Part 1: The Origin Theories
The main forms of TCC practiced
today all trace their origins
back to the Chen Village in
Wen County, Henan. It is only
reasonable to begin our search
for the origins of Taijiquan
there and the early records
from there and those that learnt
the art from there.
The Earliest Reference
To The Origin
The written works on Taijiquan
were not from the Chen village
or its members. The earliest
being the Taijiquan Classic
by Wang Tsung Yueh. The earliest
verifiable manual on Taijiquan
that we have is from Li I-Yu
(1832-1892) who compiled the
3 manuals which are known as
the `3 old manuals' in Yung
Nien today. Li learnt the art
from his uncle Wu Yu Xiang who
in turn learnt the major part
of his art from Yang Lu Chan,
the founder of the most popular
Yang style of Taijiquan, and
spent a month learning the `Xiao
Jia' or 'Small Frame' from Chen
Ching Ping. In these old manuals
he recorded the Taijiquan Classics,
works of his uncle, those of
Wang Tsung Yueh and his own
writings on the art. In his
`Brief Preface To Taijiquan'
he wrote that the creator of
the art was Chang San Feng and
that Wang Tsung Yueh was skilled
in it and that it was later
transmitted to the Chen village.
Later, Li I Yu rewrote the first
sentence of his Introduction
to say that the founder was
unknown. This could very well
be due to a a differring origin
theories in the post-Chen Ching
Ping period. This is the earliest
record we have on the origins
of Taijiquan.
The Chang San Feng Theory
This is the theory of origins
adopted by most of the major
styles of Taijiquan and was
first put forth by the Yang
style. The Yang style traces
its origins back to Chen Chang
Xin who was taught by Jiang
Fa who was in turn taught by
Wang Tsung Yueh. Wang Tsung
Yueh was supposed to be a student
of Chang Sung Chi a noted practitioner
of the Internal Boxing of the
Wudang Temple. The Wudang Temple
certainly exists and their Internal
Boxing certainly existed and
does share certain characteristics
like controling the opponent
with calmness. The creator of
this Internal Boxing was Chang
San Feng, a Taoist on Wudang
Mountain. The Wudang martial
arts bear little resemblance
to the Taijiquan we have today
even though they share some
of the same characteristics.
The Wudang Temple is still exists
and there are still Taoist sages
managing the temple and they
still teach Wudang martial arts
there. It is interesting to
note that there is a form called
Wudang Taijiquan practiced there.
Its postures bear little resemblance
to the main styles practiced
today even though it has many
common characteristics, in terms
of technique and principles,
of the major styles. The last
head of the Wudang Temple, Taoist
Xu Ben Shan (1860-1932) was
skilled in it and taught it
to his disciples together with
other Wudang arts. Xu spent
most of his life in the Wudang
Temple having entered the temple
when young. It is unlikely that
his art came from the outside
since his life is quite well
documented. But whether Wudang
Taijiquan is the seminal form
of all the others cannot be
concluded since there is no
firm link between the practitioners
of the Wudang arts and Wang
Tsung Yueh who is the earliest
common personage of the the
early styles of modern Taijiquan.
But it should be noted that
there are common theorems between
the Wudang Internal Boxing and
Taijiquan. and it is possible
that Wudang Internal Boxing
influenced Taijiquan though
it should be considered a separate
art.
(1)(2)(3)(4)
|