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Taijiquan-Lilun
Q Journal of the Theory of Wu Style Taijiquan
Focus:
Understanding basic
philosophical terms in
Taijiquan:
Q Ziran
Q Taiji
Q Shen
Q Xin
Q Qi
Kontakt:
Martin Boedicker
Zum Schickerhof 18
47877 Willich/Germany
Phone: +49-2154-885780
Email:
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Website:
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Introduction/Contents
Dear Reader,
Welcome to the first edition of Taijiquan-Lilun. We are delighted that we have turned our project into
reality. It was Ma Jiangbao who suggested that we should concentrate not only on the movements of
Taijiquan but also on the theory. The journal is therefore named after the Chinese word for theory - lilun.
The contents will include the theory of Taijiquan, translation from the Chinese and commentary. We
would like to thank Martina Schughart for the layout, Manos Meisen and Michael Busch for photos
as well as Dr Michael Wenzel, Dr Harry Iman and Dr Nina Wagner for their support.
Susanne Tietze,
David Barrow,
Rachel Barrow
Imprint .......................................2
Introduction and Contents .......................................3
Focus: Yema fen zong .......................................4
Focus: Ziran .......................................6
Portrait: Zhou Dunyi .......................................8
Focus: Taiji . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Learning to write Taijiquan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
The names of the spear form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
The song of striking hands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Principles: Skilfulness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Focus: Xin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Focus: Shen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Focus: Qi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Taijiquan-Lilun · Issue 1 3
Focus
4 Taijiquan-Lilun · Issue 1
Focus
translations: hip and waist. In dictiona- loped over a long time and contain a
ries yao is listed as waist, hip, waist- plethora of thoughts. “It is high time to
band and middle. In the illustrated abandon all backwoods ideas and to
dictionary, “Concise Chinese-German accept, even in Europe, that traditional
Illustrated Dictionary”, p. 14, is a picture Chinese thought is based on experience –
of a human being with an arrow stuck in the as all thinking is. Furthermore, ’Chinese think-
part between hip-bone and the lowest costal arch. ing’, like ’European thinking’, is an equally over-
It is accompanied by the following explanation: generalised term that stands for a vast body of
“hip”. In English, however, this part is more likely taught traditional knowledge. Hence this term
to be referred to as waist. If one asks a Chinese should be interpreted as referring to a geogra-
person about yao they usually refer to the part phical line rather than to collective patterns of
without bones between the hip and ribs. Yao, thought that make Chinese people think in radi-
therefore, refers to a much larger part than our cally different patterns from European people.
“waist”, and for which no directly equivalent The Eurocentric perspective, with its insistence
term exists in English. The notion of waist comes on viewing Chinese culture as unitary, gives rise
quite near the Chinese conception of yao, so that to a denial of the richness of that culture.”
the word waist can be used once the Chinese term (Borges, p.14)
has been explained.
The meaning of technical terms can differ from
3. Taijiquan technical vocabulary quite often school to school in both philosophy and medicine.
uses ancient words which describe particular qua- In Taijiquan the meaning of a term is often not
lities about movements or perceptions. Only a strictly identical to its meaning in philosophy
Taijiquan expert can fully appreciate these. In these and medicine. The translator of Taijiquan’s tech-
instances, translating becomes particularly nical vocabulary will even find some Western
difficult and one can only use a word that terms used, but their meanings only partly
may hint at the particular quality. overlap with the original terms. A trans-
For example, lü is one of the eight basic lation into English can potentially be
techniques of Tuishou. In the Taiji- quite misleading. In these cases it is
quan literature one often finds lü trans- better to use the original terms and to
lated as “pulling”. But what is meant add some explanation.
by this? It may be some help to consider For example, in this edition of Taijiquan-
that lü should be practised in a way that Lilun the terms ziran, shen, xin and qi are
resembles the pulling of a thread of silk out of a introduced and explained.
cocoon in order to spin it afterwards.
4. Taijiquan’s technical vocabulary may derive · Illustriertes Chinesisch-Deutsches Kurzwörterbuch, Hai Feng,
Hong Kong 1989. (Concise Illustrated Chinese-German Dictionary).
from Chinese philosophy or from traditional Chi-
nese medicine. These fields of science have deve- · Tai Chi Magazine, vol 20, Los Angeles 1996.
