Jul 2013
Thoughts on Taiji Chuan in our western culture
16/07/13 12:36 Filed in: eBook on Taiji Chuan
These are pieces I have written and posted on a Linked-in group on Tai Chi Chuan. I reproduce these here to reach out to others in the practice. The pieces have been re-edited a bit … just for clarification.
CHANGES IN PRACTICE
Sometimes changes in a practice comes about because of necessity ... for example, I began doing cloud hands from the Guang Ping Yang Taiji in squares because my backyard was narrow. That evolved into forming a small frame set of taiji for my older students that didn't require them to over-emphasize the leg work that is so important in large frame taiji but did emphasize use of the waist and shoulders instead of the hips. This is turn led to creating an approach to small frame that brought back some of the movements taught originally by my teacher but changed to more simple movements at a later date. 'Green Dragon shoots out of the water' for example was change to step out and push and I keep that approach in the large frame but revert to the chicken step in small frame which was the original movement I learned.
I now have 2 approaches to Guang Ping ... the large frame leg work and a small frame leg work ... both approach the practice differently and are taught to people according to age and condition.
The small frame approach has also been taught as an application set for senior practitioners which is in keeping with the traditional understanding that movements get smaller when they are used in combat.
Practices evolve but they need to keep their distinctive roots alive or the art degenerates into empty gestures.
MARTIAL ARTS AND HEALING ARTS
… the traditional healing arts and the martial arts in Chinese history have always gone hand in hand. Let me explain ... battle field doctors expanded their understanding and treatment procedures of acupuncture as a result of soldier's arrow wounds. Another example, Hua Tou (3 kingdoms period) was one of the leading medical doctors of his time. As a battle field doctor, he engaged in surgery as well as battling diseases resulting from wounds or natural calamities ... as well as developing 5 animals QiGong. Much of his work has been lost to us as a result of CaoCao's destruction of his library after having him murdered. The reason ... Hua Tou was his personal doctor and CaoCao did not want his enemies to know his specific weaknesses.
As a continuation of this theme of the interrelated aspects of military action from whence the martial arts were born and medical / philosophical aspects of health and our interconnectedness to reality, we can see that health, wealth and martial skill have never been separated in the histories of China.
Taiji Chuan is a rather new take on these connected themes. It rose during the Ching dynasty as a specific approach to personal combat but was never separated from basic health concerns ... and in my opinion, this has always been case with those who practice martial arts.
After all, the historical goal for the Chinese has been the search for immortality and that has always involved the martial, the medical and the philosophical. The principles of Taiji Chuan rest on the concept that the soft can overturn the hard ... that the soft approach can create internal hardness over time of a type that is different from simple muscular strength. These ideas have revolved around the principles of the art ... without following these principles we become much poorer and the art degenerates into a shadow …
Just a bit more ... many new forms and sub-forms are being created as we speak. While much of this is coming out of China in the guise of Wu Shu, it is, none the less, old wine in new bottles. If they keep the basic principles intact in their art ... they may contribute to the present needs in our modern societies. The one thing that does happen more often than not is that teachers of internal arts assume that 20 years practice should allow them to take on the title Master of the Art ... that is a rising problem and one often generated by a need for recognition and distinction among the rising schools. Or even worse, I cringe when I see a young man or woman take on the title of Master ... that is an absurdity ... in our art ... progress takes development & time ... we are like a maturing wine more than simply than a set of movements.
CONSISTENCY IN PRACTICE
In some sense, taiji is a study that requires dedication and perseverance in the practices taught by our teacher/teachers and on another level, it is a personal journey with developments and advancements through stages formed by experiences. These 2 basics are true for everyone.
If the foundation of study and practice is strong and the principles of the art followed everyone can develop. We do develop a personal style over time. There is no way around this but we have our teachers, older brothers and older sisters capabilities to compare what is good and what is not. Whether it is good or bad taiji depends on that persons evolution through time. The art is not a skip, jump and splash to mastery. It's difficult enough to keep to the practice and not loose important little qualities active in the practice that did not make sense in early stages of the study and unfortunately, many of us drop certain aspects of our practice simply because they are difficult to perform and achieve. Chin-to-toe is an example in Guang Ping. These are things to re-consider.
Not all of us have the luxury of spending our whole lives with our teachers and that has always been the case for most students but it is important to realize that we practitioners change on all levels ... physical, mental and spiritual when we keep to the basics. What didn't make sense early on makes sense later as we come to realize what those little qualities taught us by our teachers help us accomplish.
