Is there any connection between tai chi chuan and the I Ching, more than those arising out of the fact they came from the same culture?
Yes and no. Yes, in the sense that some of the philosophy Tai Chi is based on was first documented in the I Ching (Yijing); but no, in the sense that the practice of divination and interpreting the changing hexagrams has little to do with the practice of Tai Chi.
As a part of Chinese culture that is thought to encompass everything, the Yijing (I Ching) should, in theory, be able to describe aspects of Taijiquan. But any attempt to do so would likely only be of value as a mental exercise for that person and perhaps members of the same school (or at least for those that can come to some agreement as to what associations are meaningful). There are insightful comments from the Yijing that could be applied to Taijiquan, but they are not necessary for the study of Taijiquan, at least IMHO.
I agree.
The I Ching contains two parts: the Zhou I/Zhou Ching (Zhou Yi/Zhou Jing) and the Ten Wings (十翼) (also called the Commentary on the Change(s)(易傳)). The first part is the core text and contains the text used in divination, including the sixty-four hexagrams, their names, and the line statements. The second part is commentary and explanation that explains the philosophy behind the divination, including references to the eight trigrams.
Taijiquan is based on various aspects of Chinese philosophy. One aspect was first documented in the Ten Wings. The part I find of most relevance is this:
是故，易有太極，是生兩儀，兩儀生四象，四象生八卦，八卦定吉凶，吉凶生大業。
Therefore, the changes have the Supreme Polarity (the Taiji). This engenders the Two Modes. The Two Modes engender the Four Images/Shapes. The Four Images/Shapes engender the Eight Trigrams. The Eight Trigrams determine good and bad fortune. Good and bad fortune engender the Great Undertaking.
This quote is probably the oldest appearance of the term "Taiji" (太極), after which our art is named.
In my practice, I try to consciously structure my approach to include four different orientations along four axes: from abstract to concrete and from inwardly directed to outwardly directed. Exploring Tai Chi theory is abstract and inwardly directed. Just in case any of this discussion bores you or seems useless, feel free to develop your practice in one of the other quadrants and do form, push hands, spar, or gather useful data elsewhere.
In my thinking about theory and the significance of my last quote above, understanding what is meant by “Taiji engendering the Two Modes” is critical. This has two parts. First is understanding how the Taiji relates to Yin and Yang.
太極者無極而生陰陽之母也動之則分靜之則合
Taiji is born of Wuji (Supreme polarity is born of Non-polarity) and is the mother of Yin and Yang (Active and Passive). With movement, these separate out; with stillness, they join together.
Understanding this helps understand why we don't move first as we try to understand the full and empty of our opponents.
The second part is understanding how Yin and Yang relate to each other. They are interdependent and so exist only together. They control and supplement each other. They transform into each other. My understanding of push hands is based on this at its core, and all the counters we use in training are based on these three ideas.
Here is the idea from
Yang Chengfu’s book Methods of Applying Taiji Boxing, (the link is to Paul Brennan’s site and his translation):
太極圖之義陰陽相生剛柔相濟千變萬化太極拳即由此而出也推手即太極之圖形
The idea within the Taiji diagram is that passive and active generate each other, hardness and softness assist each other, and the polarities endless transform into each other. Taiji Boxing comes from this, and the pushing hands is the manifestation of this symbol.
Understanding what is meant by “the Two Modes engender the Four Images/Shapes” has been of only very minor importance for me. This was the vehicle used to teach me a few counters based on theories coming perhaps from traditional Chinese medicine. But I have not encountered this aspect of the theory elsewhere.
As for the Eight Trigrams, they are of moderate importance as a whole, but not as individual concepts. As a whole, they are important in understanding how different forms of energy need to flow freely into each other. There is also some importance in understanding how the four direct energies relate to the four oblique energies physically and tactically.
In
Yang Chengfu’s book, Methods of Applying Taiji Boxing, he makes a passing reference to the I Ching (or Book of Changes) (the link is to Paul Brennan’s site and his translation) almost at the very beginning of his book as he describes how the legendary Zhang Sanfeng came up with Tai Chi. The passage comes after a description of Zhang Sanfeng watching a fight between a “sparrow” and snake. (I actually wonder whether 喜雀 shouldn’t be translated as “magpie (喜鹊) ,” rather than “sparrow.” In either case, I originally heard the story as a fight between a crane and a snake, so who knows what is correct):
眞人由此而悟，蟠如太極，以柔克剛之理，由按太極變化而組成太極拳，養精氣神，動靜消長，通於易理，故傳之久遠，而功效愈著，北京白雲觀現存有眞人聖像可供瞻仰云。
The saint was illumined by this incident. The snake’s coiling was like the taiji symbol and used the principle of softness overcoming hardness. From the taiji’s transformations was devised Taiji Boxing. It cultivates essence, energy, and spirit. Movement and stillness wax and wane as in the theory of the Book of Changes. This is the way it comes down to us from long ago and its effectiveness is increasingly proven. In Beijing’s White Cloud Temple there is still an image of the saint which can be reverenced.
