Tai Chi Chuan and I Ching

[gene]

A long long time ago, I was asked if I could do a little bit comparing Tai Chi Chuan with the I Ching, and I did very little, a very poor job of it. I don't have a lot of time to do it now, but maybe once in a while I can post something. The first lesson, I think I wrote this a long time ago, comes from hexagram 34. This is very simple and straight forward. There are two lines in the commentary on the hexagram as a whole, that very directly apply. They follow each other. The first line says, "But its strength has already passed beyond the median line. In other words, we do not want to go too far forward because once we do we are vulnerable and off balance. Now some may think, "Who cares? I am not a fighter, I am not interested in that. But there are times in life when the same principle applies. Especially when our emotions are engaged. It is very easy to let our ego become too entangled and get bitter or sarcastic, and end up eating our words later. When this happens, we have gone beyond the centerline, to a point of no return. And we become off balance, our ego is fighting for survival, and we become extremely vulnerable emotionally. So we must learn what our limits are. The second line is another warning. It says, "...intent on movement, we may not wait for the right time." Timing is absolutely important in life. Hexagram one line one tells us that the time is not ready yet, but the positive is increasing, so just wait. Hexagram two line one has in some ways the opposite meaning such that, while it is still daylight, and while the warm days are still here, the darkness and the winter are coming, so in some ways this is a last chance. In many ways the I Ching is a warning signal telling us where we are on the sine wave. Is it time to go? Or is it time to let go? If we are intent on movement; if we are intent on any form of attack, whether physical, mental, verbal, in a personal setting, in a relationship setting, in a business setting, if the time is not right for our attack to be successful, then we must wait. We must find the right time. And we do that by being sensitive to the meaning of the time. For everything is cyclical, and if we understand this, and we can sense the nature of the time, we can plan our attacks and our defenses according to the allowances of the time. In a real battle we do not have time to consult the I Ching. So we must develop our sensitivity, and heed the signs of the time, as described to us in many ways, but very clearly in hexagram one line one and hexagram two line one.

 

[gene]

A long long time ago, I was asked if I could do a little bit comparing Tai Chi Chuan with the I Ching, and I did very little, a very poor job of it. I don't have a lot of time to do it now, but maybe once in a while I can post something. The first lesson, I think I wrote this a long time ago, comes from hexagram 34. This is very simple and straight forward. There are two lines in the commentary on the hexagram as a whole, that very directly apply. They follow each other. The first line says, "But its strength has already passed beyond the median line. In other words, we do not want to go too far forward because once we do we are vulnerable and off balance. Now some may think, "Who cares? I am not a fighter, I am not interested in that. But there are times in life when the same principle applies. Especially when our emotions are engaged. It is very easy to let our ego become too entangled and get bitter or sarcastic, and end up eating our words later. When this happens, we have gone beyond the centerline, to a point of no return. And we become off balance, our ego is fighting for survival, and we become extremely vulnerable emotionally. So we must learn what our limits are. The second line is another warning. It says, "...intent on movement, we may not wait for the right time." Timing is absolutely important in life. Hexagram one line one tells us that the time is not ready yet, but the positive is increasing, so just wait. Hexagram two line one has in some ways the opposite meaning such that, while it is still daylight, and while the warm days are still here, the darkness and the winter are coming, so in some ways this is a last chance. In many ways the I Ching is a warning signal telling us where we are on the sine wave. Is it time to go? Or is it time to let go? If we are intent on movement; if we are intent on any form of attack, whether physical, mental, verbal, in a personal setting, in a relationship setting, in a business setting, if the time is not right for our attack to be successful, then we must wait. We must find the right time. And we do that by being sensitive to the meaning of the time. For everything is cyclical, and if we understand this, and we can sense the nature of the time, we can plan our attacks and our defenses according to the allowances of the time. In a real battle we do not have time to consult the I Ching. So we must develop our sensitivity, and heed the signs of the time, as described to us in many ways, but very clearly in hexagram one line one and hexagram two line one.

Well, I get so busy doing this and doing that. But I did write on my blogspot about hexagram one line one an hour or two ago, and have the intention of writing a book on the I Ching. But I am older and the world is getting crazier, the possibilities of war with Russia are getting stronger and stronger, but perhaps I should get more busy and do what I do. I could write so many books if I had the time. The problem is self promotion. I absolutely hate self promotion. But anyway...

So, while my original post on my blogspot, genesiching.blogspot.com did not go into the martial aspect of that line, I will say something really quickly here. Hexagram one is the beginning of the beginning. Now that being said, while it is true, it is also a blatant lie, so put up with me here for a while. The real start is hexagram three, hexagrams one and two are definers for all that goes on afterwards. (The real I Ching is hexagrams three though sixty two, but then, that is a lie also. Boy am I ever good at lying.)

