The Chinese characters for Tai Chi Chuan
can be translated as the 'Supreme Ultimate
Force'. The notion of 'supreme ultimate' is
often associated with the Chinese concept of
yin-yang, the notion that one can see a
dynamic duality (male/female,
active/passive, dark/light,
forceful/yielding, etc.) in all things.
'Force' (or, more literally, 'fist') can be
thought of here as the means or way of
achieving this ying-yang, or
'supreme-ultimate' discipline.
Tai Chi, as it is practiced in the west
today, can perhaps best be thought of as a
moving form of yoga and meditation combined.
There are a number of so- called forms
(sometimes also called 'sets') which consist
of a sequence of movements. Many of these
movements are originally derived from the
martial arts (and perhaps even more
ancestrally than that, from the natural
movements of animals and birds) although the
way they are performed in Tai Chi is slowly,
softly and gracefully with smooth and even
transitions between them.
For many practicioners the focus in doing
them is not, first and foremost, martial,
but as a meditative exercise for the body.
For others the combat aspects of Tai Chi are
of considerable interest. In Chinese
philosophy and medicine there exists the
concept of 'chi', a vital force that
animates the body. One of the avowed aims of
Tai Chi is to foster the circulation of this
'chi' within the body, the belief being that
by doing so the health and vitality of the
person are enhanced. This 'chi' circulates
in patterns that are close related to the
nervous and vascular system and thus the
notion is closely connected with that of the
practice of acupuncture and other oriental
healing arts.
Another aim of Tai Chi is to foster a
calm and tranquil mind, focused on the
precise execution of these exercises.
Learning to do them correctly provides a
practical avenue for learning about such
things as balance, alignment, fine-scale
motor control, rhythm of movement, the
genesis of movement from the body's vital
center, and so on. Thus the practice of Tai
Chi can in some measure contribute to being
able to better stand, walk, move, run, etc.
in other spheres of life as well. Many
practitioners notice benefits in terms of
correcting poor postural, alignment or
movement patterns which can contribute to
tension or injury. Furthermore the
meditative nature of the exercises is
calming and relaxing in and of itself.
Because the Tai Chi movements have their
origins in the martial arts, practicing them
does have some martial applications. In a
two-person exercise called 'push-hands' Tai
Chi principles are developed in terms of
being sensitive to and responsive of another
person's 'chi' or vital energy. It is also
an opportunity to employ some of the martial
aspects of Tai Chi in a kind of slow-tempo
combat. Long-time practitioners of Tai Chi
who are so-inclined can become very adept at
martial arts. The emphasis in Tai Chi is on
being able to channel potentially
destructive energy (in the form of a kick or
a punch) away from one in a manner that will
dissipate the energy or send it in a
direction where it is no longer a danger.
The practical exercises of Tai Chi are
also situated in a wider philosophical
context of Taoism. This is a reflective,
mystical Chinese tradition first associated
with the scholar and mystic Lao Tsu, an
older contemporary of Confucius. He wrote
and taught in the province of Honan in the
6th century B.C. and authored the seminal
work of Taoism, the Tao Te Ching. As a
philosophy, Taoism has many elements but
fundamentally it espouses a calm, reflective
and mystic view of the world steeped in the
beauty and tranquillity of nature.
Tai Chi also has, particularly amongst
eastern practitioners, a long connection
with the I Ching a Chinese system of
divination. There are associations between
the 8 basic I Ching trigrams plus the five
elements of Chinese alchemy (metal, wood,
fire, water and earth) with the thirteen
basic postures of Tai Chi created by Chang
San-feng. There are also other associations
with the full 64 trigrams of the I Ching and
other movements in the Tai Chi form. |