Here is one reference to two of the specific I Ching hexagrams. I found it in the
Yang Forty Chapters, as translated by Paul Brennan. It can by found in Chapter 17 of the linked document.
盖顛倒之理水火二字詳之則可明如火炎上水潤下者水能使火在下而用水在上則為顛倒然非有法治之則不得矣辟如水入鼎內而治火之上鼎中之水得火以然之不但水不能下潤藉火氣水必有温時火雖炎上得鼎以隔之是為有極之地不使炎上炎火無止息亦不使潤下之水永渗漏此所為水火既濟之理也顛倒之理也若使任其火炎上來潤下必至火水必分為二則為火水未濟也故云分而為二合之為一之理也故云一而二二而一總斯理為三天地人也明此陰陽顛倒之理則可與言道知道不可須臾離則可與言人能以人弘道知道不逺人則可與言天地同軆上天下地人在其中矣苟能参天察地與日月合其明與五岳四凟華朽與四時之錯行與草木並枯榮明鬼神之吉凶知人事興衰則可言乾坤為一大天地人為一小天地也夫如人之身心致知格物於天地之知能則可言人之良知良能若思不失固有其功用浩然正氣直養無害悠久無疆矣所謂人身生成一小天地者天也性也地也命也人也虛靈也神也若不明之者烏能配天地為三乎然非盡性立命窮神達化之功胡為乎來哉
The inversion principle can be explained with water and fire. Left to their own devices, fire rises and water sinks, but if water is placed above fire then they are in an inverted state. Of course, if not done properly there would be no inverted state, [just a fire put out and some water made into steam,] and so it has to be a situation of water being put in a pot which is then positioned over a fire. When the water in the pot receives the fire’s heat, not only will it not be able to sink away, it will also absorb the fire’s heat and inevitably become warm, and although the fire is rising to the pot, it is stopped there and goes no further. By not allowing the fire to rise freely or the water to sink away, this is water and fire as in After Completion [hexagram 63 – made of water ☵ on top of fire ☲], and is the principle of inversion. If the fire is allowed to rise freely and the water to sink away, the result will of course be that the water and fire will go their separate ways as two entities, and this is water and fire as in Before Completion [hexagram 64 – made of fire ☲ on top of water ☵]. So goes the principle that in separating they become two and in joining they become one, and thus it is said that one becomes two, then two becomes one, which totals three, namely sky, ground, and mankind.
If this text seems obscure to you, ask yourself this question: If Qi feeds energy and you use that energy in your four limbs to attack and defend, why would you ever want to sink Qi to the Dantian and away from your limbs? The principle that gives the answer is in the text.
Both Confucians and Taoists claimed the I Ching. Both Confucians and Taoists talked about the way or the Tao/Dao and also about the Taiji Diagram. Confucians were mostly interested in general wisdom and in showing that their system of ethics was embedded in the structure of the cosmos as the “way” of all things. Taoists were mostly interested in understanding how the “way” unfolded itself in nature so that they could understand it and conform to it. Confucians read the Taiji Diagram from top to bottom; but Taoist like to understand as leading from bottom to top.
Tai Chi is based on ideas drawn from both Confucian and Taoist philosophy, but also from Five Element Theory, Chinese Medicine, and the strategist Sun-Tzu (Sunzi). I think it is quite misleading and quite confusing to overemphasize the importance of Taoist philosophy in Tai Chi theory. There is great overlap among the difference branches of traditional Chinese philosophy, but there are also differences.
I see the comparisons - eight movements/eight trigrams and five directions/five elements and so forth - as simply ways for tai chi scholars to make the practice easier for people who were born Chinese (and therefore as immersed in Chinese culture as a fish is in water - much the same way I'm immersed in Western culture) easier to relate/remember/retain.
I think this is essentially correct, but I would make a stronger point. The writers of the Tai Chi classics were looking not only to explain Tai Chi, but also to justify it “scientifically” and “spiritually.” By “scientifically,” I do not refer to the lore that has grown out of use of the scientific method and modern science, but rather the lore developed in traditional China to explain medicine, astronomy, alchemy, music, etc. By “spiritually,” I am not referring to any particular religious belief, but rather to the belief of what was a worthy pursuit for people concerned with their moral development as human beings.
