Abstract
The discipline of Tai Chi, rooted in the Taoist tradition, has much to show us about the development of spirituality through movement. This chapter outlines an alternative perspective on relationships between religious and holistic spirituality that emerge from an examination of Tai Chi Chuan, the popular martial and health promoting art and its connections with Taoism, the Chinese religio-philosophical movement. Sociological understandings of spirituality tend to be polarised as a binary opposition between, on the one hand religious spirituality associated with established institutionalised religions such as Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Buddhism and, on the other, so called holistic spirituality which is assumed to be un or disconnected with any established religion, its congregational activity and core doctrines. This chapter challenges such a binary view on the grounds that it is informed by and defends Western materialistic dualist perspectives of spirituality and religion. Alternatively, it is argued, that Tai Chi Chuan is a case example of a living and evolving art form that intermingles religious and holistic forms of spirituality without contradiction even though it is a self-contained spiritual activity.
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Notes
- 1.
The Daozang (Taoist Canon), depending on the compilation consulted, has between 1200 and 1500 volumes of Taoist texts.
- 2.
Taijitu translates as ‘diagram of the supreme ultimate’ but it also translates as ‘supreme pole’ or ‘supreme polarity’. Each translation renders subtly different interpretations available.
- 3.
Primary Tai Chi Chuan Styles include Chen, Yang, Sun and Wu. Most other styles emerged from adaptions of these (this is subject to debate).
- 4.
The idea is documented in the The Huang-t’ing ching (The Book of the Yellow Court), written in the second or third century A.D. It is also often referred to as the Yellow court classic of the Jade Book.
- 5.
Tao Yin features strongly in the Daozang (Taoist Canon) with one volume ‘The Dao-yin classic’ devoted to the subject. Excavations of King Ma’s (circa 168 B.C.) tomb revealed a 50 × 100 cm silk wall hanging now known as the Tao Yin Tu. It depicts participants practising the various gigong exercises, many of which are now embedded in Tai Chi Chuan movements.
- 6.
Chinese internal arts include; Hsing I Ch’üan, Tai Chi Chuan, Pa-kua chang.
- 7.
The historical “facts” of these developments is frequently contested by practitioners and scholars in ways mirroring Taoism’s development.
- 8.
A mythical Taoist who is now officially ‘canonised’ by Chinese authorities as having initiated an early form of Tai Chi Chuan.
- 9.
Booth (2004, p. 96–97) describes soul surfing as “‘riding waves for ‘the good of one’s soul’” and “signified self-expression, escape and freedom.” Many of these forms of expression had overt or implicit reference to religion, spirituality and the New Age movement.
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Brown, D. (2016). Taoism Through Tai Chi Chuan: Physical Culture as Religious or Holistic Spirituality?. In: de Souza, M., Bone, J., Watson, J. (eds) Spirituality across Disciplines: Research and Practice:. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31380-1_24
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