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T'ai Chi comes from Wu Chi, the mother of Yin and Yang

In motion it separates: in stillness they fuse

It is not excessive or deficient; accordingly when it bends, it then straightens

T'ai Chi Ch'uan Lun
by Wang Tsung-yueh

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Influential Philososphers & Teachings

'The T'ai Chi Tu Diagram is the oldest symbolic representation of the Yin and Yang (T'ai Chi) Principle. (The black and white 'double-fish' representation of Yin and Yang came later.) T'ai Chi Tu is thought to summarize the movement of life into further states of differentiation and therefore, greater complexity. From Wu Chi, the undifferentiated state, T'ai Chi is born in the differentiated presence of Yin and Yang, which in turn give birth to the Five Elements. From these polar opposites and elemental forces, Heaven and Earth and all of Creation are born. Heaven and Earth are represented by the two trigrams Chien (The Creative) and Kun (The Receptive). These two trigrams become the Eight Trigrams of Yin and Yang called 'Pa Kua' or 'Bagua', and then further combine into the 64 Hexagrams of the I Ching. The I Ching contains all possible combinations of Yin and Yang within its 64 hexagrams, and as such describes all complex dynamic patterns of change. The T'ai Chi Tu Diagram helps us to understand how the Chinese saw all life as a continuum of related dynamics and furthered states of differentiation. Through this understanding we may appreciate why T'ai Chi translates as"Supreme Ultimate" or "Grand Terminus". The concept of T'ai Chi predates the martial art by several thousand years and encompasses a much larger context than the martial art which is known properly as "T'ai Chi Ch'uan".

Chen Wei Ming, who was an eminent pupil of Yang Chen Fu and Master Lee's teacher wrote, "T'ai Chi is originally circular in shape, and it is a combined entity of Yin and Yang Principles. T'ai Chi seeks complete satisfaction and it's movements are divided into activating and conserving, substantial and insubstantial, so it is named T'ai Chi."

Wu Chi to T'ai Chi to Wu Chi

The philosophers of ancient China made reference to the void (the undifferentiated, boundless state that existed prior to the creation of the world) as the mother of the universe. This was called Wu Chi and is usually symbolized by the empty circle. It is maintained that Wu Chi cannot be understood rationally. It's existence is implied. It is referred to in the Ching Dynasty (14th century) T'ai Chi Ch'uan Classic by Wang Tsung Yueh as follows:

Jou Tsung Wa, a modern day T'ai Chi Master, says it well in his 'Tao of T'ai Chi Ch'uan':

In the T'ai Chi exercise, Wu Chi is the very first and last posture and the only posture without differentiation of Yin and Yang. As soon as the weight shifts and the arms split, Yin and Yang differentiate within the arms and legs and one has begun to manifest T'ai Chi. At the end of the Form when all movements resolve to centre weightedness and arms at rest, one has returned to Wu Chi. Thus, during the course of the exercise one moves from Wu Chi to T'ai Chi to Wu Chi.

A Short History of China

It can be useful to know something of the history of China with respect to religion, philosophy, culture, and the martial arts, as all have a bearing on the evolution of T'ai Chi Ch'uan.

Hsia (2500-2000 B.C.): Legendary nation state reputed to have existed prior to historical China.

Shang (1500 B.C.): Historical nation state which unified China under a central monarchy. At this time the geographical size of China was small in comparison with what it is today. China's name translates as "middle kingdom" and it geo-politically evolved around the economy of trade, transportation, and rich agricultural resources of the Yellow River. This civilization has sometimes been referred to as the "Rome of the East".

Chou (1122 B.C.): Dynasties are periods during which China was ruled by a particular "people". In this case the Chou conquered the Shang around 1122 B.C.. The Chou Dynasty was marked at the beginning by a strong central government controlling surrounding vassal states. Strong loyalty to the government was maintained by patronage appointments of blood relatives and allies to positions of power and influence.

Confucianism

The political influence of the Chou Emperor declined over a period of generations, and so the surrounding states gained more autonomy in government. The "Later Chou" period saw the Emperor as little more than a figure-head, and great civil and social disorder became the norm. Corruption was commonplace, and bloodshed and violence threatened the very fabric of civilized society.

In the moral and spiritual vacuum created by an absence of centricity and lack of common purpose, the ruling class sought out the help of the philosophers and educated classes in order to find an ideal way of government and a return to order. The goal now was to attain a lasting state of peace and harmony. Confucius (Kung Fu Tzu) lived about 500 B.C. He became one of the most important philosophers and teachers of Ancient China and his teachings spread all over the far east. The influence of Confucian thought is present even today in modern Chinese culture.