The writers drew on an eclectic set of principles that were widely accepted in their society as accurately describing physical and moral reality. Since the theory of Tai Chi is described in these terms, it can be important and useful for modern day practitioners to understand this framework.
Take the theory of the five steps. This is based on the theory of the Five Phases/Elements. At a minimum, we understand these to mean the following (See Chapter 1 of Brennan’s translation of Yang Chengfu’s Methods of Applying Taiji Boxing):
以身分步五行在意支撑八面
The body makes its steps according to the five elements, bracing in all directions.
Tai Chi theory refers to Five Steps, consisting of five directions and five qualities. For us, the qualities are more important than the directions. To have balanced and harmonious footwork, it needs to be able to advance, retreat, rotate in close, rotate out far, and have overall central stability.
As for the correspondences between the five steps and five phases, I like the arrangement in Yang Chengfu’s book with my own mnemonics based on various things I have read.
Fire only advances as it consumes fuel, and never retreats over the same path. Fire for the warrior is what you set in a field to drive your enemies in flight and let you advance. Fire for the ancient farmer is what you set to clear the fields and let the planting advance. Fire can be considered Advance Step.
Water only retreats under the force of gravity. Water for the warrior is the river, moat, or swamp you want between you and an attacker as you retreat. Water for the farmer is what you let flow down into the rice paddy to nourish your crop. Water can be considered Retreat Step.
Metal can bend and penetrate. Metal for the warrior is what you have in your sword in your right hand (Sorry lefties
) to turn the opponent’s defenses and cut deep and far. Metal for the farmer is the tip of the hoe you swing out to the right side of your body in a curve to reach and cut the weeds. Metal can be considered (Turn and) Gaze (Far to the) Right.
Wood can bend and absorb. Wood for the warrior is the wooden shield used to turn and absorb an attack close in to your body. Wood for the farmer is the handle of the hoe drawn to the left of the body to spread out the soil and nourish the crops. Wood is (Turn and) Look (Close in to the) Left.
Earth lends stability and stores power. Earth for the warrior is the terrain that governs how the army needs to advance and retreat and to flank and cover. Earth for the farmer is what gives the power to replenish nutrients during the cold wet winter and plant in the warming spring and the power for the crop to thrive through the hot dry summer and for the farmer to cut the stalks and collect the harvest in the cooling fall. Earth is Central Equilibrium.
In my Tai Chi practice, I make no further use of Five Phase/Element Theory and so do not make use of the theory of the two cycles of generation and control that are normally inherent in the Theory.
While we tread out the Five Phases in our Tai Chi steps, we are supposed to hold the Eight Trigrams (懷藏八卦脚跐五行) in our arms. While the Five Steps are about “Bracing to all sides,” the Eight Gates are about something different. The Yang Forty Chapters (as translated by Brennan, see above reference) says:
方位八門乃為陰陽顛倒之理周而復始隨其所行也總之四正四隅不可不知矣夫掤捋擠按是四正之手採挒肘靠是四隅之手合隅正之手得門位之卦
The positions of the eight gates are based on the principle of the passive and active aspects inverting each other, cycling round and round, following each other in their process. All of the four primary techniques [corresponding to the cardinal directions] and four secondary techniques [corresponding to the corner directions] must be understood. Warding off, rolling back, pressing, and pushing are the four primary techniques. Plucking, rending, elbowing, and bumping are the four secondary techniques. The combining of these cardinals and corners thus positions the trigrams
.
These statements boil down to two things: as your arms trace through the eight gates they must follow the Yin Yang changes, and in doing so they will trace out four "gates" in the cardinal quadrants of a circle and four "gates" in the oblique corners of a square.
If the feet tread out the Five Phases with the Five Steps and the arms embrace the Eight Trigrams as Eight Gates of energy, in our mind we hold the Taiji.
In the same place as referred to above, we have:
人之周身心為一身之主宰主宰太極也
For the entire human body, the mind is in charge of everything; and that one in charge is the Taiji (Supreme Polarity).
With these Five Steps + Eight Gates equaling Thirteen Dynamics/Postures governed by the Taiji, the practitioner can then know how to guide practice. As our practice matures, we begin to understand the four components of “moving with awareness” in yourself and the opponent. With these, we can “understand energy.” Once we “understand energy,” then we can reach the level of complete clarity (神明 shénmíng) when we can move and react appropriately without the need for conscious thought.
I hope this is helpful.
Take care,
Audi