CHANG TREATISE:
In motion the whole body should be light and agile,
with all parts of the body linked as if threaded together.

The qi should be excited; the shen should be internally gathered.

The postures should be without defect,
without hollows or projections from the proper alignment;
in motion the form should not become disconnected.

The jing should be rooted in the feet, generated from the legs,
controlled by the waist, and manifested through the fingers.

If correct timing and position are not achieved, the body will become disordered
and will not move as an integrated whole; the correction for this defect
must be sought in the legs and waist.

The principle of adjusting the legs and waist applies for moving in all directions;
upward or downward, advancing or withdrawing, left or right.

All movements are motivated by mind, not external form.

If there is up, there is down; when advancing, have regard for withdrawing;
when striking left, pay attention to the right.

If the mind wants to move upward, it must simultaneously have intent downward.

Alternating the force of pulling and pushing severs an opponent's root
so that he can be defeated quickly and certainly.

Insubstantial and substantial should be clearly differentiated.
At any place where there is insubstantiality, there must be substantiality;
Every place has both insubstantiality and substantiality.

The whole body should be threaded together through every joint
without the slightest break.

Tai chi chuan is like a great river rolling on unceasingly.

Wardoff, rollback, press, squeeze, pluck, split, elbow, shoulder are equated to the Eight Trigrams.
The first four are the cardinal directions; the second four are the four corners.
 
Advance, withdraw, look right, look left and central equilibrium are equated to the five elements: metal, wood, fire, water and earth.
All together these are termed the Thirteen Postures. (Chang San-feng)

WANG TREATISE:
Tai chi comes from emptiness and is the mother of yin and yang.
In motion tai chi separates; in stillness yin and yang fuse and return to emptiness.

It is not excessive or deficient; it follows a bending, adheres to an extension.

When the opponent is hard and I am soft, it is called yielding.

When I follow the opponent and he becomes backed up, it is called adhering.

If the opponent's movement is quick, then quickly respond; if his movement is slow, then follow slowly.

Although there are innumerable variations, the principle that pervades them remains the same.

From familiarity with the correct touch, one gradually comprehends jing (internal strength); from the comprehension of jing one can reach wisdom.

Without long practice one cannot suddenly understand tai chi.

Effortlessly the jing reaches the headtop.

Let the qi sink to the tan tien.

Don't lean in any direction; suddenly appear, suddenly disappear.

Empty the left wherever a pressure appears, and similarly the right.

If the opponent raises up, I seem taller; if he sinks down, then I seem lower;
advancing, he finds the distance seems incredibly long; retreating, the distance seems exasperatingly short.

A feather cannot be placed, and a fly cannot alight on any part of the body.

The opponent does not know me; I alone know him.

To become a peerless boxer results from this.

There are many boxing arts.

Although they use different forms, for the most part they don't go beyond
the strong dominating the weak, and the slow resigning to the swift.

The strong defeating the weak and the slow hands ceding to the swift hands
are all the results of natural abilities and not of well-trained techniques.

From the sentence "A force of four ounces deflects a thousand pounds"
we know that the technique is not accomplished with strength.

The spectacle of an old person defeating a group of young people, how can it be due to swiftness?

Stand like a perfectly balanced scale and move like a turning wheel.

Sinking to one side allows movement to flow; being double-weighted is sluggish.

Anyone who has spent years of practice and still cannot neutralize,
and is always controlled by his opponent, has not apprehended the fault of double-weightedness.

To avoid this fault one must distinguish yin from yang.

To adhere means to yield.
To yield means to adhere.

Within yin there is yang.
Within yang there is yin.

Yin and yang mutually aid and change each other.

Understanding this you can say you understand jing.
After you understand jing, the more you practice, the more skill.

Silently treasure knowledge and turn it over in the mind.
Gradually you can do as you like.

Fundamentally, it is giving up yourself to follow others.
Most people mistakenly give up the near to seek the far.
It is said, "Missing it by a little will lead many miles astray."

The practitioner must carefully study.

This is the treatise. (Wang Tsung-yeuh)

WU TREATISE:
The mind mobilizes the qi.

Make the qi sink calmly;
then the qi gathers and permeates the bones.

The qi mobilizes the body.
Make it move smoothly, so that it may easily follows the mind.

The intention and qi must interchange agilely,
then there is an excellence of roundness and smoothness.

This is called "the interplay of insubstantial and substantial."

The mind is the commander, the qi the flag, and the waist the banner.

The waist is like the axle and the qi is like the wheel.

The qi is always nurtured without harm.

Let the qi move as in a pearl with nine passages without breaks so that there is no part it cannot reach.

In moving the qi sticks to the back and permeates the spine.