Master Kuo wrote a book 'The Tai Chi Boxing Chronicle' to help students self-evaluate their progress and deficiencies knowing full well that each of us make our own way at some point and must constantly re-evaluate what we are doing as we go through life. This is a valuable text because it approaches the study carefully and helps a student in concrete ways. It certainly has been valuable to me.
Another book of recent vintage that is helpful is the 'Lost Tai-Chi Classics from the Late Ch'ing Dynasty' by Douglas Wile as more recent text of historic importance came forth in the 80s that do reveal the richness of the art prior to it's public dissemination.
To sum up what I'm saying, we cannot appreciate what we have learned until the flowers unfold. We each have our Spring at different times and in different ways.
CHANGES OVER THE YEARS
If we are to look at the public teaching of Taiji Chuan we have to look back at the historic condition of China at the end of the Qing dynasty and the beginnings of the Republic. China was a mess ... many of it's citizens poor and destitute ... sickness a common condition ... foreign powers carving up the country ... warlords in constant battle with each other over controlling territory ... many in the population using opium to cope with the dishevelled and precarious living conditions of the era. Out of this came a call for masters of the arts to help people get their lives in order and unite to throw off the foreign powers and to also strengthen the Chinese people ... to make then well.
At this time, Yang Chen Fu and others began to teach publicly and at this time, easier approaches were created to allow for a greater number of people to benefit from the practice. Many of the more clearly defined striking elements were de-emphasized and sets re-designed to encourage basic defense and health. The art spread quickly and has continued to gain practitioners to this day.
I had a very interesting talk with Yang Mei-Jun the Grand Master of Dayan (Wild Goose) qigong back in the mid-90s in Beijing. In that discussion, we talked about the types of approaches to taiji she saw today compared to the 1920s and 30s. She said, that the practices had changed ... rarely did she see the full extent of the art displayed after the 1930s ... at least those in public view. She was not a Taiji practitioner by the way but a practitioner of a very highly developed internal Qigong. None the less, she was very helpful in clarifying points of interest in my own art. I have followed her advice since then and found it to be most helpful to my development.
The point I'm making here is that there is a richness to the art that is slowly being dug out of obscurity by a few, on the one hand and at the same time, an increased simplification of both qigong and other internal practices that suggest to me a watering down of the art to the degree of making this another dance form.
Change is a constant but one has to ask ... is commercial greed, under-developed teachers, and outright fraud going to increase practice of the art for the better?
By the way, what prompted this tirade was an ad on Huffpo for the study of Qigong ... I went to the page and was aghast at the practices being passed off as Qigong. These things we do as warm-ups! That ad must have cost a pretty penny.
CHANGES IN PRACTICE
Sometimes changes in a practice comes about because of necessity ... for example, I began doing cloud hands from the Guang Ping Yang Taiji in squares because my backyard was narrow. That evolved into forming a small frame set of taiji for my older students that didn't require them to over-emphasize the leg work that is so important in large frame taiji but did emphasize use of the waist and shoulders instead of the hips. This is turn led to creating an approach to small frame that brought back some of the movements taught originally by my teacher but changed to more simple movements at a later date. 'Green Dragon shoots out of the water' for example was change to step out and push and I keep that approach in the large frame but revert to the chicken step in small frame which was the original movement I learned.
I now have 2 approaches to Guang Ping ... the large frame leg work and a small frame leg work ... both approach the practice differently and are taught to people according to age and condition.
The small frame approach has also been taught as an application set for senior practitioners which is in keeping with the traditional understanding that movements get smaller when they are used in combat.
Practices evolve but they need to keep their distinctive roots alive or the art degenerates into empty gestures.
MARTIAL ARTS AND HEALING ARTS
… the traditional healing arts and the martial arts in Chinese history have always gone hand in hand. Let me explain ... battle field doctors expanded their understanding and treatment procedures of acupuncture as a result of soldier's arrow wounds. Another example, Hua Tou (3 kingdoms period) was one of the leading medical doctors of his time. As a battle field doctor, he engaged in surgery as well as battling diseases resulting from wounds or natural calamities ... as well as developing 5 animals QiGong. Much of his work has been lost to us as a result of CaoCao's destruction of his library after having him murdered. The reason ... Hua Tou was his personal doctor and CaoCao did not want his enemies to know his specific weaknesses.
As a continuation of this theme of the interrelated aspects of military action from whence the martial arts were born and medical / philosophical aspects of health and our interconnectedness to reality, we can see that health, wealth and martial skill have never been separated in the histories of China.
Taiji Chuan is a rather new take on these connected themes. It rose during the Ching dynasty as a specific approach to personal combat but was never separated from basic health concerns ... and in my opinion, this has always been case with those who practice martial arts.
