The REAL Story of Zhang Sanfeng - Creator of Taichi Boxing (Part 1)

Throughout the 1200s, the Mongols, under the leadership of Genghis Khan, attacked China from the north. The conquest actually took about 70 years, from the time that Genghis Khan united the tribes of the Mongol plateau, to defeating the Jin and Xia dynasties in the north, the Dali kingdom in the west, and the Southern Song dynasty to unite all of China. And in the year 1271, Genghis Khan's son, Kublai Khan, proclaimed the start of the Yuan dynasty, or Da Yuan in Chinese. But wait, isn't this video supposed to be about the Taoist immortal Zhang Sanfeng? Don't worry, we'll get to that. So the Yuan dynasty formed a core part of the Mongol empire, the largest contiguous land empire the world has ever seen, with the Yuan in the east and three additional khanates to the west at its peak. And the Yuan dynasty picked Buddhism, and in particular Tibetan Buddhism, as their state religion, with Taoism, China's indigenous and much older spiritual cultivation way, encountering persecution. Many Taoists had to shave their heads and become monks. The Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu was preserved, but any other Taoist book was a target for destruction. The Taoist school and philosophy was in decline. But just like the Taoist theory of yin and yang suggests, the universe aims to achieve balance. And it seems the universe had a plan. One man was dispatched to the human world to train in supernormal arts to bring balance to the force. Who's writing this stuff? Anyway, to bring balance to spirituality in China, to allow Taoism to rise again. He performed many miraculous supernormal feats throughout his life, created the art of Tai Chi, which is practiced by over 100 million people today. And it was in his honor that the huge Taoist temple complex at Wudang mountain was built. That man is Zhang Sanfeng. And this is his story. So in the history of the Ming or Ming Shi, there is a biography of Zhang Sanfeng. The biography states, Zhang Sanfeng was from Yizhou or the Yi province in Liaodong. And then goes on to say, some people say he was from the Jin dynasty period. So this is explaining where he was born and likely went, the Liaodong peninsula. And Yizhou was the name of a province there under the Jin dynasty. And then it goes on to confirm that he was born in the Jin dynasty by saying he is a person of the Jin period, which existed alongside the Southern Song dynasty before they were both taken over by the Mongols. So this means that he was born in the mid to early 1200s. Remember this because it becomes important later. When he was born, his mother dreamed of a Taoist deity called Doumu Yuanjun holding a big crane. And it landed on the roof of the house and gave three long squawks. This implies that immortals were watching over his birth. And the fact that there were three squawks of the crane while Zhang Sanfeng would have the number three in his name, the name that he adopted later on in life. So that's significant too. When he was five years old, he started to suffer from some kind of illness of the eyes and his sight deteriorated. But then a Taoist shows up at his house. There's always a mystical Taoist in these stories. And says to his mother, this boy has the air of an immortal and the Tao in his bones. He is extraordinary, but his eyes have a demonic block. In other words, an illness. Allow him to pledge himself to me as a disciple and break away from the illusion of the world and develop wisdom in his heart. And once his eyes have recovered, then I will deliver him back. So for some reason, Zhang's mother allows him to go to a cave with this mystical Taoist who just showed up at their house. And for half a year, he practices Taoism with him and his eyes do recover. But he doesn't go home then. He stays in this cave, which is probably more like a Taoist monastery built into a cave. We're probably not talking about a tiny little hole, right? But anyway, he stays in this cave for seven years studying Taoism, as well as books on Confucianism and Buddhism. In the history of the Ming, it states he would read entire classic books and not forget them. Then according to the history, once the Yuan dynasty took over China, there was a push by the government to find men of talent. Zhang Sanfeng was 30 years old at this point and had a reputation for his knowledge of the classical texts of all three of China's philosophical schools. And thus he was suggested. Since that's how they picked politicians and officials back then, based on your knowledge