It is said "first in the mind, then in the body."

The abdomen relaxes, then the qi sinks into the bones.

The shen is relaxed and the body calm.

The shen is always in the mind.

Being able to breathe properly leads to agility.

The softest will then become the strongest.

When the shen is raised, there is no fault of stagnancy and heaviness.
This is called suspending the headtop.

Inwardly make the shen firm, and outwardly exhibit calmness and peace.

Throughout the body, the intention relies on the shen, not on the qi.
If it relied on the qi, it would become stagnant.

If there is qi, there is no external strength.

The jing is sung, but not sung; it is capable of great extension, but is not extended.

The jing is broken, but the intention is not.

The jing is stored by means of the curved.

The energy is released by the back, and the steps follow the changes of the body.

The mobilization of the jing is like refining steel a hundred times over.
There is nothing hard it cannot destroy.

Store up the jing like drawing a bow.

Mobilize the jing like drawing silk from a cocoon.

Release the jing like releasing the arrow.

To fa jing, sink, relax completely, and aim in one direction!

In the curve seek the straight, store, then release.

Be still as a mountain, move like a great river.

The upright body must be stable and comfortable to be able to sustain an attack from any of the eight directions.

Walk like a cat.

Remember, when moving, there is no place that does not move.
When still, there is no place that is not still.

First seek extension, then contraction; then it can be fine and subtle.

It is said; “If the opponent does not move, then I do not move. At the opponent's slightest move, I move first."

To withdraw is then to release, to release it is necessary to withdraw.

In discontinuity there is still continuity.

In advancing and returning there must be folding.

Going forward and back there must be changes.

The form is like that of a falcon about to seize a rabbit, and the shen is like that of a cat about to catch a rat. (Wu Yu-hsiang)

10 Essentials of Tai Chi Chuan
Orally transmitted by Yang Chengfu, recorded by Chen Weiming, translated by Jerry Karin

1. Empty, lively, pushing up and energetic
'Pushing up and energetic' means the posture of the head is upright and straight and the spirit is infused into its apex. You may not use strength. To do so makes the back of the neck stiff, whereupon the chi and blood cannot circulate freely.

You must have an intention which is empty, lively (or free) and natural. Without an intention which is empty, lively, pushing up and energetic, you won't be able to raise your spirit. This four-character phrase is probably the most difficult one in all of taiji literature to translate. I have chosen to regard each of the four words as filling the function of a predicate or verb-phrase. Another fairly obvious approach would be to take the first two as adverbial and the last two as subject-predicate: "Empty and lively, the apex is energetic. Many other interpretations are possible.

2. Hold in the chest and pull up the back
The phrase 'hold in the chest' means the chest is slightly reserved inward, which causes the qi to sink to the cinnabar field (dan1 tian2). The chest must not be puffed out. If you do so then the qi is blocked in the chest region, the upper body becomes heavy and lower body light, and it will become easy for the heels to float upward.

'Pulling up the back' makes the qi stick to the back. If you are able to hold in the chest then you will naturally be able to pull up the back. If you can pull up the back, then you will be able to emit a strength from the spine which others cannot oppose.

3. Relax the waist
The waist is the commander of the whole body. Only after you are able to relax the waist will the two legs have strength and the lower body be stable. The alternation of empty and full all derive from the turning of the waist.

Hence the saying: 'The wellspring of destiny lies in the tiny interstice of the waist.' Whenever there is a lack of strength in your form, you must look for it in in the waist and legs. In Chinese thought the waist tends to be regarded as the space between two vertebrae, rather than a circle girdling the middle of the body.

4. Separate empty and full
In the art of Taijiquan, separating full and empty is the number one rule. If the whole body sits on the right leg, then the right leg is deemed 'full' and the left leg 'empty'. If the whole body sits on the left leg, then the left leg is deemed 'full' and the right leg 'empty'.

Only after you are able to distinguish full and empty will turning movements be light, nimble and almost without effort; if you can't distinguish them then your steps will be heavy and sluggish, you won't be able to stand stably, and it will be easy for an opponent to control you.

5. Sink the shoulders and droop the elbows
Sinking the shoulders means the shoulders relax open and hang downward. If you can't relax them downward, the shoulders pop up and then the chi follows and goes upward, causing the whole body to lack strength.

Drooping the elbows means the elbows are relaxed downward. If the elbows are elevated then the shoulders are unable to sink. When you use this to push someone they won't go far. It's like the'cut off' energy of external martial arts. External martial arts such as Shaolin are thought to use energy from parts or sections of the body, as opposed to the 'whole-body' energy of taiji.

