Taijiquan Martial Arts Theory and History

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Taijiquan Martial Arts Theory and History

Postby lilman » Sat Feb 16, 2008 2:20 am

Let me start this off by saying I was surprised to see how different other people see the theory and history of Taijiquan. I am going to display here my ideas on the theory and history of Taiji. If anyone feels different, or feels I am wrong, or has something to add, pls feel free to share and elaborate so we can all learn from this post...

Before Taiji came along and hundreds of years before it was mentioned, there were similar martial arts such as Post Heaven Techniques, and small 9 heaven. Taijiquan was attributed to Chang San-Feng as the creator due to evidence linked to writtings found in Wudang Mountain supposedly by him, and from the Taiji Classic attributed to him found in an Opium Den. There is also strong evidence that Taiji is linked to Shaolin and Chang San-Feng came from Shaolin and went into the mountains to cultivate the Dao. The links to Shaolin is the fact Taiji is also known as "Long Fist" and the "Cannon Fist" from Chen style Taijiquan. Also some of the movements stayed the same. The story is Chang San-Feng was watching a crane and a snake fight, and decided to create a martial art based more on the animals defenses, then when he was walking he saw a wind rip around 3 peaks and was taken by the view. He suddenly realized the power of nature out wieghed the animals and built a martial art based on the Dao with cultivating Qi and softness as the foundation. This brought on the basis of the 13 movements. Since he practiced the Dao he utilized the books I ching, the Tao Te Ching and the Yellow Emperor's Classic to base the Theory. From him according to Dr. Yang's books, Taiji can only be traced from the Chen family to Chiang fa with accurate documentation. Dr Yang also bases his Taiji on Daoist theory and so does the late master Jou Tsung Hwa, may his spirit live forever... From the Chen family they taught their slave Yang Lu Chan who secretly watched and learned the Chen family teaching thier desciples. One day Yang was told to fight some of Chen's desciples and beat them all. The Chen family was impressed and taught him all thier secrets. It was passed down through both families until today.

The theory behind Taiji is based on the 5 element theory from the Yellow Emperors Classic, which encompasses the 5 directions, forward, back, firm the center, look to the left and see the right. They correspond with fire, water, earth, wood and metal. Then there are the 8 trigrams from the I ching, Wardoff, Rollback, Press, Push, Bump, Split, Pulldown, Elbow, which correspond with Heaven, Earth, Fire, Water, Lake, Mountain, Thunder, and Wind respectively. The 5 style steps and 8 movements make up the 13 original postures of Taiji. Then in Taiji we neutralize and do not contend, and utilize the force of qi instead of li to take on the spirit of water. It says in the Tao te Ching, that "Water is the weakest substance on earth, yet when it moves, it can destroy rock. Everyone knows this yet none can put it into practice." Then there is the form. Its based of the theory from the I Ching that Wuchi is the begining. It is nothingness. From Wuchi, comes the intention to move which is Taiji. From Taiji come yin and yang, from yin and yang, the 8 trigrams, from the 8 trigrams comes 64 hexagrams, from there comes all the myriad creatures. In the form the beginning is Wuchi or nothingness, the intent to do the form is Taiji, the movements coordinate yin and yang through the entire form, then everything returns to its root, so its back to wuchi for the closing.

This is obviously just a brief summary. It is possible to write a 1000 page book on this subject, and the history of Taiji is very unclear, but this is the story I prefer smmarized of course. Please again, if anyone feels differently or has something to add to or change, or has a completely different theory, pls feel free to share.
lilman
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