Let's start us off by diving right into the depths of Daoist philosophy -
or at least that part of it which pertains to Tai Chi - by posting an article
I wrote a couple years back entitled "The Universal Rhythm".
The term “Daoist” should be taken here as a kind of shorthand referring
collectively to all those ancient Chinese sages, hermits, philosophers,
shamans, monks, artisans, oracles and alchemists who contributed either
in theory or practice to Chinese natural philosophy and self-cultivation.
While the Confucians and, in later centuries, Buddhists and Neo-Confucians,
were also involved in this discovery of the workings of nature, the Daoists
were closest to the well-springs. Enjoy.
The Universal Rhythm
By Travis Crombie
Taijiquan (also known as Tai Chi) is an activity, not a philosophy. But it contains within it powerful principles rooted in observations of nature. For three thousand years the Chinese have observed, scrutinized, contemplated, experimented with and, perhaps most significantly, documented the workings of nature in minute detail. Such efforts produced rich philosophical, spiritual and artistic traditions along with spectacularly effective practical arts and inventions well in advance of other societies. Early Daoists discovered the energy patterns underlying acupuncture along with the medicinal properties of thousands of herbs; they observed the conditions in nature that cause people to prosper or suffer, grow and decay; they found configurations in the shapes of mountains, the flow of rivers, the movements of the human body, the architecture and orientation of buildings, towns and cities which create harmony and equilibrium, or danger and discord. The whole universe was perceived as a living organism – pulsing, changing, transforming itself in a sempiternal balance of cosmic forces – connecting man to heaven and earth. Some gave this cosmic movement a name: they called it Taiji (太極). Not surprisingly, then, whatever this principle is, is what lies at the heart of the energetic practices of the martial art known today by the same name: Taijiquan (太極拳):
Taì (太) means “great or vast”; Jí (極) can be translated as “ultimate or supreme”;
Quán (拳) denotes a hand closing into a fist and, by extension, a kind of Chinese boxing or martial art.
One of the legendary sources of Taiji (the martial art, that is, not the philosophical doctrine) was a man named Wang Zongyue. In his “Taijiquan Treatise” he states the basic metaphysical perspective underlying the art:
Wuji is the mother of Taiji; Taiji gives birth to yin and yang.
In movement they separate, in stillness they become one.
Here we find three interlinked terms which, only when taken together, fully express the philosophical meaning of Taiji. In its metaphysical sense, Wuji (無極) is the “supreme nothingness”, the great void out of which the universe emerged – the pure, undifferentiated potential or source energy from which all things arise and into which all things return. Lao Zi simply called it Dao, the way or natural course of things:
The Dao is called the Great Mother:
Empty yet inexhaustible,
It gives birth to infinite worlds.
It is always present within you.
You can use it any way you want. (trans. Stephen Mitchel)
Wuji is the space within the cup before it is filled up; it is an empty room before anyone enters – or has the thought of entering; it is the space between musical notes or brush strokes on canvas. It is what T.S. Eliot once called “the still point of the turning world”. It is the principle underlying all change: a still, glassy pond before the stone is thrown in and the ripples begin to spread. Conversely, Taiji is everything that sets that water in motion. It is thought, impulse, rhythm, flow, spirit, conception, germination, growth and decay. Taiji is the “turning world” of movement and change, the releasing of energy into its myriad forms. Once it begins, it continues to mutate, transform, and differentiate – just as a wave has both a crest and a trough. In the Book of Changes, the original differentiation of matter and energy was that of the “two powers”: yang (陽) and yin(陰). These are the base elemental energies that separate and blend through any process of change or movement. They are the basic building blocks (or energy units) of the physical universe. They are that which is separated out from source unity to manifest this universe. In traditional Chinese philosophy, this separation or division is symbolized by the Taiji symbol, what we in the west, more commonly refer to as the “Yin-Yang” symbol.
The Two Powers (Liang Yi 兩儀)
It is no easy matter to say what precisely these “two powers” are. Since they are constituent parts of all aspects of all manifest phenomenon, no single definition will suffice. This may explain why yin and yang are made to mean so much in the Chinese tradition. The two powers were first used in the divination process – represented by solid yang (———) and broken yin (— —) lines to signify “yes” or “no”, “proceed” or “wait” respectively. In time, all phenomena were seen to reflect some aspects of yin and yang energies.
The ideograms contained within the Chinese characters depict the sunny (yang陽) and shady (yin陰) sides of a hill. This image is a useful lens for understanding the interactions of yin and yang forces: As the sun (yang energy) begins its ascent, it warms and brightens (yang) one side of a hill while casting shadows (yin) on the opposite side. As the sun reaches its apex at midday (extreme yang) it begins its descent (the birth of yin), illuminating and warming the formerly yin side of the hill. As day (yang) gives way to night (yin), the moon (yin energy) begins its ascent, causing similar transformations in the Yin phase of the 24 hour cycle. One key point is that yang and yin are relative to some chosen point of orientation. They do not stand in opposition or conflict but are bound together in a kind of polarity like north and south or positive and negative electric currents. So, yes, day is yang, but a summer’s day is more yang than a winter’s day, just as a harsh, burning desert sun is more yang than a cold, pale arctic one. Just as the sun of our solar system may be yin in contrast to the stars of other systems. And so on, and so forth.