6. Use Intent Rather than Force
The taiji classics say, "this is completely a matter of using intent rather than force". When you practice taijiquan, let the entire body relax and extend. Don't employ even the tiniest amount of coarse strength which would cause musculo-skeletal or circulatory blockage with the result that you restrain or inhibit yourself. Only then will you be able to lightly and nimbly change and transform, circling naturally.

Some wonder: if I don't use force, how can I generate force? The net of acupuncture meridians and channels throughout the body are like the waterways on top of the earth. If the waterways are not blocked, the water circulates; if the meridians are not impeded the qi circulates. If you move the body about with stiff force, you swamp the meridians, qi and blood are impeded, movements are not nimble; all someone has to do is begin to guide you and your whole body is moved.

If you use intent rather than force, wherever the intent goes, so goes the qi. In this way, because the qi and blood are flowing, circulating every day throughout the entire body, never stagnating - after a lot of practice, you will get true internal strength.

That's what the taiji classics mean by "Only by being extremely soft are you able to achieve extreme hardness." Somebody who is really adept at taiji has arms which seem like silk wrapped around iron, immensely heavy. Someone who practices external martial arts, when he is using his force, seems very strong. But when not using force, he is very light and floating. By this we can see that his force is actually external, or superficial strength. The force used by external martial artists is especially easy to lead or deflect.

7. Synchronize Upper and Lower Body
In the taiji classics 'Synchronize Upper and Lower Body is expressed as: "With its root in the foot, emitting from the leg, governed by the waist, manifesting in the hands and fingers - from feet to legs to waist - complete everything in one impulse".

When hands move, the waist moves and legs move, and the gaze moves along with them. Only then can we say upper and lower body are synchronized. If one part doesn't move then it is not coordinated with the rest. Literally "one qi". This could also be rendered as "one breath"

8. Match Up Inner and Outer
What we are practicing in taiji depends on the spirit, hence the saying: "The spirit is the general, the body his troops". If you can raise your spirit, your movements will naturally be light and nimble, the form nothing more than empty and full, open and closed.

When we say 'open', we don't just mean open the arms or legs; the mental intent must open along with the limbs. When we say 'close', we don't just mean close the arms or legs; the mental intent must close along with the limbs. If you can combine inner and outer into a single impulse, then they become a seamless whole. Literally "one chi". This could also be rendered as "one breath"

9. (Practice) Continuously and Without Interruption
Strength in external martial arts is a kind of aquired, brute force, so it has a beginning and an end, times when it continues and times when it is cut off, such that when the old force is used up and new force hasn't yet arisen, there is a moment when it is extremely easy for the person to be constrained by an opponent.

In taiji, we use intent rather than force, and from beginning to end, smoothly and ceaselessly, complete a cycle and return to the beginning, circulating endlessly. That is what the taiji classics mean by "Like the Yangtse or Yellow River, endlessly flowing." And again: "Moving strength is like unreeling silk threads". These both refer to unifying into a single impulse. Literally "one qi". This could also be rendered as "one breath"

10. Seek Quiescence within Movement
External martial artists prize leaping and stopping as skill, and they do this till breath (qi) and strength are exhausted, so that after practicing they are all out of breath. In taiji we use quiescence to overcome movement, and even in movement, still have quiescence.

So when you practice the form, the slower the better! When you do it slowly your breath becomes deep and long, the chi sinks to the cinnabar field (danqtian) and naturally there is no deleterious constriction or enlargement of the blood vessels. If the student tries carefully he may be able to comprehend the meaning behind these words.

SONG OF THE THIRTEEN POSTURES
by unknown Author
The Thirteen Postures should not be taken lightly;
the source of the postures is in the waist.

Be mindful of the interchange between insubstantial and substantial;
The ch'i circulates throughout the body without hindrance.

Be still,
when attacked by the opponent,
be tranquil and move in stillness;
changes caused by my opponent fill him with wonder.

Study the function of each posture carefully and with deliberation;
to achieve the goal is very easy.

Pay attention to the waist at all times;
completely relax the abdomen
and the ch'i rises up.

When the tailbone is centered and straight,
the shen [spirit of vitality] goes through to the headtop.

To make the whole body light and agile
suspend the headtop.

Carefully study.

Extension and contraction, opening and closing, should be natural.

To enter the door and be shown the way,
you must be orally taught.
Practice should be uninterrupted,
and technique achieved by self study.

Speaking of the body and its function, what is the standard?

The I [mind-intent] and ch'i are king,
and the bones and muscles are the court.

Think over carefully what the final purpose is:
to lengthen life and maintain youth.

The Song consists of 140 characters;
each character is true and the meaning is complete.

If you do not study in this manner,
then you will waste your time and sigh with regret