• AS A DEFINITION
• AS FOR THE NAME: TAI-CHI CHUAN OR TAIJIQUAN
• INTRODUCTION
• THE FORM
• THE CHARACTERISTICS OF TAI CHI CHUAN
• THE TAI CHI CHUAN STYLES
• PHILOSOPHICAL CONCEPTS WHICH SUSTAIN THE TAI-CHI CHUAN THEORY
• TAOÍSM AND THE ORIGIN OF TAI CHI CHUAN
• THE CHI (QI)
• THE TAN-TIEN (or dan tian)
• INTERNAL MARTIAL ARTS
• NEI-GONG
• QIN-NA
• TUI-SHOU

  
  

PHILOSOPHICAL CONCEPTS WHICH SUSTAIN THE THEORY OF TAI-CHI CHUAN

TAO (the indefinable)
WU-JI (the emptiness) - hûn yuán (original chaos)
YIN-YANG (positive pole, negative pole)
GENERATRICE FORCE (the interaction)
THE ´´TEN THOUSAND BEINGS´´(the concrete)
BEFORE-HEAVEN (PRE-CELESTIAL), AFTER-HEAVEN (POST-CELESTIAL) (xiän tiän, hòu tiän)
THE 3 TREASURES: ESSENCE, ENERGY AND SPIRIT (Jïng Qì Shén)
THE 5 ELEMENTS (wû xíng)
THE 8 TRIGRAMS (Bä Guà)
HEAVEN, EARTH AND MAN (tiän, dì rén, etc.)
THE SPONTENOUS AND NATURAL ACTION (wú wéi)

What is to follow is my personal vision of these concepts, as how I understand them. It is not to be treated as a ´´definition´´, rather, the fruit of my personal ´´comprehension´´. It is not anything definite, but somewhat an approximation. Of course, as it is something subjective, it could be refutable. If I were to consult Chinese sources who have knowledge on these topics, many a times, in spite of understanding, capturing, having intuition on, or even experience of the concept, it is not always easy for them to express them widely either.

TAO

It is that which that existed before whatever other things. From this ´´nothingness´´ of Tao everything arises. Tao includes all, it contains everything. From it, everything arises. Tao is eternal, it is not temporal. It is immaterial and at the same time it can be material. It is, and at the same time, it is Not. It is being and not being, nevertheless, it exists. It is indefinable. It is undistinguishable, inherent. Tao reaches the biggest and attains even the smallest. Tao is like a Universal Primary Law, like an Impelling Force, like the Supreme Nature, like the origin of Time-Space, the Material-Energy. ( This is my particular vision of Tao, a simple personal opinion, taking into account the impossibility of any same definition.)

WU-JI

Wú: without; jí: poles, ends, extremes. From Tao, it moves into wu-ji, which is a uniform state, without differentiations, emptiness. Yin and yang still do not exist, there is still no form of manifestation, therefore, it includes all possibilities. As it has not been taken, decided, defined, started in any direction, all is possible.

Wu-ji is "xian tian yi qi", the before-heaven (pre-celestial) qi.

(This reminds me of ´´Schrödinger´s Cat´´, the imaginary physical experiment, in which a cat, locked up in a box, was alive-and-not-alive, until the box was opened to verify it.)

YIN-YANG

From wu-ji two poles arise: yin and yang, or positive and negative. Completely in the field of the existence, materialization, yin and yang manifest a way, a decision, a direction. In this manner, the way, the decision, the quality, the action, the opposite direction are automatically constituted. That is to say, when "left" arises, it is in counterpart to "right", when "up" arises, "down" is also defined, when we specify the "beautiful thing", implicitly we are specifying the "ugly thing.

Yin-yang, within what is the tai-chi chuan itself, are opposing pairs such as: active-passive, solid-insubstantial, heavy-light, attack-retreat, advance-withdraw, attack-defence, open-close, movement-stillness, rapid-slow, soft-hard, etc.

Yin and yang are the head and tail of the same coin. One cannot exist separately from the other. They are also relative: when something is yin, it is in relation to something. When something is yang, it is because it is compared to another thing which is comparatively yin. Yin and yang do not exist in absolute. It is as what is shown in the taiji(tai-chi) diagram. Yin and Yang are no static and they take place mutually. It is the same as ´´after the great storm, there is always calmness´´, this is like how one is generated from the other.

THREE OR GENERATRICE FORCE

This would be the combination of yin and yang within Tao, which later forms the origin of the ´´10,000 beings´´, as if yin were the feminine beginning and yang the masculine beginning, in combination with Tao. As if a catalyst were to be used to confer them with procreative force. This would also have some relationship with their qi interacting mutually.

THE ´´10,000 BEINGS´´

From yin interacting with yang through Tao as a medium, all the infinite range of possibilities arises and which is manifested in the universe. This is known in China as the ´´10,000 beings´´. ´´10,000 beings´´ was the quantity which was enough to be considered boundless so as to understand it as all existing beings - this was a thought in ancient times.

BEFORE-HEAVEN (PRE-CELESTIAL) AND AFTER-HEAVEN (POST-CELESTIAL)

The representative of the 2nd generation of the Zhao Bao style, Xíng Xï Huái, defined with precision what is the Before-Heaven and what is the After-Heaven: ´´xian tian zhe taiji yi qi, hou tian zhe fen er yin yang´´. What is the before-heaven?: it is the unified qi of taiji. What is after-heaven?: the unified heaven is separated, producing the yin and the yang.

