The Old Ways | ||
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China: new and
old
It is quite common for tai chi people to travel to China in search of the
origins of
tai chi. Why bother?
The reign of the Taoist
Yellow Emperor was 4500 years ago and much has changed since then.
Modern China has nothing to do with
Taoism or the formulation of
tai chi.
The roots of the art lie in ancient China, not the contemporary era.
Warring States
2500 years ago China experienced a prolonged civil war known as the
Warring States
period.
It was an era of incredible martial development, innovation and ingenuity.
There were significant technical advances and many martial treatise emerged
included The Art of War.
Combat skill was essential and highly refined.
Since the Taoist concepts
are rooted in the most distant past with the most ancient beliefs of the
Chinese, it is difficult for the Western mind to understand them. Therefore,
before you can investigate the internal martial arts, you must first back to
the very origins of thought in ancient China.
(Howard Reid)
Lost art
Tai chi is not generally regarded as being a credible
martial art. Most people think of it as being some sort-of slow motion
health exercise best suited to the elderly and the infirm.
This impression of tai chi is justified and in most cases correct.
Martially, tai chi is in danger of becoming a lost art.
Ancient teachings
The ancient Taoist teachings that were incorporated into tai chi
are no longer well known. Modern people seldom investigate spiritual
matters.
Taoism is often only encountered by the fringe 'seeker'.
Tai chi fighting
method
The martial arts heritage of tai chi has largely been lost in the race to
bleed the health benefits from the art. Over time, teachings have not been
maintained or passed on.
People have learned to see the art in the modern way.
Superstition, folklore & legend
Throughout the ages, the Chinese have produced many stories concerning
Taoist warriors, sages, wizards and immortals.
They were represented in literature, folk stories, theatre, paintings,
movies and comics. Typically, the accounts were somewhat exaggerated and
hyperbolic.
Why have the Taoist legends been so intriguing?
The ancient Taoist ways remained a mystery to the
Chinese public. Secret and esoteric. Hence a source of much speculation...
What does qi have to do
with
fighting? Absolutely nothing. If you want to talk about qi in the martial arts,
I'd say that it doesn't have anything to do with the martial arts. They're
talking about intention mostly, and they're calling it qi because it sounds more
mysterious.
(Tim Cartmell)
The
dark arts?
In the distant past little was known about Taoism. Many of its adherents
belonged to sects and esoteric schools. Others were hermits who lived in
remote places.
Teachings from books with curious names such as The Way and Its Power, Book
of Changes, The Art of War and The Book of Five Rings were treated with
suspicion.
Secrecy, rumours of great power and deliberate obfuscation led to tai chi
being regarded with considerable fear and superstition.
Taoist texts
The Taoist Classics were never widely studied in China.
Principally the domain of scholars, their content has remained aloof and
unknown.
Even the titles are beguiling:
The Way and Its Power
The Way of Chuang Tzu
The Way of the World
Awakening to the Tao
The Book of the Heart
Back to Beginnings
Inner Teachings of the Southern Mountain Tao
Wen-tzu
The Secret of the Golden Flower
Immortal Sisters
Understanding Reality
The Book of Balance and Harmony
Vitality Energy Spirit.
Lacking any understanding of the contemplative
Taoist tradition, the general
public filled in the blanks.
Tangible, credible, concrete insights, knowledge and skills have been
transformed into magic and superstition.
Applied Taoism
There have a number of attempts to employ
the Taoist wisdom in actual practice.
Zen is one example.
Tai chi and the other
internal martial arts also...
Arcane skills
The skills being trained in tai chi are not the same as those being practiced by
mainstream martial arts.
The movements are odd. Listening, sensitivity
and stickiness are cultivated.
Aggression, force and
competition are removed.
Unseen
Very few modern people have ever seen tai chi applied in combat.
Many of the skills have not been seen by the general public for centuries, and
only then in China.
This is a good thing.
Unpredictability is highly prized in the internal martial arts. Unfathomable,
imperceptible, inscrutable, spontaneous,
unknowable... these are all to your advantage.
In order to
function beyond the use of ordinary strength, you must study what seems
inconvenient and then work to make it efficient.
(Kuo Lien-Ying)
So old that it seems new
When people have never not seen something before they assume it to be
new. Tai chi martial skills are so old that most modern people have never
seen them.
They may seem new to unfamiliar eyes. Yet, the skills and insights are not
new at all. Taoism comes from the very dawn of Chinese culture; it is
ancient beyond measure.
What has changed?
Although it may be seen as a folly to address today's problems
with yesterday's tools, little has changed across the aeons.
Humans are still greedy.
They still fight.
There is still conflict in the world and
disparity.
Balance
Taoism embraces all sides of our character;
recognising that people are both good/bad, strong/weak and so on.
We cannot be one without the other. The key is to find balance. A harmony of
apparent opposites.
Legendary skill
The Old Ways are not easily understood or quickly learned. But they
are very powerful and effective. Tai chi employs Taoist insights and
principles.
The teachings are counter-intuitive, puzzling and cryptic. They cannot be
explained using words. In order to understand, you must do.
Beyond words
Even if an instructor sought to share their every secret with a
student, that knowledge would fall on deaf ears. The apparent mystique is
not a poise or an image. It stems from the reality of learning.
We move from the unknown to the known. The wiser student recognises that the
small portions of information known to them are only a glimmer of what might
potentially be known.
Humility is inevitable.
In many martial arts schools the practice was carried out in secrecy and the
school's very existence was frequently concealed from the authorities. For
example, tai chi is based on body of principles known to be around 2000 years old
yet it was not revealed until 1750.
(Howard Reid)
Page created 2 March 1995
Last updated
16 June 2023
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