of the classic texts, mainly the Confucian classics. So he went to Beijing, which at that time was the capital of the Yuan dynasty, but it was called Dadu. Zhang got hired and sent to modern day Hubei province and took up an official post. But the whole time he felt lonely. He wished to leave the world of material benefits behind and just cultivate Taoism in the mountains. At this time, he was recommended to the prime minister, Liu Bingzhong, who heard of his philosophical knowledge and wanted to give him a promotion and use him in the government. But at this time, the universe had other plans for Zhang Sanfeng. Both his parents passed away. Using his parents' death as his excuse, he wrote a polite letter to Liu, declining the offer and also stating that he wanted to cultivate the Tao. He went back to his hometown in Liaodong to mourn his parents for three years. After the three-year mourning period was over, Liu Bingzhong had already died and Zhang Sanfeng was free. So he followed his wish and traveled west to find the mystical Taoists in the mountains. He wrote a poem about this period of time called Shang Tian Ti, Ascending the Ladder to Heaven. Recalling starting my path of the Tao, there was no going back. My heart was like stone. Giving up the life of an official and traveling mountains and seas, the hardship of seeking the secrets of the elixir. Abandoning the graves of my deceased parents, I could not stay in my hometown. Bidding farewell to my middle-aged wife, on the day I left, I started with nothing. It's intense stuff! So he travels all over China, learning from Taoist immortals, including allegedly traveling to Shandong and somehow visiting the mystical mountains where the immortals live, out in the Eastern Sea, the same place that the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, sent missions out to look for. Whether these are real places or spiritual realms that he visited during meditation, I'm not quite sure. Then after that, he ends up in Songshan in Henan province, where the Shaolin Temple is located. He looks for high-level Taoist masters in the mountains around the Shaolin Temple, but doesn't find any. However, because he was at Shaolin for some time, people say it was at this time And this becomes relevant later when you think of what Zhang Sanfeng's art of Tai Chi is. Most of the stances and many of the moves look like Shaolin Kung Fu, but they are just made soft and internalized using the Taoist theories of internal energy cultivation. Anyway, after leaving Songshan, he eventually ends up at Huashan, another one of China's sacred mountains. He finds a place with good qi to meditate, and he stays in that area. And there happen to be three peaks nearby, so he's like this scruffy mountain hermit meditating there near these three peaks, and thus people come up with a couple of different nicknames for him. He talks about this in his writings, and he even adopts one of these names. From today on, I am changing my name to Quan Yi, and my courtesy name to Sanfeng, or Three Peaks. My name is thus now set. At times when I neglect my appearance and dress in a slovenly way, worldly people call me Zhang Lata, or Scruffy Zhang. This is something unique throughout the ages, and a truly unique name. But it seems that Zhang Three Peaks, or Zhang Sanfeng, is the name he's stuck with rather than Scruffy Zhang. Thank goodness. But by this time, Zhang Sanfeng has now been traveling around for over 30 years, and he is 67 years old. Although he has met many Taoist cultivators, he still has not met that master yoda of Taoist immortals, that teacher of teachers, the master who could guide him to obtain the highest levels of Taoism. And so one day, he lights a stick of incense and prays to the gods to help him, and the smoke from the incense wafts towards the south, and thus he gets the hint. He travels to the south, and who is waiting for him in the mountains there but a high-level Taoist master referred to as Huolong Zhenren, the Fire Dragon Immortal. Zhenren, or true person, means an enlightened one in Chinese, a Taoist immortal. Zhang Sanfeng had found what he's looking for, and we'll tell you the rest of the story in part two coming out next week. Thanks so much for watching, everyone. Please subscribe if you're new, and leave your comments about Zhang Sanfeng below, and we'll see you in part two, where we will talk about Zhang Sanfeng studying the Tao with the Fire Dragon Immortal, supernormal feats that he performed, his connection with Wudang Mountain, and of course, creating Tai Chi. Don't miss it.