What does tai chi have to do with Buddhism?

Answer 1

Absolutely nothing, at least philosophically speaking, technique speaking it has been heavily influenced by the Buddhist inspired Shaolin Martial Arts. Tai Chi Chuan is in fact a blend of Shaolin Kung Fu, and Wudgan Mountain (specific branch) Daoist Chi Kung. You could say that Tai Chi is basically Chi Kung exercises with punching and kicking added in. Well, punching, kicking, stepping, dodging, throwing, locking, tripping, blocking, evading, everything that goes into what is called a "martial art."The answer below is considered to be 'wild history' not documented history. Zhang San Feng was a real figure in Chinese history but there is no proof that he practised Taiji. If he were the originator as some claim there would be mention of it on his tombstone and there is not. Documented history tells us that Taiji was developed over many generations in Chen village (Chenjiagou). The villagers were inspired to practise martial art by the constant attacks on them by bandits and starving peasants after their food and resources. Over many generations their original art became more and more sophisticated and developed a unique quality. Chen ChangXing is generally credited with making the changes to the art that moved it from being a normal muscle based art to what is now referred to as an 'internal' martial art. He based his method on the same theory that pervades Chinese Traditional medicine and traditional Qi Gong, the theory of Yin and Yang. His changes produced a martial art that was even more powerful than usual but was very difficult to master. ========Here is the accepted, traditional (traditional, not documented) history of Tai Chi Chuan, my source, is a book titled "The Dao of Taijiquan; Way to Rejuvenation." Anyway, here is the traditional history of Tai Chi Chuan.Once upon a time in time in China, there was a genius, a polymath named Shang Sang Feng. From another, forgotten source on the man, Shang Sang Feng was said to have been a boy of unusual intelligence, and completed all the educational requirements to become an imperial official right at the tender age of 19 or 21. As far as raw volumes of exacting information, to become an imperial official in Shang Sang Feng's time required roughly what would today be the equivalent of 10 PhD's. In other words the man was f**king sharp, in every sense of the word a true genius, a polymath like I said.He worked in the imperial court some 30 years or so, or just under 30 years, where he gained notoriety for his wisdom and strong sense of ethics. Shang Sang Feng was said to be so intelligent and so wise, that for speaking "out of turn" against the emperor, as often times he did to safeguard against corruption, he effectively argued his way out of being imprisoned, or beheaded, a rare feat in Chinese history as most imperial scholars and officials who spoke out of turn were promptly beheaded. The real Shang Sang Feng, again, was closer to the character Doogie Houser than he was to the Kung Fu hero portrayed in many Kung Fu movies. In other words the man was a super nerd, for his time period.Disatisfied with court life, eventually becoming bored from having high privelege, wealth, status, and respect, the story goes that he longingly admired the Shaolin monks so one day, at the age of around 47, he decided to leave his priveleged position, he left his family leaving his wife and children his entire holdings, and making the difficult journey to the Shaolin temple with two servant boys, he set out to go to the temple. The boys, it turns out, were readily accepted by the temple as having endured the journey, the monks noticed they both had unusual fortitude in fact, the servant boys who traveled with Shang Sang Feng, I forget their names, were said to have become masters of Shaolin Kung Fu in their own right. Shang Sang Feng was initially rejected because he was way too old, and the monks were genuinely concerned that a 47 year old body of a court scholar would not be able to endure the rigors of the training of the Shaolin temple. Nevertheless Shang Sang Feng persisted, and eventually the head abbot of the temple at that time relented, and thus his Kung Fu studies began.A decade later, at the age of 57, Shang Sang Feng had completed his training at the Shaolin temple however his body was badly damaged, just like the head abbot had warned. Even though Shaolin Kung Fu makes use of Chi, and certain aspects of Chinese medicine, it does not train EXCLUSIVELY in Chi, meaning that with all the chi circulation stuff going on, if your body is not strong enough, 12 hours of training per day will eventually damage it, chi meditation and all. Badly mangled, the abbot, dejected, regretful and sad over Sang Feng's condition, told him that at best he had