Wudang San Feng Tai Chi
武当三丰派太极拳
The martial arts training of the San Feng style culminates in the art of Tai Chi (Taijiquan 太极拳), a slow, meditative form of traditional Chinese martial arts centered on internal cultivation and self defense. According to the oral history of our tradition, Tai Chi was created by the founder and namesake of our lineage, Zhang San Feng 张三丰, who upon seeing a bird wrestling with a snake 雀蛇斗智, was struck with a sudden flash of enlightenment 顿悟. Witnessing their interaction granted him a spontaneous understanding of the interplay between the cosmic forces of Yin and Yang. He captured this insight in a practice he named Thirteen Postures 十三式, which he taught in Wudang and then all over China during his years as a wandering Daoist 云游. It was in response to this experience that he took on the name San Feng 三丰 which is meant to reflect the trigrams for heaven ☰ and earth ☷.
Master Zhong 钟云龙 practicing Tai Chi posture Grasping the Sparrow’s Tail 揽雀尾 at Five Dragons Temple 五龙宫
Me practicing Taiji 28 太极28式
I had never really thought much about the story of Zhang San Feng‘s bird-snake enlightenment. It’s a strange story, isn’t it? I mean, why would a bird ever be fighting a snake in the first place? In 2013 my parents came to visit me and I took them on a tour through all of Wudang’s major temples. At the Southern Cliff Temple 南岩宫 , my dad and I were standing on a precipice overlooking the valley below when dad pointed over at a crevice in the cliff’s side. There, only twenty feet from us, was a bird fighting a snake! Seeing this happening right in front of me, it was suddenly clear what the whole interaction was about. The bird was standing in its nest, defending its egg from the hungry serpent. I’m pretty sure the bird was even a sparrow 雀, the specific species mentioned in the old legend.
Wall painting entitled “Magpie and snake playfighting” 鹊蛇嬉斗图 from Wudang’s Purple Cloud Palace 紫霄宫 depicting Zhang San Feng’s inspired creation of Tai Chi.
Southern Cliff Palace 南岩宫, where I saw the snake and bird facing off.
Rubbing of a Han Dynasty stone carving of Pangu 盘古 splitting heaven, personified as Fu Xi 伏羲 and earth, personified as Nü Wa 女媧
There’s a very ancient Chinese creation myth wherein the universe is born out of a cosmic egg called Hundun 混沌 which contains the primal chaos of the unborn world in its soupy, embryonic state. Inside the egg grows a hermaphroditic giant named Pangu 盘古, whose birth splits the egg into two halves. The upper half becomes heaven while the lower half becomes earth. In watching a bird and a snake fight over the fate of an egg, viewed through Daoist mythological eyes, we can see the elements of Yang (bird) and Yin (snake) battling over the primordial egg that exists in a state before the two cosmic forces are differentiated. Within the cosmic egg, there is no Yang or Yin to speak of, no differentiation whatsoever, simply the original, primordial chaos that lay before the beginning of everything. A lot of practices in Daoism are about getting back to or recovering that original chaos. This is what Wudang Tai Chi is all about.
Reflecting this mythological, cosmos-creating scheme, the Tai Chi system we learned in Wudang is divided into three sections. First there is the state of Wuji 无极, or the unlimited potentiality of the unbroken egg. In this phase you practice Wuji standing meditation 无极桩, and the Fist of Great Harmony Tai He Quan 太和拳. The focus is on total stillness of mind. In the meditation, shifu said you are just like a plank of wood. You are dead in your coffin. No mind, no concepts 无念无想.
Next is Tai Chi 太极, which is the state of interpenetrating Yin and Yang. Here through Tai Chi standing meditation 站桩, basic Tai Chi exercises, and most importantly the Tai Chi 28, 108, and 13 step forms, you work to combine Yin and Yang energies within your body. In this phase you also explore partner training through push hands 推手, centered around eight basic techniques contained in the form. The Tai Chi itself is divided into three phases: basic breathing techniques 吐纳, “collecting and supplementing” 采气补亏, and “harmonizing with the original chaos” 混元一气. Once you are proficient with the style of movement there is further partner training, the “traditional fighting” called sanshou 散手. There is also Tai Chi sword 太极剑.
The third level is all about the separation of Yin and Yang. It is called Liangyi 两仪, or the “two extremes.” This practice is mainly done through the Taiyi Five Elements fist, Taiyi Wuxing Quan 太乙五行拳. This is the form from which most of the grappling techniques in our system come. It was developed specifically as a fighting style, and as well has its own sword style and even techniques for using the Daoist horsetail whisk Fuchen 拂尘 as a weapon. This level is characterized by explosive power, or fajin 发劲.
Traditional depiction of Primordial Chaos 混沌, an egg with six legs (yin) and four wings (yang), no head and no tail, completely directionless!
History of the Style 太极门历史
A bronze statue from the Yong Le period 明永乐年间 (1403-1424) of the San Feng sect patriarch Zhang San Feng 张三丰 from a shrine at Purple Cloud Palace 紫霄宫.