Confucius was a lesser official during the later Chou period. He proposed that the cure for the disease of corruption and social disorder was a return to traditional values and the respectful ways of the ancestors, including traditional conduct towards family and elders.

Confucius began a tour of instruction, moving from state to state, teaching citizens how man could only find happiness and harmony again by returning to the old traditions and rituals. He advocated a return to the practice of "Li", where proper ceremony, courtesy and ritual harmonizes man with heaven. Thus, civilization as a whole could be brought into harmonious relationship.

Confucius felt that social harmony and "Jen" (humaneness) was present in old society, but had been lost during later Chou times. It was his ideal that through the process of perfecting oneself one could become a "Chun-Tzu", a prince among men. He felt that this condition could be brought about in individuals and society only through the development of courtesy and culture. An inner, or intuitive knowledge of "Tao" or universal harmony had to be achieved through years of sincere practice of discipline, ritual, and proper conduct. As a follower of Confucian principle, one's personal gain should be placed secondary to one's duty in life.

"The nobler sort of man emphasizes the good qualities in others, and does not accentuate the bad. The inferior does the reverse. The nobler sort of man pays attention to the nine points: He is anxious to hear clearly, to see distinctly, to be kindly in his looks, respectful in his demeanor, conscientious in his speech, and earnest in his affairs. When in doubt, he is careful to inquire; when in anger, he thinks of the consequences; when offered an opportunity to gain, he thinks only of his duty."

Confucius believed that if the Emperor acted as a true emperor (a benefactor of the people) and each man was correct in his own position, worldly order would be the result. Role play within the structure of the family became the foundation of social unity, and political stability would follow. Confucius taught that each person had their respective place within the social order. A person on the path of his teachings would be one who sought their proper place within all relationships.

"Li Mao": The Confucian concept of a proper form. This code of conduct defined one's correct place and duty in both familial and social order. It is based on the premise that there are five basic dynamics of relationship in life: Husband and Wife, Parent and Child, Brother and Sister, Superior and Inferior, as well as Peer (friend) with Peer.

Confucianism (Ju Chiao): is said to be the religion of the learned. Those considered as learned were the officials and the literati or the lettered class, which included scholars waiting for posts, those who had failed to be posted, or retired scholars. Where Taoism and Buddhism were popular faiths of the time, Confucianism was deemed the state religion. One description of Confucianism reads:

"The name embraces education, letters, ethics, and political philosophy. It's head was not a religious man, practiced few religious rites, and taught nothing about religion. In it's usual acceptation the term Confucianist means a gentleman and a scholar; He may worship once a year, yet he belongs to the Church. Unlike it's two sisters, it has no priesthood, and fundamentally is not a religion at all; yet with many rights grafted on to the original tree it becomes a religion and the one most difficult to deal with. Considered as a Church, the classics are it's scriptures, the schools it churches, the teachers are it's priests, ethics it's theology, and the written character so sacred it's symbol."(p.102, Ancient Tales and Folklore of China, E.T.C. Werner, Bracken Books, London, 1986)

The main body of Confucian teachings are found in four volumes entitled The Four Classics. These include the three works of Confucius: The Great Learning, The Doctrine of the Mean, and The Confucian Analects. The fourth book is by Mencius, a disciple of Confucius, and is entitled: The Works of Mencius.

How does Confucianism relate to T'ai Chi? Confucius' influence can be witnessed in the intricate and well-defined social relationships and courtesy that exists in Asian culture. In some way, Confucian thought has permeated all Chinese arts and culture. In Martial Arts culture, one can feel it's influence in various rituals (such as bowing at the end of the Form), in the traditional relationship of the student to the teacher, as well as in the duty of the elder student to the junior. At its best, Confucianism can illuminate the dynamics of diverse relationship, and through protocol, cultivate a higher consciousness of behaviour. At its worst, it's emphasis on the dynamic of Superior to Inferior can be mis-used for the purposes of domination and oppression. Within a T'ai Chi school, Confucian protocols may be present as a Chinese cultural influence, or by conscious design of a School's leadership to enable an atmosphere of concentrated study.

Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu and Taoism

Lao Tzu was an older contemporary of Confucius and the keeper of the imperial archives at Loyang in the province of Honan in the sixth century B.C.. All his life Lao Tzu taught that "The Tao that can be named is not the eternal Tao". According to legend, he eventually became fed up with the ways of men and decided to retreat from the veil of worldly civilization. At that time, it was a border guard who convinced him that for the sake of posterity, he must put his words into writing.