Taijiquan-Lilun · Issue 1 5
Focus
6 Taijiquan-Lilun · Issue 1
Focus
The concept of ziran was developed as an answer This form of naturalness refers to body and mind
to the question, ‘what is dao?’ In Laozi, verse 25 and is not assumed to be automatically there, but
says, “Human beings follow the law of earth, needs to be worked for and maintained in a con-
earth follows the law of heaven, heaven follows tinuous process. This becomes apparent when Ma
the law of dao, and dao follows the law of ziran.” Jiangbao (Ma, p. 53) says about the practice of
breathing in Taijiquan, “Although breathing should
Bauer explains: “the expression ziran literally means not be consciously directed, the correct breathing
“to be so by itself”. It is first used in the Daodejing can only be achieved if the body’s posture is cor-
and refers to the structure of Tao, which cannot rect: upright position of the head, upright coccyx,
be referred back to anything else.” upright back, lowered shoulders, elbows and pel-
(Bauer, p. 202) vic hips.” These are the very preconditions, which
for most people are not given as matter-of-fact,
Within daoist tradition all of this implied that but need to be achieved and sustained through
through retreating back to nature, one could be regular Taijiquan practice.
nearer to dao. In observing and imitating nature,
and through rejecting human culture, one could
perfect one’s own character. In the 2nd and 3rd
centuries AD these ideas changed. It was no longer
absolutely necessary to search for dao in nature,
but rather one’s own self became the mirror of dao. · Bauer Wolfgang, China und die Hoffnung auf Glück, DTV,
Bauer says that, “it is the sole acknowledgement Munich1989 (China and the Hope for Happiness).
of the own self in all expressions and activities · Das neue chinesisch-deutsche Wörterbuch,
of life which is the decisive feature of ‘naturalness’ The Commercial Press, Kong Kong 1989
and ‘freedom’ , which can be found in nature and (The New Chinese-German Dictionary).
dao as well as in the ideal/perfected human being.” · Ma Jiangbao, Tai Chi Chuan, Mach: Art, Ratingen 1998.
(Bauer, p. 203) · Martial Arts, Heft No. 8, Martial Arts Verlag,
Stelle-Wittenwurth 1986.
According to Wu Yinghua the demand for natu- · Rollike Hermann-Josef, Der Ursprung des Ziran-Gedankens
ralness can be explained by referring to the origin in der chinesischen Philosophie des 4. und 3. Jh. v. Chr.
of many movements of Taijiquan in traditional Chi- Europäiche Hochschulschriften: Reihe 27, Asiatische und
Afrikanische Studien, Bd 51, Heidelberg, 1994.
nese martial arts. These movements were deve- (The Origin of the Ziran Idea in Chinese Philosophy in the
loped in accordance with human physiology and 4th and 3rd Century B.C).
the laws of nature.
Taijiquan-Lilun · Issue 1 7
Portrait
Zhou Dunyi (1017-1073 AD) lived during the time structure), xin (heart/mind) and xing (nature) they
of the Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD). His contri- tried to form a concept of the world, which –
bution was essential in turning this time into a according to the knowledge of the time – was
watershed for the history of Chinese philosophy. able to explain the structure of the universe. One
Before the Song Dynasty, from the second until of the outstanding achievements in this process
the 9th century AD, but in particular during the was the integration of Daoist and Buddhist con-
time of the Tang Dynasty (618-906 AD), China cepts into the Confucian way of thinking, which
had been a cosmopolitan country with a strong resulted in a unique synthesis of these three phi-
religious orientation. Both Buddhism and Daoism losophies.
had long been appreciated and were supported
by the state. The beginning of the Song Dynasty The Neoconfucianists saw the value of Daoism in
saw the influence of both Buddhism and Daoism its naturalness, but its weakness in the lack of
declining. Confucianism again became the most interest in human society. Daoism did not offer
dominant philosophy, but it did not correspond any explanation of how the highest human ideals
with the original Confucianism. were to be connected with those of the non-
human world. With the increasing assertion of
Joseph Needham writes: Neoconfucianist ideas, interest began to focus on
“Yet there was no sense in returning to antique cosmic ideas as well as their connection with Con-
Confucianism, for its lack of cosmology and philo- fucian ideas and virtues. A central concept in this
sophy meant that it could no longer satisfy a ma- thinking was cheng, the ideal of the sage, which
turer age. There was, in fact, only one way out, can be translated as loyalty or sincerity to one-
and this was taken by the Neo-Confucians: to self. Later on, cheng was supplemented and then
use a prodigious effort of philosophical insight substituted by zheng, sincerity towards others. This
and imagination to set the highest ethical ideals demonstrates the development from individual
of man in their proper place against the back- sincerity towards social responsibility expressed
ground of non-human Nature, or rather within in sincerity towards others. (see Bauer, p. 295)
the vast framework of Nature as a whole. In
such a view the nature of the universe is in one The architect of Neoconfucianism is generally
sense moral, not because a moral personal deity acknowledged to be the philosopher Zhou Dunyi.
