CLASSICAL TAI CHI FORUM

VOLUME 7
DECEMBER 2003

Dear Students,
Although we got some great feedback in the last month, we are postponing publishing the
comments, essays and responses from Master Hwa.
This issue is devoted solely to Master Hwa's explication of some of the underlying
philosophy influencing Tai Chi.
Wishing you and yours a happy holiday season and a healthy and happy New Year!
Please continue to send your observations and questions to me at:
parea10@yahoo.com
E. Marie

PHILOSOPHY OF TAI CHI

When early Tai Chi masters lectured their students, they often used quotes from three
Chinese philosophy books to make their points. These three books are: I-Ching (Book of
Changes), Lao-Tzu Te-Tao-Ching (sometimes named Tao-Te-Ching), and Sun-Tzu The
Art of Warfare. That these three books were part of mainstream Chinese philosophy for
more than 2500 years undoubtedly contributed significantly to the development of Tai
Chi is evident from the unique characteristics of Tai Chi as a martial art. Also, these
books were important text books in classical education during that period. Students were
familiar with these books and were taught to revere them for their teaching of the nature
of things. Therefore using quotes from these books to explain Tai Chi’s principles
impressed students greatly. After the turn of the twentieth century, modern education
replaced classical education. Students are not that familiar with these books any more.
The use of these quotes in teaching Tai Chi has become much less prevalent.

Tai Chi and Taoism

Two of the books mentioned above, I-Ching and Tao-Te-Ching, are also important
philosophical foundations of Taoism. So, Tai Chi and Taoism share some of the same
philosophical heritage. There is also the story about the mystical Taoist, Chang San- Feng
who supposedly developed an early form of Tai Chi by observing fighting movements of
animals.

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All the writings about the current practice of Tai Chi only date back about three hundred
years, with a majority of Tai Chi books published in the last seventy years in China. From
the writings I read, I have not seen any tie in between Tai Chi and Taoism aside from
those mentioned above. None of the writings cross over the boundary into metaphysical
or spiritual writing. It seems that only very recently, especially in the west, that
association between Tai Chi and Taoism and spiritualism becomes more common.
Several times when I gave a talk about Tai Chi in public, I was asked about the spiritual
side of Tai Chi. I know that my answer disappointed the questioners.

I-Ching (The Book of Change)

This is the earliest know book in China with known written version dated back to 1000
BC while the symbols representing yin – yang and eight trigrams were invented many
thousand years before that. It is a very complex book with many different aspects
including divination, cosmology, mathematics (binary number system), morals, and
philosophy of the nature of things.

For example, the eight directions used in Tai Chi (see Lesson 2) is said to follow the
orientation of the eight trigrams. Certainly the concept of yin and yang is the foundation
of Tai Chi (as well as the foundation of Chinese medicine, biology etc). In my video, I
have talked about this concept and its application in Tai Chi. I shall expand on that here.
Everything in the universe exists in an opposite and complementary pair, such as male
and female, sun and moon, earth and heaven, fire and water, dominance and submission,
soft and hard etc. Yin and yang constantly evolve or change from one to the other
cyclically so that not one entity continually dominates the opposite entity for long. If the
imbalance persisted, it would lead to distress of the system. Since all entities evolve into
their counter part, every entity has within it the seeds of the counter part.

Every aspect at every level in Tai Chi follows the principles of yin and yang. Here are
same notable examples:

• Every movement in Tai Chi has yang (the moving part of body) and yin (the
stationary part of body supporting the moving part and providing the majority of
the power). This requirement minimizes any movement involving the entire body
moving with momentum, such as jump off attack- a common move in external
martial arts. Each Form movement is often a combination of several sets of yin-
yang pairs in motion simultaneously. However the primary pair of yin-yang of
that movement is always located in the torso. That is the principle of Internal
Discipline.

