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                                                               THE ROOTS OF TAI CHI

Tai chi is rooted in the rich soil of ancient Chinese thought, which is based on observing the way things work in nature.  The art embodies the concept of continuous change from one extreme to the other as expressed in the ancient book of wisdom, the I Ching, “When the sun has reached its meridian, it declines, and when the moon has become full, it wanes.”

Tai chi stems from the ancient philosophy of Taoism, which arose at a time when China’s earliest martial traditions were emerging, among agricultural peoples whose lives were frequently disrupted by wars waged by contending states;  and it was founded on the principle of following the natural way or Tao - the ancient philosophy of Taoism.

The origins of tai chi are hidden among the myths and legends of China’s ancient history.  The first written records of tai chi practice do not appear until the end of the first millennium C.E.  However, the art is known to have developed perhaps a thousand years earlier by Taoist recluses who retreated from the world to mountain hermitages where they contemplated the meaning of action by studying nature.

Taoism is an ancient Chinese system of thought which attempts to understand the laws governing change in the universe.  By acting in a way that accords with the laws governing change, one might escape entanglement in the evil consequences of change.  The Tao or Way is therefore the way the universe works, the natural way of things, from the way the clouds form and disperse, to the way a person behaves.

The early Taoists in their mountain retreats sought to cultivate the Tao or natural way of being within themselves.  They concerned themselves with all aspects of life, from relationships to government to the natural world.  They centred their philosophy on the concept of Non-Being.  At a government level, this means meddling as little as possible in the workings of the state;  and on a personal level it means offering help where it is needed, but never taking an opportunity for self-aggrandisement.

Taoism centres on the concept of effortless action and the power it engenders.  Water symbolises this idea of strength in weakness.  It accepts the lowest level without resistance, filling every channel and hollow, yet it wears down the hardest obstacles in its path simply by flowing around them.  This knowledge, applied to everyday life, means that striving becomes  the antithesis of Taoist action:  understanding springs from spontaneous creativity, not from mental or physical effort.  Applied to tai chi, it means that struggling to attain a difficult posture is futile.  Only union of body and mind - practising with the right intention behind the movements - ensures success.

Ideas about the Tao or Way and how to follow it must have been evolving for many hundreds of years before they were eventually set down in writing in the Tao Te Ching (Classic of the Way and Virtue), the principal text of Taoism.  This small collection of aphorisms and passages relating to personal conduct and government is traditionally said to be the work of Lao Tzu, a contemporary of the sage Confucius who died in 479 B.C.E.  However, modern scholarship has established that the Tao Te Ching is an anthology of writings by different authors produced around 300 B.C.E.,





                                                                  Lao Tsu





and they refer to it as the Lao Tzu.  Writings of that era attributed to Chuang Tzu, a second great Taoist thinker, are also known to be a collection of sayings by a number of different people.

Rather than argue over propositions, like the Western philosophers, the philosophers of ancient China sought to make suggestions that might generate ideas and unanswered questions in the mind.  A well-known Taoist saying states that as soon as you think you know something, a door closes.  The Taoist sages sought to remain ever-open to the possibility of learning.  Rather than be bound by the limitations of linear thinking, they tried to remain eternally aware of all possible influences on their thinking.  For this reason, Taoist writings are full of paradoxes and contradictions intended to challenge limited and inhibiting views on life, and to open the perceptions.

There are many examples of Taoist thought in tai chi.  “Plants when they enter life are soft and tender,” says the Lao Tzu.  “When they die they are dry and stiff.  Therefore the hard and strong are the companions of death.  The soft and weak are the companions of life.”  In tai chi, learning the qualities of softness and understanding its power are essential parts of practice.
                                
                                                                       THE BIRTH OF TAI CHI

One tradition says that tai chi originated some 5,000 years ago during the reign of China’s mythical first emperor, Fu Hsi.  Exercises for health are described in a collection of classic writings attributed to one of his successors, the legendary Yellow Emperor, Huang Ti, who is said to have founded the traditional Chinese system of medicine.  The principles of the art were established by Taoist recluses who retired from the world to live as hermits, immersing themselves in a study of  nature;  and it evolved during turbulent periods in China’s history as a martial art called T’ai chi ch’uan.

Although tai chi is thought to have originated before the first millennium, the earliest known references date from the T’ang Dynasty (ACE 618-960).  They describe “patterns” of tai chi practised by recluses who had retired to China’s mountain regions to study nature.  These “patterns” are believed to have been chains of movements which were perhaps the precursor of the tai chi form.

The early tai chi teachers remain semi-mythical figures.  Chang San-feng is an exception, a colorful figure, larger than life, and said to have been more than 6 feet tall and a powerful fighter.  No one knows whether he really existed or when.  Some sources say he lived during the 900s, while the official history of the Ming Dynasty claims he was born in 1247.  Nevertheless, he is credited as the founder of a spiritual fighting art called Wudang kung fu.


                                                                         






                                                                   Chang San-feng


The Ming Dynasty history records that Chang San-feng studied under a Taoist recluse living in the mountains of north-west China, then studied martial arts at the Shaolin Temple Monastery near Zhengzhou in modern Henan.  The Shaolin Temple is famous as the crucible of the martial systems now practised worldwide.  Shaolin Temple boxing or kung fu is a hard martial art, a system based on pitting force against force.

