Re: Lineage -- Chen Pan Ling Taijiquan

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Date Posted: Fri, Jan 14 2005, 7:09:44 PST
Author: PD
Author Host/IP: user-12lclel.cable.mindspring.com / 69.86.85.213
Subject: Re: Lineage
In reply to: Khari 's message, "Re: Lineage" on Thu, Jan 13 2005, 21:54:00 PST

It was Chen Panling's hope that eventually the bickering between various schools and styles of martial arts would end and that Chinese martial arts would become more unified. The main way to do this, in Chen�s view, was by �...not dividing into styles, but always recognising the lineage of one's art�. There is no doubt in my mind that Chen would have objected to people calling the taijiquan he practiced 'Chen Panling Taiji'. The use of the term, I believe, only started in the past decade or so, as the style has become more popular internationally, especially in the United States. And it was certainly not proliferated by Chen or his immediate students. Wang Shujin chose to call the style 'zheng zong taijiquan', or Orthodox Taijiquan, to highlight that it is a combination form that tries to bring together the essence of the various branches of the art . Both teachers thus sought to distance themselves from the common five family division, though Chen was more invested in the idea of unifying the Chinese martial arts than Wang was. A long time ago, when I asked the chairman of the ROC Taijiquan Association what style of taiji he practices, he simply replied "I practice Taijiquan." He, too, was quite unwilling to divide into styles, but instead stressed the underlying principles and a more inclusive, non-divisive way of categorising the art.

Anyway, it's neither here nor there. Taiji is alive and there are always differences, but they are primarily differences between individual ways of practicing. That's how it used to be at the beginning of the 20th century. Now those differences have become institutionalised and we speak of Chen, Wu2, Wu3, Yang, Sun styles etc. Depending on the 'version' of taiji you practice, perhaps the most reasonable thing to say would be "I practice the taijiquan taught by Wang Shujin," or, "I practice the taijiquan as taught by XXX". Or simply: "I practice taijiquan." Chen Panling's idea of respecting one's lineage but not dividing into styles makes a lot of sense to me.

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Replies:

Question for PD -- Khari, Fri, Jan 14 2005, 22:06:09 PST (user-2ivealm.dialup.mindspring.com/165.247.42.182)