Issue 39 - Tse Qigong Centre

immediately present my view point as I
did not have the support of the Shaolin
monks and I would have definitely stirred
up a storm within Taiji circles. However,
after convincing martial monk Shi Yantzi
to hold a seminar on this topic, I can now
boldly report of the new findings and their
impact on the history of Taijiquan. This is
based on the following points of research.
1. Timescale
If we accept that the Chen Village
registry is correct then it provides us with
a history of some three hundred years.
However the Shaolin Temple has prevailed
for some one thousand five hundred
years. Would it therefore be fair to say that
Shaolin Rouquan predates Chen
Taijiquan
2. Techniques
The stamping of the feet,
contracting of ‘shock’ explosive power of
the classical Chen Taijiquan is exclusive to
Chen Taijiquan. Could it only be a
coincidence that these methods are found
among many of the ancient Shaolin forms.
Would it not be fair to say that since Chen
Taijiquan has only three hundred years of
history it could have evolved from the one
thousand five hundred years of Shaolin
practise
3. Hard and Soft
If we accept that Yang Taijiquan’s
soft movements developed from Chen’s
soft – hard mode, then where did Chen’s
soft – hard approach come from
4. Zhang Sanfeng
Many Taiji practitioners believe
that it was not Chen Wang Ting who
created Taijiquan, but the Daoist monk
Zhang Sanfeng of Wudang Mountain.
They believe it was his followers who
passed it on to the Chen Clan. There are
written records in the library of Shaolin
Temple that a martial monk called Zhang
Sanfeng was expelled from the temple due
to some wrong doings. It was known that
this Shaolin monk travelled around China
teaching his martial skill. Could it be the
same person Could it be that this monk
settled down in a Daoist establishment
and taught his Shaolinquan, but gave it a
new name – Taijiquan
During recent seminars in London
and Dublin, Shaolin instructor monk Shi
Yantzi successfully demonstrated the
ancient Shaolin Rouquan or Shaolin Taiji
form to many and varied Taiji teachers and
students. At the beginning of the event
there were many a raised eye-brow. But
towards the end of the event everyone
was convinced that the ‘missing link’ was
there to be seen. One could not dismiss
the obvious relationship between the two
methods.
Obviously there is still an
enormous amount of research and work
to be done. Yet one cannot comment
without first knowing the slightest thing
about Shaolin Taiji
byTonyLeungYanlon
Qi Magazine 29