Reviewed by Christopher Dow

 

 

 

The foundational writings on tai chi, collectively called the Tai Chi Classics, are a group of eight or nine texts (depending on how one counts), each containing various numbers of “chapters.” These texts were accumulated from several locations in China during the 19th and early 20th centuries—primarily from a salt shop in Wu-yang County, Henan; a manuscript discovered in a Beijing bookstall; and holdings by the Yang family. They are, so far, the earliest known writings on tai chi.

 

Tai Chi Touchstones: Yang Family Secret Transmissions, compiled and edited by Douglas Wile, is one of the more extensive and well-translated versions of the original group of the Classics available in English. Sweet Ch’i Press must be very glad that they published it, since not only is it a perennial seller, it is one of the more important books available in English on tai chi.

 

Wile is no slouch when it comes to tai chi history. For many years, he served as professor of Chinese language and literature at Brooklyn College. He is an expert translator as well as a scholar of Chinese history, in general, and is the author of several books on tai chi and other Chinese yogic practices. (See the review of his Lost T’ai-chi Classics from the Late Ch’ing Dynasty, elsewhere on this site.) In this volume, he limits his personal commentary to a seven-page “Translator’s Note,” which lays out the difficulties in tracing tai chi’s history—not just prior to the Chen family’s acquisition of the art, but even into the 20th century. This brief chapter also delves into the history of the Classics and a few of the problems of dating and authorship attached to them.

 

The rest of this solid volume is devoted entirely to Wile’s translation of the Classics. I’ve read a lot of versions of the Classics over the past nearly forty years, and many are excellent, but none are better or more complete than Wile’s. His translation is very straightforward and does not attempt to further “poeticize” the texts, as some versions try to do. And each of the texts is attributed to its purported author, while many other translations or compilations of the Classics simply mush the texts together without attribution.

 

In addition, although a great many writers who include the Classics in their books also accompany them with commentaries that explain (with varying success) the sometimes obscure meaning contained in their often poetic and cryptic language, Wile eschews this, allowing the Classics to stand alone. I like many of the versions with commentaries a great deal. When it comes to learning more about tai chi, I’ll take all the help I can get. But I also appreciate the fact that Wile lets the Classics speak for themselves. Jewels such as this need no setting.

 

As I said, I’ve read a great many versions of the Classics over the years, but I never tire of them. When I first read them, they frequently came across as obscure, and I usually didn’t know that they were talking about. The second time I read them, after I’d practiced tai chi for a little longer, I realized that I understood one or two elements. The third time, I understood more. And so it’s gone. As my understanding of the art has grown, so has my comprehension of the Classics, which are, as Wile’s title implies, not simply instructional notes but touchstones for advancement.

 

Thanks to Wile, it is possible to own a comprehensive and well-translated version of the original Tai Chi Classics under one cover. This is one of the few tai chi books that I’ve given as gifts, it’s one I keep going back to, and it’s one that should be in every tai chi library.