Wing Chun Kung Fu: Taoist Creation
Taoist Creation Theory
According to the Taoist creation theory (which is similar to the Chinese Creation Theory): "In the beginning of the universe there was only material-force consisting of yin and yang. This force moved and circulated, turning this way and that. As this movement gained speed, a mass of sediment was pushed together and, since there was no outlet for this, it consolidated to form the universe...How was the first man created?...through the transformation of the material force. When the essence of yin and yang and the five agents are united, man's corporeal form is established. This is what the Buddhist call production by transformation. There are many such productions today, such as lice." According to the Taoist text Tso Chuan, written in the early Han era: "Heaven and earth gave rise to yin and yang, wind and rain and dark and light, and from these are born the Five Elements [Metal, Wood, Water, Fire and Earth]. Out of man's use came the Five Flavors [sour, salty, acrid, bitter, sweet], the Five Colors [green, yellow, scarlet, white, black] and the Five Modes [in music]. But when these are indulged to excess, confusion arises and in the end man loses sight of his original nature." The key to keeping the universe going was harmony. "In the order of their succession they gave birth to one another, while in a different order they overcome each other. Therefore in ruling, if one violates this order, there will be chaos, but if one follows it, all will be well governed."
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Reflections on Taoist Creation Theory
Many of the key concepts of Taoism are incorporated into the Taoist Creation Theory. One of the most important is summed up in the following passage: "The creator of things is not among things. If we examine the Great Beginning of antiquity we find that man was born out of non-being to assume form in being. Having form, he is governed by things. But he who can return to that form which he was born and become as though formless is called a "true man." The true man is he who has never become separated from the Great Oneness.
In his explanation of the universe Lao-tzu wrote:
There is a thing confusedly formed,
Born before heaven and earth,
Silent and void
It stands alone and does not change
Goes round and does not weary,
It is capable of being the mother of the world.
I know not its name
So I style it "the way."
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Man models himself on earth,
Earth on heaven,
Heaven on the way,
And the way on that which is naturally so.
Addressing the beginning of the universe, Taoist philosopher Kuo Hsiang wrote in A.D. 312, "If I say yin and yang came first...then since yin and yang are themselves, what came before them?...There must be another thing, and so ad infinitum. We must understand that things are what they are spontaneously and not caused by something else."
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