Truth and fiction are odd companions. One can masquerade as the other, adding spice and playing with perceptions, invigorating the apocryphal. Origins obscured by the passage of time can be prone to the artistry of myth-makers and Eastern traditions have more than their fair share of legends, valid or not.
Camus said that "fiction is the lie through which we tell the truth" and what beautiful 'lies' or stories they can turn out to be. The story behind t'ai chi ch'uan is simple but profound. Like anything of such significance the facts are endlessly disputed but it's poetic imagery is everlasting.
Camus said that "fiction is the lie through which we tell the truth" and what beautiful 'lies' or stories they can turn out to be. The story behind t'ai chi ch'uan is simple but profound. Like anything of such significance the facts are endlessly disputed but it's poetic imagery is everlasting.
Roughly eight hundred years ago in China there is supposed to have lived a Shaolin monk named Zhang Sanfeng, seven feet tall with the posture of a pine tree, spear-shaped whiskers and capable of covering up to 350 miles in a day. Some say he was a wizard, a transcendent immortal being.
As a young man he yearned to live a more solitary and spiritual life so he left his monastery in the Wudang Mountains and took up residence in a small isolated hut-like dwelling. He submitted himself to inner contemplation, exploring the mystical union with nature as befitted a devotee of Taoist philosophy.
One day whilst sitting at his window he heard a raucous noise in his garden and saw a snake and a bird in the midst of a terrible struggle. He observed how each one behaved, the snake remaining still, avoiding the bird's grappling claws while choosing it's moments to strike and the bird dancing about defending itself adeptly with it's wings.
He was profoundly affected by what he had seen and that night in a dream was visited by the Jade Emperor himself who revealed to him the secrets of the Tao. On waking the following morning Zhang leaped out of bed newly inspired. Prompted by what he had learned the day before he chose to dedicate the rest of his life to the formulation of a new 'internal' martial art form. The two main Truths that he expounded could arguably have derived from witnessing the two animals respond to their confrontation, forming a basic rationale : "yielding overcomes aggression" and "softness overcomes hardness".
It is obviously unknown how much of this story is authentic or whether such a man as Zhang Sanfeng existed. But the principles that emerged over subsequent centuries contain an enduring power and mean as much to the modern practitioner of t'ai chi as they did to any mythical creator and that is truly invaluable.
As a young man he yearned to live a more solitary and spiritual life so he left his monastery in the Wudang Mountains and took up residence in a small isolated hut-like dwelling. He submitted himself to inner contemplation, exploring the mystical union with nature as befitted a devotee of Taoist philosophy.
One day whilst sitting at his window he heard a raucous noise in his garden and saw a snake and a bird in the midst of a terrible struggle. He observed how each one behaved, the snake remaining still, avoiding the bird's grappling claws while choosing it's moments to strike and the bird dancing about defending itself adeptly with it's wings.
He was profoundly affected by what he had seen and that night in a dream was visited by the Jade Emperor himself who revealed to him the secrets of the Tao. On waking the following morning Zhang leaped out of bed newly inspired. Prompted by what he had learned the day before he chose to dedicate the rest of his life to the formulation of a new 'internal' martial art form. The two main Truths that he expounded could arguably have derived from witnessing the two animals respond to their confrontation, forming a basic rationale : "yielding overcomes aggression" and "softness overcomes hardness".
It is obviously unknown how much of this story is authentic or whether such a man as Zhang Sanfeng existed. But the principles that emerged over subsequent centuries contain an enduring power and mean as much to the modern practitioner of t'ai chi as they did to any mythical creator and that is truly invaluable.
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