Nevertheless, hexagram one line one is in many ways the beginning of the beginning. And in the beginning nothing is settled, nothing is stable, everything is in a state of confusion (as say, hexagram three tells us.) In the same way, the martial artist, just starting out, is not only not recognized, but does not recognize his own power, and is incapable of using it, even though he has it.) On another level, the person starting out who is unrecognized is the I Ching itself. It's power and its message cannot be perceived in the beginning. As above, so below. It is all too easy to take sacred texts literally, and completely miss the overall import.

The dragon, in this context, and in this context only, is the inner force of the universe. The Taoists would call it ch'i. But even the most advanced martial artists cannot truly use it, only the masters. And that only after years and years of study and sometimes trial and error. The dragon is that inner power that we all have but do not recognize it nor are we able to utilize it. But it is there. This is the basis for the Taoist understanding of the I Ching, as opposed to the Confucian model. (Do not think though the two models are separate or different, they are exactly the same, but not recognized as such, and not understood as such.) The Taoist aspect of the I Ching incorporates the study of nature of the trigrams, the five forces of fire and water, earth, metal, and wind or wood, and the interplay between these various forces. This is in the Confucian model too, but not as prevalent and not as noticeable. It is the nature of these forces, in respect to the yin and yang of ch'i, that makes the power noticeable for the master martial artist.

This is getting too long so I have to stop, but the first line of hexagram one refers to the inner power that we all have and that is part and parcel of the nature of the universe, and the first step to recognizing and developing that power.

 

[gene]

Well, I get so busy doing this and doing that. But I did write on my blogspot about hexagram one line one an hour or two ago, and have the intention of writing a book on the I Ching. But I am older and the world is getting crazier, the possibilities of war with Russia are getting stronger and stronger, but perhaps I should get more busy and do what I do. I could write so many books if I had the time. The problem is self promotion. I absolutely hate self promotion. But anyway...


Here is a little about hexagram one line one and hexagram two line one, although here I have not shown any relationship outwardly at least, to Tai Chi Chuan.


In the I Ching hexagram one relates to the primordial yang power and tends to describe it. It is easy to just look at the commentary on the two hexagrams to get an idea of how opposite they are. But it is necessary to go beyond the obvious to get a really good idea of just how each operates.

It is obvious that hexagram one describes yang energy and hexagram two describes yin. But the depth of difference is not apparent without some critical analysis of the text. It is more obvious that yang is strong, yin is weak, (relatively speaking). It is obvious that yang is heaven and yin is earth. It quickly becomes clear that yang is more masculine and yin more feminine. However, what makes that so? And where does heaven begin and earth depart. If you climb the highest mountain, are you in heaven? If you descend into the lowest part of the earth are you more earth? All these things have to be defined and yet they cannot be defined because yang is only yang in relation to something that is yin, And yin is only yin in relationship to something that is yang. So is the earth yang or yin? We have to be careful about precise labels. In relationship to the sun the earth would be yin, but in relationship to the moon the earth would be yang. So which is it? By itself it is nothing. It is neither yin nor yang. So we have to get beyond absolutes and think in terms of relationships.

But back to the point. There is more about yin and yang than what first meets the eye. Sometimes the commentary does not clearly make mention of certain truths but it is there if we know how to properly integrate portions of the text. So, hexagram one line one, which is pure yang, points to a situation where a situation is not ready to develop yet. Why not? It is still at its incipient stages. (Almost sounds kind of yin, does it not?) But develop it will, if we bide our time. (Bide our time) Aha! another aspect of the yang nature, time. The point is that evolution is taking place here. Something is growing, and though the "TIME" isn't right, it is evolving into that stage that is right. So what do we conclude about yang energy. First, that it is a strong, and growing force. It is the power of evolution. So what about yin? Well, let's look at the first line of the second hexagram. It says, "When there is hoarfrost underfoot, solid ice is not far off." What is happening here? The forces of involution are taking place, rather than waiting here for the draconian energy to evolve, we are watching a devolution. We are watching what once was of value, degenerate into something less useful. So we can conclude, yang energy is evolution, yin energy is involution. What are we taught in the last two hexagrams of the I Ching. First, we have number sixty three, where all the lines are in their correct place. But what happens when everything is correct? It cannot be permanently maintained. And things deteriorate until in hexagram sixty four, all lines are in their incorrect places? Evolution proceeds and the lines eventually end up in their proper places and everything is correct again. Hence we have eternal change, except that the principle, the core, never changes, (see hexagrams thirty one and thirty two.) Therefore all things in the universe are eternally in the process of either involution, or evolution.

Now note that in the first two hexagrams evolution is mentioned first, in hexagram one, and involution second, in hexagram two. But in the last two hexagrams the order is reversed. We first have involution, and then evolution. There are far reaching speculations that could go with this, but enough for now. By comparing line with line, we come up with deeper aspects of the I Ching. We also do so by analyzing its structure, and by looking deeper into the context and the sequence.