A Philosophical Research On The First Chapter Of The Illustrated Handbook Of Chen-style Taichi

As the most popular book to construct the theoretical system as well as the technical system of Chen-style Taichi, the Illustrated Handbook of Chen-style Taichi which has also been known as Chenshi-Taijiquan-Tushuo in Chinese, was written by Chen Xin, one of the descendants of the Chen Family, who were the founders of the Chen-style Taichi. This book consists of four chapters, of which the first chapter is the most important part of the whole book. In this chapter, the author vividly illustrated the theories and principles of the martial art by the Diagram of Taichi. In the meanwhile, he also described the theoretical basis of the book in details and therefore the first chapter was formed to be the inevitable and solid foundation of the entire book. It is widely believed that one can never understand the important parts of this book without understanding the first chapter. The purpose of this thesis is to reveal the core thought of the first chapter of the book.In the introductory remarks, the author not only talked about the core parts of the theoretical system of the great book which have not yet been researched by the academic world, such as the definition of Taichi, the meaning of Chansijing which is another name for Taichi, and the meaning of Chansijingfa which is the practice method of Taichi boxing, but also introduced a new perspective, especially a unique method---the philosophical way to do research on the book. Based on the traditional Chinese culture, with the first chapter of the book as the main theme, and using the construction of experiential consciousness and spirit exceeding experience as the main clue, the author deeply analysed the core concepts, the ideas, and the theoretical logics of the first chapter before elaborating the core theories of the book.In Chapter 1 of the thesis, the author elaborated the various aspects of the writing of the book, such as the traditional Chinese culture, the historical backgrounds when Chen Xin wrote that book, his personal experiences as well as his knowledge, and so on.In Chapter 2, the author pointed out the main contribution of Chen Xin's writing the book. The author believes that in his first chapter of the book, Chen Xin elaborated and explained in details the Taichi boxing as well as the practice principles of Taiji before revealing the true essence of Wu Shu. In the meanwhile in this thesis, the author also did some philosophical research on the contents before giving his own opinions. With the elaboration of the concept all-things-as-one, the author believes that the spirit of Taichi is the greatest wisdom to guide people's life and Chansijingfa which has been widely known as the practice method of Taichi boxing is actually one way for people to master the spirit of Taichi. In fact, Chansijingfa is coincident to the practice principles about"how to improve people's abilities"and"how to get eternal happiness"in traditional Chinese culture.In conclusion, the author not only reiterated the core theories elaborated in the first chapter of the book--Illustrated Handbook of Chen-style Taichi, but also explained the phenomena of people's denying the value of the book during research. At last, the author gave his own opinions about the fist chapter of Chen Xin's book.