Before-Heaven, in Chinese ´´xiän tiän´´ is a term which corresponds to what is before birth, genetic, innate. What is already determined before-hand. For example, when someone has a project on paper, this corresponds to ´´before-heaven´´ or ´´xiän tiän´´ and finally when this project is put in practice and many times there are changes to be made here and there, when it functions, there are many factors that change, the unforeseen; all these correspond to the ´´after-heaven´´ or ´´hou tian´´. It is in a certain way the ´´ideal plan´´ , although not totally so.

After-Heaven, in Chinese, ´´hòu tiän´´. It symbolises what is born, after the birth, that which is not innate. The germination of a seed, putting into practice what was determined before-hand, what is unfolded, developed, live in the material world, the construction of what is designed. See also ´´xian tian´´ (before-heaven), its opposite. It is in some way the ´´material plan´´, although not totally so.

THE THREE TREASURES

Essence, energy and spirit: jïng, qì, shén. The three Taoist keys which are at the same time three stages in the ´´xiü-liàn´´ (cultivation of Taoism, practices to improve the body, mind and spirit) which forms part of the tai-chuan. In the beginning, it is referred to ´´refining´´ the essence so as to transmute it to qi and in turn refine this to transmute it to spirit (after this although there is still the way, but we are not going to talk about it here). In Chinese, this is known as the process of ´´liàn jïng huà qì liàn qì huà shén´´.

ESSENCE jïng: Associated to sperm or the female menstrual fluid. It is also extended to the bodily fluids like corporal essence.

ENERGÍA qì: Like a ´´bio-electrical´´ energy which livens up the body

SPIRIT shén: Spirit, the essence of our true being, beyond our personality or even the character. (Actually, there are various ways to use the word ´´shén´´ and sometimes in tai-chi when it is used, it is not referring to this aspect and sometimes it is, depending on the context. For example, sometimes, it corresponds more to ´´jïng shén´´).

THE FIVE ELEMENTS

There are actually 5, processes, transformations, qualities or categories.

Wood: It has the qualities of the expansive, the birth
Fire: It has the qualities of the ascending, the impetuous, the culminating.
Earth: It has the qualities of the firm, the container, the central
Metal: It has the qualities of the contractive, the diminishing
Water: It is the qualities of the descending, the quietening, the perishing

This circuit has 4 types of Inter.-relations:-

CREATION or generation: One element is the origin of the next, so the wood generates the fire, the fire generates the earth, the earth generates the metal, metal generates water, water generates wood, in a cycle without beginning or end. For it to be a bit more comprehensive, it is often said that the from the fire, the ashes (that is the earth) a formed, from the earth, the metal is obtained, from the solid metal, it can be converted to liquid (water) and from the water, vegetation (wood) is grown and the wood is burnt to create the fire.

DESTRUCTION or control: The element destroys or prejudices the second one below it, so we have the wood destroying the earth, the earth destroying the water, the water destroying the metal, the metal destroying the wood. This way of relating it could lead to: the wood penetrates and breaks the earth, the earth limits the water, contains it, and obstructs its flow, the water puts out the fire, the fire tames the metal by softening it and with the metal the wood can be cut.

AFFINITY: One element has affinity or we could say ´´filial piety´´ to its generator, with which it has a close relationship. The wood is close to the water, so from it, it arises. The water is akin to the metal, the metal to the earth and the earth to fire and fire to wood.

AVERSION: An element has aversion for its ´´pre-creator´´ or ´´grandfather´´, that is, due to this element it is controlled or destroyed. The wood is afraid of metal, the metal escapes the fire, the fire is dominated by water and the water is controlled by the earth.

THE EIGHT TRIGRAMS (ba gua)

Eight ancestral symbols which are included in I Ching (I Jing)

(I am still pending to finish the drawings that correspond to the trigrams, which will be added soon.)

HEAVEN, EARTH AND MAN

The Chinese mentality says that heaven, earth and man have to be united. The Yellow Emperor (Huang Di), in his ´´Yïn Fù Jïng´´ said, "guän tiän zhï dào, zhí tiän zhï xíng, jìng yî" , the explanation is something like this: one has to observe the Tao of Heaven (how it ´´behaves´´, how the heaven-universe functions) and in this light, one has to act according to what heaven-universe does, with this, it is sufficient.

In the human body, the part corresponding to ´´heaven´´ is the upper portion and the lower portion corresponds to the ´´earth´´.

In tai-chi chuan one has to unify the qi from heaven and earth with that of man. For example in the Zhao Bao style and in the Hun Yuan Chen of Feng Zhi Qiang.

THE SPONTANEOUS OR NATURAL ACTION (WU-WEI)

Most of the time translated, and only in the literal form, as ´´no-action´´, this can lead to a misunderstanding of its meaning. It does not mean waiting with ´´the arms folded´´, rather, it is not to continue stubbornly in something when is evident that it is not going in the right direction. It is not to take complicated actions which are against one´s own nature or doings, not to manipulate, not to act with hidden intentions, trust in the ´´destiny´´, adapt oneself to the situations, accept, flow.

For example, in the middle of a flood, if we keep still in the middle of the streets, this is would not be ´´wu-wei´´ although we could call it ´´no action´´. The wu-wei in this situation is more to observe and make use of the opportunity to escape the catastrophe with the mediums that we find along the way.