Origins of Taijiquan

Taijiquan traces its roots back to the Taoist Temple in the Wudan Mountains.  At this temple, a great martial artist, Zhangsanfeng developed an Internal Boxing Art that was taught to the monks. It is said that Zhangsanfeng originally mastered the famous Shaolinquan(Shaolin Kung Fu).

Shaolinquan is the art developed by Tamo at the famous Shaolin Monastery (a Chan Buddhist Monastery). Shaolinquan was abandoned for many years, before Jiaoyuanshangren began to teach at the temple.   Jiaoyuanshangren was a master monk that was proficient in quan and fencing and who had further developed the Eighteen Buddha's Palms into 72.  Zhangsanfeng studied for ten years at the Shaolin Monastery and mastered all the arts.

It is further said that Zhangsanfeng left Shaolin to study with a famous Taoist and learned the secret of immortality. After this, he lived at the Wudan Temple for many years. He then traveled throughout China.

There are many stories about how Zhangsenfeng developed the Internal Boxing which later became Taijiquan, but all the styles trace their origins to Zhangsanfeng.

What differentiates Taijiquan from other arts is its adherence to internal principles. These principles can be found in the masters of all martial arts. Taiji starts with these principles. Practitioners learn a different way of moving, a more natural, powerful way of moving.

Taijiquan is a martial art, but the emphasis is not on fighting, rather on self defense. when studying the Taiji Classics, we find that they used a different set of words for self defense than would normally be used in a martial concept. It is thought that these words were used to mean that diligent practice of Taijiquan will defend against many things as well as physical attackers.