only 4 more years or so of Kung Fu practice his body was so badly damaged from the hard training, after that, he would become weak as a cripple. See, the Shaolin monks could endure the training because many started as children, so their muscles developed alongside the training, their muscles are adapted to hard training that is, from a very early age. When you have a lifetime of hard training, your body is adapted, and it can handle it, however if you are a middle aged person like shang sang feng what you end up with form a lifetime of inactivity is not good health if you push yourself too hard, but instead, a badly damaged and weakened body. Shang Sang Feng felt really sad of being unable to practice Kung Fu, or rather the prospect of being unable to practice, as, despite the misery, despite the agony and constant injuries, he apparently loved Kung Fu so much, he endured the training. The abbot at the Shaolin temple told him that Daoist hermits at Wudang mountain, may have been able to help Shang Sang Feng with his dilema, and thus, the what has now become historical journy of Shang Sang Feng to Wudang mountain began.All told the trek was difficult, and because of his weak condition, even though with his Kung Fu skills he effectively defended himself againts various brigands, thieves and highway men, when he got to Wudang, the hermits there thought he was an old beggar. That was how horrible a condition he was in. Shang Sang Feng was nursed back to health through the use of accupuncture, and various special herbs known to Daoist hermits. He then expressed his desire to regain his health, and thus his instruction in Chi Kung began. Having spent another 10 years studying Chi Kung, at the age of 67, he was a master of Chi Kung in his own right, and something else; even though Shang Sang Feng was 67 years old, his Chi Kung training had made it so that he did not look a day over 37. His graying beard, was jet black once again. His tired and sullen "old man's" eyes, were sharp once more, all in all, the chi kung had miraculously not just restored his health, but outright rejuvenated him.One night while sleeping, he had a dream of a snake surviving an attack against an eagle although the stories differ. In some stories, a snake, slithering and sliding about, avoids an eagle's talons. In other stories its a crane avoiding some large animal. Whatever the case the dream inspired Shang Sang Feng to combine the Chi Kung he learned at Wudang, with the martial arts he learned at the Shaolin temple, thus, the martial art known as Tai Chi Chuan was born. Upon being inspired he spent another 10 years perfecting and refining his new found art, then, at the age of 77, he had completed what he felt was his "master work," his life's work. Another decade passed, and around the age of 90 or so, he took on disciples.Shang Sang Feng chose three disciples, to pass down his martial art. Some stories go that one, he instructed to keep what was then called "Wudang Kung Fu" only in Wudang mountain, and to choose only one successor per lifetime, only one student, the other disciple he instructed to go out into China, and to instruct other people only in Chi Kung while the third disciple, he instructed to teach "Wudang Kung Fu" to as many people as humanly possible. In fact, what is now called "Tai Chi Chuan" was not called that in China until the 19th century, prior to the 19th century, Tai Chi Chuan was called "Wudang Kung Fu." Or "Wudang Wushu" if you are a strict traditionalist and purist. It was Shang Sang Feng's third student, who took on a disciple who would eventually start a lineage which would led to the Chen style's founder Chen Chang-hsing, who was an army general.Chen Chang-Hsing was taught, tradition goes, by the disciple, of the disciple, of the disciple, of the disciple, who learned from Shang Sang Feng himself. The name I got from a website but its a .org website so the information is relatively reliable. For better information refer to Jou's book "The Dao of Taijiquan; Way to Rejuvenation." See, since Shang Sang Feng himself, the original Wudang Kung Fu that he invented underwent substantial modifications, and because it was a style of Kung Fu, each subsequent generation of disciples picked up techniques from various schools not the least of which the Shaolin temple. In othe words by the time Chen Chang-Hsing got a hold of it, it more closely ressembled Shaolin Kung Fu, than Wudang Kung Fu. The so-called "softening" of Tai Chi Chuan was in fact a return to Shang Sang Feng's original teachings, that is the reason why the Yang style shares so many similarities with "Wudang" Tai Chi Chuan, a story goes, that dissapointed with the Chen style, and not getting chi circulating results fast enough, or rather efficiently enough, Yang Lu Chan, with the help