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~ My Personal Thoughts About The Art of Tai Chi Chuan as Philosophy and Martial Art

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The Symbolism of Water in Daoism and Tai Chi Chuan

22 Monday Jun 2020

Posted by David in General Tai Chi, Personal reflections, The Tai Chi Classics

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Dao De Jing, Daoism, Laozi, Neidan, Taiyi Sheng Shui, Water

I know about no other symbol, and metaphor, than Water that is more important for Tai Chi Chuan. Well, maybe the Tai Chi diagram itself is more important as a symbol, but the metaphor of water was there even before the art was known by the name of Tai Chi Chuan.

Water seems to be the ideal in Tai Chi Chuan as a martial art. When an opponent attacks, the Tai Chi practitioner respond with softness. The strength of the assailant is not met with strength and he should find nothing to attach his own strength on.

Tai Chi – Long River Boxing

In the old Tai Chi classics, the so called Taijiquan Jing, the name of this art is not Tai Chi Chuan, but instead it’s Chang Chuan (or Changquan with Pinyin). People mistake the meaning of this name for Longfist. The character Chang, 长 (長 traditional) means “long” and you can find the same character for instance in the name of the Great Wall, Changcheng, 长城. Many people use to explain the name “Chang Chuan” by referring to the big, “long”, stretched out movements of the common Large Frame Tai Chi practice. They do this probably just because they don’t recognise any other type of “frame”.

But the meaning of the name Chang Chuan is actually not longfist. Instead it should be translated as Pugilism, or Boxing, of the Yangtse River. Our common name of the river, Yangtze, is actually only of the beginning of the river by the shore, or the estuary, Yangzijiang in Chinese. The actual Chinese name of the river is Changjiang (, or Chiang Kiang with an older common type of romanisation).

In the Tai Chi Classics you can read: 長拳者,如長江大海滔滔不絕也 or “Changquan is like The Yangtze river and the Great ocean, moving unceasingly.”. Mostly this passage is translated to: “Changquan (or Chang Chuan) is like a long river…” Despite the name of the river, 長江 or Changjiang, is there in front of their eyes, translators continue to not see it. You can look at the most “masters” books, homepages or blogs. Not even people who brand themselves as scholars get this! (look at what Yang Jing-Ming writes for example.) Most of the people writing about these things probably just repeat what other people already have said without doing much thinking for themselves.

Cotton means continuous

An even older name, probably what Yang Luchan used, was Mian Chuan (Mianquan), or “cotton boxing”. But a meaning of the character “mian”, is “continuous”, because when you have a big lump of cotton, it’s just a big lump sticking together. When you pull it, it continue to stick together, so you can’t see the beginning or end of the individual cotton parts. So the meaning of this name, Mian Chuan, bears a similar meaning as in the name Long River Boxing. When we practice our forms, we practice one long continuous movement without interruption, without breaks or visible seams.

A deeper meaning of Water (no pun intended)

So why water, why is it important to be like and act like water? Well, water has great importance for Daoism. If the idea in Tai Chi comes directly from Daoism or as an influence maybe via Neo-Confucianism I have no idea about. But I would presume that the person or the people who laid the theoretical foundation of Tai Chi should have  some knowledge about Daoism and maybe was a practitioner of Daoist exercises.

People who have not studied these things might not realise how strong the idea of water is in traditional Chinese thought, and in Daoism in particular. There’s a passage in the Daodejing that reads:

Nothing in the world is softer and weaker than water.
Yet, to attack the hard and strong,

Nothing surpasses it.
Nothing can take its place.

The weak overcomes the strong.
The soft overcomes the hard.

Everybody in the world knows this,
Still nobody makes use of it.

Well, on one point there was something that Laozi didn’t foresee, and that was Tai Chi Chuan. We do make use of this metaphor in practical practice and in application. At least we try to, and we practice on how to do it. One of the very goals in Tai Chi Chuan is to be able to act just like water.

Some people say that this search, “become like water”, is a metaphor for the search of the Dao itself, to achieve the ultimate goal of Daoism. Now we are starting to go down into some really troublesomely deep water. But it’s not as far-fetched as one might believe. Continue to follow me and I will explain why.

The even deeper Pool of Dé

Another passage in the Daodejing reads:

道沖而用之有弗盈也,淵呵似萬物之宗,湛呵似或存

“Dao being empty, the use of it cannot be filled up.
So deep, it seems the predecessor of everything that is happening.
So deep, it only seems to persist.“

(transl. by Lu Yanying)

Take a look at the character 淵, deep. The translator of the passage above writes:

The character 淵 yuan “deep”, according to the oldest Chinese character dictionary, 說文解字 Shuo wen jie zi, is formed pictographically. This character is pictographic because of the component on the right, which is com- prised of an image of water with two shores on each side. When used as an adjective, it describes the depth of a pool of water. Alternatively, it can be used as a noun to signify a pool of water characterized by its depth.

it can be said that dao [why not D capitalised?] can also be metaphorically conceptualized as 淵 yuan “deep pool”. 淵 yuan “deep pool”, which can be image-schematically conceived as a container with a structure characterized by its vacant middle part that can hold water.

