"If it wasn’t for him Xingyi practitioners would never have got the five elements and tai chi practitioners would have to think of another name for their supreme ultimate art"
Bao wrote:It was pre Neo-Confucianist Zhou (Dun) Yi who created the Tai Chi Tu Shuo and invented the term Taiji and explained that only humans had the full potential of the Five Elements. What Zhu Xi has to do with this terminology or Xingyi I have no idea about. Zhou Xi was the reason that Confucianism was re-institutionalized and also the of cause of dividing the new Confucianism into two schools, Lixue and Xinxue, the schools of Principle and Mind. Zhouxi represented the first one, but the second one has had far greater impact on Tai Chi Chuan, Martial arts and on Chinese learning and teaching systems in general, mostly because of Wang Yangming who taught that real knowledge comes from doing, not by...
Bao wrote:It was pre Neo-Confucianist Zhou (Dun) Yi who created the Tai Chi Tu Shuo and invented the term Taiji and explained that only humans had the full potential of the Five Elements.
robert wrote:Bao wrote:It was pre Neo-Confucianist Zhou (Dun) Yi who created the Tai Chi Tu Shuo and invented the term Taiji and explained that only humans had the full potential of the Five Elements.
The term/character Taiji appears in Wang Bi's version of the Yijing/Xici around 226-249 CE. The term appears in Wilhelm's translation of the Yijing - I don't know what version he used for his translation.
D_Glenn wrote:Could you post a link to the Zhou Dunyi texts about the 5 elements? I want to compare it to the daoist book called the Wenshi Zhenjing, which says animals only have the 4 symbols (四符), but only human beings have a the fifth symbol- Earth (yi/ intent), which makes it 5 elements.
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Bao wrote:The Yijing consists of different parts. The Xicizhuan is a sort of "instruction manual" or explanation about how the principle of "Yi" works. It was studied by both Zhou Yi and Zhuxi, they both did adjustments, small re-arrangements and inserted comments on it. There's a line in the Xicizhuan were "sanji" or "three ultimates" are mentioned meaning Heaven, Earth, and Human. Chuxi inserted a comment on this line and referred to Zhou Dunyi's term "Tai Chi". This is why this term is found in the Xicizhuan. It was not originally found in the Yijing.
5. Therefore there is in the changes the Great Primal Beginning. This generates the two primary forces. The two primary forces generate the four images. The four images generate the eight trigrams.
(Commentary) The Great Primal Beginning, t'ai chi, plays an important role in later Chinese natural philosophy. ...
7o. Therefore in (the system of) the Yî there is the Grand Terminus, which produced the two elementary Forms. Those two Forms produced the Four emblematic Symbols, which again produced the eight Trigrams.
是故,易有太極,是生兩儀,兩儀生四象,四象生八卦,八卦定吉凶,吉凶生大業。是故,法象莫大乎天地,變通莫大乎四時,縣象著明莫大乎日月,崇高莫大乎富貴;備物致用,立成器以為天下利,莫大乎聖人;探賾索隱,鉤深致遠,以定天下之吉凶,成天下之亹亹者,莫大乎蓍龜。
Therefore in (the system of) the Yi there is the Grand Terminus, which produced the two elementary Forms. Those two Forms produced the Four emblematic Symbols, which again produced the eight Trigrams. The eight trigrams served to determine the good and evil (issues of events), and from this determination was produced the (successful prosecution of the) great business (of life). Therefore of all things that furnish models and visible figures there are none greater than heaven and earth; of things that change and extend an influence (on others) there are none greater than the four seasons; of things suspended (in the sky) with their figures displayed clear and bright, there are none greater than the sun and moon; of the honoured and exalted there are none greater than he who is the rich and noble (one); in preparing things for practical use, and inventing and making instruments for the benefit of all under the sky, there are none greater than the sages; to explore what is complex, search out what is hidden, to hook up what lies deep, and reach to what is distant, thereby determining (the issues) for good or ill of all events under the sky, and making all men under heaven full of strenuous endeavours, there are no (agencies) greater than those of the stalks and the tortoise-shell.
Bao wrote:"If it wasn’t for him Xingyi practitioners would never have got the five elements and tai chi practitioners would have to think of another name for their supreme ultimate art"
It was pre Neo-Confucianist Zhou (Dun) Yi who created the Tai Chi Tu Shuo and invented the term Taiji and explained that only humans had the full potential of the Five Elements. What Zhu Xi has to do with this terminology or Xingyi I have no idea about. Zhou Xi was the reason that Confucianism was re-institutionalized and also the of cause of dividing the new Confucianism into two schools, Lixue and Xinxue, the schools of Principle and Mind. Zhouxi represented the first one, but the second one has had far greater impact on Tai Chi Chuan, Martial arts and on Chinese learning and teaching systems in general, mostly because of Wang Yangming who taught that real knowledge comes from doing, not by thinking.
"Knowledge is the beginning of practice; doing is the completion of knowing."
- Wang Yangming
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