CHINESE MEDICINE
Literary legends of the origins of life are similar throughout world cultures, but in China perhaps a bit older. So, written records in the period of the Han Dynasty refer to a prehistoric Shennong, ‘Spiritual Farmer’: an intelligent man who became the tribal leader. Men like these not only taught people how to grow things from the earth, but also told them about herbs to use when they were sick. His Ben Cao (‘from the grass’) classic divided herbs into three categories:
1. Superior drugs, non-poisonous, possessing rejuvenating properties, which can be taken for a long time without any harm ... ‘it won’t kill you, it won’t cure you’!
2. Medium drugs, possessing tonic effects, with toxicity depending on the dosage, so not too much was taken.
3. Inferior drugs, employed to cure disease and considered ‘poisonous’, i.e. producing side effects, also often using actual poisons to counteract poisons, and should therefore not be taken for any length of time.
Still semi-legendary, though more historical, was Huangdi, the ‘Yellow Emperor’, another leader who was an expert on herbs and drugs. He was responsible with a doctor, Qibo, for writing the Nèijīng (‘inner classic’) which became the canon of orthodox Chinese medicine, accepted by later scholars.
Religion and medicine: the relation between body and mind, unorthodox Chinese medicine, an area in which there were sorcerers, the use of wine, priest doctors worshipping specific deities, witch doctors, faith healers ... all depending on faith, though faith healers as such used no material objects, only faith.
Philosophy and medicine: the Chinese philosophy of disease, the other side of the coin being the philosophy of health ... and here is where Miss Li would locate Tai Ji. But this area was a bit dominated by scholastic subtleties and characterised by respect for authority, petrified formalities and pedantic excess of detail. However, within this were two central doctrines which formed the basis of all Chinese medicine:
1. Yin and Yang, ‘the two principles’, which generates the Bagua, ‘eight changes’, with strong relations to mathematics, astrology and the I Ching. Miss Li said she accepted the validity of this connection, but did not follow it herself. It uses the straight and broken lines to record natural changes. It is supposed to date from Fu Xi, who was given a revelation on the backs of the crane and the turtle. Each of the eight changes has a special name and a symbol, but without a very precise definition: it depends on personal interpretation, and that personal meaning can be very hard to communicate. Yin/Yang represent female/male, soft/hard etc. In terms of our human body, the skin is Yang, the inside is Yin; the back is Yang, the front is yin; the empty organs are Yang, the solid organs are Yin; the heart and liver are Yang, the spleen, lungs and kidneys are Yin.
2. Then comes the Wu Xing, ‘the five elements’. The human frame is supposed to be made up from a harmonious mixture of these five primordial substances. Proper health depends on a good balance of the five elements. Sayings reflecting the importance of balance are: ‘when you are too happy, you become exhausted’, ‘when you are too spiritual, you lose contact with the earth’, ‘even good things must be taken in moderation’. The five elements generate each other and subjugate each other. The five main organs correspond to the five elements. This is material, but there is also a mental side ... shenxin, body and mind. Man is the ‘little universe’, a microcosm: you have Tai Ji within Tai Ji, you are moving within the larger universe.
Tai Ji, Xing I, Ba Gua are therefore very subtle names, and the names of their forms are also elegant and subtle. But most translations into English are very crude and clumsy, without subtle meaning or clarity.
The I Ching has very little to do with Tai Ji, it has a little bit more to do with Ba Gua, but for the Internal Martial Arts the crucial text is actually the Yijin Jing, which is still quite solemn and scholarly, but which deals with the eight changes of the muscles, and is thus more closely related to Tai Ji and Ba Gua than the highly philosophical I Ching. There is also the Wu Xing Xi, or 'five animals game', which has a lot of therapeutic value.
In traditional Chinese practices they paid attention to diet, meditation to get blood pressure down, and then also exercise afterwards. Qi Gong Shan Shen Fa, meant the use of qi to strengthen your health, by quietening the mind and calming the breath; also the use of qi to overcome illness.
Zhang Sanfeng was a monk, a Daoist, and it is believed that he discovered many of the points on the body, but some say it was Feng I Yuan. Whichever, they discovered 36 points, then later in fighting reduced to nine fatal points, now today being revived for medical purposes. Miss Li was sceptical about this, 'perhaps I am more Western than you!'. The nine fatal points were considered to be: behind the ears, back of the head, back of the neck, solar plexus, back of the lungs, on the psoas area. The key is how they are touched, for one way of touching would be to cure. It is in Ba Gua that these fighting techniques would be most prominent, using the fingers, or the chop. This also relates to the place and time: in the medicine field it is very helpful to cure people, and in martial arts the timing is also the crucial thing. Another way of showing that Tai Ji is not a fighting art is that it does not have the fingers or the chops to kill or hurt.
