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November/December 2001 Alternative Health
When is Tai Chi Really Tai Chi?

by James Lee

When the founder of Yang style Tai Chi Chuan, Yang Lu-chan, was summoned to China’s royal court in the 18^th century and ordered to teach the art to the aristocracy, he deliberately altered the forms to both lengthen them and disguise many of their internal and martial elements. Yang’s reputation as a master who had successfully met all challenges inspired the summons, but it was his subtlety that inspired his desire to obscure the true internal art from the nobility that had made him a virtual prisoner.

Ironically, it was Master Yang’s position as Tai Chi teacher to the imperial court that first began to arouse the interest of the Chinese masses in Tai Chi Chuan, and it was his grandson, Yang Chen-fu, that widely popularized the study of the art in Chinese society at large. But by this time the art, as commonly taught, was very different. Yang Chen-fu further modified the art in order to teach it basically as a health-exercise system, realizing that the great mass of Chinese would never have the time or inclination to study Tai Chi as an internal meditative discipline or internal martial art. As Yang style Tai Chi is by far the most popular and widely disseminated style, it has become synonymous in the worldwide public mind with what Tai Chi really is.

In reality, Tai Chi now exists on three quite different discrete levels. The vast number of people practice it as a health-exercise system in the spirit of Yang Chen-pu, whatever style they actually study. Three of the other four so-called major “family systems” of Tai Chi (the Wu, Sun, and Hao styles) derived from the Yang style, but are quite different in emphasis of practice and principle. The other style, Chen, predates Yang, and indeed Yang Lu-chan learned the art from a Chen family master, but to the casual eye they could hardly be more different styles.

Far fewer people study Tai Chi as an internal martial art. This study is exceedingly long, difficult, and demanding, but the internal meditative aspects that make the art unique still reside in this tradition. Some of the internal principles and practices of the true internal art seep down into health-exercise routines, depending on the experience of the teacher, but this is uncommon.

Still more rare is a Tai Chi spiritual tradition and orientation based on the art’s original roots in Taoist meditative practice. Remove the chuan (fist) from Tai Chi Chuan, and what remains is a profound principle of Taoist reflection on the ultimate nature of reality. The study of Tai Chi can be a profound study of one’s inner spiritual nature and its relationship to the universe as a whole.

It is these last two traditions that largely carry on the internal aspect of the tradition, the true tradition that gave the art its birth. As one master put it, “99% of Tai Chi is invisible.” By this he meant that 99% of Tai Chi is internalized. It cannot be seen by an observer, as it involves the activation of energies that totally take place within the practitioner’s body. Simply put, the difference between the common external practice of Tai Chi and the internal practice is that the internal dramatically increases the vitalization of the function of the body’s endocrine or glandular system, enhancing health, longevity, and emotional well being.

Finally, a casual observer might see the different major styles practiced and wonder what makes them all Tai Chi, as they differ so noticeably from one another to the eye. In the most authentic forms of Tai Chi the practice must be in accord with the universally revered Tai Chi Classics, three short, aphoristic works that embody both the external and the internal principles of the art. These works attributed to Masters Chang San-feng, Wong Chung-yua, and Wu Yu-Hsiang contain the essence of the art. Practice that is in accord with those principles explicated in the Classics is Tai Chi in its most profound expression.

James Lee has studied Internal Tai-Chi Chuan for 37 years with many of the world’s foremost masters. He is also a lineage holder in Cao-Dang Chan (Zen) and two Taoist monastic traditions from China, Contact him at 503-245-4781.