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 • When practicing the Tai Chi Form, certain portions of the body are completely
relaxed while other parts of the body are energized by the internal movements. “
Relaxing” and “energizing” are therefore constantly maintained and evolved in
the body. If the body is mostly relaxed without energizing from the internal
movement, then there is too much yin and not enough yang to balance it. On the
other hand, external martial arts usually tense up the entire body. Then, it is all
yang and no yin.
• We play the Form slowly with the intent of developing instinctive swift responses
during martial art applications. “Slow” grows the seed of “swift”. “Swift” retains
the character of “tranquil”.
• Softness and yielding conceal the hidden potential of “fa jin (a sudden burst of
power)”. During “fa jin”, one does not need to fully commit one's body so that “fa
jin” and “yielding” could proceed in cycles.
• Round Form and Square Form outwardly could not be more diametrically
opposite to each other. Yet, in the Square Form, there are seeds of Round Form
and in the Round Form, there is hidden Square Form.

Lao-Tzu Te Tao Ching

Lao-Tzu was said to be written around 500 B. C. I shall quote from the following book
directly certain relevant passages for discussion:

Lao-Tzu Te-Tao Ching

Robert G. Hendricks, Ballantine Books, New York, 1989
Translation based on a newly discovered manuscript buried 168 B. C.

Page 47

When people are born, they’re supple and soft;

When they die, they end up stretched out firm and rigid;
…………………………………………………….
Therefore we say that the firm and rigid are companions of
death,
While the supple, the soft, the weak, and the delicate are
companions of life.

Note: That is often quoted as the health benefits of practicing Tai Chi.
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 Page 12
The softest, most pliable thing in the world runs roughshod over
the firmest thing in the world.

Page 49
In the whole world, nothing is softer and weaker than water.
And yet for attacking the hard and strong, nothing can beat it,
…………………………………………………………….
There is no one in the whole world who doesn’t know it,
And yet there is no one who can put it into practice.

Note: Soft can conquer hard. That is the martial art application of Tai Chi.
So, Tai Chi has put this knowledge into practice!
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Page 63
We fire clay and make vessels;
It is precisely where there’s no substance, that we find the
usefulness of clay pots.
We chisel out doors and windows;
It is precisely in these empty spaces, that we find the usefulness
of the room.
Therefore, we regard having something as beneficial;
But having nothing as useful.

Note: Emptiness or nothingness ( yielding ) is the unique tactic of Tai Chi martial
art applications.
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Page 66
We look at it but do not see it;
……………………….
We listen to it but do not hear it;
……………………….
We touch it but do not hold it;
……………………….

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 These three cannot be examined to the limit.
Thus they merge together as one.
“One”- there is nothing more encompassing above it,
And nothing smaller below it.
Boundless, formless! It cannot be named,
And returns to the state of no-thing.
This is called formless form.
……………………………
This called the beginning of the thread of the Way.

Page 72
Formless am I! Like the ocean;
Shapeless am I! As though I have nothing in which I can rest.
The masses all have their reason for acting;
I alone am stupid and obstinate like a rustic.
But my desires alone differ from those of others—
For I value drawing sustenance from the Mother.

Page 73
As for the nature of the way-it’s shapeless and formless.
Formless! Shapeless! Inside there are images.
Shapeless! Formless! Inside there are things.

Note: Formless and shapeless are the way of Tai Chi. This is what we work so hard
to achieve. We gradually absorb the essence of the forms and shapes we practice
into our subconscious. Eventually, every move we make will instinctively follow the
way. More about this will be discussed in The Art of Warfare.

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Page 9

When the highest type of men hear the Way, with diligence
they’re able to practice it;
When average men hear the Way, some things they retain and
others they lose;
When the lowest type of men hear the Way, they laugh out loud
at it.

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 Hidden! Obscure! Inside there are essences.
These essences are very real;
Inside them is the proof.

Note: My teacher Young Wabu often quote this, describing the three kinds of people
he encounters.

Sun-Tzu The Art of Warfare

This book is written by Sun Wu in around 3rd century B.C. I shall quote passages from
the following book for discussion.

Sun-Tzu The Art of Warfare

Roger T. Ames, Ballantine Books, New York, 1993
Translated from recently discovered manuscript entombed 140 B. C.

Page 111

So to win a hundred victories in a hundred battles is not the highest

excellence; the highest excellence is to subdue the enemy’s army without
fighting at all.

