After you have learned taijiquan’s basics and practised taijiquan for some time, you should feel the internal energy generated by (1) your mind and (2) by the force of gravity. The internal energy is to be deployed to move your arms and body. To assist you in taking your taijquan to a higher level, it would be appropriate for me at this stage to explain what Taiji (tai chi)means and why this term has been used as the name of this form of internal martial art.
The Chinese postulate that before the universe came into being, it was in a nebulous state and completely chaotic. This state is called ‘wuji’, which means ‘no limits’. Gradually, this state evolved itself to become an orderly being which is called ‘taiji’, meaning ‘ultimate limits’. This sets the boundaries of this universe and from this state was ‘born’ the ‘liang yi’, meaning two opposing forces - heaven and earth or YIN YANG. I have briefly explained YIN YANG in Chapter 8 and for the purpose of studying taijiquan, I will not elaborate the concept here. As a result of the interaction between YIN YANG, the four seasons, (spring, summer, autumn and winter) or four elements (metal, wood, water, and fire) were formed. Because of the seasonal changes and the ‘promotion and restraint’ amongst the four elements, we can observe eight natural phenomena which are heaven, earth, thunder, wind, water, fire, mountain, and lakes. These eight phenomena are represented by the eight trigrams which I mention in Chapter 19.
There are other definitions and explanations of the term ‘taiji’ advocated by the philosophers in the Han, Song and Ming Dynasties in China. For example, one school of thought in the West Han Dynasty is that Taiji (tai chi)is ‘yuan qi’, meaning ‘original energy’. Before the ‘original energy’ was divided, it comprised three elements, viz, heaven, earth and human beings which together formed one entity.
In the Song Dynasty, a scholar by the name of Dunyi Zhou invented the Taiji (tai chi)diagram and hypothesized that when Taiji (tai chi)moves, YANG is generated but when Taiji (tai chi)is stationary, YIN is created. When YIN YANG interchanges and interacts, there produced the five elements, that is, water, fire, wood, metal and earth. When these five elements interact, all the beings including human beings in the universe were born.
I have been stressing the importance of using contradictory but complementary forces, that is YIN YANG, to practise taijiquan. For example, to sink and to float (a different part of the body) at the same time, to open (the internal side of the arms when they form a circle in front of the chest) and to enclose (the external side of the arms) at the same time. The concept of the eight trigrams is also used to develop taijiquan to make it more powerful as described in Chapter 19.
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