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- by Ian Sinclair

This essay, written long ago, is attributed to the legendary daoist (taoist) immortal, Zhang Sanfeng. (Chang San Feng). While it is highly unlikely that such person even existed, the writings that have been attributed to him contain a great deal of distilled wisdom. (It is possible that many writings attributed to legendary personalities were actually handed down for generations before someone decided that they needed to be attributed to someone. The most logical source might have been the original one, mythical or not.)

Here I present my own translation of this famous text. I do so in order that I may expand upon it in later entries using my own personal take on the art and this text. Each line is presented first in the original Chinese, then in the Chinese pinyin romanization, then with transliteration, and finally, with an English translation.

A not about the translation:
I am not a linguist. I depend on my (albeit limited) understanding of taijiquan (tai chi) to compensate for my abysmal understanding of the Chinese language. I have heard the classics discussed many times over the past thirty years. I also have a few good Chinese - English dictionaries.

In the near future I will be presenting essays that will dissect each line in the hope of exposing the comprehensive wisdom of this material to tai chi students.

張三丰祖師遺著－太極拳經
Zhāng Sānfēng zǔshī yízhù - Tàijíquán Jīng
Zhang Sanfeng founder posthumous writing
- Tai Chi Chuan Classic Scripture written by Zhang Sanfeng

一舉動周身俱要輕靈
yījǔ dòng zhōushēn jù yào qīnglíng.
One stroke movement whole body completely want light and quick.
As soon as there is movement, the whole body should be fluid, agile, and light

尤須貫串
yóuxū guànchuàn.
especially need penetrate connect.
having all parts connected like a string of pearls (coins).

氣宜鼓盪
qì yí gǔ dàng
Vapour suitable arouse [pot of boiling water]
The energy is arousing, pure, and full.

神宜內斂
shén yí nèi liǎn.
spirit suitable inside restrain
The spirit is gathered and refined.

無使有缺陷處
wú shǐ yǒu quēxiàn chù.
Nothing enable exist shortcoming dwell.
No place for gaps or deficiencies.

無使有凹凸處
wú shǐ yǒu āotū chù.
Nothing enable exist convex concave dwell.
No place for unevenness.

無使有斷續處
wú shǐ yǒu duànxù dwell.
Nothing enable exist interrupted dwell
No place for disconnection.

其根在腳
qí gēn zài jiǎo.
such root at foot.
The feet are the root.

發於腿
fā yú tuǐ.
emit from leg.
coming from the legs

主宰於腰
zhǔzǎi yū yāo.
sovereign from waist.
directed by the waist.

行於手指
xíng yū from shǒuzhǐ.
go by finger.
Expressed by the hands.

由腳而腿而腰
yóu jiǎo ér tuǐ ér yāo.
from foot add leg add waist.
From the foot to the leg to the waist

總須完整一氣
zǒng xū wánzhěng yīqì.
asseble must integrated one energy.
must become one indistinguishable energy

向前退後
xiàngqián tuìhòu
forward backwards
whether advancing and retreating

乃能得機得勢
nǎi néng dé jī déshì
only then able proper crucial point ideal position.
so that you can seize the opportunities keep the position of power.

有不得機得勢處
yǒu bù dé jī déshì chù.
have not must crucial point position of power dwell.
If you do not have the upper hand

身便散亂
shēn biàn sànluàn
body then disordered.
your body is disconnected

其病必於腰腿求之
qí bìng bì yú yāo-tuǐ qiú zhī.
such defect certainly from waist-leg demand's.
and you should look for the problem in the waist, hips and legs.

上下前後左右皆然
shàng xià qiánhòu-zuǒyòu jiārán.
up down before after left right all correct.
It is thus in all directions.

凡此皆是意
fán cǐ jiēshì yì.
all this all be intention.
Everything comes from the mind (will)

不在外面
bù zài wài miàn
No exist outside surface.
Internally, not superficially.

有上即有下
yǒu shàng jí yǒu shàng
have top assume have bottom
If there is up there is down.

有前即有後.
yǒu qián jí yǒu hòu
have front assume have after
If there is forward there is backward.