Saturday, 27 October 2018
Sunday, 21 October 2018
Summer School 1983
DAO OF TAI JI
Miss Li based her remarks on common sense and Tai Ji experiences, not on an academic system: Chinese philosophy is a crystallisation of things in your life. Dao means a road or a vehicle, a way of getting from one place to another. Divided into:
1.
‘Pure Daoism’ - contemplation, letting the mind rest on ‘useless’, ‘idle’, things ... the stream flowing, clouds empty of rain. Wu Wei, which means literally Doing Nothing ...
‘Do nothing, and everything will be done for you.’
‘Do not be a small man, nor a superior man; follow the natural way; hold firm to the unfettered wholeness which is within you.’
Miss Li’s father used to say, ‘only a dead man could be a good Daoist’, because the ideals cannot survive in the real world: we must eat, and that is the origin of stress and competition. But Daoism has been a vital resource for the Chinese people.
This is Zhuangzi, following Laozi in time, but preceding him in literature, making abstract things very concrete, telling stories.
2.
‘Purposive Daoism’ - philosophy, the scholarly, systematic aspect of Daoism, close to Confucianism, a system of study and understanding. Making use of thinking to do something; using strategy and psychology to achieve your ends. Laozi gave much advice to princes and rulers about getting power by the use of strategy, giving Chinese the reputation of being crooked, ‘using noble means to achieve mean ends’.
3.
‘Fairy Daoism’ - religion, degenerating into superstition, but many superstitions still have meaning. This is closer to Tai Ji, acupuncture and so on, and on this Miss Li felt more qualified to speak than on the others.
A complex and various patchwork, combining ignorant religious fanatics and sophisticated scholars, beginning about the same time as Christianity. Under all its manifestations it was marked by one constant aim: the achievement of ‘immortality’. Chinese people are not really very religious, especially in the north; in the south they are a bit more influenced by Buddhism; but the search for ‘immortality’ (the ‘gold’ of Daoism) spread everywhere, tending to preserve bodies after death too.
Religious Daoism was full of exaggerated stories and imagination, incorporating elements of all the religions which were available. To become ‘immortal’ meant to stay young, to be ageless. Important formulae were to take drugs, herbs; also alchemical manipulations, breath control, and gymnastics to improve physical health when alive. This has been compared to Indian Yoga. Qi is said to be the place of origin of magical practices, later used in the pursuit of ‘immortality’. ‘Qi’ is used all the time in Chinese daily language in different combinations with other words, for example to say you are angry, to refer to the state of the air, and so on.
This field was looked down on by the traditional Chinese scholarly families, which focused on Purposive Daoism. Thus Miss Li’s father chose Deng Yunfeng as her teacher because he (Deng) was a Christian and not into religious Daoism.
As for Zen, the Chinese character for Buddhism means ‘monk’, referring to Indian Buddhist traditions. But in China it was changed into Chan, the character meaning ‘yourself and God’. Chan was acceptable to the scholarly families, the basis of many of their studies and arts, e.g. calligraphy, painting, poetry. Miss Li found her teacher impressive because he combined ‘modern thinking’ and Christianity with elements drawn from the Chan traditions: thus very different from many of the other martial arts teachers of his generation, who were generally just ‘tough guys’.
Many of you want to teach Tai Ji, or write books about it, but it is too early yet: you need more study and research, and more gongfu yourselves. And the time is also not right - you must wait until the first generation of teachers in the West has faded away, because of the distortion of their ‘tough guy’ attitudes. Tai Ji’s main benefit is health: philosophy, martial arts, etc are ok, but good health is substantial.
Miss Li based her remarks on common sense and Tai Ji experiences, not on an academic system: Chinese philosophy is a crystallisation of things in your life. Dao means a road or a vehicle, a way of getting from one place to another. Divided into:
1.
‘Pure Daoism’ - contemplation, letting the mind rest on ‘useless’, ‘idle’, things ... the stream flowing, clouds empty of rain. Wu Wei, which means literally Doing Nothing ...
‘Do nothing, and everything will be done for you.’
‘Do not be a small man, nor a superior man; follow the natural way; hold firm to the unfettered wholeness which is within you.’
