Taoist Thought Reflected by Tai Ji Chuan

Tai Ji Chuan, who originated from Taoist culture, embodied Taoist philosophy, especially Zhuangzi's liberalism, in his boxing theory and training. Tai Ji Chuan's cultivation is expounded one by one from three aspects: nourishing qi, strengthening the foundation, cultivating wisdom from the shape, cultivating the mind and nature, returning to the foundation and surpassing the self, so as to provide ideological guidance for physical education teaching and Tai Ji Chuan practitioners. introduce

As one of the schools of China's primitive philosophy, Taoist philosophy plays a vital role in guiding China's traditional martial arts, especially Tai Ji Chuan. The word "Tai Chi" comes from the thought of Laozi, the founder of Taoist philosophy. Therefore, although the symbol of Taiji Taoist philosophy is a flat circle, it is a round sphere in people's minds. Boxing is named after Tai Chi, which determines that this boxing is a round set of contradictions in concept: there are contradictions everywhere and coordination everywhere; There is no opposition everywhere, but unity everywhere. It can be said that Tai Ji Chuan is the best fist that can best embody Taoist philosophy.

Zhuangzi further inherited and developed Laozi's "Tao" thought and formed his own outstanding liberalism thought. He believes that "Tao" is an objective existence and the highest and absolute realm. To achieve this state, people must get rid of the bondage and achieve complete freedom through their own cultivation. The practice process of Taiji Zhuan is actually a concrete and comprehensive explanation of Zhuangzi's philosophical topic. Knowing this is of great guiding significance to Tai Ji Chuan's whole cultivation process. This article is about

This question is briefly expounded for the guidance of the Fang family.

First, the beginning of cultivation-nourishing qi and consolidating the foundation

Both Lao Zi and Zhuangzi have a profound understanding of Qi. In Laozi's view, "Tao" produces chaotic "Qi", which can be divided into "Yin and Yang". Yin and Yang interact and merge to produce natural things. On this basis, Zhuangzi made a comprehensive explanation of the philosophical concept of "Qi". Zhuangzi believes that "Qi" generally has the following meanings: First, the world is all over the world.

Everything is made up of Qi. In other words, there was no life in the world, but in the long change of the universe, it gradually became "shape" because of the condensation of qi. With the further changes of various "shapes", life gradually came into being. Second, human life and death is actually the gathering and dispersion of "Qi". Qi gathers in the human body, making people gain life and become magical. Once qi leaves the human body, people will die and become stinky. Therefore, Zhuangzi simply raised the role of Qi to a new height, "one ear meets the world". Third, the qi of yin and yang is the root of qi.

Tai Ji Chuan's training first inherited Taoist philosophy in theory. Attach great importance to "Qi" and put the cultivation of "Qi" in the primary position of boxing practice. It can also be seen from the biography of Taiji that the predecessors thought that the main component of human life was innate vitality. The innate vitality will be gradually lost with people's growth and aging. If you want to stay healthy, you have to keep your innate vitality, and your innate vitality has to be cultivated by cultivation. The best way to cultivate innate vitality is to practice Tai Ji Chuan. Through long-term training, the yin and yang in the body can be reconciled, and the innate vitality can be maintained under the nourishment and cultivation of acquired vitality. Therefore, Tai Ji Chuan attached great importance to the cultivation of Qi. Only by practicing Qi and Yun first and letting Qi act on the whole body can we meet Tai Ji Chuan's other cultivation requirements. This is a fundamental point that distinguishes Tai Ji Chuan from other kinds of boxing-with the help of Zhuangzi's theory, he emphasizes health preservation first, and then seeks other things. Second, cultivate the mind by leaving the shape.

Zhuangzi advocated that people should try to get rid of the bondage of nature and society and move towards freedom. It is emphasized that on the basis of fully understanding Qi, we should break away from the bondage of nature, get rid of nature, integrate our own Qi with the natural Qi, and swim between heaven and earth, so as to achieve the so-called "flying in a cloud and flying around the world". To achieve this state, we must go through long-term and arduous training and practice at three levels of "external world, external things" and "exogenous", that is, "no self, no work" and "no name", and finally understand the laws of the universe ("Tao"), so as to use the laws and enjoy the beauty of freedom.

To do this, the yogi must first go through the "heart fasting". Only after two stages of hard training can we reach the so-called "people-oriented" state of Zhuangzi and truly appreciate the beauty of freedom. And Tai Ji Chuan's training also requires people to achieve this kind of "no self …" in the process of exercise. Unknown "situation. Make yourself stand at the height of the freedom of the universe, abandon the low-level pursuit of one trick and one style, and achieve the situation of "Tai Chi is everywhere". Only on this basis can we achieve ethereality and understand boxing from the height of understanding the laws of the universe.

Therefore, all schools in Tai Ji Chuan attached importance to Gong Zhuang's training from the beginning. Especially the practice of rodless piles. Because the biggest function of rodless pile is to seek nature in the quiet. In fact, it is also necessary for practitioners to forget the worldly troubles in the process of cultivation, and reach the ethereal realm of "losing shape … losing wisdom" as Zhuangzi said. After reaching this state, people can be integrated with nature.

Third, return to nature-beyond yourself

If spiritual training only enables people to gain spiritual freedom, then if people really want to transcend the constraints of nature and society, they must find out the laws of nature and society and act according to objective laws. But Zhuangzi has long understood the mystery from the perspective of understanding Tao. If you want to use the law, you must first know the law, and the only way to know the law is to practice, practice and practice again. The reason why I can understand cows with ease is because I am good at thinking and pondering in the process of understanding cows for more than ten years, and finally I broke away from the law and entered the realm of freedom. Is in the process of tempering, master the basic laws, handy.

The same is true of Tai Ji Chuan's training. Tai Ji Chuan's ultimate goal is to achieve "light spirit and lively knowledge, yin and yang are auspicious but not stagnant". . If you get four or two thousand pounds, the opening and closing of the drum will dominate the situation. In fact, this also requires L-trainer to go beyond the laws of nature, to be free to lead in practical application, to be subject to people, and not to people. It takes a long and arduous training process to reach this level.

In the actual training process, Tai Ji Chuan asked the practitioners to complete several basic modules, such as standing pile, posture, pushing hand and Sanshou. The purpose of standing piles is to lay the foundation and practice. Shelves, that is, practicing routines, generally require 1 ~ 3 years of formal training to skillfully and naturally set up shelves. Experts call this a touching process. After mastering the shelf, you can carry out pushing training. In this training, you can understand the strength direction of your opponent and your own direction of resolution and counterattack. People in the industry call it the listening and understanding stage. It usually takes 2 ~ 3 years for the training at this stage to be effective. It is a small success to reach this step. But it is not enough to really understand the true meaning of Tai Ji Chuan. You must also go through a long period of practical training in Sanshou. Therefore, whether it is Zhuangzi's exposition or the practice of Taiji Chuan, one of the most essential similarities is that in order to obtain real freedom, we must make long-term exploration in spirit and practice.

In a word, Tai Ji Chuan, who comes from Taoist culture, embodies the thoughts of Taoist philosophy everywhere in his boxing theory and training. If we can take this as a guide, we may make new discoveries in actual teaching and practice.