare myself fully and go for it. Whether I passed or not, the results provided me invaluable feedback for my continued practice. Of note, I am sure I failed many more tests than anyone else. However, though initially I may have felt varying degrees of negativity with failing, I would eventually feel more inspiration and better direction in my training.
All of my testing with Dr. Yang has involved some level of psycho-emotional jousting with various surprises occurrring spontaneously. Sometimes my Teacher could uproot me and sometimes I was able to bump up to the next level.
Hence, upon attempting to pay for what was my last testing fee, Dr. Yang stated, "I thought you already passed all the levels." Undaunted, I replied, "No, I still have one more area to test." He checked his book, agreed, and smiled. As usual, I waited for all others to test and then was called out. At that moment, Dr. Yang (surprise #2) stated that he wanted me to spar one of our senior students. He wanted a complete integration of Taiji neutralizing with chin na, punching, kicking, and wrestling counters. Bill Buckley, a burly, aggressive, athletic life-long Martial Artist volunteered to be my antagonist. Though I wondered how I was to handle this challenge properly, I could feel myself drop into a meditative state upon Bill's initial attack. I was in a "no-mind" state throughout Bill's forays. I only regained normal consciousness at each new start/stop point. When Dr. Yang called a halt to the process, I found myself holding Bill upside down by the head and crotch. We laughed and I rolled Bill through unscathed.
Internally I was aware that I had executed at a level commensurate with Mastery. However, I have no conscious memory of the process. I only recall those transition points and the fact that Bill ended up drenched in sweat, panting, and exhausted. I was relaxed, breathing easily and had no sweat. Dr. Yang, with uncharacteristic enthusiasm, emphasized these results and stated, "this was what I wanted to see." I asked him if I passed. He smiled and said yes. It was a classic YMAA moment, first student to Mastery, no fanfare. That is why I have been with YMAA since 1989.