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.