The essence of Taoism is contained in the 81 chapters of the Tao Te Ching, a work of about 5000 words. For two and a half millennia the Tao Te Ching has been a cornerstone of Chinese thought and culture. Where Confucius concerned himself with day to day affairs and rules of conduct, Lao Tzu concerned himself with the transcendent qualities of man's being, and the laws of nature.

Chuang Tzu lived in the 4th and 3rd centuries B.C. and is often considered by many to be the most brilliant Taoist of all. He maintained that the universe originated from the 'Nameless'. There is a quality of the absolute and the transcendental to Chuang Tzu's use of the term 'nameless', perhaps even more so than the writings attributed to Lao Tzu. Here is an example of his thought where Chuang Tzu dwells on the relativity of knowledge:

"Formerly, I, Chuang Tzu, dreamt I was a butterfly, flying about and feeling that it was enjoying itself. I did not know that it was Chuang. Suddenly I awoke again and I was the veritable Chuang. I did not know whether it had formerly been Chuang dreaming that he was a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming it was Chuang."

In another example, Chuang Tzu said:

"All is embraced in the obliterating unity of the Tao, and the wise man passing into the realm of the infinite, finds rest therein."

Chang San Feng, the 13th century legendary founder of T'ai Chi Ch'uan, was a Taoist monk of the Wu Tang Mountain monastery. Chang San Feng and his contemporaries applied Taoist thought and principles to self-defense, creating T'ai Ch'uan and forever changing the Martial Arts in China.

How does Taoism relate to T'ai Chi Ch'uan? Of the three main philosphies of China, Taoism is the most germaine to the practice of T'ai Chi Ch'uan. From its most fundamental principle, T'ai Chi (Yin and Yang), to its main goal of Wu Wei (not-doing), T'ai Chi Ch'uan is primarily a Taoist Art. T'ai Chi Ch'uan practice takes a student deeply into the study of their own nature. This happens first through the physical exercise where mind and body develop a deeper harmony, and then later as the student understands himself in his struggle to embody the principles reflecting the wisdom of nature and the harmony that is the Tao.

Buddhism and the Shaolin Temple

Although some doctrine was thought to have existed as early as 217 B.C., Buddhism originated in China somewhere around 65 A.D. as a consequence of a dream of the Emperor Ming Ti (A.D. 58-76) of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Like all "foreign" religions Buddhism was at times subject to religious intolerance and persecution, but for the most part it served a non-competitive/supportive function that was coincident with the current belief systems. The Buddhist doctrines of Sanctity and Immortalization were not in opposition to Taoist thought. Buddhism also contributed to the ceremonial adornment of ancestor worship as it's doctrine of 'The Salvation of the Dead' fit well with Confucian piety and devotion to elders, and ancestors. Thus were Buddhist gods able to enter the pantheon of Chinese worship without being submerged into existent religions. Of the three faiths, Orthodox Confucianism would reign politically supreme over Buddhism and Taoism. Not only was it indispensable to the Chinese concept of civility, Confucianism also maintained the hierarchy of power and the right to autocratic rule of superior over inferior, and as such, was an essential tool of government.

Boddhidharma (500 A.D.): In Chinese called "Ta Mo", he is the legendary Buddhist missionary who came to China from India and instructed the Bhuddhist monks of the Shaolin (literally "small forest") monastery. He reputedly found the monks in such a poor state of health that he advocated physical health cultivation with their usual routine of meditation and religious practices. From Ta Mo's influence, motivated by the Buddhist virtues of mindfulness and wellness, the Shaolin monks developed their martial arts. At various times in their history the Shaolin Monks became politically active and were a force to be reckoned with. At times they posed such a threat to the status quo that the militant monks were killed and their monastery burned.

How does Buddhism relate to T'ai Chi Ch'uan? The advent of Martial Arts in conjunction with Spiritual Training probably originates with the Shaolin Monastery. It is sometimes held that as members of the religious class the monks of both Taoist and Buddhist schools were forbidden to carry weapons. They therefore became adepts of weaponless combat in order to defend themselves from bandits while travelling. Beyond this historical connection, the influence of Buddhism on T'ai Chi Ch'uan may be considered indirect. As the principles of mindfulness, non-violenceand self-cultivation are common to both, Buddhist teachings and practices may lend complementary support to a T'ai Chi student's progress, just as T'ai Chi (as a movement meditation alternative to sitting meditation) may be adjunctively of benefit to Buddhist practice.

