I Love Science

 "I love science, and it pains me to think that so many are terrified of the subject or feel that choosing science means you cannot also choose compassion, or the arts, or be awed by nature. Science is not meant to cure us of mystery, but to reinvent and reinvigorate it."
- Robert Sapolsky, Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers

"In the end, it's probably impossible to tease out whether the heads or tails of science, the theory or the experiment, has done more to push science ahead." (DS, p36).  


"It is theory that decides what we can observe."
-  Albert Einstein

"Consider what effects, that might conceivably have practical bearings, we conceive the object of our conception to have. Then, our conception of these effects is the whole of our conception of the object."
-  Charles Sanders Pierce

The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements  By Sam Kean.  Little, Brown and Company, 2010.  400 pages.  ISBN: 978-0316051644.  VSCL.  Subjects: Chemistry, Periodic Table, Science, Elements.  This book is the most interesting, informative, and well written book I have read in the last 60 days. 

The modern sciences of physics and chemistry have discovered or synthesized 118 Elements.  This fascinating subject can be studied through the graphical model of the Periodic Table of Elements first conceived in 1869 by the Russian chemist, Dmitri Medneleev.  Read the "Disappearing Spoon" for the fascinating story of the Table of the Elements. 

   

Taijiquan Treatise

The Taijiquan Lun (Treatise, Theory, Discussion, Thesis)

"English Translation of "The Taijiquan Lun," with extensive and good commentary, by Yonatan Vexler, Qufu Teacher's University, Shandong, China

Published in "Qi: The Journal of Traditional Eastern Health and Fitness," Volume 27, No. 1, Spring 2017, pp. 38-51.

This Treatise is sometimes attributed to Wang Zongyue.

"Taiji (complementary duality) originates from wuji (non-polarity).  It is the process of motion and stillness, also known as the creator of contrast (the yin and yang).  Motion causes separation, while stillness leads to unity.  I allow opponents to advance, and I advance when they recoil.  When my opponents are hard and I am soft it is to flow, successfully following their motions is to stick.  When they move fast, I quickly react, and when they move slowly, I slowly follow.  There can be a thousand scenarios, but the one principle applies to all.  Engrain this principle in practice to understand force, understanding force will lead to higher levels of advancement.  Without a long time of serious practice, one cannot advance.

Emptiness leads power up, while breath sinks down the dantian.  Don't lean, and don't bend.  Able to become shadow and suddenly materialize, if opponents go left, nothing will be there, of opponents go right, let them be led to the right.  If opponents look up, let them go up, and if opponents lean down, let them go lower.  If they go forward, let them have to go more forward, and if they go back, let them have to go even further back.  A feather's weight can't be added, sensitive even to a fly landing on one's skin.  They cannot follow me, only I can follow them.  To be a hero that encounters now opposition, this is what one must do.

Many schools try to mimic this.  There are many different methods, but most emphasize the strong defeating the weak and the slow yielding to the quick.  When the strong beat the weak and the slow yield to the quick, it is only natural ability, and has no relation to the power that comes from learning and wisdom.  Consider the phrase, "four ounces overcoming a thousand pounds", and it obviously cannot be done with brute strength.  Consider the old man who can fend off a gang of attackers; is this outcome determined by sheer speed?

Stand like a balanced level, and be as dynamic as a cartwheel can spin.  Shift weight as needed to be lively, for being uncoordinated stagnates the flow.  If you see one practicing for years without advancing, being controlled by the opponent, it's because one has not heard of the fault of being uncoordinated.  To avoid this fault, one must know about yin and yang.  To stick is to flow, to flow is to stick, yang is within the yin, and yin is within the yang.  They (the passive and the active) compliment each other, so one can understand force.  Identify different forces to advance your training.  Carefully study this knowledge, put it to practice, and you will be able to do anything.

The most basic idea is to follow your opponent.  Many make the mistake of planning ahead.  As the saying goes, "off by an inch, off by a mile", so a student must be able to clearly distinguish!  Hence, there is this treatise."

