Zen and the T’ai Chi Chih form

The T’ai Chi Chih discipline is true Zen practice. You don’t have to reconcile Divinity with Emptiness (Void) and don’t have to struggle to find your Self; indeed, there is no place for struggle, self-doubt, and intellectual conjecture in T’ai Chi Chih practice. Just do the movements correctly, without effort, and let the effect happen. The results are always surprising when put into words, but there is no need for words. One who does not regularly practise the T’ai Chi Chih movements can never know, thru another’s description, what the blissful feeling is that comes from the circulation and balancing of the CHI. East Indian philosophy deals a good deal with the “Life Force,” also called the “Vital Force” and, sometimes “Intrinsic Energy.” When this Cosmic Energy flows thru one, Truth is experienced, not described. All the self-doubt and egoistic remembrances sell countless numbers of books, but they do not bring rest or contentment. I would say that three-quarters of the letters I receive from T’ai Chi Chih students throughout the world contain the same simple sentence: “T’ai Chi Chih practice has changed my life.” Often there is reference to the writer’s experience of leaving a sick bed after two years to resume a painting career. Or, if the writer has worked hard and received accreditation as a T’ai Chi Chih teacher—after suitable training—he/she now knows how to relax into the flow of daily practice and the state of the “effort of no effort.” Then there might be a description of how the teacher’s students have done away with migraine headaches, greatly improved their osteoporosis, or found surcease from much suffering with Parkinsons. These, however, do not touch on the true benefits of T’ai Chi Chih practice, the spiritual depth-plumbing that brings joy to all who practise the T’ai Chi Chih discipline regularly and well.

The thanks offered to me for sharing the form is not taken personally. My years in the Orient and painstaking search merely point to the necessary training for carrying out my mission. Indian philosophers and great Yogis often refer to the creative force (energy-wisdom) that is Prana (CHI). Long hours of practice had led to “Let it be,” not to defining it. To arise at 5 A.M., sleepy and feeling drowsy, only to have that transferred into an energetic being thru 30 minutes of practice, is much like the feeling I experienced at Eiheji, Dogen’s monastery, in the mountains of northern Japan at 3:30 in the morning. No need to think. If you truly want to experience Mushin (no mind), do the T’ai Chi Chih movements correctly, don’t sit with legs crossed, experiencing physical and mental anguish; just move from the center (the T’an T’ien), and flow effortlessly. It’s not hard, but it’s complete.

In Zen practice, the Master may have had 1000 monks, and only two or three of them experience satisfaction after years of effort. Zen says: “Just eat when hungry and sleep when tired.” If so, why do Masters always exhort: “try harder, harder” (that is not the “effort of no effort”)? You do not have to “try harder” to experience the bliss of the CHI flowing thru you, balanced in Yin and Yang. After practising the T’ai Chi Chih movements for several years, one will probably have the feeling that “no-one is doing anything; T’ai Chi Chih Joy Thru Movement is doing T’ai Chi Chih Joy Thru Movement.” This means you have gotten yourself out of the way; there is only the flowing CHI. You have entered the Cosmic Rhythm. Softness is there; not far behind is what I have called “the Growth of Certainty.” Is not this “Growth of Certainty” what one struggles for in Zen practice?