CHAPTER 1

Tai Chi: The Supreme Ultimate

Tai Chi is the popular abbreviation for T'ai Chi Chuan—pronounced tie cheechuwan (ti che choowon). It is translated as "The Supreme Ultimate BoxingSystem." It is an ancient Chinese exercise consisting of slow, relaxed movementsfor total self-development: for the body it is an exercise; for the mind it is astudy in concentration, will power and visualization; and for the soul, it is asystem of spiritual meditation. Tai Chi is also a preventative and curativebranch of Chinese medicine, and, the "Supreme Ultimate" system of martial art.

The name T'ai Chi Chuan is taken from Taoism. The T'ai Chi-"The SupremeUltimate" or "The Grand Terminus," is a symbol of the eternal Tao. It iscomposed of a circle containing one yin and one yang harmoniouslyinterconnected. It signifies everything in creation which is manifested and theduality that is contained in all. The word Chuan means "fist" or "fightingsystem." Thus T'ai Chi Chuan can simply be defined as the supreme ultimatesystem of boxing or martial art. Chuan also means control. This control impliesboth self-control and control over a given situation. T'ai Chi Chuan therefore,may be given yet another definition: the supreme ultimate system of self-controlin any situation.

Origin and History

The Emergence of Shao-lin Temple Boxing

Although Tai Chi Chuan is a Chinese art, its roots can be traced back to India.In 500 B.C., there lived a man in India called Guatama, who was born a prince.He relinquished kingdom, fortune and family to pursue a quest for truth and forthe deeper meaning of life. After many years of self-denial, asceticism,meditation, searching and self-inquiry, he achieved what he described as "thehighest level possible for one to attain while in his earthly body". From thispoint on, he was known as "The Buddha"—The Enlightened One. Furthermore, he madea vow that he would not be content with his achievement until he had shared hiswisdom with all beings.

I, having reached the other shore,help others to cross the water;I, having attained salvation,am a savior of others;I being comforted, comfort othersand lead them to the place of refuge.

The Buddha—The Compassionate One, established Buddhist orders throughout India.After his death, the teachings of Gautama, The Light of Asia, spread rapidlyeastward. Buddhist Patriarchs left India to teach this doctrine of universalbrotherhood, the cessation of suffering, and salvation, to other nations. Onefamous Patriarch called Padma-sambava crossed the Himalayan mountains, settledin Tibet and founded Tibetan Buddhism. In the sixth century (c.530) a Buddhistmonk called Bodhidharma, made a similar journey across the Himalayas andtraveled to China to spread Buddha's teachings. He was the son of King Sugandhaand was therefore fortunate enough to have the opportunity to study martial artsin India under an old master named Prajhatara. Bodhidharma, also called Ta-mo,established himself in the Shao-lin monastery in Honan Province in northernChina and began teaching Buddhist Sutras to his followers. Monks joined theorder and the monastery grew. Meditation was a key part of their training andwas to unlock many doors in the monks' evolution towards self-mastery. Ta-mohimself was reputed to have sat in meditation facing a wall for nine years. Themonks were also instructed in agriculture, herbology and healing. With theseskills they helped the sick and hungry. This work helped the monks to betterfulfill their vows of saving all beings. Ta-mo discovered that the health of hisdisciples was deteriorating. They would fall asleep during the sutra studies andthey seemed to be unprepared for the rigorous monastery lifestyle. Ta-mo taughtthat the body and the mind were united; therefore it seemed wrong to him thathis monks, who were doing such vigorous mental striving, should be so deficientphysically. At this time poor health became a serious threat to their survivalbecause vicious hordes of nomads were sweeping through parts of China, killingand pillaging villages and monasteries. Ta-mo decided to take drastic steps toinsure the survival of his Shao-lin order. The monks carried neither weapons norshields, but Ta-mo declared that through the powers latent within the mind, onecould transform the hands into knives, and the arms into shields. Thus tostrengthen the body, to defend themselves, and to combat injustice, the monksbegan to study the way of the righteous fist. Ta-mo's new fighting disciplinewas a combination of:

* meditation: the knowledge that the mind is supreme over the body, and that themind can transform men into invincible fighting machines;

* the martial arts that he had studied in India;

* the chinese boxing techniques (which at that time were scattered anddisorganized);

* three sets of exercises taught by Ta-mo for improved health and meditation:

"the eighteen movements of the Ahran Hands," "Sinew Changing," and "MarrowWashing Exercises." These exercises were carried over from Indian Avedic medicalpractices. They emphasized rhythmic breathing and body-stretching maneuvers.

Shao-lin Temple Boxing was born out of this combination. It became a mandatorystudy in the temple, along with other disciplines to be mastered by the monks.When a monk attained a high level of inner mastery over all the disciplinesexpected of him in the monastery, including Ta-mo's Temple Boxing; he was calleda Kung Fu master. Kung Fu means inner development or mastery, and can be appliedto any discipline, for example, meditation; or to any skill, such as playing amusical instrument. Today the popular usage of the term Kung Fu has becomevirtually synonymous with the Chinese martial arts (Wushu) that the monkspracticed. It also may be applied to other martial art forms; Tai Chi Chuan,Hsing-1, Karate, judo, etc.