有左即有右.
yǒu zuǒ jí yǒu hòu
have left assume have right
If there is left there is right

如意要向上
rúyì yào xiàngshàng
thus intent want strive up
So, wishing to go up,

即寓下意
Jí yù xià yì.
undertake imply under intent.
includes going down.

若將物掀起而加以挫之之力
ruò jiāng wù xiāngqǐ ér jiāyǐ cuòzhé zhi zhi lì
as if future matter surge yet add using subdue __ strength.
If you wish to cause something to move

斯其根自斷
sī qí gēn zì duàn.
therefore its roots self sever.
you must break its root

乃攘之速而無疑
nǎi rǎng 's sù ér wúyí
thence resisting fast and nothing doubt
only then can you attack without hesitation.

虛實宜分清楚
xū-shí yí fēng qīng chu
insubstantial substantial separate distinct
The actual situation must be clearly distinguished without any ambiguity.

一處有一處虛實
yī chù yǒu yī chù xū-shí.
one place have one place empty-full.
Every situation contains substantial and insubstantial.

處處總此一虛實
chùchù zǒng cǐ yī xū-shí.
place place comprehensive this one empty-full
Every part can be determined to be substantial or insubstantial.

周身節節貫串.
zhōushēn jiéjié guànchuàn
Whole body successively penetrate
Every part of the body must be connected

無令絲毫間斷耳
wú lìng sīháo jiànduàn ěr.
nothing slightest discontinuous ear.
without conceding any break.


長拳者
cháng quán zhě
Regarding Long Fist
The taijiquan routine

如長江大海
rú chángjiāng dàhǎi
similar Yangtze River open sea
is like a long river and a big ocean

滔滔不絕也
tāotāobùjué yě
gushing gushing no absolute by-and-large.
flowing freely and unceasingly.

掤、屢、擠、按、採、裂、肘、靠此八卦也
Péng, lǚ, jǐ, àn, cǎi, liè, zhǒu, kǎo. Cǐ bāguà yě.
"Boing", "roll", "cram", "suppress", "pluck", "rend", "elbow","against," this eight trigram by-and-large
Ward-off, roll back, squeeze, push, pluck, split, elbow strike, and shoulder strike, correspond to the eight trigrams.

進步、退步、左顧、右盼、中定，此五行也
Jìnbù, tuìbù, zuǒgù, yòupàn, zhōng dìng, cǐ wǔ-xíng yě.
forward step, backward step, left look, right gaze, middle stable, this five elements as-it-were.
Advance, retreat, look to the left, gaze to the right, and central equilibrium all correspond to the five elements.

掤、屢、擠、按、即乾、坤、坎、離、四正方也
Péng, lǚ, jǐ, àn, jí qián, kūn, kǎn, lí, sì, zhèngfāng, yě.
"Boing", "roll", "cram", "suppress", namely "The Creative (Heaven)", "The Receptive (Earth)", "The Abysmal (Water)", "The
Clinging (Fire)", four square as-it-were.
Ward off, roll back, squeeze, and push, corresponding as they do to the trigrams of the four directions, are the square (true) methods;

採、裂、肘、靠、即巽、震、兌、艮、四斜角也
cǎi, liè, zhǒu, kǎo, jí xùn, zhèn, duì, gèn, sì xiéjiǎo yě
"pluck", "rend", "elbow", "against," namely "The Penetrating", "The Arousing", "The Joyous", "Keeping Still", four oblique
angle "as-it-were."
Pluck, split, elbow strike, and shoulder strike, corresponding as they do to the trigrams of the four corners, are the obtuse* methods;

進退顧盼定
Jìn-tuì gùpàn dìng
Advance, retreat, look, gaze, stable
Advance, retreat, look left, gaze right, and central equilibrium

即金木水火土也
jí jīn-mù-shuǐ-huǒ-tǔ ye
namely: metal, wood, water, fire, earth as-it-were.
correspond to the five elements: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.

合之則為十三勢也
hé zhī zé wèi shísān shì yě
join with make become thirteen power even.
Combined together, these all make up the thirteen compositional forces.


原註云
Yuánzhù yún
Original notes say.
Addendum (attributed to Yang Lu-Chan (1799-1872)

此係武當山張三丰祖師遺論
Cǐ xì Wǔ dāng Shān Zhāng Sānfēng zǔshī yí lùn.
This be Wudang Mountain Zhang Sanfeng founder give theory.
This treatise was left to us by the founder, Zhang Sanfeng.

