Suchergebnisse

The teaching of the Tao permeates all attempts to reach reality in Chinese philosophy, culture, worldview, and everyday life. It would be expected that the understanding of this teaching would be particularly close to the traditional practices that have their origin close to the insights regarding the Way. The wide popularity of Tai chi /taijiquan/ today does not make its practice more authentic or truthful. Instead, it seems to be yet another reason for the "elusive and intangible"2 Tao to remain hidden and hard to grasp (Lao Dza 1990, 21). We will attempt to briefly summarize twelve conceptual incongruities that are the reason for the popular Tai chi to lose its roots.

The Chinese cultural tradition connects the origin and existence of the world, the human being and society with the presence of a unified and all-pervading energy substance. This substance creates both the formal structures and their comparability and interrelationship. This universal substance is shared on all levels and aspects of existence, regardless of their manifestation. In this mutual sharing, the substance undergoes its fluctuations and transformations which are expressed in constructive or destructive ways of stimulating or repressing influence. This substance can be perceived, studied, understood, guided, and used, consciously or not. This view delineates the unified cosmos in which the subjective and the objective are only a matter of reference in determining existence.