As the centuries passed, the boxing system of Shao-lin became formalized intofive distinct styles ... Crane, Snake, Leopard, Tiger and Dragon. These styles wereinspired by observing the fighting maneuvers of animals and by imitating theirmovements. Although conflicting dates are given for this formalization of ShaolinBoxing, the latest date possible is in the 16th century, by Kwok Yuen, PakYook Fong, and Li. Following the creation of the five styles of Shao-lin Boxing,other important styles began to develop. From Crane came Praying Mantis style,from Tiger came Eagle style, from Tiger and Crane, Hung style was invented.Snake and Crane gave rise to Wing Chun, and the list continued to grow.

Shao-lin Temple Boxing became famous as the finest system of martial art and wasrevered all over China. So great was its reputation that martial artists fromother countries also wanted to study this system. Shao-lin monks realized thatthere was great power inherent in these teachings and they were very reluctantto permit the teaching outside of the temple walls.

With the fall of the Ming dynasty (c. 1644 A.D.), outsiders were permitted toenter the temple and learn the boxing art in order to drive out the invadingManchurians.

Thus Shao-lin boxing left the temple and started to spread throughout China.Later in history, portions of this highly evolved art spread to Okinawa where itwas called Shao-lin Ryu, meaning Shao-lin fighting style. When it reached Koreait was called Tai Kuan Do. In japan it was called Karate, meaning Chinese empty-handfighting. Even jujitzu was based upon a style of Chinese boxing called ChinNa which emphasized locks and flips. Chinese Temple Boxing was the mother systemwhich gave birth to the other martial arts in Asia.

(Terracotta, h. 5 feet, 10 inches. Qin dynasty, 221-210 B.C. from: The GreatBronze Age of China: An exhibition from The People's Republic of China. Thisphotograph reprinted with permission from The People's Republic of China and theMetropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Photograph by Seth joel.)

This statue is historically valuable because it clearly shows that the roots ofChinese Kung Fu Wu Shu go much further back in time than the formalized datesusually attribued to Ta Mo's system of Shao-lin (6th century) or Chang Sanfeng'ssystem of Tai Chi Chuan (about 1300 A.D.). Note that the statue does notpresume to show traditional Kung Fu Wu Shu per se, but only its ancient rootheritage with more ancient Chinese Boxing systems. Also note the similarity tothe "Shoulder Press" (Form photograph #30) found in the present day Yang styleTai Chi Chuan form.

The Soft School: Tai Chi Chuan

Chang San-feng, a Taoist priest (1279-1368), is generally regarded as thefounder of the soft school of boxing. He was supposed to have been a greatmaster of Shao-lin Chuan. It is said that one evening he had a dream in whichGod taught him how to fight. This dream synchronized with a scene that hewitnessed shortly thereafter. A crane and a snake were engaged in mortal combat.He noticed how the snake would recoil to escape the crane's attack and use thatsame recoil to launch into its own attack. The crane would use its wings tosoftly cover the snake. He was inspired. He realized the practicality ofyielding, pliability and softness. He had felt for a long time that theexpenditure of great muscular strength was not in harmony with nature and thetheories of meditation. Therefore, he invented his Wu Tang school of meditationand soft martial art. It was named after the Wu Tang mountain range where hetaught.

After Chang San-feng, the history of Tai Chi Chuan becomes very vague. It isbelieved that Chang taught his system to Wang Tsung, who taught Chen Chow Tung,later Chang Sung Chi learned it. But there seems to be many conflicting accountsand dates given by different sources. We can begin to trace the soft school andTai Chi Chuan much more concretely in the 1600's after Ch'en Wang Ting. Thefollowing chart brings the history of Tai Chi Chuan up to date in the U.S.A.

The three main schools of Tai Chi today are Chen, Yang and Wu respectively,started by Chen Wang Ting (1597-1664), Yang Lu Chuan (1799-1872), and Wu YuHsing (1812-1880). More recently the Sun style has been gaining popularity; itis named after its founder Sun Luck Tang (1881-1932).

The most popular style of Tai Chi Chuan is the Yang style. My own teacher ChengMan-ch'ing (1900-1975) learned it from Yang Ch'eng Fu, the grandson of Yang LuChuan. Cheng was considered by most to be the greatest exponent of the Yangstyle in the later half of the 1900's. Cheng was known as the master of the fiveexcellences. He was a master of Chinese medicine and founded the first collegeof Chinese medicine in Taiwan. He was also a master of calligraphy, poetry andpainting. Professor Cheng had tuberculosis as a teenager and was told he woulddie at an early age. As a desperate measure at age 25, he started to study TaiChi Chuan. He told us that in six months he stopped spitting blood and in oneyear his coughing ceased. He continued to practice Tai Chi until his death. Itwas the beneficial health aspect of Tai Chi that the Professor most wanted tocommunicate to his followers.