exists somewhere outside space and time direc- He was born in 1017 AD in the province of Hunan
ting it all, but because the universe has the pro- into a family of scholars (see Adler). After his fa-
perty of bringing forth moral values and moral ther had died, his uncle Zheng Xiang, who provi-
behaviour when the appropriate level of organi- ded him with his first public office, adopted him.
sation has been reached.” (Needham, p. 228) Even though Zhou was frequently praised for his
work as a civil servant, he never achieved a high-
The Neoconfucian School emerged through a er position. Similarly, he was hardly known as a
chain of different philosophers whose approaches philosopher during his lifetime. Other than his
were to dominate China’s scientific and philoso- nephews Cheng Yi and Cheng Hao he had few
phical thinking for more than 700 years. One of pupils. In 1073 AD he died of a fever. He was re-
the main issues was the theory of a deeply membered as a kind man with high moral stan-
structured concept of the world. Drawing on dards, who had a close relationship with nature
systems or concepts such as taiji, li (principle of and deep insight into the dao, the right way.
8 Taijiquan-Lilun · Issue 1
Portrait
[Someone asked]:
“Can sagehood be learned?”
Reply: It can.
“Are there essentials (yao)?”
Reply: There are.
“I beg to hear them.”
Reply: To be unified (yi) is
essential. To be unified is to
have no desire. Without desire
one is vacuous when still and
direct in activity. Being
vacuous when still, one will be
clear (ming); being clear one
will be penetrating (tong).
Being direct in activity one
will be impartial; being impar-
tial one will be all-embracing.
Being clear and penetrating,
impartial and all-embracing, one is
almost [a sage]. (Adler)
Taijiquan-Lilun · Issue 1 9
Focus
Taiji, or the
supreme ultimate
Taijiquan is the name of an ancient Chinese mar- Although the term taiji can be found in pre-
tial art. But what does this name mean? In Chi- Christian texts, it only became a key philosophi-
nese it consists of three characters. cal term during the Song Dynasty (960 - 1279 AD).
At that time Confucian scholars endeavoured to
unite the streams of Confucian and Daoist think-
ing. This resulted in the school of the Neocon-
fucians. Zhou Dunyi (1017 - 1073 AD) was the first
Neoconfucian scholar and became famous for his
“Explanations of the taiji-diagram (Taijitu shuo)”,
which became the basis for Neoconfucian cos-
mology, but it also found its way into the Daoist
canon (Daozhang).
The characters tai and ji form an independent
term, viz. taiji. Taijiquan is a combination of two Zhou Dunyi’s teaching and his taiji-diagram
sub-units taiji and quan. The character quan can (taijitu) are based in all likelihood on the system
be translated simply as “fist” or “fistfight”. It is of the Daoist master Chen Tuan (-989 AD). (see
more difficult to explain the meaning of taiji, be- Bohn, p. 310) The taiji-diagram consists of five
cause taiji is a technical term taken from Chinese single images, which are arranged vertically. It is
philosophy. Since ancient times, the sign ji in assumed that originally Daoists read the dia-
taiji has meant both “ridge” and “beam”, or respec- gram from the bottom to the top. The diagram
tively “pole”, “extreme” or “ultimate”. In the words describes the way back to the wuji. Drawing on
“beiji” and “nanji” it is translated as pole – as spiritual and physical techniques one was to be-
North and South Pole, respectively. Chinese uses come a Daoist immortal. (see Kubny, p. 300)
the character tai as the prefix for the superlative
case. Taiji could therefore be translated as “the According to Zhou Duny the diagram is to be
highest ridge or beam”, the “highest pole”, the read from the top to the bottom. It describes the
“supreme ultimate”. Taijiquan is therefore the genesis and the structure of the universe. The
martial art of the supreme ultimate. But what is taiji-diagram and the its explanation are available
meant by the supreme ultimate taiji? in the form set out by Zhu Xi (1130 - 1200 AD).
10 Taijiquan-Lilun · Issue 1
Focus
Fire Water
Earth
Wood Metal
Taijiquan-Lilun · Issue 1 11
Focus
Wuji and then (respectively and yet) taiji. In movement taiji creates yang. When the movement
has reached its limit there is stillness. When still, taiji creates yin. When stillness has reached its
limits, there is a return to movement. Movement and stillness alternate. Each is the root of the
other. The two instruments rose out of the differentiation between yin and yang.
Yang changes and yin connects. This is how water, fire, wood, metal and earth come into being.
