Taiji: born of Wuji, mother of Yin Yang

By Sifu Yueng Yun Choi

"Taiji: born of Wuji, mother of Yin Yang" came from Wang Zong Yue's Tai Ji Quan Manual dated back from 1736; there are many versions of his work and some included, "opportunity for moving and unmoving" after "born of Wuji" (Wang, 1736/1991, p. 26).

The aim of this article is to view the Taiji; Wuji and Yin Yang concepts from a historical perspective and to clarify some of the misunderstandings embedded in the teaching of Taijiquan. Some of these misunderstandings are confusions arising from the Taoist concept of Wuji and mixing Taijiquan with Qi Gong and meditation.

The concept of Taiji is to denote the state of the universe in the beginning where Yin and Yang are not clearly demarcated. The Taiji symbol is viewed that there are numerous combinations of different proportions of Yin and Yang. May this is why Chen Xin (1919/1975, p.187) said that:

Pure Yin without Yang is soft hands

Pure Yang without Yin is hard hands

One Yin nine Yang is like a staff's head

Two Yin eight Yang is loose hands

Three Yin seven Yang still a little hard

Four Yin six Yang beginning to look good

Five Yin five Yang without deviation is excellent hands

The Yin Yang concept might be considered as substantial and insubstantial in a continuum from zero to one hundred percents, from minimal force to maximal force. The Yin Yang concept should be viewed as the presence or absence of a substance rather than two substances. May be the following examples will help:

Male is Yang and female is Yin because females do not have the male sex organ

Eunuch is also viewed as Yin without the proper male sex organ

Day is Yang and night is Yin because of the absence of light

Up is Yang and down is Yin because of the absence of height

Solid is Yang and empty is Yin because of the lack of internal capacity or mass

Hard is Yang and soft is Yin because of the absence of tension

Control is Yang and excited is Yin because of the absence of restrain

Certainty is Yang and uncertainty is Yin because of the lack of assurance

Fast is Yang and slow is Yin because of the absence of speed

The relevancy of Yin Yang in Taijiquan is obvious but a point to clarify is that the property of force is different compared to External Martial Arts or most Shaolin Arts. As the kind of force or strength that was discussed in Taijiquan has the property of springiness and is highly flexible which the practitioner can manipulate from soft to hard or hard to soft so to speak. The focus of the training in Taijiquan is not how hard or how soft one gets but how quickly is the transition between the two extremes. May be this is why Shen Jia Zhen in 1963 (reprinted in People's Athletic Publication Press, 1988, p. 16) suggested that it is important to get rid of the natural stiffness in the body in order to develop "Peng Jin" from this new kind of springy exercise. The new method is to produce tension by self-stretching in different directions at various intensities, or different combinations of Yin Yang as suggested by Chen Xin.

From what was said, the Taiji principle is clearly point to the idea of maintaining a balance of five hard and five soft, and manipulate between the extremes. This is why it is emphasised that one should be extended naturally and relaxed when practising Taijiquan, and then learn to manipulate the developed Peng Jin and also interact with others in pushing hands or fighting.

The Chinese character "Tai" means highest, greatest, and remotest. The Chinese character "Ji" means the utmost, extreme. The term Taiji was found in Book 1, Chapter 11 of the Great Appendix (Sung, 1935/1980, p. 299) which was edited by Confucius (550-478 BC) to explain the Book of Change (Yi Jing) dated back to 3,322 BC. Taiji, the grand terminus which produce the two elementary forms of Yin and Yang. The two elementary forms produce four forms, which produce the eight forms. The eight forms produce the 64 hexagrams. The hexagram is just a six digits binary numbering system, each with a different combination of 6 Yin or Yang, where Yang was represented as a continuous stroke while Yin was represented as a broken stroke. The Book of Change contains 64 hexagrams (Figure 1) and each hexagram is a symbolic representation of a unique event.

The ancient Chinese concept of the creation was summarised in Book 1, Chapter 10 of the Great Appendix (Sung, 1935/1980, p.295) that there was no thought nor action, it was still and motionless, but when acted upon, it penetrated through all phenomena and events under heaven. Questions were asked regarding god or spiritual being responsible for this action but no definite answer was given. Interestingly, this is similar to the primal state of the universe in the Bible, the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Prior to the Song Dynasty (960-1279), Taiji was considered to be the primal state of the universe in oneness before the separation of heaven and earth, thus, it is a state where Yin Yang were not clearly distinguished. There was no Wuji, everything started from Taiji, produced Yin Yang and generated into infinite number of things or events. The Yin Yang binary system is clearly the basis of science in ancient China.

The concept of Wuji was developed from the work of Zhou Dun Yi (1017-1073), his "Tai Ji Tu Shuo" (illustration and explanation of Tai Ji) advocated the concept of Wuij and than Taiji, Wuji is before Taiji. He differentiate Wuji and Taiji by motion; Wuji is static and Taiji is dynamic; it is motion in Taiji that generated Yang, and generated Yin when it slows down to stillness. Therefore, Taiji has the opportunity for moving and unmoving or a state of transition between different proportions of Yin and Yang.

