Episode 115 - Books on Taiji

I have a good collection of martial art books on Taiji.

These books were purchased by me in the past 30 years or so. The best book appears to be "On the Art of Taiji", a Qing classic, a photo copy of which was reproduced in a book published in early 80's. "On the Art of Taiji" discusses in depth on the importance of getting back to the "original body condition" through martial art trainings. It also talks about the stage of "Know your own self" and the stage of "Know others". It is a directional book and not an instructional manual. You need to learn the details (on basic trainings and application skills) from a teacher who knows the art.

Another book I like most is "A Collection of Taiji Classics" published in the mainland in early 90s. It includes the texts of most well known Taiji classics. It is a documentary textbook and does not include commentaries of contemporary writers (that's why it is good).

The classics provides:

1. The definitive principles on the art - what the art is about, what to learn and what the goal is.
2. Guidelines for the students to follow so that they will not depart from the basic principles in their trainings.

No matter how good a book is, it cannot replace a teacher - the classics do not teach you "how" to do it. A good teacher should be able to demonstrate to his students in action the taiji principles and provide the right training methods to the students so that they can do the same thing within a reasonable period of time. It is foolish to believe in the saying that "it takes at least 10 years to become a good taiji practitioner."

I also have a lot of books published by contemporary Taiji practitioners. I regret to say that many of these books are not up to standard. It may be that some of these writers are skillful (giving them the benefit of doubt), they did not disclose any valuable information to the public in their books.

Some of these books usually include a set of photos (covering more than 2/3 of the book) with the writers practising the form, plus a reproduction of a few pieces of Taiji classics (covering 10 more pages), plus some simple (or intentionally complicated) explanations from which you cannot improve your skill.

I wish I could find out some positive methods to get rid of these books on my bookshelf. I of course wish to have all my money back - together with interest!