FREE ESSAY ON MARTIAL ARTS

MARTIAL ARTS

To most martial arts is about the hard-style, external arts such as Karate and Maui Thai.
Tai Chi Chuan however, developed out of Taoist ideology and the concept of universal
balance. Primarily it was committed to physical fitness and spiritual progress, but over
time, the monks needed protection against growing warlords and thugs and so, the external
aspect of Tai Chi Chuan evolved and an usual mixture of a healing art, exercise and
meditation developed. A teacher taught his students, The man who does not seek to
struggle with others will find that others are not able to struggle with him. Think if
still water. You push it, and, yielding, it finds its original place. You cannot hit
anything if there is nothing to hit.
Tai Chi Chuan originally developed out of Tai Chi, a similar concept that began around
2000 BC partly influenced by yoga. In China, yoga came to be developed into what is
called Saolin chuan (chuan, means boxing). Around 13th AD Chang Seng Feng developed what
is known as Tai Chi. Different families studied Tai Chi and developed their own unique
styles giving them different names. Tai Chi styles practiced today came from the Chen
family. Yang studied the Chen style and modified it to form the Yang style of Tai Chi
Chuan, which is the style commonly practiced today.
Tai Chi Chuan is part of a larger concept, Taoism. The Tao means the Way or a Path.
According to Tao-te Ching, the core Taoist texts, the feeling of being one with the Way
can only be experienced and not just known. One must coordinate all the body, the brain,
the breathing to realize the feeling of being connected to everything. In Tai Chi Chuan,
movement with meditation is done with the purpose of realizing connectivity by feeling in
tune with the omnipotent force Chi, or in Japanese, Zen. Chi is everything everywhere; we
are all a part of it and so, are connected to each other. Once in tune with Chi, one must
apply those principles in daily life to be one with the Tao.
The Taoist philosophy of Yin and Yang, soft and hard or the opposites arises from the
Taoist belief that humans view the world in terms of opposites, right or wrong, dislike
or like. And those beliefs are changing all the time, if a person we dislike does
something nice, then we start liking them. We fail to realize that something is just is.
FSU is good and bad. It might not be as good as Harvard, but when compared to a
University from a third world country, it is quite good. However, for us, it is one or
the other and this prevents us from realizing and incorporating the Tao. We have to be
empty of such preconceived notions in order to be one with Chi, to comprehend the true
nature of things.
Emptiness of the mind leads to understanding of the only constant, change. It allows for
constantly changing thought processes and a constant sense of inquiry needed to
understand that life is a matter of change and If you try to make yourself secure at all
costs in life then you cling either the Yin or the Yang. Any fixed idea, when it
conflicts with what we call the flow of life, is bound to lead to a loss of balance. It
is related to what the early psychologists called a complex. The ability to manipulate
thought strengthens one's concentration is referred in martial arts as centering one's
mind and the idea is central to Tai Chi Chuan as it allows for change, correction and
healing.