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How Tai Chi arrived at the Chen village from Chang Sen Fang?
hi phillipe
bruce goes over this in great detail in power of internal martial arts book, id check that out.short answer is; they really are not sure, but it’s probable that chen taiji got started when a taoist martial artist came in contact with the chen village, and adapted the chi work of taoism to their martial art. wang tsung yueh may have been his name, and he was thought to have studied an art that was linked to chang san feng
it’s also possible that chen wang ting of chen village was the originator, taking the shaolin gung fu of chi chi guang and infusing it with the taoist method.
another name mentioned was jiang fa, who may have known shaoling gung fu and the chang san feng method, and taught it to chen wang ting.however, what can be said is this
taiji movement shapes are clearly shaolin in origin.
taiji internal method is clearly taoist in function.
, check out p 333-334 of PIMA for the full story.hope this helps…
Thanks Richard,
Finally I got the answer. Sorry I don’t have the book.To my understanding, the huge gap in time between Chang Sen Fang creation(12th century) and Chen village arrival (16th century) means that Tai Chi was under close door at Wudang temples all that time. Then, a Taoist sage from there, passed through the Chen village during his journey to the North (maybe to the capital), and imported Tai Chi there. It’s understandable. The Chen village is nothing remarkable and very very small (3000 inhabitants) by Chinese standard. I don’t see another way.
This is like that that Shaolin got its martial arts knowledge. Before the Indian monk Bodhidharma arrival, Shaolin temple was solely dedicated to Buddhist studies and knew nothing about Kungfu.
Hi Richard, I’m reinforced in my comclusion that during the creation of Tai Chi by Chang Sen Fang, it was the Yuan dynasty of Kublai Khan (Mongols). The first time China was invaded. Hence, Chinese from Wudang never exposed Tai Chi to them. From this dynasty, Wudang kept the habit to hide Tai Chi inside their walls. Only 400 years later, a Taoist monk from there imported Tai Chi outside to the Chen village. It is my understanding. Moreover, Tai Chi from Wudang is a tradition and today it still exist.
Hi Richard, I ponder upon the matter. First, note that I wrongly wrote my previous post. I meant to say: ‘Nobody has ever been remarkable at the Chen village’, to the contrary of Chang Sen Fang, who created Tai Chi. He’s a Taoist immortal (meaning having reached the great Tao). Only him, could have created Tai Chi. Without a Taoist priest (… we don’t say Taoist monk) passing through the Chen village, nobody would have ever heard of them. To me, someone of the Chen village saw this priest doing his morning Tai Chi routine, then he accepted to teach them. Hence, their knowledge but Tai Chi roots are in Wudang. Second, in Wudang, along centuries, many masters made this art evolve from the original version of Chang Sen Fang, and today, what is known as ‘Wudang Tai Chi’ is the source. Third, nobody knows what that monk knew about Tai Chi when he imported it outside. Maybe he wasn’t a master at all, just a practioner. This is very different from Wudang, where only few proficient masters over centuries would have been allowed to modify this or that of the original version.
Hi Richard, I got another insight. It’s linked to Taoism. As told previously, during Chang Sen Fang time, it was Mandchurians whom controlled China. Then, Taoists from Wudang avoided confrontation with the Empire and let Shaolin ‘brandish the torch of rebellion’ (a typical Taoist behavior). It proved smart since Shaolin would be burnt down by the Emperor, but not Wudang, which remained untouched. Then, Wudang felt into obscurity after having been the center of Chinese martial arts for millenia. This is why today, Shaolin is a lot more famous. Moreover, by seing Wudang not suffering like them, Shaolin people guess (wrongly) that Wudang was an accomplice of Mandchurians. So, we can say there’s two paths in Tai Chi: Chang Sen Fang/Wudang & Chen village. The latter having become public and the former being Taoist only.
