| Tai Chi, The Great Ultimate, was found earliest in | | | | Otherwise, there will be disharmony in our lives. |
| the Book of Change, or otherwise known as | | | | Thirdly, the movement growing or shrinking of |
| I-Ching. Legend said that this scripture was written | | | | the yin and yang elements within the Tai Chi |
| by the first emperor of the Zhou Dynasty - Zhou | | | | diagram suggests that life changes constantly to |
| Wen Wang. Thus I-Ching is also known as Zhou-Yi. | | | | and from between good and bad, joy and |
| I-Ching, or the Book of Change, with its name | | | | sorrow, happiness and sadness, high and low and |
| implies, stated that life is in constant flux of | | | | between any two extreme qualities. This is the |
| change. The word I (Yi in pinyin) means 'change' in | | | | dualistic principles in I-Ching. |
| Chinese. It is formed from the characters of the | | | | In any events or things, there are two qualities |
| sun and the moon, which represents yang and yin | | | | within. There's no such thing as complete good or |
| respectively. | | | | perfectly bad things. It is the degree of good, or |
| It has a verse stating, "Changes has the Great | | | | bad that matters. |
| Ultimate, which give rise to the Two Elements. | | | | Take for example, can we say that a person is |
| The Two Elements give rise to the Four | | | | good because there's no bad quality in him, or a |
| Phenomena, and the Four Phenomena give rise to | | | | person is bad because he or she have never |
| the Eight Hexagrams..." | | | | done any 'good' at all??? A good person may at |
| Let's begin with the word Tai Chi - the Great | | | | times been guilty of small bad deeds, and a bad |
| Ultimate. It actually means the earliest, the | | | | person may at times have some good in him or |
| beginning... of all events and things. In some case, | | | | her. Isn't it? |
| it refers to the Universe by ancient Chinese. | | | | A good thing may have some negative side in it. |
| In one of the scripture, it stated that "One yin | | | | And vice versa, a bad thing may have some |
| and one yang is the Way..." This means that the | | | | positive side in it. It depends on how we perceive |
| all changes of events and things in the universe | | | | the issue. That's the dualistic principles in I-Ching. |
| come from this opposing, yet united forces of yin | | | | This goes to the next concepts. In the diagram, |
| and yang. | | | | within each element, there's a dot in it. The black |
| This is why in from Tai Chi, there arises in the | | | | section has a white dot, while the white section |
| Two Elements - yin and yang. Take a look at the | | | | has a black dot. What does this means? We |
| Tai Chi diagram, which is better known as the | | | | move now to the next statement: The Two |
| 2-Fishes diagram in Chinese. It is a circle divided | | | | Elements give rise to the Four Phenomena. This |
| into 2 sections in proportion. The circle is | | | | means, in the yin element, there will be yang |
| representing Tai Chi, or the Universe Whole, and | | | | element and vice versa, in the yang element, |
| within this wholeness, there's the Two Elements. | | | | there will be yin element. |
| The division of the yin and yang in Tai Chi means | | | | What does it means to us? |
| that there are 2 opposing elements, represented | | | | In any events or things, there will be some good |
| by the black section and white section | | | | in the bad, and some bad in the good. Just like |
| respectively. Yet, the division is not a straight | | | | there's some yin in the yang, and some yang in |
| division, but a curved division - meaning that the 2 | | | | the yin. For example, when a person wins a race, |
| opposing elements actually accommodate each | | | | others will lose the race. There's bad news within |
| other in order to form the complete circle. | | | | the good news, there's sorrow amongst joy, |
| Firstly, this means that while it is divided as | | | | there's losing among winning and so on. |
| opposing elements - it is united in a way to form | | | | In life, there will be mixtures of good and bad, joy |
| the complete wholeness. The opposing yet united | | | | and sorrow, happiness and sadness, winning and |
| forces of yin and yang became the basis of the | | | | losing, high and low, and it all come in a 'package'! |
| thinking in I-Ching. And Tai Chi uses the concepts | | | | Therefore, we should learn to be more give and |
| in the I-Ching, the yin and yang elements as the | | | | take - and accept the nature of life as it is. Enjoy |
| core concepts to explain the both physical and | | | | the good things, and accept the bad one bravely |
| meta-physical aspects of the world. | | | | and gracefully. This will then help us to achieve a |
| Secondly, the curved division gives a sense of | | | | more balance and harmonious life. |
| balance. Here, we are talking about balancing the | | | | Tai Chi's concepts of yin and yang became |
| yin and yang elements here. There's this | | | | influential to the ancient Chinese, and found its |
| statement in I-Ching: "When the yin goes to the | | | | way into the philosophy, theories, medicine, art of |
| extreme, the yang is born. And when the yang | | | | war, religion, arts and the way of maintaining life. |
| goes to the extreme, the yin is born". | | | | It has found its way into Daoism, which in some |
| Look at the 2-fishes diagram again. If you go in | | | | ways, people claimed that Tai Chi is under the |
| counter-clock wise along the diameter of the Tai | | | | idea of Daoism, which is not quite true. It should |
| Chi circle, you will find that as one element grows | | | | be the other way round. |
| more and more and reach its peak, the other | | | | Whatever it is, understanding the principles of |
| elements will begin to grow in replacement. For | | | | I-Ching does help us to understand the nature of |
| example, if you move along the diameter on the | | | | life itself to better balance and manage our ups |
| black side, you will see that the 'half' represented | | | | and downs to face our daily chores and |
| by the black will become bigger and bigger and | | | | challenges. And I wish all of you success and |
| then suddenly shrink and the white 'half' will begin | | | | harmony in your life. May the Energy of Tai Chi |
| to grow instead. This means that if one element | | | | be with you! |
| goes to the extreme, the other will begin to set | | | | Written by: |
| in. | | | | C. Guan Soo |
| What does this mean to us then? | | | | *************** Note *************** |
| Simple: we have to balance our life in every | | | | You may distribute or publish this article freely |
| aspect, and do not just focus only on one or a | | | | provide you do not make any changes or |
| few. We have to balance between work and | | | | alteration on the article content, or remove my |
| personal life, between family and friends, between | | | | name and website from the article. Thank you! |
| material and spiritual, and the list goes on. | | | | |