Note: Tai Chi is basically a defensive martial art following the spirit of the above
passage.

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Page 115

The expert in battle would first make himself invincible and then wait for
the enemy to expose his vulnerability.
…………………………………………………………
Being invincible lies with defense; the vulnerability of the enemy comes
with the attack.

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Note: This is the strategy of Tai Chi martial art applications. A famous saying
about Tai Chi is as follows “If the opponent does not move, I do not move.
When my opponent prepares to move, I already know how to handle him.” That
is, instinctively you have sensed the weakness in his coming movement.

Page 115

The expert at defense conceals himself in the deepest recesses of the

earth; the expert on the attack strikes from out of the highest reaches of
the heavens.

Note: In other words, one does not let his defense be visible. When attacking, the
force comes from nowhere. The element of surprise is repeatedly emphasized
here.

Page 119

Generally in battle use the “straightforward” to engage the enemy and

the “surprise” to win the victory. Thus the expert at delivering the
surprise assault is as boundless as the heavens and earth, and
inexhaustible as the rivers and seas.

Note: That is how my teacher Young Wabu describes Wu Chian Chuan handled
him when they were sparring, continuously keeping him off balance. Certainly
in this case, Wu was just showing the technique, not seeking a quick victory.

Page 119

There are no more than five cardinal notes, yet in combination, they
produce more sounds than could possibly be heard; there are no more
than five cardinal colors, yet in combination, they produce more shades
and hues than could possibly be seen;…..
“Surprise” and “straightforward” operations give rise to each other
endlessly just as a ring is without a beginning or an end.

Page 126

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 Thus an army does not have fixed strategic advantages or an invariable
position. To be able to take the victory by varying one’s position
according to the enemy’s is called being inscrutable.

Note: (Surprising that they knew so much about sound and color at such an
early time) If one is well versed in the elements of Tai Chi, one should be able to
generate infinite variations for the optimum application. This is formless.

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Page 123

So veiled and subtle,

To the point of having no form;
So mysterious and miraculous,
To the point of making no sound.
Therefore he can be arbiter of the enemy’s fate.

Page 126

The ultimate skill in taking up a strategic position is to have no form. If

your position is formless, the most carefully concealed spies will not be
able to get a look at it, and the wisest counselors will not be able to lay
plans against it.

Note: Avoid an expansive stance and posture when facing the opponent. It not
only exposes your intention but also retards your ability to respond to a
changing situation. Standing with wide stance while weight is on both feet gives
one false feeling of security. It is like trench warfare. Tai Chi is a defensive
martial art in spirit. But, it is not a trench digging, holding the ground, fighting
to the death kind of strategy. It depends on quickness and surprise, yielding to
the opponent and then counterattack. Mobility and fast response are of primary
importance. For example, when you have compact or small stance, your
opponent cannot determine where your center of gravity lies. You can shift your
weight quickly to engage.

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 Page 126

…..make him show himself to discover the viability of his battle position;
skirmish with him to find out where he is strong and where he is
vulnerable.
Page 119

So it is with the expert at battle that his strategic advantage is channeled

and his timing is precise. His strategic advantage is like a drawn
crossbow and his timing is like releasing the trigger.

Note: Skirmish and probe the front line, when weak points are discovered, after
determining that it is not a trap, marshal a concentrated force, quickly break
through the opponent’s line and rout the enemy. This kind of scenario plays out
all the time in battles. So it is in Tai Chi martial art application. “Stick to the
opponent” is equivalent to skirmishing and probing. Sensing and “ting jin (listen
to opponent’s power surge and ebb)” is to determine the value of the intelligence.
Then lightening strike with “fa jin”.

Page 129

…baiting him with easy gains. Set out after he does, yet arrive before
him.

Note: Yielding to an opponent to give him easy gain is often used in Tai Chi. If
his attack is fully committed with all his momentum you could give him an
“empty” or “nothingness” reception to take full advantage of his momentum.
But, if he is cautiously attacking, you have to weigh your neutralization force to
give him some satisfaction that he is engaging you with an upper hand, not
walking into a trap. This is one of the objectives in push hand training.

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