-  English Translation of The Tijiquan Lun by Yonatan Vexler, 2017

Tai Chi Chuan Classics 

Cloud Hands Taijiquan   

Chang San Feng

Thirteen Postures of Tai Chi Chuan

The above four webpages were prepared by Mike Garofalo

Good Taijiquan Books by Andrew Townsend

I have enjoyed reading and using the information found in the books by Professor Andrew  Townsend.  He is a dedicated student of Grand Master Jesse Tsao in San Diego.  Mr. Townsend has studied and practiced Taijiquan for forty years.  He now teaches in Florida.  

His seven fine Taijiquan books are readily available from Amazon.  I use the Kindle Ebook versions the most, and own five of his books.    

I am now studying his book:  The Principles and Practice of Taijiquan: The Solo Form, Volume One.  I explains 50 essential concepts needed for good Taijiquan practice.  

The Concept of "Hunyuan"

"Hunyuan is an ancient, central concept of Daoist philosophy and meditation practice. Hun means undifferentiated unity, the state of mind and being that occurs when one does not divide the world into concepts. In other words, hun is equivalent to inner silence. Yuan means origin or original. The importance of Yuan is attested by the fact that it is the opening word of Qian, the first chapter of the Yi Jing (The Classic of Change). "Original [Yuan], Penetrating [Heng], Auspicious [Li], Correct [Zhen]." This mantric phrase may be interpreted as four stages in the creation or evolution of an idea or phenomenon; or it may represent the four seasons.

Yuan is the root or antecedent of any action. It is the creative spark or impulse, like a seed planted in Spring which is just ready to sprout. Heng is the Summer, and represents germination and development. The character heng originally meant a sacrificial cup used to make offerings to the Gods. Most commentators explain heng as tong, penetrating or reaching to the Gods. Li means to cut grain, to harvest or reap the benefits of what was grown. It is thus the Autumn season. Zhen, which originally included the character for tripod means steady and correct. It also means divination. Zhen is the winter season, when the energies of life retreat back into the ground and people return from the fields to their homes. The spark of yang is hidden in the yin. Winter is a time for inner work rather than outer work, a time to perfect one's character and prepare for the coming year by consulting oracles.

The character yuan was originally a composite of shang the word "above" with ren, the word "person." Hence, yuan means the upper part of a person's body, the head, or, as we say in English to go ahead, to be first. Interestingly, the Chinese character Dao also contains an element that means both head and first, shou. One of my Daoist teachers, the late B. P. Chan, defined Dao as "the path to the origin." We could also interpret this as returning to the origin. When the body Returns to the Origin, it renews itself with the energy of life, the all pervading qi of the universe. It becomes like an uncarved block of wood-- the Daoist symbol of a person uncorrupted by the stresses and worries of life. As Lao Zi says, "See the unbleached silk, embrace the uncarved block; reduce selfishness, lessen desire." (When the mind Returns to the Origin, it becomes simple and pure like a newborn babe, able to perceive the world with a fresh innocence.)

Hun with yuan becomes the concept Hunyuan, the Primordial State of Being. The term is synonymous with the word Dao itself and also with Taiji (the Undifferentiated, as in Taiji Quan, a martial art and healing art that blends yin and yang, suppleness with strength). Philosophy and personal cultivation are not separate categories in Daoist thought. Thus, Hunyuan is the Primal Being (God) or Beingness that both precedes and underlies all creation. It is also the spiritual state of a person who practices Daoist meditation."

- Hunyuan Qigong: Tracing Life to Its Roots
  An excellent essay by Master Kenneth Cohen, 2007


Hun Yuan Qigong

Hun Yuan Taijiquan

Months and Seasons of the Year

Yang Style Taijiquan Characteristics

Characteristics of Yang Style Taijiquan

     "The distinctive characteristics of Yang Chengfu style Taijiquan are: the postures are relaxed and expansive, simple and clean, precise in composition; the body method is centered and aligned, not inclining or leaning; the movements are harmonious and agreeable, containing hard and soft, uniting lightness of spirit and heaviness of application.  In training, one attains softness from loosening/relaxing (song).  In accumulating softness one develops hardness; hardness and softness benefit one another [mutually interact].  