Miss Li’s father used to say, ‘only a dead man could be a good Daoist’, because the ideals cannot survive in the real world: we must eat, and that is the origin of stress and competition. But Daoism has been a vital resource for the Chinese people.
This is Zhuangzi, following Laozi in time, but preceding him in literature, making abstract things very concrete, telling stories.
2.
‘Purposive Daoism’ - philosophy, the scholarly, systematic aspect of Daoism, close to Confucianism, a system of study and understanding. Making use of thinking to do something; using strategy and psychology to achieve your ends. Laozi gave much advice to princes and rulers about getting power by the use of strategy, giving Chinese the reputation of being crooked, ‘using noble means to achieve mean ends’.
3.
‘Fairy Daoism’ - religion, degenerating into superstition, but many superstitions still have meaning. This is closer to Tai Ji, acupuncture and so on, and on this Miss Li felt more qualified to speak than on the others.
A complex and various patchwork, combining ignorant religious fanatics and sophisticated scholars, beginning about the same time as Christianity. Under all its manifestations it was marked by one constant aim: the achievement of ‘immortality’. Chinese people are not really very religious, especially in the north; in the south they are a bit more influenced by Buddhism; but the search for ‘immortality’ (the ‘gold’ of Daoism) spread everywhere, tending to preserve bodies after death too.
Religious Daoism was full of exaggerated stories and imagination, incorporating elements of all the religions which were available. To become ‘immortal’ meant to stay young, to be ageless. Important formulae were to take drugs, herbs; also alchemical manipulations, breath control, and gymnastics to improve physical health when alive. This has been compared to Indian Yoga. Qi is said to be the place of origin of magical practices, later used in the pursuit of ‘immortality’. ‘Qi’ is used all the time in Chinese daily language in different combinations with other words, for example to say you are angry, to refer to the state of the air, and so on.
This field was looked down on by the traditional Chinese scholarly families, which focused on Purposive Daoism. Thus Miss Li’s father chose Deng Yunfeng as her teacher because he (Deng) was a Christian and not into religious Daoism.
As for Zen, the Chinese character for Buddhism means ‘monk’, referring to Indian Buddhist traditions. But in China it was changed into Chan, the character meaning ‘yourself and God’. Chan was acceptable to the scholarly families, the basis of many of their studies and arts, e.g. calligraphy, painting, poetry. Miss Li found her teacher impressive because he combined ‘modern thinking’ and Christianity with elements drawn from the Chan traditions: thus very different from many of the other martial arts teachers of his generation, who were generally just ‘tough guys’.
Many of you want to teach Tai Ji, or write books about it, but it is too early yet: you need more study and research, and more gongfu yourselves. And the time is also not right - you must wait until the first generation of teachers in the West has faded away, because of the distortion of their ‘tough guy’ attitudes. Tai Ji’s main benefit is health: philosophy, martial arts, etc are ok, but good health is substantial.
Summer School 1983
TAI JI
Which Tai Ji is authentic? Check what words they use for each form, and what characters they use to represent the sounds. This is crucial: there are some quite clearly authentic characters.
Which Tai Ji is authentic? Check what words they use for each form, and what characters they use to represent the sounds. This is crucial: there are some quite clearly authentic characters.
For example, comparing the words for Backward Brush Knee, Open Fan, and Yun Shou, these actually mean
- roll your hips backwards ... not ‘monkey’
- lightning shoots through the back, qi circulating
- transport left and right ... not ‘cloud hands’.
The words will affect the style: if you call Backward Brush Knee ‘monkey’, then you will distort the movement. Also, if you call the transporting one ‘cloudy’ or ‘smoothing’, you will be either vague or will put your hands out as if smoothing wallpaper.
When someone presents ‘authentic Tai Ji’, you should ask: who developed this, where and why? What is Tai Ji anyway? What is it for? Why did the Chinese develop it? Why did they choose these words and images?
It is crucial to respect and work with the internal part first. If you work only from the outside you will never get the internal part. Whereas, if you develop the internal part first, then you can make the external part more precise later. And don’t just mimic Chinese pictures: taking them to extremes you would need to have a Chinese face and short legs!
So, what is Tai Ji? Tai Ji prepares for fighting, it gives good breathing and stamina, then you can go and learn fighting techniques. Tai Ji was never intended as a fighting technique in itself.
Different schools have exaggerated different points, some originally good, some rubbish, but all distorted if too much emphasised. Everything you exaggerate becomes a mannerism, and you throw the whole out of harmony.
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