The Illustrated Canon of Chen Family Taijiquan (Hardcover)

by Chen Xin (Author), Alex Golstein (Translator)

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Product Description
"The Illustrated Canon of Chen Family Taijiquan" is universally acknowledged by Taijiquan practitioners as the seminal sourcebook of Chen Taiji philosophy and techniques. A work of intense scholarship which took over fourteen years to complete, this tome was intended by its author to be both the first ever written repository of Taiji lore, and a referential resource for Taiji instructors and practitioners for generations to follow. The English translation of this canon in its entirety was made by an experienced Taiji practitioner and scholar of Chinese culture Alex Golstein and marks the first ever attempt to translate into English Chen Xins highly esoteric and detailed technical explanations of Chen-style Taijiquan techniques, including his meticulous inscriptions for over 400 illustrations. Given the complexity of the material, the main objectives of this translation are twofold. First, to render the work accessible to as wide an audience as possible by modernizing and simplifying the language while conserving the integrity of the authors intention and instruction. To this end, the Pinyin system has been used to standardize the spelling of all Chinese nouns, and footnotes have been added wherever additional clarification was deemed necessary. The second objective is to encourage its usage as a reference book by improving on the user-friendliness of its structure. Hence, minor adjustments were made in the order and naming of the chapters, and more importantly, the order of inscriptions explaining the illustrations have been clarified through a detailed numbering system. Detailed table of contents was also added to facilitate navigation through the 750 pages of this book. Readers will find this first edition a useful introduction into the philosophy and techniques of Chen Taijiquan and a valuable source of knowledge as their practice and understanding evolves.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 750 pages
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 5986870085
• ISBN-13: 979-5986870082
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 6.5 x 3.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,093,816 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A masterpiece, May 22, 2008

By	David J. Chesser (Taipei, Taiwan) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Written by a member of the Chen family, Chen Xin, this is the first comprehensive look at Chen style taiji. Chen completed his work in the 1920's and it's based on his practice of the "xiaojia" frame of Chen style which is a bit different from the more commonly seen laojia frame. So the form, which is meticulously broken down in the book, is the older xiaojia form.

Chen's point of view is heavily flavored by his knowledge of Yijing philosophy and internal alchemy. The book is basically steeped in it. Chen starts right at the source with the Luo and He River maps that were the pre-cursors to the Yijing in order to explain in minute detail exactly where taiji philosophy and movement came from. He then segues into Yijing philosophy and explains the trigrams, a basis for understanding how the trigrams influence the form that follows later. The meridian theory from TCM is then introduced as an explanation for silk reeling.

Basically the silk reeling originates in the dantian and then spirals out through the meridians in the body and the limbs. Chen provides perhaps a bit more detail than necessary to understand that concept, but better too much than too little.

Chen makes it so clear right from the beginning that internal alchemy is THE point of doing taiji. He even mentions seated meditation at key points in the text as a way of illuminating things that may not be clear from just form practice. The form itself is explained in terms of the alchemy with each move broken down into silk reeling and alchemical components. This section will prove invaluable to practitioners of any taijiquan style. Using this text, taiji people can pick out the alchemy elements of each move in order to practice them.

Chen does mention martial uses of the taiji, but these comments are buried inside the larger alchemical context. In order to understand the applications, you must be thoroughly familiar with the yin/yang philosophy that Chen uses or else the application theory won't make sense. So in order to grasp what he says about application, you must grasp the central thesis of the book which means not skipping the long parts on alchemy.

This book is a masterpiece, albeit one that will unfortunately not be as influential in the West as it is in the East. For example, when I studied Chen style in Taiwan, my teachers told me this was the only book I needed to buy. It's deep enough to be plumbed for a lifetime. But because of that depth, few will be able to penetrate the book's teachings. Basically the book is far deeper than most are willing to go in their taiji practice even though following the advice of this book would lead them to true knowledge of the taiji and taijiquan.

As I read it, I felt a little sad, as if I had been given a glimpse of a masterpiece that would unfortunately not be shared by many people.