Cheng developed the short Yang form which is much more concise and very populartoday. This shortened Yang form is a careful distillation of those moves whichcontain the most basic principles and which are the most beneficial to one'shealth. He removed most of the repetitions and some of the more exotic lookingfighting movements. The result was a form which took only ten minutes to doinstead of the original thirty.

Naturally, these alterations caused the more pedantic practitioners of the Yangstyle to strongly disapprove. Cheng told his students that his senior brothers,however, approved of his alterations. Cheng's short form opened the door to TaiChi Chuan to greater masses of people who would not devote the time to learn andto practice such a long series of movements. He trained thousands of people inthis short form in both China and the U.S.A. He and his students are mostresponsible for spreading Tai Chi to the West, and to the United States.

Tai Chi was hardly known outside of China until about fifteen years ago, andthen only to connoisseurs of the martial arts. The handful of non-Chinese thathad heard of Tai Chi were very vague about the concept of Chi, had no idea ofhow it could be utilized for self-defense, and had little or no access toqualified instructors. Even in China, martial arts were always veiled in mysterybecause they were restricted to esoteric circles. Novices were usually acceptedfrom within the family or occasionally from the truly die-hard seekersclammering for initiation and willing to undergo all manner of sacrifice andausterity in order to be admitted into the "inner circle". The Chen family, andlater the Yang family practiced Tai Chi Chuan. For many centuries it remained aclosed system unavailable to outsiders. The awesome display of martial prowessdisplayed by Tai Chi Chuan masters during combat or tournaments and thelegendary tales of extraordinary abilities, good health and longevity combinedto form a kind of magical aura and skill that few could achieve and almost nonecould understand.

With the Communist revolution in China, came Communist ideals of equality forall. In the eyes of the new government all "elitist practices" had to bediscontinued. The esoteric circles of martial art schools were viewed aselitest. The new regime did not have any place for people who would spend thedays in full-time practice of martial arts, nor any other arts for that matter,as had been the custom in the old days of China. All people were now required towork in the fields, in the factories and in other communal ventures for thecommon good of the country. The families with money and property were requiredto hand over their private possessions to the government for redistribution tothe people. The alternative was imprisonment or death. Martial art familiesadjusted as best they could. Some continued to practice their traditionalmartial skills in the spare moments available, but since there simply was notthe time to teach and train correctly, many of mainland China's most exotic andcomplex martial skills deteriorated drastically or were lost completely. Othersdecided to escape from the Communists and flee to Taiwan or Hong Kong, ratherthan to become proletarians for a regime void of individual artistic expressionand talent.

As a result of the emigration from mainland China by Kung Fu masters, such asCheng Man-ch'ing and others, Chinese martial arts began spreading to othercountries in Europe, Asia, and America. Master Cheng particularly wished toteach Tai Chi to non Chinese students, because he felt that it was an art thatshould benefit the health of the whole world. He often told his advancedstudents that he felt that the future of Tai Chi Chuan was in the U.S.A.Although Master Cheng and others did consent to teach their arts outside ofChina, these arts were not received with overwhelming enthusiasm in their newhomelands. People would look upon them with curiosity, fascination and politeinterest but only a small handful would actually take the time to study andlearn these skills. Was it a martial art or a fancy dance? Was it practical forself-defense? Was it as effective as Karate or Jujitzu? Usually those that didtake up the study dropped out before acquiring any real adeptness. Even today,the drop-out rate of martial arts students is about 80% within the first threemonths. People want to learn but are not willing to devote the time and worknecessary for practice and improvement in the art.

Ironically, the new Chinese government was destined to reverse its positionregarding Kung Fu. It had initially opposed the "old ways" of China, but it didnot succeed in changing the people's attitudes about Kung Fu. As the I Chingstates:

The town may be changed,But the well cannot be changed.

Kung Fu had become like a well with archetypal springs feeding it from deepwithin the unconscious mind of the Chinese people. They had given birth to KungFu over a thousand years earlier and generation after generation had grown tolove this unique Chinese boxing exercise. The people just could not say "nomore" and turn their backs on Kung Fu overnight. They loved it and still wantedit. The government finally decided to do some research on Kung Fu, to see ifthere would be any scientific justification for permitting its re-entry into thenew Chinese system.

This research so convinced the government of Tai Chi's preventative and curativevalue that it has been reinstated as a mandatory subject of' study for everyonein the public scho61s. Even workers in factories and on farms take dailyexercise breaks to practice Tai Chi Chuan. It was also decided to make Kung FuWushu a national sport in the communistic spirit of co-operation. Fightingtournaments were banned but form competitions took their place. A random sampleof some of the finest Kung Fu forms from the various styles were collected andstandardized and the new sport of Wushu was made official. Working people fromall over China are now encouraged to study any of these standard forms. We inthe U.S.A. were treated to a demonstration of some of these forms when the Wushudelegation from China visited in 1974. Tai Chi Chuan is one of the styles thatwas standardized and included in their Kung Fu training. Tai Chi Chuan, however,is still regarded as unique among the Kung Fu styles because the form issuitable for young and old and particularly beneficial to health.