{"id":242,"date":"2014-08-05T15:00:20","date_gmt":"2014-08-05T22:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/socaltaichi.com\/?p=242"},"modified":"2014-08-05T15:00:20","modified_gmt":"2014-08-05T22:00:20","slug":"understanding-tai-chi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/socaltaichi.com\/?p=242","title":{"rendered":"UNDERSTANDING TAI CHI"},"content":{"rendered":"

The inspiration for this article came from a discussion I had with one of my Zhaobao brothers.\u00a0 After practice the other day, we had a conversation about the terms substantial <\/em>and insubstantial.\u00a0 <\/em>\u00a0We both knew what the terms meant basically.\u00a0 But did we truly understand the concept at their root?<\/p>\n

This very same question can be asked of many terms in Tai Chi such as sung <\/em>(often translated as relax<\/em>), yin<\/em> and yang, heavy<\/em> and soft, yielding<\/em> and following,<\/em> and many more<\/p>\n

As it turned out, we both agreed that we did not truly understand substantial and insubstantial<\/em>, and that was actually a positive not a negative.\u00a0 So, the title of this article is probably somewhat misleading as I am really writing about NOT <\/em>understanding Tai Chi as a positive step toward making further progress.<\/p>\n

That may seem contradictory as are many of the terms in both Tai Chi and Taoist philosophy, but bear with me and I will explain.<\/p>\n

As fate would have it, the next day after our discussion, I sat down to do some meditative reading and came across a passage by Foyan Qingyuan (1067-1120), a notable Chan master during the Sung dynasty when Buddhism flourished in China.<\/p>\n

The minute you fixate on recognition that \u2018This is it,\u2019 you are immediately bound hand and foot and cannot move around anymore.<\/p>\n

So as soon as it is given this recognition, nothing is right, whatever it may be\u2026<\/p>\n

It\u2019s like making a boat and outfitting it for a thousand mile journey to a treasure trove; if you drive a stake and tie the boat to it before you jump in and start rowing, you can row till kingdom come and still be on the beach.\u00a0 You see the boat waving this way and that, and you think you are on the move, but you have never gone a single step.<\/p>\n

Tai Chi like Zen Buddhism or Taoism is a lifelong journey that changes daily.\u00a0 The moment you say to yourself or a teacher tells you that \u2018This is it; this is the point,\u2019 all is lost if you buy into that.<\/p>\n

Like the I Ching<\/em>, in the foundation of Tai Chi, there are no points of recognition or understanding, only changes.\u00a0 The moment you truly believe that you understand, you have driven a stake into the ground and bound yourself hand and foot, tying up all progress.\u00a0 Your journey has unfortunately come to an end.<\/p>\n

Not only students but instructors especially should remember this fact.\u00a0 It is a great responsibility to have the honor of teaching Tai Chi, an honor and a privilege that many instructors take lightly.<\/p>\n

For a few it is a matter of greed.\u00a0 Once they have received permission to teach from their sifus, they are off to the bank, like college graduates, to make up for all the time and money they spent learning their skills.<\/p>\n

For some, their road to mastery is blocked by ignorance.\u00a0 They ask their students to join them on their journey not realizing their boat is still tied to the dock.<\/p>\n

Both types make the mistake of resting their laurels on the teachings they have previously received, believing their knowledge of the fundamentals is complete.<\/p>\n

The Bottom Line: No matter how many years you have been practicing, no matter how wonderful your master and grandmaster, no matter how many workshops you have attended or given, don\u2019t think you know it all.\u00a0 There is always more to learn \u2013 much more than you can ever imagine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The inspiration for this article came from a discussion I had with one of my Zhaobao brothers.\u00a0 After practice the other day, we had a conversation about the terms substantial and insubstantial.\u00a0 \u00a0We both knew what the terms meant basically.\u00a0 But did we truly understand the concept at their root? This very same question can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/socaltaichi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/socaltaichi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/socaltaichi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socaltaichi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socaltaichi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=242"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/socaltaichi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":243,"href":"https:\/\/socaltaichi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242\/revisions\/243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/socaltaichi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socaltaichi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socaltaichi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}