31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
impossible to casually peruse, but invaluable to the serious, February 18, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Cheng Tzu's Thirteen Treatises on T'ai Chi Ch'uan (Hardcover)
This text has been and still is tremendously illuminating to me. Though I have read it as casual reading a couple times, I have found it most useful when digested a concept at a time. The explanations while thick are neccessarily so. Professor Cheng has throughly described each motion and it's application. A very complex task indeed. Each time I work out I pick a section of the book and try to refine that portion of the form. Each time I am amazed by Cheng Tzu's ability to turn a movement I have made thousands of times into something new and amazing. I highly recommend this text to any serious student of Tai Chi. I also warn any novice student that they should start with one of Cheng Man Ching's more elementary texts. This one is difficult to comprehend if aren't already familiar with Cheng Man Ching's style of Tai Chi.
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great classic by great master, December 15, 2004
This review is from: Cheng Tzu's Thirteen Treatises on T'ai Chi Ch'uan (Hardcover)
If you're a serious tai chi practitioner this book should be in your library. Besides the invaluable knowledge it contains, this is just a very nice edition of the work. It's the only edition authorized by the professor's estate, and contains an introduction written by his wife, in addition to the translation by master Ben Lo. The cover painting of a white lotus and samples of calligraphy by Prof. Chen are nice touches, and the book is hardback and printed on higher quality you would get in a paperback edition. And the price is reasonable given the features and overall quality of the edition.
But of course the most important aspect of the book is that it's one of the most detailed books on the practice and theory of tai chi ever written. Tai chi is composed of three main parts: the self-healing, martial, and medical (or the ability to heal others), aspects, and prof. Chen discusses all of these at length. For example, he discusses the physiology of tai chi, and how chi is transformed in the body to strengthen the muscles, connective tissue, and even bones, in greater detail than I had seen before in any other book. Numerous tai chi principles and practical points are also discussed and illuminated. There is enough material and food for thought here to reflect on for a long time, and I found I spent much time just trying to absorb the basic points, let alone the more advanced principles.
The photos of master Chen performing many of the postures and techniques and their analyses and descriptions are also very helpful. There are 37 different postures in the long form, and each one is illustrated, and the external body mechanics, internal chi process, and martial application discussed and described. It's difficult to get all of that from a single static photo, which is why I say this book is really only for the intermediate or advanced student. (I note that the although some of the reviews here have been posted for more than five years, they only have a few votes, which leads me to believe that only the most serious students obtain and read this book, and look up reviews for it on Amazon).
All is all, a true classic of the martial arts by a great master that should be read and studied by every serious student of tai chi.
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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful Edition, August 15, 2001
This review is from: Cheng Tzu's Thirteen Treatises on T'ai Chi Ch'uan (Hardcover)
This is a beautiful edition of Cheng Man Chings text on Chi Tai Chuan. There are other translations of this text available, but this is by far the best for several reasons. First, it is hardcover, and the layout is beautiful. The cover has a color print of one of Chengs paintings, and there is an example of his calligraphy on the inside. The book is also larger than other editions I have seen, and the prints and pictures are printed larger and more clearly as well. The larger pictures of Cheng performing the Tai Chi form are especially useful. And, while this may not matter everyone, this edition of Chengs book is also the only one authorized by his estate, and contains a preface by Chengs wife. I highly recommend this book.
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