欲天下豪傑延年益壽
yù tiānxià háojié yán nián yì shòu
desire heaven under demigod year increase life
offering the promise of longevity to the whole world,

不徒作技藝之末也
bù tú zuò jìyì zhī mò yě.
not purposeless make technical skill it triviality also
It is not just for trivial martial skill

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My dear young friend,

I have recently heard a number of people, like you, in their teens and early twenties expressing genuine despair at the state of the world today, and at the lack of opportunity for work, education or romance. Some have recently had to face the seemingly inevitable despair that follows the end of a relationship. Having experienced such hardships and doubts many times myself, I believe that I can both empathise with you and advise you on a strategy for getting over yourself.

There are some universal principles that are understood by many of the great philosophies, and they come up a lot in daoist and buddhist thought. One is that suffering is often a result of poor understanding (and the result of the choices that are made based on that poor understanding). Another is that all things (including suffering, joy, and existence itself) are relative.

Life is full of ups and downs. Joy and suffering are all relative. No matter how bad things get, they are rarely as bad as they could be; and they will almost definitely get better. 

I am only forty-two years old. But I have seen my share of change and uncertainty. I have seen personal tragedy, self doubt, loneliness, and fear. I was born during the cold war, and lived with the knowledge that the destruction of life on earth was always potentially fifteen minutes away. I have also seen and endless stream of things to be grateful for. I cannot possibly list all the good things that have happened to me in my life. But it is a very good exercise to try to do so!

The one thing I can be certain of is that wallowing in fear, despair, and self-pity is useless, unattractive, and an insult to everyone who has ever lived.

There are those who have known much greater suffering than either you or I will ever know. And many of them have gone on to achieve great things for themselves and for the people around them. Suffering motivates some people to do good, and motivates others to do ill. How that choice is made is beyond me. But I suspect that gratitude and optimism must be exercised regularly in order to overcome despair.

As my Grandmother said, "You young people today have such an easy life. You have never experienced real hardship, so every little thing seems like the end of the World. You really ought to quit whining and learn to adapt. Life is a beautiful as you make it out to be." 

That was my relative trying to express upon her young grandson the relative nature of suffering. Shortly thereafter I heard another interesting point of view: The average single mother living on welfare in Canada has a higher standard of living than a Pope or Emperor did when my grandmother was born.

My grandmother saw the birth of modern economic systems. She also saw them collapse. She saw two plagues and too many wars. She saw nations come and go. She saw entire industries die and others rise. She gave generously to those in need when she had extra to give, and she was dependent on the generosity of others when she was, herself, in need. She was a teacher when the only careers for women where nurse and teacher. When she was born, most people in North America could not vote. Few people of her generation ever finished high school and only aristocrats went to University. She saw her share of tragedy. She buried children, friends, and family. She farmed when that was the only way to eat. She seldom travelled 100 km from her home until after her retirement. She saw two wars-to-end-all-wars, and the wars kept coming. She knew how fortunate she was if she was not hungry most of the time; and she new what it meant to express real gratitude for every meal. Making breakfast was a year long process for her, from seed or egg or calf to the dinner plate. Our great-grandparents used to feel grateful to live on potatoes and cabbage. Bread was sometimes a luxury. Now we feel hard-done-by if we have to make the bread ourselves. 

There is a whole generation of old women out there who never got married because most of the men of their generation died young (either from war or disease.) Yet young people now feel hard-done-by with their romantic options. I was in the Canadian arctic a few years ago, in a village of three hundred people. There, when a teenagers broke up with each other, they were pretty much out of luck. The nearest available person their age was hundreds of kilometres away across the tundra. Here, in more populated areas, people your age might date three or four people in a year, and then whine about it whenever they break up.  

Life is so easy for younger generations that many don't even recognise how lucky they are. 

You are human. That means that you are almost definitely not going to get eaten by a wild animal. You live in a country where most of the houses have heat and insulation. That is a recent development. Babies and mothers used to die in childbirth at a much higher rate than they do now.