However, it is said that in tai chi a process leads the player from body to mind to spirit, and eventually back to the Great Void to merge with the cosmos.
Chang San-feng apparently followed this path, which led him to further studies at the Purple Summit Temple on the Wudang Shan, a mountain held sacred by Taoists, since from time immemorial they had retired there to seek the Tao.  Chang San-feng spent nine years there, it is said, studying nature, and was struck by the martial potential of yielding while watching a fight between a snake and a bird.  He modified his kung fu style, replacing training methods such as lifting weights and hitting sandbags with mind-focusing techniques like visualization, and the cultivation of energy through qigung.  From this point, China’s “soft” or “internal” fighting arts - ha gua, hsingi, and tai chi ch’uan - may have developed.

As the peaceful and prosperous Ming Dynasty declined in the 1600s, to be replaced by conquerors from Manchuria, hand-to-hand battlefield combat was a frequent reality and personal combat skills were at a premium among the imperial forces.  New martial styles evolved during this era, and the internal or soft styles were established.  Foremost among these was the Chen style of tai chi, founded by Chen Wang-t’ing, a soldier in the imperial Ming armies who served under a respected general, Ch’i Chi-guang.  Ch’i wrote the Classic of kung fu, setting out the principles of what became Chen style.  However, it is also claimed that Chen studied under the author of the now-classic Treatise on T’ai Chi Ch’uan, Wang Tsung-yueh, whose lineage could be traced back to the legendary fighter Chang San-feng.  It was Chen who first spoke of t’ai chi ch’uan rather than Wudang kung fu.

By the 1800s tai chi was at its zenith as a fighting art, and the Chen style was well established.  However, it was still taught only to members of the Chen family.

In the early 1800s a student from a poor family, Yang Lu-ch’an, found work in the household of the clan head, Chen Chang-xing.  It is recounted that Yang spied on tai chi sessions, learning by observation.  One day he surprised the family by offering to fight a stranger who had challenged Chen Chang-xing.  Yang fought so well in authentic Chen style, beating the stranger, that it was obvious that he had been secretly learning the style.  Magnanimously, Chen accepted his apologies and accepted Yang as a student. 


                                                                           

                                                                   Yang Lu Chan



Yang Lu-ch’an travelled China as a Chen family representative, offering challenges to fighters, and because he always beat his opponents he was nicknamed “Ever-Victorious”.  He is said to have been appointed to teach Chen-style t’ai chi ch’uan to the household of the Ch’ing Emperor.  Chen style is dynamic and physically demanding with postures that clearly demonstrate a polarity of fast and slow, small and large movements.  To adapt the style for courtiers who had not been trained from early youth - or perhaps to preserve the Chen family style - Yang omitted the more vigorous and strenuous movements, creating a gentler form of tai chi.

Today, while Chen is recognised as the oldest of the three principal tai chi styles practised today, a shorter version of Yang’s style is most widely taught.

The third style was developed by Yang’s student, Wu Yu-hsing, who also studied with the Chen family, so his style incorporates features of both.  These three styles have given rise to numerous derivatives.  For example, in the later 1800s Wu Ch’uan-yu developed a second Wu style, called the Small Style and characterised by a forward lean.  The two Wu styles are written with different Chinese characters but sound the same, so both are written as “Wu” in the Roman alphabet.  It is worth knowing which lineage is taught before studying Wu style.

Sun Lu-t’ang, a master of the arts of ba gua and hsingi, was 50 when he began learning a derivative of the first Wu style, which had been modified by Wu Yu-hsiang’s students and was taught as the Hou or Li style.  Sun developed his own version, characterised by small circular movements and high stances.

While China’s imperial governments generally discouraged the fighting arts, the Communist government under Mao Zedong treasured the people’s tai chi heritage.  In 1949 they set up the Wushu Council (“wushu” means “art of powerful movement”) to formulate a style that would improve people’s health, and to structure tai chi as a competitive sport.  A new style called the Beijing 24 Step Form was the result, created by Master Li Tienzhi, who condensed the essential elements of Yang style.  A 48-step standard competition form was also developed from elements of the Yang, Wu, Chen and Hou styles.  Beijing style is now taught worldwide.

One outstanding teacher who bridges the classic tai chi styles with 20th-century developments is Cheng Man-ch’ing.  A doctor of Chinese herbal medicine, he studied under Yang Chang-fu, grandson of the famous founder of the Yang style.  A fine fighter, Yang eliminated foot-stamping, straight-punching, and jumping, from his grandfather’s form and made the movements bigger, smoother, and rounder, developing the now-classic Yang-style Big Form of 108 postures.  In the 1930s Cheng Man-ch’ing simplified Yang Cheng-fu’s form, reducing it to 37 postures.  His Short
Form retains the elements of Yang’s style, but is easier to learn.  In the 1960s Chang, now widely known and respected, opened a tai chi school in New York.  Today, his style is popular worldwide.

Extract from:  "The Complete Illustrated Guide To Tai Chi"  By Angus Clark   www.livingmovement.com