hi phillipe
my take on the whole wudang/chang sen fang stuff is this;
taoism has been hiding out in the forests, so to speak, since the time of Lao Tzu. taoism has 1000 year or more history before confucious even came on the scene, and were really not sure of it’s origin.
based on this, it’s more likely that taoists were around on the fringes of society, influencing culture and methods here and there. so to me, the chang san feng story is not so much that he invented it, but more like formulated it from traditional taoist methods. or that a lot of taoists were responsible to pass the material on, and they used his name so people would know it was taoist.
and that it’s not realistic to know for sure either way…
in the end, im just happy to find bruce and folks like him that have been honestly passing this material on, so I can study it…
Hi Richard, a final word, since I thought a lot about that lately. Bruce say that the external moves are clearly Shaolin-like while the internal methods are clearly Taoist in function. I don’t want to be presomptuous and know better than Bruce (of course not) but I disagree on that. To me, you can’t spit external/internal. Everything is linked. Really, I don’t see the moves related to Shaolin in any way. Shaolin always use the feet while in Tai Chi, you remain grounded and never expose your genitals. It’s a major difference, and Bagua & Hsing-I also do the same. Moreover, Tai Chi is not a Shaolin tradition and they know nothing about it. If they would have been involved in some way, Tai Chi would have existed there.
You’re right Richard, it’s meaningless to know the origin. But it’s meaningful to be able to learn proper Tai Chi from Bruce for us Westerners…. Like Bruce, i also lived several years in China during the hard-lined Communist time and my wife is Chinese from Wuhan (and I have been to Wudang since it’s close), and it was impossible to learn Tai Chi from Chinese since there was the bad foreigner mentality and Chinese didn’t speak a word of English anyway. If someone tried to teach you, he or she would have been in deep trouble her, his and her or his family. Believe me. It was like that before.
Hi Richard, I’ve just discovered that at Wudang, Taoists priests still practise today a 13-form style of Tai Chi called the ‘Chang Sen Fang’ style, which can be seen as the original. This corresponds to the 13 basic energies of Tai Chi, described in the ‘Tai Chi classics’. This reinforces the theory of 2 paths: Tai Chi was born around the 12th century in Wudang then it diverged around 400 years later (a huge period) when a Taoist priest from Wudang passed through the Chen village.
……the study of the history of anything will always be subject to significant uncertainty. What oral traditions say, or written accoounts document, will always be the result of the perceptions, and sometimes hidden agendas, of those who sought to transmit knowledge and information, and sometimes deliberate misinformation, across generations. The lineage traditions that infer tramsmission ‘beyond words’ offer an alternative mechanism for intergenerational continuity of practices, be they martial, healing, scholarly or spiritual. When I’ve travelled to China (although I haven’t been to Wudang) and visited historical sites, locals have indicated that the apparent monks and lamas are really local lay people dressed up to look authentic. I was also told that very little authentic Taoist practice survived the ravages of the Cultural Revolution, and that modern Taoist practitioners are largely reliant on academic scholarship and ‘repatriated know-how’ to rebuild the traditions, capabilities and capacities. From my non-expert viewpoint, looking at the YouTube footage of Wudang demonstrations of martial arts and qigong, what is practiced at Wudang today looks like a modern curriculum not dissimilar to, and broadly comparable with, modern Tai Chi flavoured ‘Wu Shu’. Does anyone know whether there is verifiable validated historical evidence that what exists at Wudang today is a true lineage, and not a modern invention to try and recover something of what might once have been, and to generate much needed cash for the local economy.
I agree with Colin.
I even heard that the Wudang people recruited a teacher from the Zhaobao village and later on claimed this to be Wudang Taijiquan.
I doubt that Taijiquan was developed on Wudang mountain, they had their own unique styles, but not Taijiquan.
I study Yang Style Tai Chi, Xingi and Sun Style, Whilst releasing energy, Fa jing the feet can leave the ground for a split moment, its like a sneeze and the moment is almost like a white out, ie One cannot see for a micro second . Billy
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