You live in Canada, which means that even if you are unemployed, single, and uneducated, you will still not starve to death or have to live outside.  Even if you did have to live outside, you could still survive, because you are human and have the brain power to adapt. 

For centuries, most men suffered from knowing that, because they were not the eldest son, they would not inherit their father's property, and would therefore have to find some other land or livelihood.  If a persons had land to live on, and a means to grow your own food, they were among the richest and most fortunate people in the world.  If that person had a hobby, they had more leisure time than many, and were probably rich.

Through most of human history, people never travelled more than 20 miles from their birth place. Going from here to Toronto would take a week.  But a person living in Toronto now, could be in Japan tomorrow.

The Universe that you enjoy now has been created from the debris of dead stars. Galaxies have collided and annihilated each other to create this moment for you. Dinosaurs perished so you could have plastic, and medicine, and food from the other side of the planet that was picked last week. Generations of war and peace have created a nation that gives you more opportunity than any other generation in history. Centuries of human achievement have produced a result that enables you to have access to education, a world of social interaction, a world of art forms, a choice of careers, a choice of belief systems, nearly infinite access to information, leisure time, travel opportunities, free entertainment, and technologies that were inconceivable during 99.999% of human history.  

These are your opportunities now. Most of the people who created them for you are gone. You are now the only reason that those people ever existed. 

What are you going to do with the gifts you have been given?  

On behalf of all of our ancestors, let me say, "Get your tail in gear and quit your whining!" 

If you allow yourself to feel sorry for yourself now, you will be insulting the hundreds of generations of your ancestors who worked their butts off and sacrificed what little luxury they might have known to produce the charmed life that you have now!" 

So, off the top of my head, here is my suggestion for a happy life. 

Step 1.
Recognise and appreciate the gifts that you have. 

Step 2. 
Show gratitude to those living and dead who have given you the opportunities you have.

Step 3. 
Banish pessimism. It never accomplished anything. 

Step 4
Create a dream for yourself that recognises your purest hopes and responsibilities. 
You hopes and responsibilities will both contribute to the joy and meaning in your life.

Step 5. 
Build a fire in your belly.

Step 6 
Let go of the physical and mental attachments that you don't need. (That will likely be all of them.) 

Step 7 
Take a step at a time. They can be small steps or big steps. But never stop stepping. 

Good luck. (You are going to need it. You will have it. But you had better learn to recognise it.)
 
-Ian Paul Sinclair.

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- Ian Sinclair

I found this scene while researching a related topic. Apparently no imps were injured in the making of this video.

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- by Ian Sinclair

The simple answer is yes. It can and it is being used in MMA bouts like the UFC. Several MMA fighters are using tai chi to refine their skill, power, balance, sensitivity, and awareness.

Can tai chi stand on its own as a combat system in battles against other styles? Well, that depends on what you mean by combat and what you mean by "tai chi." (see last weeks post "What Tai Chi.")

Tai chi chuan is a comprehensive martial system that is seldom taught in its complete form these days. The benefits of the art are so wide ranging that many teachers, like any good marketer, will teach to their most profitable demographic. These days, that means catering to senior citizens who are not looking for combat skills, but are more interested in improving health, balance, flexibility, strength, relaxation, and peace of mind.

If a teacher does practice tai chi as a martial art, it is often difficult for him or her to find students who are willing to learn that aspect of it. So, the art tends to get watered down with each generation. This is the same with all martial arts, however.

It is even happening already with MMA. The early UFC had very few rules. The first one, I believe, even allowed biting. But many techniques that would be taught in traditional martial arts classes are no longer allowed in MMA fights. If they were, MMA would not survive as a sport.

Likewise, karate and Tae Kwan Do have long been marketed towards youth, with children as young as three and four years old being targeted by clever marketing programs. You would not expect to teach sanchin kata or choke holds to five-year-olds. Just as you would not expect to put arthritic octogenarian in the ring with George St. Pierre.

So, while MMA is limited by its need to appeal to the sporting demographic, and karate and TKD are limited by their need to appeal to children, Tai Chi is limited by its focus on seniors and the health market. That is all just good responsible business, and should not be faulted.

But to call MMA, karate, and tai chi, martial arts, when they are taught in such limited contexts, is to do a disservice to real martial arts.