Once Taiji separates into yin and yang, a pattern, a rhythm of life is discovered; a rhythm which rolls through the cycle of a day, a season, a year - a kind of tidal force which can set up - like the circadian rhythms within our own bodies - processes of harmony or discord. If we look at some more specific attributes of yin and yang, we may actually catch a glimpse of some of the deeper rhythms modulating the flow of the universe. It is the beginning of wisdom to recognize, as Thomas Merton once beautifully said, that the whole world runs by rhythms we have not yet learned to recognize. Below is a list of common matched yin-yang pairs. While such a list could be expanded almost endlessly, the examples chosen here represent essential qualities in Taijiquan, Qigong and traditional Chinese medicine:
Yin Yang
Dark Light
Earth Heaven
Stillness (Passivity) Motion (Activity)
Empty Full
Soft Hard
Cold Hot
Contraction Expansion
Internal External
Deficient Excessive
These are manifestations of yin and yang in a kind of pure, undiluted form. When the two powers blend together they create more complex harmonies. The Book of Changes took the line representations of yin (— —) and yang (———) and combined them into trigrams to represent more complex energetic configurations. So, for example, the trigram for water is ☵ (坎 Kǎn), one yang line surrounded by two yin lines. If we stop and think about the nature of water we see how apt this representation is. Water is soft and yielding to the touch but when it gathers speed it becomes hard and penetrating. Water falls as rain and rises as vapour; it flows as liquid and solidifies as ice; it dissolves substances (like sugar or salt), can be heated or chilled. The dominant energy of water is yin but it contains within it enormous yang potential. It is quiescent but can be made active through absorbing incoming energies. The fire trigram, on the other hand, is ☲ (離 Lí) with two yang lines containing an empty yin line. Fire burns and consumes whatever it comes in contact with; its flames are in constant movement; it heats and expands until its energy is spent. It is insubstantial yet produces thick choking smoke. It clings to surfaces yet a hand passing through cannot grasp hold of it. Even these are idealized representations – meant to reveal patterns and qualities inherent in fire and water – or at least natural energies associated with them. Nature, after all, reveals its patterns through its breathtaking diversity. One is not likely to confuse the waters of the Dead Sea with that of an Alpine mountain spring. From a purely energetic perspective, the dominant qualities of Yang energy is quickening, expansion and movement; the dominant qualities of Yin energy is slowing, contraction, and stillness or receptivity.
In the Taijiquan tradition the energies of yin and yang are combined with the principles of movement symbolized in the Taiji diagram. If we look again at the Taiji symbol given above a number of observations can be made immediately:
- The dividing line between yang (white) and yin (black) is curved not straight.This implies movement which is stable, continuous and circular.
- The black and white portions of the diagram are equal, balanced and opposite. Traditionally it was drawn as two fish swimming endlessly around each other.
- There is a yin dot in heart of the yang side and a yang dot in the heart of the yin side which implies that at the center of any tendency is its opposite.
- If the outer arc of the circle is followed, white transforms to black when at its fullest and vice versa. Another way of putting this is that extreme yang gives birth to yin while extreme or excessive yin gives birth to yang.
- The diagram, as represented on the page, only exists in two dimensions. In space and time this circle becomes a spiral or vortex, like that found in our DNA or in our galaxy.
These simple empirical observations take on specific meanings and energetic resonances within the Taijiquan tradition. They potentially become for the practitioner not merely theoretical ideas but embedded experiences. The originators of both the internal martial arts and the self-cultivation arts believed we can tap into and harmonize with these universal rhythms in a direct manner. And they embodied these principles in their energy practices in very precise ways, much as an engineer applies the principles of mechanics when building a car.
The principles of movement contained within the Taiji diagram (which for us is not so much a religious or philosophical symbol but a heuristic device) can start to manifest in our every movement. Of course it is possible to practice Tai Chi without a detailed knowledge of Daoist philosophy or traditional Chinese medicine, but without understanding these principles intuitively, physiologically or energetically when you
practice, you will not be doing Tai Chi but mere calisthenics. And you will never have true internal skill – or as the Chinese would say, your gong fu (kung fu) will be without substance. The Taiji symbol is an inexhaustible source of insight into the universal rhythms of life. The Tai Chi practitioner can meditate upon and contemplate it with great benefit to their practice. It is there to serve us.
The universe is a Taiji; and you are a Taiji too.
The universe is a Taiji;
and you are a Taiji too.
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