太極拳原序
INTRODUCTION – ON THE ORIGIN OF TAIJI BOXING
太極拳傳自張眞人，眞人，遼東懿州人，道號三峯，生宋末，身高七尺，鶴骨松姿，面如古月，慈眉善目，修髯如戟，頂作一髻寒暑唯一箬笠，手持佛塵，日行千里，洪武初，至蜀太和山修煉結庵玉虛宮，經書一覽成誦，洪武二十七年，又入湖北武當山，與鄕人論經書談說不倦，一日在屋誦經，有喜雀在院，其鳴如箏，眞人由窗視之，雀在柏樹，如鷹下觀，地上有一長蛇蟠結，仰視，二物相爭，雀鳴聲飛下展翅扇打，長蛇搖首微閃，躱過雀翅，雀自下隨飛樹上，少時性燥，又飛下翅打，長蛇又蜿蜒輕身閃過，仍作盤形，如是多次並未打着，後眞人出，雀飛蛇走，眞人由此而悟，蟠如太極，以柔克剛之理，由按太極變化而組成太極拳，養精氣神，動靜消長，通於易理，故傳之久遠，而功效愈著，北京白雲觀現存有眞人聖像可供瞻仰云。
Taiji Boxing was passed down from the Daoist saint, Zhang. He was from Yizhou in Liaodong. The monastic name he was given was Sanfeng. He was born during the end of the Song Dynasty [ending in 1279]. Standing seven feet tall, he had a crane’s build and a pine’s bearing. His face was like the aged moon, with kindness in his eyes and brows. His beard was as long as a halberd and his hair was in a bun atop his head. Regardless of winter or summer he wore the same wide hat of bamboo. He held a Buddhist duster and walked immense distances in a single day.
At the beginning of Emperor Hongwu’s reign [1368], Zhang went to Mt. Grand Harmony in Sichuan to practice asceticism, joining the Temple of Jade Emptiness monastery, and recited the scriptures after just one reading. In the twenty-seventh year of Hongwu’s reign [1394], Zhang travelled again, going to Mt. Wudang in Hubei, and he tirelessly conversed with the villagers about the scriptures.
One day, while reciting passages in his room, an excited sparrow appeared in the courtyard. Because of its zither-like chirping, the saint looked out his window to watch it. The sparrow was in a cypress tree, gazing down eagle-eyed, while on the ground there was a snake coiling and weaving, looking up at the sparrow. The two animals were fighting. The sparrow cried out and flew down, spreading its wings to give flapping strikes. The snake waved its head to slightly dodge, avoiding the sparrow’s wings. The sparrow returned to the tree to express its annoyance for a while then flew down to try again. The snake again wriggled its nimble body to evade, remaining in its coiled shape. It went on like this many times without a strike. Then Zhang came out and the sparrow flew away and the snake slithered off.
The saint was illumined by this incident. The snake’s coiling was like the taiji symbol and used the principle of softness overcoming hardness. From the taiji’s transformations was devised Taiji Boxing. It cultivates essence, energy, and spirit. Movement and stillness wax and wane as in the theory of the Book of Changes. This is the way it comes down to us from long ago and its effectiveness is increasingly proven. In Beijing’s White Cloud Temple there is still an image of the saint which can be reverenced.
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