     The postures may be high, middle or low, so that one is able to make appropriate adjustments in the measure of the movements according to factors of age differences, sex, bodily strength, or differing demands of the student.  Because of this, it is as suitable for treating illness or protecting health as it is for increasing strength and fitness or increasing the artistic skill of one who is relatively strong to begin with.

     The postures of Yang style Taijiquan are expansive and open, light yet heavy, nature, centered and upright, rounded and even, simple, vigorous, and dignified,─because of this, one is able to quite naturally express and individual style that is grand and beautiful."

-  Introduction by Gu Liuxin, pp. 7-8.  Found in Mastering Yang Style Taijiquan.  Bu Fu Zhongwen (1903-1994).  Translated by Louis Swaim.  Berkeley, California, Blue Snake Books, North Atlantic Books, 1999, 2006.  Glossary, bibliography, 226 pages.  Translations of many Tai Chi classics are included.  A list of the 85 movement long form and detailed notes and descriptions of each movement are provided. 

Yang Taijiquan Quotations, Sayings, Lore, Classics, Principles

Chen Taijiquan Quotations, Sayings, Lore, Classics, Principles

T'ai Chi Ch'uan Classics: Bibliography, Links, Resources, Quotations

Cloud Hands Taijiquan

Thirteen Postures of Tai Chi Chuan

Five Beneficial Methods in the Study of Taijiquan

 Five Aims in the Study of Tai Chi Chuan

"1.  Your study should be broad and diversified.  Do not limit yourself.  This principle (virtue) can be compared to your stance, which moves easily in many different directions.  

2.  Examine and question.  Ask yourself how and why Tai Chi works.  This principle can be compared to your sensitivity, which is receptive to that which others ignore.  

3.  Be deliberate and careful in your thinking.  Use your mind to discover proper understanding.  This principle can be compared to your understanding power.

4.  Clearly examine.  Separate concepts distinctly, then decide upon the proper course.  This principle can be compared to the continuous motion of Tai Chi.

5.  Practice sincerely.  This principle can be compared to heaven and earth, the eternal."
-  T'ai Chi Classics, translations and commentary by Waysun Liao, p. 125 

Tai Chi Classics.  By Waysun Liao.  New translations of three essential texts of T'ai Chi Ch'uan with commentary and practical instruction by Waysun Liao.  Illustrated by the author.  Boston, Shambhala, 1990.  210 pages.  ISBN: 087773531X.  VSCL. 

Yang Taijiquan Quotations, Sayings, Lore, Classics, Principles

Chen Taijiquan Quotations, Sayings, Lore, Classics, Principles

T'ai Chi Ch'uan Classics: Bibliography, Links, Resources, Quotations

Cloud Hands Taijiquan

Thirteen Postures of Tai Chi Chuan

Fair Lady Works the Shuttles

My upper torso and head are leaning a bit to much to the the right.
My lunge stance is strong.
A cold day in Winter in Red Bluff, California

Theory Decides What We Can Observe

The ancients often though of the objects in our world being composed of a combination of air, earth, fire, water, and the void/ether - the Four Elements Theory.  Chinese thinkers theorized about the Five Elements: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water.   The Greek Epircureans were materialists who thought objects were composed of atoms.  Some speculated about Eight Elements.  In the 21st century, we talk about 118 Elements. 

"In the end, it's probably impossible to tease out whether the heads or tails of science, the theory or the experiment, has done more to push science ahead." (DS, p36).  


"It is theory that decides what we can observe."
-  Albert Einstein

"Consider what effects, that might conceivably have practical bearings, we conceive the object of our conception to have. Then, our conception of these effects is the whole of our conception of the object."
-  Charles Sanders Pierce

The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements  By Sam Kean.  Little, Brown and Company, 2010.  400 pages.  ISBN: 978-0316051644.  VSCL.  Subjects: Chemistry, Periodic Table, Science, Elements.  This book is an interesting, informative, and well written book I read a few years ago.  

The modern sciences of physics and chemistry have discovered or synthesized 118 Elements.  This fascinating subject can be studied through the graphical model of the Periodic Table of Elements first conceived in 1869 by the Russian chemist, Dmitri Medneleev.  Read the "Disappearing Spoon" for the fascinating story of the Table of the Elements.