Then the five qi [phases] spread out and the four seasons emerge. The five phases are simply yin
and yang. Yin and yang are simply taiji. Taiji is in origin wuji. As soon as the five phases have
been created, each has its own nature. The truthfulness of wuji and the essence of the two [yin
and yang] and the five [phases] unite in a miraculous way and consolidations ensue. The dao of
[trigram] qian leads to the male [principle]. The dao of [trigram] kun leads to the female [prin-
ciple]. The two qi react with each other. They transform and generate the 10 000 things.
The 10 000 things continue to generate and there is no end to their transformation. Only human
beings receive the finest. They are spiritual beings. Their form emerges, their spirit [shen] deve-
lops knowledge. When their five agents are stimulated and move, good and evil become distin-
guishable and the 10 000 things occur. The sages ordered their lives by centrality, correctness,
humanity and rightness and always stress stillness. Sages establish the ultimate of humanity.
Therefore the virtue of the sage equals that of heaven and earth, his clarity equals that of sun
and moon, his timelessness equals that of the four seasons and his good fortune and bad fortune
equals those of ghosts and spirits. The noble [person] cultivates this and has good fortune.
Lesser people reject this and have bad fortune.
Therefore it is said: The establishment of the dao of heaven means yin and yang. The establish-
ment of the dao of earth means softness and hardness. The establishment of the dao of human
beings is called humanity and rightness. It is also said: Investigate the beginning and follow it
to the end. Thus will you know about death and life. The [book of] changes [Yijing] is great! It is
the most perfect.
A central part of the “Explanations of the term dao. Er means “and nevertheless” or “and
taiji-diagram” is the description of the highest yet”. Thus, “wuji er taiji ” can be translated as
picture, the one of the simple circle. In the Chi- “wuji and yet taiji” and wuji and taiji are the same.
nese original is written: “wuji er taiji ” . Wuji is a This is based on the association that the universe
term taken from daoist philosophy. It translates and its immanent power and structure in the
directly into “without ji ”, therefore “without a wuji have no cardinal point. However, through
pole” or “without any ultimate”. In earlier Daoist the term taiji it is acknowledged that everywhere
texts it is translated simply as “unlimited” or “in- in the universe there is an immanent power and
finite”. Later on, however, it was translated with structure and the centre of organisation of this
“original (primordial) chaos”, “the nothingness” power and structures is the same as the very power
or “before the coming into being of yin and yang”. and structure itself. (see Needham, p. 236)
Sometimes it was used as the equivalent of the
12 Taijiquan-Lilun · Issue 1
Focus
A second possible interpretation is based on “Zhou Dunyi also explained for the first time the
a different tradition, which might even be in line relationship between taiji and the two instru-
with Zhou Dunyi’s original: “The wuji creates ments of movement and stillness (yin and yang).
(sheng) the taiji.” (see Bohn, p. 312) The wuji is This connection had never happened in the ex-
structured by taiji during the genesis of the uni- planation Yijing of the Han and Tang time. He
verse. The universe developed from a chaotic introduced the thesis that movement creates
state wuji via the taiji towards a state in which yang, stillness creates yin, because he assumed
yin and yang are separated. A parallel to the con- that the taiji or the yuanqi respectively can be
cept of a gradual development of the universe moved by itself or that it is still by itself, which
can be found in one of the ancient Chinese myths produces the two qi.” (Bohn, p. 318)
of creation, for example in the Huainanzi, recor-
ded 2 AD: Zhou Dunyi’s “Explanations of the taiji-dia-
gram” brought to the fore of philosophical dis-
“Long ago, before Heaven and earth existed, cussion the theory of taiji. The theory of the mar-
there were only images but no forms, and all was tial art Taijiquan follows Zhou’s ideas. In the im-
dark and obscure, a vast desolation, a misty ex- portant Taijiquan classic “Taijiquan treatise” it is
panse, and nothing knew where its own portals said – almost in line with Zhou: “The taiji has been
were. There were two gods born out of chaos created out of the wuji. It is the origin of move-
who wove the skies and designed the earth. So ment and stillness. It is the mother of yin and
profound were they that no one knew their low- yang.” (Wu, Ma, p. 89)
est deeps, and so exalted were they that no one
knew where they came to rest. Then they divided
into yin and yang and separated into the Eight
Poles. The hard and the soft formed, and the myriad
living things took shape.” (Birell, p. 32)
Taijiquan-Lilun · Issue 1 13
Writing Chinese
1
3
6 5
3 4
7
2
1
4
6
7
10
8
14 Taijiquan-Lilun · Issue 1
Spear form
7) The wind shakes the plum blossoms, 22) The bird returns to sleep in the forest
then close the throat. and then a counter-thrust.
8) Turn, kick with heel and spit the snake 23) The golden dragon whips its tail
with the spear. and return to the sea.
