Taijiquan as a Way of Life: The Philosophy of Cheng Man-ch’ing

ABSTRACT

Cheng Man-ch’ing (1901–1975) is as responsible as anyone for the wide popularity of taijiquan in the West. While his stature as a master and teacher of taijiquan is legendary, he is less well-known as a philosopher. Yet Cheng wrote a number of philosophical commentaries on Chinese classics that shed light on his understanding of taijiquan. In this paper I propose that a consideration of Cheng’s philosophical reflections shows him to be a twentieth century Neo-Confucian who saw taijiquan as a key component of the overall aim of moral self-cultivation. In transmitting taijiquan to his fellow Chinese and to the West, Cheng was attempting to convey traditional Chinese thought and action as expressed in Neo-Confucian moral ideals. For Cheng, taijiquan was more than a martial art or physical exercise; it was a way of life.

KEYWORDS:

• Cheng Man-ch’ing
• Zheng Manqing
• taijiquan
• Confucianism
• Neo-Confucianism
• Asian martial arts
• philosophy as a way of life

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Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. I have decided to use the Wade-Giles version of transliteration of Chinese characters rather than pinyin for Cheng Man-ch’ing’s name since this is the way his name was transliterated during his lifetime, the way his name appears on the many books he authored, and the way he was known, and is still known, by students of taijiquan in the West. I have also retained the Wade-Giles transliteration of Confucius and Mencius since this how the names appear in the many references to them in translations of Cheng’s writings.

2. Much of what follows is based on the memorial book for Cheng written by his longtime assistant and translator, Gibbs (1978) as well as the ‘Biographical Notes’ in Wile (2007).

3. See Davis (2004, 2–23) for a more likely account of the origins of taijiquan.

4. For a helpful introduction to the different schools of Neo-Confucianism, see Angle and Tiwald (2017).

5. One reason for morning and evening practice no doubt has to do with the importance of morning qi and evening qi for its purity and calming effects, as Mencius noted in the Ox Mountain parable (6A8).

6. It should be noted here that it is not the external straightness of the physical posture that supports the moral disposition, and so persons with disabilities who are unable to stand straight are not morally disadvantaged. Rather, it is the performative aspect or internal sense of straightness within the body that manifests the embodiment of the moral quality of straightness. In fact, one finds in Zhuangzi’s many accounts of persons with disabilities as moral exemplars a good counterpoint within the Chinese philosophical tradition to the kind of ‘ableism’ that might otherwise arise. See, especially, the Inner Chapters, chapter 5. (I owe this point to an anonymous reviewer of this journal).

7. I also owe this point to an anonymous reviewer.

8. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 23rd Annual ASIANetwork Conference, ‘Asia: Body and Spirit,’ Saint Louis, MO, 11 April 2015. I would like to express my thanks to an anonymous reviewer of this version of the paper for the very helpful comments.