Editing Tai chi (section)

== Philosophical background ==
{{See also|Tai chi philosophy}}
[[File:Zhou_Dunyi_Taijitu_English.png|thumb|Zhou Dunyi's ''[[Taijitu]]'' diagram which illustrates the ''Taijitu'' cosmology.]]
[[Chinese philosophy]], particularly [[Taoist philosophy|Taoist]] and [[Confucian thought]], forms the conceptual background to tai chi.<ref name=":1">{{Cite magazine |last=Wile |first=Douglas |date=2007 |title=Taijiquan and Daoism: From Religion to Martial Art and Martial Art to Religion |url=http://blackmoonharbor.com/uploads/1/1/5/3/115363763/taijiquan_and_daoism_.pdf |publisher=Via Media Publishing |volume=16 |issue=4 |pages=8–45 |issn=1057-8358 |periodical=Journal of Asian Martial Arts}}</ref> Early tai chi texts include embedded quotations from early Chinese classics like the ''[[I Ching]]'', ''[[Great Learning]]'', ''[[Book of Documents]]'', ''[[Records of the Grand Historian]]'', and ''[[Zhuangzi (book)|Zhuangzi]]'', as well as from famous Chinese thinkers like [[Zhu Xi]], [[Zhou Dunyi]], and [[Mencius]].<ref name=":1" />

Early tai chi sources are grounded in ''[[Taiji (philosophy)|Taiji]]'' cosmology. ''Taiji'' cosmology appears in both [[Taoist]] and [[Confucian]] [[Chinese philosophy|philosophy]], where it represents the single source or mother of [[yin and yang]] (represented by the ''[[taijitu]]'' symbol [[File:Yin yang (fixed width).svg|16px|☯]]).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cheng Man-ch'ing |title=Cheng-Tzu's Thirteen Treatises on T'ai Chi Ch'uan |publisher=North Atlantic Books |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-938190-45-5 |page=21}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> Tai chi also draws on Chinese theories of the body, particularly Taoist ''[[neidan]]'' (internal alchemy) teachings on ''[[qi]]'' (vital energy) and on the three ''[[dantian]]''. [[Cheng Man-ch'ing]] emphasizes the Taoist background of tai chi and states that it "enables us to reach the stage of undifferentiated pure yang, which is exactly the same as [[Laozi]]'s 'concentrating the qi and developing softness'".<ref name=":1" />

As such, tai chi considers itself an "internal" (''[[neijia]]'') martial art focused on developing ''qi''.<ref name=":1" /> In China, tai chi is categorized under the ''[[Wudangquan|Wudang]]'' group of Chinese martial arts<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sun Lutang |title=Xing Yi Quan Xue |publisher=Unique Publications |year=2000 |isbn=0-86568-185-6 |page=3 |author-link=Sun Lutang}}</ref>—that is, arts applied with internal power.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ranne |first=Nabil |date=2010 |title=Internal power in Taijiquan |url=http://www.ctnd.de/wissenswertes/36/88-kraft-taijiquantqj-2010.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181107000736/https://ctnd.de/wissenswertes/36/88-kraft-taijiquantqj-2010.html |archive-date=2018-11-07 |access-date=2011-01-01 |publisher=CTND |language=de}}</ref> Although the term ''Wudang'' suggests these arts originated in the [[Wudang Mountains]], it is used only to distinguish the skills, theories, and applications of ''neijia'' from those of the [[Shaolinquan|Shaolin]] grouping, or ''[[waijia]]'' (hard/external styles).<ref name=":1" />

Tai chi also adopts the Taoist ideals of softness overcoming hardness, of ''[[wu wei]]'' (effortless action), and of yielding into its martial art technique while also retaining Taoist ideas of spiritual self-cultivation.<ref name=":1" />

Tai chi's path is one of developing naturalness by relaxing, attending inward, and slowing mind, body, and breath.<ref name=":1" /> This allows the practitioner to become less tense, to drop conditioned habits, to let go of thoughts, to allow ''qi'' to flow smoothly, and thus to flow with the ''[[Tao]]''. It is thus a kind of moving meditation that allows us to let go of the self and experience no-mind (''[[wuxin]]'') and spontaneity (''[[ziran]]'').<ref name=":1" />

A key aspect of tai chi philosophy is to work with the flow of [[yin and yang|''yin'' (softness) and ''yang'' (hardness)]] elements. When two forces push each other with equal force, neither side moves. Motion cannot occur until one side yields. Therefore, a key principle in tai chi is to avoid using force directly against force (hardness against hardness). Laozi provided the [[archetype]] for this in the ''[[Tao Te Ching]]'' when he wrote, "The soft and the pliable will defeat the hard and strong."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Laozi (attributed) |title=Tao Te Ching |title-link=Tao Te Ching |date=249 |editor-last={{nowrap|Wang Bi}} |editor-link=Wang Bi |chapter=[[:zh:s:道德經 (王弼本)#老子《道德經》下篇|七十六章]] |quote=強大處下柔弱處上 |author-link=Laozi |orig-date=400s BCE}}</ref> Conversely, when in possession of leverage, one may want to use hardness to force the opponent to become soft. Traditionally, tai chi uses both soft and hard. Yin is said to be the mother of Yang, using soft power to create hard power.

Traditional schools also emphasize that one is expected to show ''[[Chinese martial arts#"Martial morality"|wude]]'' ("martial virtue/heroism"), to protect the defenseless, and to show mercy to one's opponents.{{sfn|Wile|1996}}

In December 2020, the 15th regular session of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage included tai chi in the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.<ref>{{Citation |last=((Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage)) |title=Decision of the Intergovernmental Committee: 15.COM 8.b.21 |date=2020 |url=https://ich.unesco.org/en/Decisions/15.COM/8.b.21 |access-date=2023-07-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230530151143/https://ich.unesco.org/en/Decisions/15.COM/8.b.21 |url-status=live |publisher=UNESCO |archive-date=2023-05-30}}</ref>