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Grandmaster Tchoung Ta-tchen, a T'ai Chi Legend - by Harvey Kurland, M.Sc., MFS, CSCS |
Even though he prefers to stay to
himself and not boast of his ability, Tchoung Ta-tchen was a well known figure in
the tai-chi ch'uan (aka Taijiquan) world of
Grandmaster Tchoung Ta-tchen (more at www.dotaichi.com) moved to
Tchoung was originally from
In
Tchoung was asked by the Chinese Tai Chi Chuan Association of Taiwan to be the
personal tutor for President Bongo of
According to Master Martin Lee, who is The Chairman of the "Vancouver Tai
Chi Chien Masters and Friends Club", "He (Tchoung) has extraordinary
tai chi power. His pang-jing (peng-chin) is super-powerful… Whenever he pushes
with anyone he always wins, he has never been defeated by anyone. Only one or
two people can break even with him…When Master Tchoung pushed hands, both arms
are soft like cotton; when you touch his arm, you feel nothing. He is truly
reaching the level of "Invisibility". When he attacks, he moves like
a speeding arrow, with great power. Lots of martial art Champions and tai chi
followers respect Master Tchoung's methods." Tchoung has had a number of
t'ai-chi champions come out of his school and several masters of kung-fu and
ch'i kung have studied with him.
As a young man Tchoung studied his family style of t'ai chi ch'uan and tui-na.
He also was a track athlete. He became a professional soldier and Army officer.
He traveled in
Tchoung studied the Old Form of Yang Family Style based on the lineage of Tian
Zhao Lin (Tian Shaolin) of
Tchoung had a particular interest is studying the sword and stick forms. He
learned several sword styles from the top masters of the day. The sword forms
had names such as "Green Duckweed Sword", green bamboo sticks of the
beggars style, Kun Lun (Kwin Lin) sword, Heaven and Earth sword, as well as the
t'ai chi sword, double sword, as well as Yang and Wu t'ai-chi knife sets. He
developed his own t'ai chi Tuan Kune or walking stick form which he taught to
his students.
His philosophy was to teach his students everything he could. Not hold back, as
many teachers did. That is the reason so many students left their previous
schools to study with him. He tells his students from the beginning that he can
teach them the method, but it is up to them as to what they do with it. That is
if they do not train hard, they will not achieve their potential. He says there
are no magical secret, just hard training and coaching. He saw that there was a
decay in t'ai-chi ch'uan quality in China and the world. That is the art was
becoming conceptually a calisthenics exercise or performance art, and the old
martial value and traditional method was being lost.
He felt the previous generation's skill being lost or watered down was due to
the concept of always holding a little back from the student (as well as
intentional persecuting of the art and modernizing it on the mainland). So
every generation lost a little more, so now even the top names were merely
shells of the older art, very few had any real skill. He wanted to push his
students so that the art would be elevated and that his students would even be
more skilled than he was then if they taught their students would be better and
so on. Then the long setback after Mao took over followed by a changing the
form to a calisthenics added to the decline. Tchoung traveled to China where he
taught pushing hands to masters there to improve their skill and raise the
level of tai chi in China.
Tchoung believed due to differences in body type and nature that everyone will
impart their own essence to the art. They express themselves just as they might
in different writing or calligraphy styles. Even though you may learn the same
method of writing as your classmates, you will write a little different than
everyone else in the class. The same goes for t'ai chi, it is not the idea to
clone the teacher, but rather to allow the unique energy of every individual to
express itself. We are not looking to manufacture robots. He also allowed
variations in technique depending on the student's abilities or limitations.
For example once in our morning class, two advanced students asked him about
the correct way to do a technique. Each student did a different variation of
the same technique. Tchoung told them, "It depends on the use." He
was more interested in correct principles, than mindless robots. He often said
all t'ai-chi ch'uan styles were fine as long as the principles were! correct.
He taught a unique style based on what is called the Old Yang Style. He teaches
his dual form or symmetrical form where each technique is performed on the
right and left sides. This is his version of the form. This way the body is
balanced. It is a very "Soft" form with no tension allowed and the
stances are relatively high. The back is straight and the body upright. It is
similar to Cheng Man-ching's form in concept but much more elaborate. There are
several versions of the techniques in the form and a few pa-kua chang ( bagua
zhang) movements are also in the form. The fast form contains movements from
Kuang Ping style and Nature Boxing style as well.
Tchoung's symmetrical long form is over 300 movements long and his short form,
which shown in his book, is about 120 movements. He also does a shorter form
for demonstrations which is similar to Cheng Man-ch'ing's form. The Tchoung
system includes ch'i kung, long form, short form, san shou, a two person t'ai
chi sparring form, a fast form, pushing hands, walking stick, sword and knife
as well as pa-kua and hsin-I (which is another term for hsing-I). His focus is
on principles and energies, rather than rote teaching.
He published his masterwork, a 328-page book, The Annotated Theoretical and
Practical Tai Chi Chuan, in 1995. The book is written in English and Chinese
and shows his "short" form, chi kung, san shou, and pushing hands. It
also contains some t'ai chi ch'uan classics not usually seen in translation.
In the USA Andrew Dale and Harvey Kurland are certified by Tchoung to Teach his
system, a complete list of his certified instructors is at: Instructors When
Grandmaster Tchoung was in his late 80's he still practiced his art and worked
with his advanced students. He is one of the lesser know greats of the t'ai chi
world. Tchoung died in February 22, 2000.
Author: Harvey Kurland, M.Sc., MFS, CSCS, is an exercise physiologist and was
Certified by the Chinese T'ai-Chi Ch'uan Association and Grandmaster Tchoung
Ta-tchen as a Chief Instructor (Sifu). He teaches for the University of
California Riversida and Loma Linda University Drayson Center. More information
at www.ctcca.org
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