| Article Index |
|---|
| Tai Chi -- A Path to Samadhi |
| Why Tai Chi? |
| Rediscovering the Center |
| Temple-style Tai Chi and Practice |
| How can one learn it and Who should learn it? |
| All Pages |
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Samadhi
Translated literally, SamAdhi means To get integrated. Samadhi is often defined as the state of complete immersion into a cosmic consciousness that is beyond the realm of ordinary consciousness (as we generally use the word). The state in which the observer and observed merge, that is Samadhi it is a state induced by total meditation. There are various stages of Samadhi and a detailed discussion of the same is beyond the scope of this article (refer to the link provided above to learn more about Samadhi).
Introducing Tai Chi
The term Tai Chi (also known as Taiji) literally means Supreme Ultimate and conceptually represents the play between Yin and Yang, the primordial Energies from which the material universe and all its constituents is said to be manifested (hence the symbol of a circle divided into two S- shaped sections --- one light and one dark, chasing each other). Tai Chi is a very sophisticated concept and is a major component of the ancient Chinese philosophical discipline of Taoism (the Yin-Yang concept is similar to the Indian concepts of Purusha and Prakriti (which represent the Consciousness and Energy differentiation of the One Brahman) but is more generic in the sense that they represent all forms of Duality in Nature Day and Night, Light and Dark, Heat and Cold, Good and Bad, Substantial and insubstantial and so on
).
Tai Chi Chuan (or Tai Chi Chuan) translates as Supreme Ultimate Boxing (or the martial implementation of this sophisticated philosophy of Taoism).
NOTE: As it is a prevalent practice, I will use the word Tai Chi to refer to both Tai Chi the concept as well as Tai Chi Chuan the Martial Art.
There are various schools of Tai Chi (check out this url for more details
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiji_chuan) and each is called a Style (for instance, Yang Style, Wu Style, and so on ). Each of these is based on the name of the person who developed that particular system (I have provided more details about this below).
