The thirteen postures.

The whole art reduces to thirteen: eight gates 八門 and five steps 五步.

The gates are the ways force is met and redirected; the steps are the ways the ground is used. Everything in the form is a combination of these — which is why the thirteen are learned as a vocabulary rather than as thirteen more things to remember.

The four primary hands sit at the cardinal points and the four corner hands on the diagonals. The five steps sit inside them, because footwork is what makes any of the eight available.

The four gates in cinnabar are the primary hands; the four in celadon are the corner hands. 中定 sits at the hub the other four turn on.

Eight gates 八門

掤Péng

Ward off. Expanding, buoyant structure.

捋Lǚ

Roll back. Leading force past you.

擠Jǐ

Press. Filling the space that opens.

按Àn

Push. Sinking, then issuing.

採Cǎi

Pluck. A sharp downward draw.

挒Liè

Split. Two forces, opposite directions.

肘Zhǒu

Elbow. Close range, short power.

靠Kào

Shoulder. Whole-body contact.

Five steps 五步

進Jìn

Advance.

退Tuì

Withdraw.

顧Gù

Attend to the left.

盼Pàn

Attend to the right.

中定Zhōngdìng

Central equilibrium. The hub the other four turn on.

In practice

Learned in the body, not off the page

Listing them is easy and misleading. Each of the eight is a way the whole body organises itself, not a hand shape — you can be doing a recognisable 掤 with your arms and nothing at all with the rest of you. Push hands is where they get tested, because a partner will not cooperate with a posture that only looks right.

中定, central equilibrium, is listed with the steps but is really the condition of all thirteen. Lose it and the other twelve stop being available, whatever the arms are doing.

See the timetable Back to T'ai Chi Ch'uan