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History and Development
Of Tai Chi
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The Tai Chi Chuan form has been
handed down for generations
through different families, since
its
creation by the legendary Taoist
master Chang San-Feng during the
Sung Dynasty (960-1279
C.E.). There are many different
accounts of the origin of the
form, or kung chia. The
most common
of which is that he once spied a
snake and crane fighting and
copied the soft, coiling motion of
their
movements. |
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The form he developed
consisted of only thirteen
postures, corresponding with the
eight trigrams of the
I Ching
<http://www.amazon.com/>
(Book of Changes) and the five
elements. The linkage after Master
Chang is not precisely clear, but
it does lead to a man named Chiang
Fah. Chiang taught his form to
a man named Chen Wang-Ting, who is
recorded as practicing Tai Chi
prior to 1644. His
descendants still practice the
form their family developed, which
is characterized by its emphasis
on
silk-reeling techniques (Chan-Ssu
Chin), low stances, and
periodically fast movements. The
Chen
family's Tai Chi remained a secret
for five generations, not to be
taught to anyone outside of the
family.
Later on, during the 1800's, Chen
Chang-Hsin (1771-1853) broke this
tradition and taught
his family's style and secrets to
an earnest student named Yang
Lu-Chan (1799-1872). The Yang
style, as we know it today, was
standardized by Yang Lu-Chan's
grandson,
Yang
Cheng-Fu (1883-1936). It consists, at its
longest account, of 128 postures
and is characterized by large
leaning movements, "peng" or
"ward-off" energy, and the slow,
even pace most people associate
with Tai Chi.
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The Yang family masters had a
famous lineage of students who
created the other
major styles of Tai Chi Chuan,
which include the styles of Wu,
Hao, and Sun. Although each style
has its own particular "flavour"
and they appear different in their
external performance, they all
keep
to the principles laid out
centuries ago by Chang San-Feng.
Yang Cheng-Fu had one student by
the name of
Cheng
Man-Ching
(1901-1975) who became the
greatest master of his time. With
his master's permission, he
shortened the form to 37 postures
and
made it the most popular of all
the forms practiced today.
Grand Master Yang Cheng-Fu
once said "One
must distinguish the pure from the
motley. Many practice tai chi
nowadays but it is not the real
taichi. The real has a different
taste, and is easily
distinguished. With real taichi,
your arm is like iron wrapped with
cotton. It is soft and yet feels
heavy to someone trying to support
it. You can feel this in
push-hands practice. When you
touch an opponent, your hands are
soft and light but he cannot get
rid of them. When you attack, it
is like a bullet penetrating
cleanly and sharply (gan cui), yet
without using any force. When he
is pushed ten feet away, he feels
a little movement, but no strength
and no pain. In touching him, you
don't grab him. Instead you
lightly adhere to him so that he
can't escape. Soon his two arms
become so sore he can't stand it.
This is real taichi. If you use
force, you may move him. But it
will not be clean and sharp. If he
tries to use force to hold or
control you, it is like trying to
catch the wind or shadows.
Everywhere is EMPTY. It can be
likened to walking on gourds on
the water. You cannot get to where
the substantial is. Put simply,
the real taichi is marvelous."
The taste of true Taijiquan from
Yang Chen-fu
By Chen Wei-Ming, Shanghai, 1927
Extraction from "The collection of
Chen Wei-ming's Taijiquan
writings."
Second edition published in China,
1995 by People's Athletic
Education. With Thanks
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