"MMA" is a sport. It is not, in spite of its name, a martial art. As a sport, however, it is awesome. It is also extremely useful for martial artists to study and participate in.

"Traditional Martial Art" such as karate and kung fu, are usually taught more as tradition than as martial art. As tradition, however, they are extremely valuable for individuals and for society as a whole.

Tai Chi Chuan" is usually taught as the "ultimate exercise" not as a martial art. The exercise benefits of tai chi are increasingly well documented. But for a martial artist, or an MMA fighter to dismiss the combat value of the traditional art it to demonstrate a limited understanding to the true scope of traditional tai chi.

"Where is Martial Tai Chi?"

Just as many so-called "traditional martial arts" schools are really glorified day cares that guarantee black belts in 2-3 years, most so-called "traditional Tai chi" schools only teach routines and basic qigong for seniors. These are not martial arts if they are not taught as martial arts.

Real martial arts include practical training in all ranges (ground, mid-range grappling/striking/kicking, medium-range, long-range, weapons, etc.)

Traditional tai chi includes all of these, as well as rather intense physical and mental conditioning exercises. So the question is, "If traditional tai chi includes all of these skills, why do you almost never see them practised in tai chi schools? Where can one go to learn tai chi as a combat system?"

When tai chi and the other internal styles became famous in Beijing at the end of the Qing dynasty, they were most often taught to elite martial artists who had already developed combat skills through other styles. They learned the "internal" stuff in order to take their skill to the next level. Therefore, the internal curriculum often didn't need to include basic skills. What they learned, instead, were subtle exercises for refining core power, alignment, sensitivity, and awareness. It was the art of making your combat better. But it was seldom taught as a combat system from the ground up.

That is why many tai chi people can't fight in the ring. They haven't learned the basics, even though they may have some very cool skills.

It is like building a Ferrari in your garage, and never learning how to drive it or open the garage door. The Ferrari owner will lose a race to the roller skater who can find the street.

Tai chi, if it is taught from the ground up, will produce some very profound skills that only a few mma fighters have. If taught without basic training, it will produce some fairly relaxed healthy people who wouldn't know a punch until they regained consciousness.

If you want to learn tai chi as a complete martial system, you must be prepared to:

• Find a teachers who teaches the complete system
• train for 3 - 8 hours per day until you become the art 24/7
• learn basic martial calisthenics like any other martial art. (this means repetitive kicks, punches, stretches, etc.)
• practise hitting things.
• practise not getting hit by things
• learn qigong
• stop thinking about qi as some magical supernatural force.
• practise slow "boring" forms until they are not boring anymore, and you understand their meaning and power.
• learn all there is to know about yourself, your "opponent," and the nature of combat.
• see balance as a verb
• relax
• find inner peace.

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With the rise of martial sports such as Mixed Martial Arts and the UFC, many people are questioning the combat effectiveness of the traditional martial art styles. Some are going so far as to say that traditional martial arts such as taijiquan (tai chi) are no longer effective for combat, or never were in the first place.

Historical documentation aside, the question is a challenge to those who practise taijiquan as a martial art to prove that their art can be used in a fight - not only in self defence, but in a contest with other skilled fighters. Can a taijiquan stylist hold his or her own against an MMA fighter or a martial artist from another style.

To me, this begs two very fundamental questions. How can we define taijiquan as a style? How can we define combat effectiveness.

The latter question, one of combat effectiveness, is considerably less challenging than the former, although both can invite several different approaches.

Combat effectiveness can mean whatever keeps you uninjured, or it can mean whatever enables you to defeat the opponent. I am an advocate of the supposition that one can do one without the other. You can destroy your opponent without saving yourself, and you can save yourself without destroying your opponent. But for the sake of including sport fighters in this discussion, I will assume that measure of "combat effectiveness" is the the ability to physically dominate an opponent in a prearranged contest.

This leads me to a famous quote used by teachers of Xingyiquan (another internal martial art that is similar to taijiquan in structure, but different in pedagogy and strategy)
半步弸拳打天下 "Banbu bengquan datianxia". (A half step and a crushing punch defeats everything under heaven.) This line expresses the simple basic principle of all combat. To put it more simply, the way to win a fight can be described in the following poem.