of his teacher, made modifications to the Chen style they originally studied, and together they modified it so that it was barely recognizable as the Chen style anymore. Using input from a Daoist sect afiliated with a temple in Wudang, further modifications were made until Tai Chi Chuan became a "snail dance" as it is derisively called.Now before you jump to conclusions; the Yang style, is the Yang style okay? It is a style philosophically similar in approach as Wudang tai chi, however its a completely different style. Also, the reason there is a 108 step form, and another 88 step one, is because Yang Lu Chan, and later on his great grandson Yang Cheng Fu, both taught large numbers of students. Some people trace their knowledge of Tai Chi directly to Yang Lu Chan himself, their lineage of teachers never having studied under Yang Cheng Fu, while other people trace their knowledge of Tai Chi only as far back as Yang Cheng Fu who made further modifications. For example; in the original, older version of the Yang Long form, before stepping into brush knee, you "swing" back a little bit, and then when you "swing" forward, you let the momentum carry you into the next step. However in the Yang Cheng Fu modification, the 88 step version, you don't "swing" back at all, you simply step furthermore, some moves are notably absent. To avoid confusion, there is a "swing step" version of the Yang Long form, which is the one taught to the masses by Yang Lu Chan way back when, then there is a "fixed knee when you step" version taught by Yang Cheng Fu, which is more popularly practiced in southern China and Taiwan, finally, there is a 37 step version developed by Cheng Mang Ching, and to further add to the confusion, there is a 24 step version developed by the PRC's sports comission.Finding precisely which "Yang style" you are studying, to say the least, is a headache. Also, the Chen family, religiously speaking, have for generations been Buddhists, hence the reason why in the Chen style there are moves called things like "Buddha palm" and "banging Buddha's drum" and so forth. Tai Chi's connection to Buddhism, is that the Shaolin temple is a Buddhist temple first, and a Kung Fu training school second, despite the fact that Shaolin monks spend the better part of their day training in Kung Fu. Also, the majority of martial forms found within ANY Tai Chi style, including the original Wudang style (which is said to no longer exist, or have existed at all), were all developed by Buddhist monks, so, okay, there IS a connection in that many of the martial forms of Tai Chi were developed originally by Buddhists. What the Daoists added, was the emphasis on Chi training, rather than muscular or cardiovascular development.Shaolin Kung Fu is 50/50; that is, equal parts meditation, and rigorous physical training. However, any style of Tai Chi Chuan is 90% meditation, 10% physical training, because in fact the form itself, and the chi kung that often accompanies Tai Chi training IS the meditation. See you can't meditate while you are doing backflips, however, you can more easily enter into a meditative state while doing martial arts, if you move slowly, and moving slowly, forces you to focus more, because only through slow movement that force you to focus, will the chi begin to flow. For chi to flow, a person needs high intensity focus with all other thoughts shut out, and because it is difficult to quiet the mind when sitting still, Daoist hermits have for 4,000 years relied on movement to help quiet the mind more readily, that is why in Daoism it is said "you achieve more wisdom through careful movement, than from sitting still." Paradoxically though Daoist hermits also say; "large movement is not as refined as small movement, but small movement is not as refined as stillness." You move around a lot, so that one day your mind will remain quiet of its own accord.Indeed; you ever try sitting still for hours you notice that quieting the mind is damn well near impossible, you have to be there like that for long hours, however when playing sports or something else requiring activity, its much easier, or rather it seems to happen on its own with no conscious effort. The logic of daoists behind the slow movement of chi kung, is precisely that, keep the body active, but slowly active, so that the mind will eventually learn to be quiet on its own automatically with no conscious effort.hope that was a good answer.

Answer 2

Tai Chi is a Daoist practice. It is not necessary to study Daoism; in fact, there is very little theory to study. Tai Chi is an excellent complement to Buddhist practices. Tai Chi, understood as a moving meditation rather than as a martial art, is a very good companion to stilling Buddhist practices.

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