The oral history of this style traces it back to Zhang San Feng 张三丰 (1247?-1464?), a Daoist alchemist/folk hero from the Song dynasty. Early in life he became a monk at Lushan 闾山 in northeastern China, from where he set out on years of cloud wandering 云游, composing poetry at the Golden Platform Monastery in Shanxi 陕西金台观 and learning alchemy from the immortal Huolong Zhenren 火龙真人 in the Zhongnan mountains 终南山. Following the destruction brought on by the Red Turban Rebellion (1351-1368) during which most of the temples at Wudang were badly damaged, Zhang set up a school near the Jade Void temple 玉虚宫, where he took on numerous students, directing them to begin repairing the temples and shrines in the greater Wudang area. The impression one gets from the oral tradition is that Zhang became a sort of de facto head of Wudang during this period, placing his eight main disciples in charge of the eight principal palace temples on the mountain 八大宫观. According to shifu, each of these eight disciples created a sub-lineage that functioned through the eight temples, so different teachings were passed on at each of the main temples.
Our particular lineage comes through Zhang’s main disciple, and the first generation head of the Wudang San Feng lineage 三丰派第一代掌门大弟子, Qiu Xuanqing 邱玄清 (1327-1393), who took over the Five Dragons Palace 五龙宫, the oldest temple on the mountain.
As far as the transmission of Tai Chi is concerned, Zhang had created something called Thirteen Postures 十三式 following his revelatory event with the bird and snake. This form is quite abstract, full of poetry and alchemical symbolism. His disciples, wanting a practice that was more applicable to fighting contexts purportedly created 108 postures 一百零八式 which serves as the main practice in our lineage today. Qiu Xuanqing went on to have an illustrious career, famous actually for his weather magic, he spent years in the capital, operating out of White Cloud Temple 白云观 as the minister of state sacrifices for the first emperor of the Ming dynasty. In his later years he returned to Five Dragons temple where he was buried.
According to the oral tradition the practices of Zhang and his disciples were passed on through numerous Daoists within the temples through the Ming and Qing dynasties. The 13 posture and 108 posture forms we practice today actually ended up coming through different lineages from within Wudang, and neither of them was particularly associated with the Five Dragons Temple. The 13 came through Dragon Gate master Lu Zhizheng 吕至正 (fl. 18th century), who transmitted it to Wang Li Yang 王理阳 (1811-1943), who passed it on to Jin Zong Cheng 金宗成 (1884-1948), who was the Tai Chi master of Zhu Chengde 朱诚德 (1900-1990), our grandmaster’’s teacher. These guys all hung out at Purple Cloud Palace 紫霄宫. The 108 on the other hand came through another Dragon Gate master Wang Xin Tang 王信堂, who transmitted it to Tang Chongliang 唐崇亮 (1869-1984) , who was the late teacher of our grandmaster’s master, Guo Gaoyi 郭高一 (1900-1996). This lineage was based out of the Eight Immortals Temple 八仙观.
That, at any rate is the story I gathered during my time in China. My kung fu brother Jeff Reid 资和 at Wudang Santa Cruz, is currently working on a book with a different story he heard straight from our grandmaster. I’ll write more about that when it comes out!
Master Tang Chong Liang 唐崇亮 in 1984
Master Tang’s hermitage near Wudang’s Eight Immortals Temple 八仙观, where he taught Tai Chi 108 to Guo Gaoyi 郭高一
Curriculum 目录
Since our Tai Chi system actually also contains Wuji 无极 and Liangyi 两仪 styles, the curriculum here is quite expansive. Each form has its own basics and applications. For the sake of brevity I will just list out a semi-random sampling of the different practices we do at the different levels, so you might get a feel for what is contained in this section of the lineage.
基本功 Basics
Master Guo Gaoyi practicing push hands at Purple Cloud Palace
Fixed Postures 定式
Cloud hands 云手
Grinding Hands 磨盘手
Double Pushing Hands 双推手
Moving Postures 行式
Taiji walking 太极步
Cloud hands 云手
Parting the wild horse’s mane 野马分鬃
Standing Meditation 桩功
Post standing 站桩
Wuji standing 无极桩
Taiji primordial standing 太极混元桩
Push Hands 推手
Single hand push hands 单手推手
Double hand push hands 双手推手
Listening power 听劲
Elastic power 掤劲
Smooth power 捋劲
Piercing power 擠劲
套路 Forms
Wuji 无极
Grand Harmony Fist 太和拳
Taiji 太极
Taiji Fist 28 Step 太极拳28式
Taiji Fist 48 Step 太极拳48式
Taiji Fist 108 Step太极拳108式
13 Postures 十三势
Taiji Straight Sword 太极剑
Liangyi 两仪
Taiyi Five Elements Fist 太乙五行拳
Xuanwu Fist 玄武拳
Taiyi Mystical Gate Sword 太乙玄门剑
Taiyi Horsetail Whisk 太乙拂尘
散手 Partner Training
Hand Techniques 手法 (16)
Kicks 推法 (6)
Throws 摔法 (6)
Traditional Fighting 散手
太极剑十三法 Taiji Sword 13 Methods