Divide and Conquer - the Tai Chi "Split Energy" of Lie Jin

Divide and Conquer - the Taiji "Split Energy" of Lie Jin

Uncategorized Mar 24, 2026

Let's continue to explore the "energies" with Lie Jin, also known as "Split Energy."

Lie is pronounced like the name "Leah." Since I'm from Kentucky, I generally just say "Split energy." :)

Remember, an energy is more accurately described as a “refined method of dealing with an opponent’s force.”

It's easy to think that Lie Jin means you take one part of the opponent one way and another part of his body a different way to disrupt his structure.

That is correct, but that is the result, not the engine that drives Split energy. So let’s get under the hood.

“Lie” is usually translated as "split, rend, or tear apart." That doesn’t mean you’re ripping something apart, though.

Lie Jin is rotational force applied asymmetrically.

It’s spiral vs. structure.

When you use Lie Jin, the opponent is broken because his body can’t rotate as a single unit anymore.

Lie happens when:

** One segment of his body is invited into one spiral,

** Another segment is quietly led into a different spiral

** His center can’t reconcile the two directions.

** Gravity finishes the process and he is on the ground.

Let’s take a look at one great example of Split Energy in a posture from Yang style Taiji – “Part the Wild Horse’s Mane.” It's also similar to an application from "Single Whip."

See the first picture below.

I step behind my opponent, often after deflecting and grabbing his punching arm, I block his leg with my leg, then I rotate my upper body, with my Dan T’ien connected to my arm and everything connected to the ground in my rear leg, and I rotate my center and close into the kua closest to my opponent.

My forward leg puts outward pressure on his leg by pressing into the back of his leg, while the rotational force of my upper body presses his upper body backwards. He has nowhere to go but down. See the next picture.

Peng provides the frame. Lie is the wrench.

So one side of my body is borrowing the ground and the other side is redirecting my opponent’s ground. My rotation is diagonal.

Lie Jin creates incompatible directions inside his body. In doing so, I control his center.

Philosophically speaking, “Unity survives rotation. Division collapses under it.”

Another example of Lie Jin is when I catch a kick and push his torso. I pull the leg toward my center and push his torso backward. He has to go down. You divide his body and it collapses. You remove the agreement that his body is making with gravity.

My opponent’s leg is saying “forward.” His center was saying “turn back.” That contradiction is Lie Jin in its pure form. You create incompatible instructions inside your opponent's body.

If someone throws a kick and I grab his leg with one hand and push his chest with the other, I am creating a Lie Jin situation and he must fall.

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Divide and Conquer - the Taiji "Split Energy" of Lie Jin

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