How does Taijiquan lead to spiritual fulfilment?
First we need to be clear about what spiritual fulfilment means. For our purpose here, it means accomplishing the needs of the spirit, or shen in Chinese. Because of different developmental stages, there are understandably many and varied forms of spiritual fulfilment. From the Taoist perspective, which constitutes the underlying philosophy in Taijiquan, these many and varied forms of spiritual fulfilment can be categorized into three major levels • attaining good health and longevity in this life • become a saint or an immortal • attaining the Tao, which is expressed in other cultures as attaining Buddhahood, union with Brahman, return to God. The attaining of these goals is achieved through the cultivation of body, energy and mind (or spirit) — the “three treasures” of jing, qi and shen. At the elementary level, the cultivation of the three treasures, which occurs in every Taijiquan exercise, results in good health and longevity. At the intermediate level, the spirit is nurtured and
First we need to be clear about what spiritual fulfilment means. For our purpose here, it means accomplishing the needs of the spirit, or shen in Chinese. Because of different developmental stages, there are understandably many and varied forms of spiritual fulfilment. From the Taoist perspective, which constitutes the underlying philosophy in Taijiquan, these many and varied forms of spiritual fulfilment can be categorized into three major levels • attaining good health and longevity in this life • become a saint or an immortal • attaining the Tao, which is expressed in other cultures as attaining Buddhahood, union with Brahman, return to God. The attaining of these goals is achieved through the cultivation of body, energy and mind (or spirit) — the “three treasures” of jing, qi and shen. At the elementary level, the cultivation of the three treasures, which occurs in every Taijiquan exercise, results in good health and longevity. At the intermediate level, the spirit is nurtured and
