Translated by Joshua Hehr
The name Taijiquan comes from the fact that it is guided by the Taiji philosophy of Daoism in the practice of the art. Combining the practice of martial arts with Taiji philosophy, and using Taiji philosophy to guide the practice, is the outstanding characteristic of Taijiquan. Taiji philosophy occupies an important position in the history of philosophical development in our country and is a brilliant pearl in our cultural treasury. It is essentially dialectics, the law of the unity, opposition, and transformation of contradictions in things, the law of development of things, hence it is called "one yin, one yang." Therefore, the boxing classics, boxing treatises, mental explanations of practice, and songs of the overall posture of Taijiquan truly shine with the brilliance of materialist dialectics, possess logic, and contain rich practical experience, which should be carefully comprehended and experienced.
Taiji philosophy is articulated in words as: "Taiji is born from Wuji, the incipient moment of movement and stillness, the mother of yin and yang. When it moves, it separates; when it is still, it unites." The Taiji diagram vividly represents the relationship of mutual opposition and mutual dependence between the two aspects of Taiji—yin and yang.
Taiji: refers to two mutually opposing aspects, namely yin and yang, as in the twin-fish diagram of the Taiji symbol.
Wuji: unified whole, referring to things or processes, represented by a circle in the Taiji diagram.
Movement and Stillness: the world is in constant motion; movement is the motion of motion, stillness is the motion of stillness. Movement is absolute motion, manifesting as a state of notable change; stillness is relative motion, manifesting as a state of relative rest.
Ji (incipient): movement not yet formed, between existence and non-existence is called ji, namely tendency, direction, sign, trend, indication, factor, possibility.
Incipient moment of movement and stillness: the tendency and trend of yin and yang, movement and stillness, transforming into each other (transforming in the direction of its opposite).
Fen (separate): imbalance, expansion, enlargement.
He (unite): balance, contraction, reduction.
The meaning of the phrase "Taiji is born from Wuji, the incipient moment of movement and stillness, the mother of yin and yang. When it moves, it separates; when it is still, it unites" can be understood as follows: the unified whole (Wuji) divides into two opposing aspects (yin and yang). The opposing sides (yin and yang) always have a tendency toward mutual transformation and movement (the incipient moment of movement and stillness). In relative stillness, the opposing sides manifest as a state of balance; in notable movement, things undergo a change in nature (when it moves, it separates), transforming from balance (unite) to imbalance (separate). When the process of quantitative change to qualitative change is complete, the problem is resolved. The old process ends, the old relationship of yin-yang opposition is eliminated, and a new yin-yang relationship emerges.
Yin and yang are general terms for two mutually opposing sides, which have different contents and specific names according to the specific circumstances of things, for example: existence and non-existence, empty and full, hard and soft, up and down, front and back, left and right, favorable and unfavorable, advance and retreat, attack and defense, form and intent, etc. If one side is yang, then the other side is yin, and vice versa. Generally, by convention, up is yang and down is yin; hard is yang and soft is yin.
In complex things, multiple yin-yang opposing pairs exist simultaneously, but there is a distinction between primary and secondary. Among them, only one is the primary body, while the others are secondary bodies; changes in the primary body influence changes in the other secondary bodies.
Within the same yin-yang pair, there is also a distinction between primary and secondary; the primary body determines the nature of the thing.
Zhongji (central ultimate) is the subtle point where yin and yang interact and intersect: the mystery of Zhongji is both yin and yang, yet neither yin nor yang; it is said that at the critical moment of an arrow's flight, there is a time when it neither moves nor stops. The marvel of Zhongji is that curves can become straight, straight can become curved; circles can become squares, squares can become circles. In practicing Taijiquan from beginning to end, one must use Taiji philosophy as the guiding ideology, adapting to local conditions and changing with the changes in things, without violating this law. Taijiquan is a method for training both the spirit and physique of a person. Therefore, first one must apply Taiji philosophy to analyze the human body, then study its connection with the external world, finding methods of training from the analysis of the yin-yang relationships of things, in order to achieve the goal of cultivating both body and mind.