Tai Chi and Qigong Articles
Learning
T'ai
Chi
Ch'uanT'ai Chi ch'uan - Chinese for Grand Ultimate Fist is the quintessential martial art, based on the Way of Heaven, the practitioner gains power or chi through harmonizing the two universal forces of Yin and Yang. Its philosophy originates from two of the greatest books in the world: The I Ching, the quintessence of 5000 years of Chinese wisdom, and The Tao Te Ching - "The Book of The Way and its Power', from which Taoism is derived.
For the aspirant to master its 108+ forms and to achieve the supreme status of sage or superior man takes many lifetimes, but a journey of 1000 leagues starts with the first step, and he has as his ultimate exemplar, the legendary 19th-century T'ai Chi master, Yang Lu-chan, who reputedly remained undefeated in over 20,000 combats.
"For to those who have
conformed themselves to the Way, the Way
readily lends its power".
The power is that of the universe, chi, which is accumulated in
T'ai Chi exercises,
and
stored
below the
solar plexus to be used in all confrontational situations. Having
witnessed a master project it from his hand over 8 feet to knock
down his opponent, I can personally attest to its efficacy.
To learn
tai chi, one emulates the movements of the teacher as he
demonstrates the several movements of the form on the principle
that ... "What is it easy, is easy to know; what is simple, is easy
to follow."
However, to master, and incorporate the flowing, rhythmic,
co-ordinated movements effectively demands great patience, and
perseverance. Its deliberate stances, positions, and circular
movements are derived from those of animals, primarily, the bear,
bird, deer, monkey, and tiger; first taught at the legendary Shao
Lin monastery c. the 5th century.
The relaxed,
yet
controlled,
evasive movements, and lightning
counterstrikes of the snake were reputedly added around the 15th
century by the peripatetic Zhang San-feng, a Taoist monk, after
witnessing the victory of a snake over a crane. He developed a form
of combat which combined balance, flexibility, and speed in one
flowing, continuous movement. He extolled the following
principle:
"Nothing under heaven is softer or more yielding than water, but
when it attacks things hard and resistant there is not one of them
that can prevail.
... That the yielding conquers the resistant, and the soft
conquers the hard is a fact known by all men, yet utilized by
none."
Confronted by an
egotistical, megalomaniacal, hard style
opponent, the T'ai Chi student knows .. "The best fighters do not
make displays of wrath."
He will self-possessedly use his assailant's own power against
himself by utilising sweeping, circular blocks, combined with
avoidance strategies like pushing, deflecting, and twisting,
adhering to the precept:
"To remain whole, be twisted! To become straight, let yourself be bent.
Thus effortlessly neutralizing the threat, harming neither his assailant, nor himself.
For he will be aware that:
"The man of highest
'power' does not reveal himself as a
possessor of 'power'."
and he will nonchalantly continue on his Way.
1 Tao Te Ching (23) - Wordsworth Classics of World Literature - ISBN 1 85326 471 7
2 The I Ching- The Great Treatise - (Ch. 1, 7) Richard Wilhelm-Routledge & Kegan Paul - ISBN 0 7100 1581 X
3 Tao Te Ching (78) ) - Wordsworth Classics of World Literature - ISBN 1 85326 471 7
4 Tao Te Ching (68). ) - Wordsworth Classics of World Literature - ISBN 1 85326 471 7
5 Tao Te Ching (22) ) - Wordsworth Classics of World Literature - ISBN 1 85326 471 7
6 Tao Te Ching (38) ) - Wordsworth Classics of World Literature - ISBN 1 85326 471 7
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