We could say that “the container”, or the emptiness of the deep well or the pool, is the Dao. The author of the essay above acknowledges that water is a metaphor of the Dé, the creative power of the Dao. But still, she misses one important, vital clue.

Taiyi Gives Birth to Water

So what did she miss? The clue is not in the Daodejing itself, but in a text that was discovered together with the Guodian manuscripts of the Daodejing written on bamboo slits in 1993. This text is called “Taiyi Sheng Shui“, or “Taiyi Gives Birth to Water”.

Taiyi is translated as the “Great One”. In Chinese cosmology, especially in interpretations of the Yijing, The Taiyi is represented by one single solid line or as a round circle. This original unity is then divided into one broken and one unbroken line, representing Yin and Yang.

However, in the Taiyi Sheng Shui, Taiyi is identical in meaning to the Dao, and the Water is the metaphor of, or the same meaning as, the De or the active, creative power of the Dao. The first lines read:

The Taiyi gives Birth to Water.
Water returns and assists Taiyi to give birth to the Heaven.
Water returns together with Heaven and assists Taiyi to give birth to the Earth.

This is a creation story of the Universe. But the meaning is still deeper. You see, Taiyi was originally a name for the highest god in old Chinese mythology, the North Star. Many texts Han dynasty, texts states this directly and indirectly, but as found in the Weishu jicheng (纬书集成 ), this as explicitly stated:

“The ‘Great One’ is the name of the deity of the North Star.”

So the Taiyi Sheng Shui could be said to be a philosophical interpretation of a Taoist creation myth. Jia Jianhua, one of the authors who has written about this topic meant that originally, even the Dao was also a another name, or a symbol for, the North Star. These texts, the Daodejing and Taiyi Sheng Shui, represents a new area where the personification of the gods and deities is taken away and the meaning of the texts are most philosophical. So in a sense, the common position that the philosophical Daoism was first and the religious came later is wrong. The philosophical school of Daoism was based on old folk religion.

Man – a small Heaven

The Chinese looked on the Human as a Universe in small scale. The Daoists who created the theory around Neidan and the exercises used the way people described the Universe to describe human body and psychophysical conditions that was important for Neidan practice. They surely understood all of the old symbolism and metaphors and used these for their thoughts and writings.

Water was taken from the picture of the creative, active force of the Dao or Taiyi. In our own bodies, the Daoist scholars of old thought that we had this potential to make use of the Water in ourselves. Water became synonymous to Essence or Jing. The three Dantian places resembled a stove. The idea was to use the mind to let the heart flame sink down below the water of the lower dantian to produce steam, which is the Qi. When essence is brought up to the middle dantian it returns again to the lower dantian. (If you want to read more about Neidan, please have a look at this article about the Three Gates.)

There’s a continuous circulation, exchange and assisting of the Qi and Jing through the three Dantians to further refine the essence. The text of the Taiyi Sheng Shui comes to my mind when I read the old Neidan classics. It’s the same idea as the continuous movement of the water. From both of these Daoist deep pools of ideas I get the picture of waves rocking back and forth, going away and returning back to hit the shore.

The movements in Taijiquan and the exercises and meditation of Neidan, the external movement becomes a mirror of the internal world. External and internal, both harmonising each other through the idea of the water, the long river and the great ocean, moving unceasingly.

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Can you attack with Tai Chi?

09 Thursday Jun 2016

Posted by David in General Tai Chi, The Tai Chi Classics

≈ Leave a comment

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Attacking, Self-defense, Tai Chi, Tai Chi Combat

Tai Chi is mostly considered a solely defensive art based on response. A common question from tai chi practitioners, especially from beginners is: Can you attack with Tai chi? Sadly there’s a common misconception about attacking or doing things without the attacker first initializing an attack. Even quite well known teachers say things like that you must wait for an attack and if that your opponent doesn’t do anything you can only wait. But attacking actually does not go against Tai chi principles.

Yes, you must know what to follow. But there is not only arms and legs to worry about. Even if he is not lunging out attacks, there’s is still a body to follow and adjust to. Controlling distance and angle to the opponent is what you always need to do. Always try to be in a superior position. Somewhere in a space relationship to you where he does not want to be.

And even more important, there’s is the opponent’s Yi (intent) to worry about. If you let him focus his Yi steadily on you is like letting him aim at you with a target. Keep off his favorite distance, try adjust the angles. Try to confuse him, shift distances or use any way to detach his line of intent.

Where his mind is empty or at that spot he pays no attention to, there is yin. You can fill up this spot with yang, i.e. attack. There is nothing wrong with this.