The concept of Wuji was derived from the teaching of Lao Zi; his "Dao De Jing" (Book of Ethics) is the most important work in Taoism. The oldest manuscript is written between 206BC and 195BC, more than two thousand years ago. The word "Dao" literally means way, method, word, Taoism or Tao; the word "De" literally means virtue, moral, kindness. The concepts of Dao or Tao can be summarised as the following:

Tao is a natural phenomenon of substance

Tao is eternal and is unlimited

Tao is the nature of all things

Tao is the foundation of all matters and changes

Tao is not perishable in this material world

Tao is the basic principle for change

Tao is united all thing together

Tao is there but not seen and can not be capture

Tao is not an empty concept but a hidden potential; it is without form but capable of producing all things. The literal meaning of Wu is "no" which might be the cause of some confusion. For example Ji means extreme then Wuji means no extreme, thus, what is no extreme or without extreme? The correct meaning would be beyond extreme or just unknown. Therefore, "Wuji and then Taiji" is a transition from the unknown to extremely great, a state of unknown to known, and a state of chaos to some combinations of Yin and Yang. It is clear that the Taoist view is not something created from nothing.

The literal meaning of Wuji is infinite (Wile, 1996, p. 170) but it is difficult to interpret what this infinite referring to. It is clear the binary system in the book of Change can generate into an infinite number of things but that is not the same state of chaos as in Wuji.

The first posture of Taijiquan's routine is often referred to as the Wuji, a static position before moving. Chen Xin (1919/1975, p.179) stated that the Wuji person, a thing has not yet formed, before the beginning, unsophisticated, reverently, irresponsibly, innocently, which is a state of big chaos, at the time the learner start to perform, should stand solemnly, eyes close, holds the breath, hands down on both sides, torso straight, legs together, there is not a thing of concern nor a thought in the mind, unsophisticated, reverently, irresponsibly, innocently, which is a state of big chaos, a picture of Wuji, there is no form to be named and is called the Wuji form.

Sung Lu Tang (1924/1936) also advocated the Wuji posture but most of the later authors just starting from the preparation or beginning form as in all the routines in the Complete Book of Taijiquan (People's Athletic Publication Press, 1988). The reason for not advocating the Wuij stance is very simple because it leads to too much confusion.

Jin Zhengyao (1990) has pointed out very clearly that we need to distinguish the two aspects of Taoism, one is science and the other is superstition. In other words, to be fit and healthy is not the same as pursuing eternal life. China has a long history of health preservation and a long list of methodologies (Bai and Sun, 1990). A careful evaluation of Taijiquan will confirm that it contains many of these health preservation methods. Taijiquan is so named because it is the application of the Taiji principle of harmony and various health preservation methods to form such a style of Chinese Martial Arts.

The elixirs' pursuit of eternal life is one that based on the spirit concept of Wuji, the original energy remains within us after the transition to Taiji and therefore it is possible to cultivate the original energy from the before heaven to our current state in the after heaven through meditation. They have made conscious effort in returning to the original state, which is reflected in developing the breathing technique as if one is still in his or her mother's womb. It is this reversal process that they advocated contributed to the development Taijiquan. This is why Taijiquan emphasised the abdomen breathing techniques as in babies, the movement of the torso leading the limbs as with babies, stretching instead of contracting muscles as in normal power training, and being passive in following rather then an active role in fighting.

The study of original energy, external energy or auras is now a discipline in Qi Gong and psychical studies. And the trend is seeking harmony within in disharmony of the present internal and external situation rather than seeking Wuji. There is one type of training for the cultivation health with both static and dynamic methods which dated back to the Tang Dynasty (619 - 907) which was taught openly in 1981 as Tai Xing Yi Quan in Shan Xi Province and later in Guangdong Province in 1983 (Shi and Lai, 1984, p. 1).

Wang Zhigong (1992, p.1) also claimed that he learnt in 1945 from a Taoist a Taijiquan that was developed in the Tang Dynasty which consist of static postures and individual sets of dynamic movements similar to the current Taijiquan routines which also emphasis the training of springiness.

Both Tai Xing Yi Quan and Tang Dynasty Taijiquan gave a very clear indication of the development of static and dynamic exercises for health preservation from Taoist meditation techniques. Shi Chong Gong (Qing Dynasty) written a 64 words formula for training (Shi and Lai, 1984, p. 4) as in the following:

Loosen but not relaxed, tight but not stiff

Flexible but not perplexed, tension strengthen the inside

Move but not indirection, calm but not paralysed

Act according to physiology, perfection in arch over

Feet are not unmoved, hands are not static

Mind was not fixed, seeking to be comfortable

Eyes like a veil, inhale and exhale naturally

Get rid of distraction, forget form and self

This formula gave very good examples of seeking balance in imbalance. Some of these ideas are applicable to Taijiquan and some are not, as Taijiquan is a martial art and not just a health preservation exercise. The mentality is very different as the element of alertness is emphasised in martial arts. The ability to counter attack is also necessary in fighting. Thus, Wang Gong Yue's Tai Ji Quan Manual was to illustrate the application of Yin Yang in martial arts and this is why he said that in order to avoid the ills in Taijiquan one must know Yin Yang.

The Yin Yang binary system can generate into infinite number of things and seeking harmony in such a situation is a very complex process. It is like working out all the bugs in a complex computer program, and in most cases it is impossible. The Taiji principle should be viewed as a working model to help us understanding the practice of Taijiquan and to identify the ills, which deter us from perfecting this art of fighting.

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