After all, the historical goal for the Chinese has been the search for immortality and that has always involved the martial, the medical and the philosophical. The principles of Taiji Chuan rest on the concept that the soft can overturn the hard ... that the soft approach can create internal hardness over time of a type that is different from simple muscular strength. These ideas have revolved around the principles of the art ... without following these principles we become much poorer and the art degenerates into a shadow …
Just a bit more ... many new forms and sub-forms are being created as we speak. While much of this is coming out of China in the guise of Wu Shu, it is, none the less, old wine in new bottles. If they keep the basic principles intact in their art ... they may contribute to the present needs in our modern societies. The one thing that does happen more often than not is that teachers of internal arts assume that 20 years practice should allow them to take on the title Master of the Art ... that is a rising problem and one often generated by a need for recognition and distinction among the rising schools. Or even worse, I cringe when I see a young man or woman take on the title of Master ... that is an absurdity ... in our art ... progress takes development & time ... we are like a maturing wine more than simply than a set of movements.
CONSISTENCY IN PRACTICE
In some sense, taiji is a study that requires dedication and perseverance in the practices taught by our teacher/teachers and on another level, it is a personal journey with developments and advancements through stages formed by experiences. These 2 basics are true for everyone.
If the foundation of study and practice is strong and the principles of the art followed everyone can develop. We do develop a personal style over time. There is no way around this but we have our teachers, older brothers and older sisters capabilities to compare what is good and what is not. Whether it is good or bad taiji depends on that persons evolution through time. The art is not a skip, jump and splash to mastery. It's difficult enough to keep to the practice and not loose important little qualities active in the practice that did not make sense in early stages of the study and unfortunately, many of us drop certain aspects of our practice simply because they are difficult to perform and achieve. Chin-to-toe is an example in Guang Ping. These are things to re-consider.
Not all of us have the luxury of spending our whole lives with our teachers and that has always been the case for most students but it is important to realize that we practitioners change on all levels ... physical, mental and spiritual when we keep to the basics. What didn't make sense early on makes sense later as we come to realize what those little qualities taught us by our teachers help us accomplish.
Master Kuo wrote a book 'The Tai Chi Boxing Chronicle' to help students self-evaluate their progress and deficiencies knowing full well that each of us make our own way at some point and must constantly re-evaluate what we are doing as we go through life. This is a valuable text because it approaches the study carefully and helps a student in concrete ways. It certainly has been valuable to me.
Another book of recent vintage that is helpful is the 'Lost Tai-Chi Classics from the Late Ch'ing Dynasty' by Douglas Wile as more recent text of historic importance came forth in the 80s that do reveal the richness of the art prior to it's public dissemination.
To sum up what I'm saying, we cannot appreciate what we have learned until the flowers unfold. We each have our Spring at different times and in different ways.
CHANGES OVER THE YEARS
If we are to look at the public teaching of Taiji Chuan we have to look back at the historic condition of China at the end of the Qing dynasty and the beginnings of the Republic. China was a mess ... many of it's citizens poor and destitute ... sickness a common condition ... foreign powers carving up the country ... warlords in constant battle with each other over controlling territory ... many in the population using opium to cope with the dishevelled and precarious living conditions of the era. Out of this came a call for masters of the arts to help people get their lives in order and unite to throw off the foreign powers and to also strengthen the Chinese people ... to make then well.
At this time, Yang Chen Fu and others began to teach publicly and at this time, easier approaches were created to allow for a greater number of people to benefit from the practice. Many of the more clearly defined striking elements were de-emphasized and sets re-designed to encourage basic defense and health. The art spread quickly and has continued to gain practitioners to this day.
I had a very interesting talk with Yang Mei-Jun the Grand Master of Dayan (Wild Goose) qigong back in the mid-90s in Beijing. In that discussion, we talked about the types of approaches to taiji she saw today compared to the 1920s and 30s. She said, that the practices had changed ... rarely did she see the full extent of the art displayed after the 1930s ... at least those in public view. She was not a Taiji practitioner by the way but a practitioner of a very highly developed internal Qigong. None the less, she was very helpful in clarifying points of interest in my own art. I have followed her advice since then and found it to be most helpful to my development.
The point I'm making here is that there is a richness to the art that is slowly being dug out of obscurity by a few, on the one hand and at the same time, an increased simplification of both qigong and other internal practices that suggest to me a watering down of the art to the degree of making this another dance form.
Change is a constant but one has to ask ... is commercial greed, under-developed teachers, and outright fraud going to increase practice of the art for the better?
By the way, what prompted this tirade was an ad on Huffpo for the study of Qigong ... I went to the page and was aghast at the practices being passed off as Qigong. These things we do as warm-ups! That ad must have cost a pretty penny.