Then, if you attack him, he must move or be moved. When moves, if he defend or counter, what ever he does,  now there’s physical movement to follow. He has moved and given you something you can attach your hands and tingjin (following skill) to.

The classics says: “If my opponent moves slightly, I move first.” As soon as he does anything, move in and be there first. Follow his reactions and let his movements defeat himself. 

Or just go in and attack. A straight lead will do fine. As long as you keep relaxed and firmly rooted, fist supported from the dantian, then there will be only tai chi. That is – if you have practiced your art’s foundation well. 

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The Tai Chi Classics – part I

09 Monday Sep 2013

Posted by David in The Tai Chi Classics

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Tai Chi, Tai Chi Classics, Taijiquan

The Taijiquan Jing

or The Taijiquan lilun

Attributed to Chang San-feng
Translated and explained by David Roth-Lindberg

Part 1

Passage I

一舉動,
周身俱要輕靈,
尤須貫串。

(Yījǔ dòng,
zhōushēn jù yào qīng líng,
yóu xū guànchuàn.)

Translation:
Whenever in movement
the body is light and nimble.
All of the body parts connected as stringed together.

Comment: 
When practicing a taijiquan form or when use your taiji to fight with is the same. You always make clever use of both movement and power. In movement, the body parts is always arranged from the center. If you arrange the body properly, you will move with the same agility like a skilled and professional dancer. Or similar to a cat.

Passage II

氣宜鼓盪,
神宜內斂。

(Qì yí gǔ dàng,
shén yí nèi liàn.)

Translation:
The Qi (intrinsic energy) should be excited
The Shen (spirit/vitality) gathered within

Comment:
Only when you are calm and focused, your qi can rise. In Daoism, when you are calm and have an empty mind (wuxin), the heart flame will sink to the dantian below the “water” or Jing. Then the heart flame will heat up this “stove”, and make it produce “gas” or “qi”. So only when you are focused and calm, you can circulate qi throughout your body. It is said that “the mind leads the qi, the qi leads your movement”. In western terms, you can just translate this as: “if you are calm and focused, you are in control of your movements.” In that way it makes more sense. When you fight, always be calm and focused so you know what you do with your body. The passage is not more mystical than this really, it is just explained with traditional chinese thought and old terms.

Passage III

毋使有缺陷處,
毋使有凸凹處,
毋使有斷續處。

(Wú shǐ yǒu quēxiàn chǔ,
wú shǐ yǒu tū āo chǔ,
wú shǐ yǒu duànxù chǔ.)

Comment:
This one is a bit tricky actually. People tend to translate this passage as a dichtomy of posture and form practice and it is usually understood as an advice to stance and form practice. But I think this is wrong and that it’s actually a most practical advice for fighting. The passage says that there should be: “no defect of posture, no gaps and distortions of alignment and movement should be smooth without any breaks.” I don’t really agree that this passage is meant for single practice. What is meant by “no 凸凹” or no “convex or concave” as the characters means, here actually means that there should be no place and no gaps for a punch to enter. If you take the passage as a whole, it means that alignment, stance and movement should have no gaps or holes, whether you stand or move. You should be continuous in motion and have a good frame, alignment and posture = a good guard, so that you can not be hit by your opponent. So you might just translate this passage to:

“When you are standing or in movement,
always keep your alignment and keep your guard up”.

Thats very different from for instance Scheele’s translation, isn’t it? Compare yourself:

“The postures should be without defect,
without hollows or projections from the proper alignment;
in motion the Form should be continuous, without stops and starts.”

So if you read the classics, you will have a very different translation if you read it as health theory or have a practical martial art in mind.

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The Tai Chi Classics explained

09 Monday Sep 2013

Posted by David in General Tai Chi, The Tai Chi Classics

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Tags

Tai Chi, Tai Chi Classics, Taijiquan

You might have heard about or even read The Tai Chi Classics. My next project is to translate, explain and comment hopefully all of the different texts and books which are together called the  “taiji classics”. I will start with the 太極拳論 Taijiquan lun or Taijiquan Jing as it is often called, right away, a text which is usually attributed to the semi-mythical Zhang Sanfeng. He probably didn’t write a shit, but this is what some people believe anyway. When I started reading this first of the texts in original, I was surprised when I understood how simple and to the point it actually is. In my opinion it’s a simple and most practical boxing manual and have very little to do with mystical mumbo-jumbo.

Therefore I will translate and discuss each passage in the most practical, no-nonsens, common sense manner as possibly. You will get the characters and explanation of the terms so that it’s easier to judge and contemplate on the meaning by yourself. With traditional Chinese, it’s always pointless to just translate the characters one by one, so I will explain the verses and let you know what I think that they mean.

But I won’t give you everything together at once, but instead take a few passages in different posts. This way I don’t need to hurry with the translations and you won’t need to take in too much at once. Just read and reflect on a few verses at a time. Well, just jump to the next post, I will start right away with the first three verses.

Just look up all of the translation here: The Tai Chi Classics

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