Taoist Tai Chi And How Did It Come To Be

Taoist Tai Chi

Taoist tai chi is a relatively "new" form of tai chi. It's only been around since the 1970s.

Master Moy Lin-shin created taoist tai chi using 108 moves of Yang style tai chi. Unlike most styles of tai chi (including wu style tai chi, yang style tai chi, chen style tai chi, and most of the others), taoist tai chi is not a martial arts form. Moy Lin-shin did not want taoist tai chi to be competitive. Its sole purpose is to promote health and healing. In fact, anyone who practices or promotes taoist tai chi competitively or as a martial arts form will not be allowed to become or remain a taoist tai chi instructor.

Here's the story of where taoist tai chi came from:

The man most often credited with creating tai chi is Zhang Sanfeng. He was a taoist sage who lived back in the 12th and 13th centuries. He combined what he knew about Taoism with what he knew about martial arts to create tai chi. Tai chi gets most of its health and spiritual teachings from Taoism.

Moy Lin-shin was born in China in 1931. He was sick a lot while he was young, but he was admitted to a monastery where he studied both Taoism and Chinese martial arts. He later regained his health. This is probably why he realized the power of Taoism to promote healing and later chose to emphasize the Taoist portion of tai chi instead of the competitive and martial arts portion of tai chi.

He moved to Hong Kong in 1948 or 1949 and joined the Yuen Yuen Institute, which was dedicated to Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. He studied there and became a monk. In 1968 he helped found the Fung Loy Kok Institute of Taoism there. In 1970 he moved to Canada and taught wushu in Toronto. He began to teach an altered form of Yang style tai chi. He called this taoist tai chi.

Moy Lin-shin later helped set up three organizations dedicated to helping eastern and western cultures understand each other. These included the Taoist Tai Chi Society of Canada; branches of the Fung Loy Kok Institute of Taoism; and the Gei Pang Lok Hup Academy. They were all related in one way or another to taoist tai chi.

After Moy Lin-shin's death in 1998, the three organizations joined together. Taoist tai chi spread As a result of Moy Lin-shin's charisma, his dedication to his craft, and his creation of organizations related to taoist tai chi. Taoist tai chi is now taught at more than 500 separate schools.