---

Ode to the Immortal's Secret Celestial Method of the Invincible Warrior
-by Ian Paul Sinclair (with homage to Ross Goodfellow)

Clear a path.
Bam!

---

"Bam!" could be any technique such as a punch, kick, throw, joint control, push, thrust, shooting, clubbing, stabbing, or what-have-you. This requires no allegiance to any particular "style." In fact, mastery of this skill usually accompanies a liberation from "style."

What style?

To discuss a style and its combat effectiveness requires defining the style, just as debating the existence of God requires a definition of God. But just as defining God is seen by some as blasphemy, one cannot arrive at a single simple definition of a particular style. Different teachers define their styles differently, according to variations in things like pedagogy, purpose, and understanding. But this is all relative. Often a style is defined less by similarities with other schools than it is by differences from other styles. Zhuangzi might say, "That is not a definitive definition."

Whenever a skilled martial artist has declared a new style (as have my friend, Adam Chan and my teacher, Liang Shouyu) they have often done so not because of what their "style" had become, but because of what their style had ceased to be. True styles are created not by merely assembling an eclectic mix of elements from different styles. True styles are created when a master transcends "style" itself. They reach a new understanding of the true meaning of martial arts.

It is interesting to observe the difference and similarities between styles that come from different sources.

Adam Chan's system is a very simple pared down training regimen, Master Liang's system is a vast and comprehensive art form. Both are undeniably effective combat systems. But they are very different approaches to teaching martial arts.

Master Chan's KaiYin system grew from more than two decades of training six to twelve hours per day, with the main goal of becoming an effective fighter. Chan's research included years of hard-core training in internal and external styles, real life fights, and a period teaching at a Hong Kong prison.

Liang's system is based on six decades of life experience, family tradition, multidisciplinary training in a wide range of martial arts, meditative practices from Daoism, Shaolin, Emei, four different schools of Tibetan Qigong, medical qigong, a biology degree, weight lifting, competitive shuaijiao, sanshou, tuishou, real life-and-death battles, and more.

Both systems recognise the vast implications of studying a martial art. They take into account how the arts can contribute to a person's life, and how they can improve society as a whole. But they have, as a foundation, the understanding of combat. Combat is seen not only as a means of defeating an opponent. It is also a means of perfecting and understanding the true nature of the self.

---

I once asked my teacher, Master Liang Shouyu, if there was one thing that all Chinese martial arts had in common. He lit up and said very seriously, "Yes." then he paused while everyone leaned in to hear the answer and explained, "Must beat other person."

---

When the founder of Aikido, Morihei Ueshiba, created his own style, he didn't throw out the techniques of Daitoryu Jiujitsu and create new ones. He didn't take different things from other styles and mix them together. His new style was built on a moment of enlightenment where he saw the true meaning of Budo ("Warrior Way"). Technically, Aikido is not much different from Daitoryu Jiujitsu. But it is recognised as a very distinct style, nevertheless.

It is quite easy, nowadays, to see videos on the internet which demonstrate the effectiveness of taijiquan, either in combat, or in tournament competition. The comments under such videos will invariably include some from people who insist, "This is not Tai Chi!" They often make this statement without offering any example of what tai chi is. Usually these comments come from westerners who don't realise that the people they are watching are among the highest ranking experts in the taijiquan community. It makes sense, actually, that when two very high level masters compete against each other, the novices are unable to recognise or understand what they are doing. They will therefore say, "That is not tai chi. I do tai chi, and what I do doesn't look anything like that."

All styles wax and wane, ebb and flow.
Every traditional style has celestial champions and embarrassing mediocrity.
Styles that find a place in society, either due to combat effectiveness or due to other benefits, will evolve and change with society.
Eventually, they will cease to exist in a recognisable form.

The better a style is, the longer lasts.
The longer it lasts, the more popular it becomes.
The more popular it becomes, the more variations in skill and understanding.
The more variations in skill and understanding, the more styles.
The more styles, the harder it becomes to define each style.

Therefore,
The better a style is, the more difficult it will be to define the pure style.
The effectiveness of taijiquan may be a casualty of its own effectiveness.
The art itself may become a victim of its own popularity.

But, really, the effectiveness of taijiquan will survive the death of taijiquan.
Just be prepared to call it something else.