The I Ching and its Influence

With regard to the origin of the I Ching: Wang Kuo-wei(A.D. 1877-1927) wrote: "The text of the work proper was composed in the early Chou dynasty. (King Wen and the Duke of Chou, 12 th Century B.C.) It's commentaries, THE TEN APPENDICES, was allegedly written by Confucius, or at the latest by his disciples." Under Confucius' influence it became an all embracing philosophical treatise advocating the subtle principles of self cultivation that would dispose one to: "sageliness inside, and kingliness outside."(Wen Shang Huang, The Origins of Chinese Culture, A Study of Totemism, Paris, 1960).

The I Ching, sometimes called the Book of Changes, represents the further effort of Chinese thinkers to come to terms with the known universe and man's place within the order of things. Using the basic dynamic of Yin and Yang, differentiated first into 8 trigrams and then again to 64 hexagrams, these degrees of change in the dynamics of Yin and Yang were used to describe all known cycles of movement.

The Chinese character for 'I' was created by combining two symbols for the Sun and the Moon . The Sun symbol represents the Yang force and was placed over the moon symbol, which represents the Yin force. As the sun and moon appear alternately as paired phenomenon, so do the two fundamental forces of Yin and Yang complement each other. Based on the principles that manifest in such phenomena, 'I' has three meanings: the easy, the changing, and the constant.

In order to understand the concept of change, it is necessary to look at its opposite force. One might assume the opposite of change to be rest and stillness, however, within the I Ching they are considered aspects of change. In Chinese thought, the opposite of change is perceived as the growth of what ought to decrease, or the downfall of what ought to rule. The opposite of change is any factor which is contrary to the Tao or the natural way. Perhaps this is best implied through the word 'disharmony'. Although the universe is always changing, underlying that change is the principle of constancy. For example: "If there is thunder, lightning will follow; if the moon is full, it will wane; if a decayed willow produces flowers, they will not last long."(Jou Tsung Wa, The Tao of T'ai Chi Ch'uan, p.108). Change, then, is not an external principle that imprints itself upon phenomena; it is an inner tendency developing in accordance with nature.

How does the I Ching relate to T'ai Chi Ch'uan? In the Richard / Wilhelm translation we find:

"In the old days when Fu Hsi was ruling over the world, he looked up to observe the phenomena of planetary bodies in the heavens, and gazed down to probe the myriad things on earth. He examined the markings of birds and beasts, and studied how they adapted to their habitats. Some ideas he drew from the observation of his own being, while others he took from that of things scattering far and wide over the earth. Thus he invented the 8 Trigrams, as a means of communicating the virtues of spiritual beings, and of signifying the features of myriad things." (p.72).

According to Wen Shang Huang (1979, Fundamentals of T'ai Chi Ch'uan) T'ai Chi Ch'uan draws it's origins from the time of the legendary emperor Fu Hsi, China's first philosopher king (the 46th century B.C.) and the inventor of the 8 Trigrams (Pa Kua). "It is alleged that he ordered Yin Tang to perform the Grand Dance for the enhancement of limbs and the curing of disease. If this story is acceptable then the earliest system was not an art of boxing at all but a therapeutic exercise." (p.67) This is a very exciting ideas for T'ai Chi enthusiasts, because a full 6000 years before Chang San Feng, it is possible that the concept and practise of a T'ai Chi based exercise system was advocated by Fu Hsi.

Although there were boxing schools at the time of Ta-Mo and the Shaolin temple (475 A.D.), it was not until the time of the Confucian-Taoist scholar Chang San Feng ( the legendary founder of T'ai Chi Ch'uan, c.1391-1459), that the Nei Chia or 'internal' school of boxing differentiated itself from the Wei Chia, the 'external' school, by applying the principles and conceptions of the I Ching to the martial arts, of which T'ai Chi Ch'uan is the most well known.

Da Liu, a well known student of Chen Man Ching wrote an inspired book called "T'ai Chi Ch'uan and the I Ching" (reviewed in our Bookstore).Where the I Ching attempts to describe the myriad of things, T'ai Chi Ch'uan attempts to enact them in the context of body movement. Da Liu uses the I Ching by drawing upon the dynamics of a specifiic hexagram and then applies those dynamics to a specific Tai Chi movement in order to illustrate the movement's energetics. The book is a testament to the study of T'ai Chi Ch'uan as a process of folding and unfolding, and clearly demonstrates how a classical Taoist source such as the I Ching is indispensible to fruitful thought and practice.

Chinese civilization has preserved much of its ancient knowledge with great care. For two millennia, Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism have all found a non-competitive place in the spiritual expression of the Chinese people. As Westerners, (whose civilization has burned the books of their own and many other cultures) we should marvel at the depth of empirical wisdom that China has to offer. This disciplined preservation of knowledge can be found in Traditional T'ai Chi Ch'uan lineages, where a deep respect for the past is grounded in the rigorous evaluation of present practice.