Principles of Taijiquan

Taiji was established a form of martial arts and originated from Taoist Sect, Wudang in ancient China. The inventor of this martial art is the legendary priest named Zhang Sanfeng. “Taiji” is a Chinese cosmological term that means Supreme Ultimate state of infinite potentiality and “quan” mean fist. As to how Zhang Sanfeng invented Taijiquan, there are few version of the story. One version said that he got the inspiration to create Taijiquan from observing the fight between a snake and a crane, and some said in he learned it from an immortal in a dream. Another version said that he invented Taijiquan while observing the forces of nature such as running water in the river against the hard rock at the river bank where he finally understood the archetype in “Tao te ching” where it states “using the soft and pliable to defeat the hard and strong. Regardless of which version is true, what is more important is the principle and health benefits that learning Taiji can bring about to our daily life.

The principle of Taiji complements the universal law of the consequences of counteracting brute force with brute force. If a party uses hard strength to resist force from another party, then both sides will suffer damage or injury to some degree. Instead the theory of Taiji teaches student not to directly fight or resist an incoming strong force, instead to use softness and following the motion of the strong force until it exhaust itself or was being redirected to another direction. The symbol of Taiji is a circle with one side black with a white dot and the other side white with a black dot. This signifies the 2 opposite YIN/YANG. Yin is the soft and gentle force while Yang is the Hard and strong force.

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