Taijiquan

Just what is Taijiquan? This might seem like a somewhat peculiar question: it’s a Chinese Internal Style Martial Art, isn’t it? The simple answer to that is yes, but that doesn’t fundamentally answer the question, which when asked here, means: “What is the basic nature of Taijiquan that makes it a distinct entity, different from other martial arts, even other internal styles?”

The answer to that is fairly simple, as it turns out (in this author’s opinion, anyway): Taijiquan is a Chinese, internal style martial art distinguished from all other martial arts by 1) a distinct movement imaginary, 2) a guiding philosophy that eschews domination of the other, and 3) the use of a core set of neurobiological “tricks” that render opponents ineffective and easy to redirect, strike, or otherwise be shown the unintended consequences of their violent urges.

Hello, after a rather lengthy period away from posting here. It has been roughly a year since a last update, and well more than a year since Bob died somewhat unexpectedly. In that time, my practice of Taiji as a formal, solo art has been very sporadic.

Some of this is no doubt due to avoidance and grief, and I’m moving forward with that as best as I am able, given the broader circumstances.

As previously mentioned, I intend to keep things at Laughing Ox moving forward in some form or another. I have a number of possible options, the ‘simplest’ of which is to keep posting relevant material here.

To that end, I am beginning to process the large archive of email that was exchanged between Sifu Iden and myself over the last five or six years. There are perhaps 300 email threads from this time window in my GMail account, and some of those have 30 or so individual messages in them. Many are short things, of no real consequence to the work Bob and I have been undertaking. Others are many thousands of words digging deeply into topics.

Taijiquan is a Chinese internal martial art. It is believed by many to have been founded in the 12th or 13th century by Zhang Sanfeng. It is commonly thought to place a great deal of emphasis on soft, relaxed movement, balancing Yin and Yang in the body, and various other concepts associated with Daoism and Traditional Chinese Medicine.

There are many practices that are referred to as Taijiquan, Tai Chi, or other similar names. These could include intensive study of forms, standing meditation, the practice of Push Hands, an emphasis on physical fitness, meditation, balance, or many other things. These practices and their validity as Taijiquan are neither here nor there, as they are not martial arts in the traditional sense of being primarily concerned with violence in its many guises.

Elsewhere, we have said that Taijiquan is a sort of practical, physical Daoism. We have also stated that Taijiquan as a martial art is grounded in the idea of responding to violence without violence (alternatively phrased, to force without force). And we have also mentioned a number of things about “Top Down” approaches, Western understandings, Neurobiology, Evolution, and a wide variety of other concepts that are not typically brought up when discussing Taiji.

Taijiquan may not have begun as an inherently Daoist practice. This might seem a bit strange, as Taiji literally is the name of the symbol which most Westerners know as the yin-yang symbol (more properly known as a Taijitu). And the invention of Taiji is also typically attributed to a figure important in Chinese Daoism. But “taiji” also means something like “Supreme Ultimate” and so Taijiquan as “Supreme Ultimate Boxing ’’ is a pretty impressive sounding name, if nothing else.