| Taoist Tai Chi Society | |
|---|---|
| Abbreviation | TTCS |
| Type | Society |
| Legal status | active |
| Purpose/focus | advocate and public voice, educator and network |
| Headquarters | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Region served | International |
| Official languages | English, French |
| Website | http://www.taoist.org/ |
The International Taoist Tai Chi Society (國際道家太極拳社) is an umbrella organization for the governance of its member associations around the world, which are dedicated to the teaching of Taoist Tai Chi. As of 2007, the organization had 40,000 members, including 15,000 in Canada, and was present in 26 countries.[1]
Since 2010 the Society refers to Taoist Tai Chi as Taoist Tai Chi internal arts of health.[2]
Contents |
The International Taoist Tai Chi Society has four stated aims and objectives:[2]
The Taoist Tai Chi Society was founded by Moy Lin-shin (梅連羨). He arrived in Toronto, Canada in 1970 and started teaching Tai Chi and related internal arts.[1]
The primary style Moy taught was a T'ai chi ch'uan form. He also taught a Lok Hup Ba Fa form. Moy modified the orthodox Yang-style tai chi chuan form that he knew, in order to maximize the health benefits obtainable from the form. Over the years Moy trained many of his students to become instructors/teachers of this art of health.
On a 42-hectare rural property near Orangeville, Ontario, the Society has built its residential Health Recovery Centre and Quiet Cultivation Centre, where members from around the world can gather and train together. The Quiet Cultivation Centre includes a large temple of Chinese-inspired design dedicated to Confucian, Buddhist and Taoist teachings, which was opened on 2007-09-08 with the participation of some 2500 members. The construction was funded entirely by donations.[1][3]
Classes are taught by volunteer instructors accredited by the Society. In order to become a volunteer instructor one has to express the desire to do so, and be able to show the elements of the form to new students. Criteria against which to judge the suitability to be an instructor are set by the Society itself. An instructor is required to contribute monthly membership fees and attend a number of workshops every year.
A teacher of Taoist Tai Chi is encouraged to live by what Moy called "Eight Heavenly Virtues":[4]
These principles are rooted in traditional Chinese Confucian ethics.
Moy's stated goal for Taoist Tai Chi was to help people regain their health and to provide a method for cultivation of the whole body and mind. Moy encouraged his students to engage with both traditional Eastern perspectives on health and energetic development (for example the three Taoist treasures of jing, chi and shen) as well as modern Western medical perspectives.[4][5]
Moy's curriculum features no explicit martial content. Moy did not encourage an overt focus on martial arts applications during training, as he apparently believed that an aggressive, competitive approach caused tension and prevented attainment of the Taoist goal of stillness of mind. In Moy’s view the purpose of the Tai Chi style he developed was to cultivate health and to help others. The criteria for judging the correctness of the form are based on maximizing the physiological and health effects (for example stretching the tendons and soft tissue, or massaging the internal organs) obtained while performing the moves.
As a Taoist meditative practice of 'dual cultivation of mind and body', Moy also considered that Taoist Tai Chi arts of health would lead practitioners towards "taming the heart" i.e. developing an attitude of calm and compassion when dealing with stress and the activities of daily life. In the Taoist tradition such a training path is referred to as “cultivating both inner nature and life" (xing ming shuang xiu). A healthy body is considered to be one where the internal organs are interacting in a balanced and harmonious manner. Negative emotions, cravings and selfish desires can disturb this harmony.[4]
In order to coordinate the initiatives that Moy Lin-shin undertook, together with the increasing number of people that he trained over time, and their activities, a formal organization was necessary. In the early seventies the organization was called the Toronto Tai Chi Association. In 1982 it was renamed and incorporated as the Taoist Tai Chi Society of Canada. After expansion into the United States, and later into Europe, New Zealand and Australia the International Taoist Tai Chi Society was formally incorporated in 1995.[6]
Member associations are incorporated as non-profit organizations in their own countries and many are also registered as charitable organizations. For example, the Taoist Tai Chi Society of Canada is registered as a charitable organization in Canada.[7] and the Taoist Tai Chi Society of the USA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, charitable organization in the United States.[8]
The Society operates on a membership basis rather than a fee for service basis. Payment of membership dues permits a member to participate in any Tai Chi class offered by any member association.
Since the death of Moy Lin-shin in 1998 the Taoist Tai Chi Society of Canada and the Fung Loy Kok Institute of Taoism continue to operate as separate charitable organizations within Canada[9], under the umbrella of the International Taoist Tai Chi Society.
The Gei Pang Lok Hup Academy, named in honor of Moy's teacher Leung Ji Pang, was established by Moy in 1988. It was established with the intent to teach the internal martial arts other than Tai Chi, mainly Lok Hup Ba Fa (Liuhe Bafa). Instructors there teach a 66 posture form derived from lineage of teachers at the Chin Woo Athletic Association in Shanghai whose teachers were of Wu Yi Hui lineage.