9) The golden dragon whips its tail; 24) Embrace the pipa and return to
turn continuously. your birthplace
Taijiquan-Lilun · Issue 1 15
Taijiquan Classics
16 Taijiquan-Lilun · Issue 1
Principles
Skilfulness
Taijiquan-Lilun · Issue 1 17
Focus
Guanzi:
Xin is the commander, the qi is the flag and “If one calms the heart in the inside,
the waist is the banner” or “first in the xin, then the qi becomes stronger.
then in the body”. (Wu, Ma, p. 90) If one strengthens one’s heart, then the
[perceptions] of ears and eyes are clear,
In everyday Chinese, xin means heart or feeling and the four limbs are hard and firm.”
(the New Chinese-German Dictionary). Within tra- (Kubny, p. 129)
ditional Chinese medicine the heart is the most
important of all internal organs. It carries a variety The notion that emptiness or calmness is the
of functions: it controls the blood and the ves- ideal state of xin and thereby of the whole human
sels. (see Maciocia, p. 71) It is also the location being (body and psyche) is an important part of
where the human spirit (shen) lives. The state of Chinese philosophical thinking, and can be found
the heart (xin) influences the spirit (shen) and in many authors’ writings. The development of
vice versa. In particular, five functions are con- the heart towards an ideal state leads, according
cerned: mental activity (including emotions), con- to Daoists as well as Confucianists, to physical
sciousness, memory, thinking, sleep. health and to a kind of ideal personality.
It is said that if the heart is strong, mental acti- For example, Mengzi expresses the idea of the
vities are normal and the emotional life is balan- unmoved heart (bu dong zhi xin), which is the
ced. If the mind is clear, the intellect is sharp and basis for a firm personality of a high moral nature.
sleep is deep. A person of this kind can achieve courage because
of their unmoved heart. This leads to fearlessness,
In both Chinese philosophy and Taijiquan theo- which is the basis for sincerity.
ry the use of the term xin is linked to the mean-
ing of the mind so often that xin can be under-
stood to mean mind. The preconditions for the
functioning of xin are described as follows in
Guanzi (a book dated 330 BC that is intended to
explain the ideas of the philosopher Guan Zhong
from the 7th century BC): “The heart is the ruler
of the body. The bodily openings [sensory organs]
are the executing servants for purposes of diffe-
rentiation [of perception]. If the heart [according In the Taijiquan one finds the demand for a
to] its dao is empty, then the nine openings [sen- calm or quiet heart. It is said: “Calm xin, quiet qi
sory organs] [function] according to their purpose.” (ping xin jing qi).” This saying describes as a whole
(Kubny, p. 128) the demands that are put upon the personality
18 Taijiquan-Lilun · Issue 1
Focus
of the student of Taijiquan. The ideal here is, quite “The respiration is regular,
as it is with the Chinese philosophers, calm and the qi has sunken into dantian.
balanced human beings. This ideal is achieved This is called the calmness of the body.
through continuous work on oneself. Calmness The movements are light, dexterous,
plays a central part in this. It is part of the five supple, and flowing, without jerks.
essential aspects of Taijiquan – jing (calmness), This is referred to as the calmness
qing (lightness), man (slowness), qie (conscien- of the heart...”
tiousness) and heng (perseverance). Following on (Ma Yueliang, in Wagner, Klüfer, p. 12)
from Wu Yinghua and Ma Yueliang, it is in par-
ticular the development of calmness that poses
particular demands for the student of Taijiquan.
Taijiquan-Lilun · Issue 1 19
Focus
20 Taijiquan-Lilun · Issue 1
Focus
The meaning of qi
in Taijiquan
Taijiquan-Lilun · Issue 1 21
Focus
For example, Laozi (verse 42) says: In these ideas about a developing cosmos, qi al-
most always plays an important role. However,
The way begets one; qi bears a different character in each philosophy.
one begets two; Qi can appear in the following forms:
two begets three;
three begets the myriad creatures. • As substance, which was present at the origin
The myriad creatures of the cosmos and which became differentia-
carry on their backs the yin ted from it during the cosmos’s development.
and embrace in their arms the yang (Daodejing, Yijing)
and are the blending of • As the finest matter (Guanzi)
the generative force [chongqi; flowing qi] • As undifferentiated truth, which precedes all
of the two. things (Xunzi)
(Lau, p. 63) • As the large emptiness, which takes on bodily
forms through compression (Zhong Zai)
22 Taijiquan-Lilun · Issue 1
Focus
Taijiquan-Lilun · Issue 1 23
24 Taijiquan-Lilun · Issue 1