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Why We Should Practice T'ai-Chi to Music
by Master T. T. Liang

More than one thousand years ago a Chinese monk named Chan Chung developed a method of concentration during meditation. He told people to repeat silently "What did I look like before I was born?" . . . that is, "What did I look like when I was in my mother's womb?" Later this method was handed down to Japan as Zen Dao, using the question "What is Mu (nothing)?" for concentration.

We often say that a human's heart is like a monkey, jumping and turning around all the time, and their mind is like a horse galloping without pause. When one begins to practice meditation their heart and mind are fully occupied with short cut thoughts. When one thought is gone, it is immediately replaced by another, giving the heart and mind no chance to rest and concentrate. So monk Chan Chung used his way of concentration to cut out all the other short confused thoughts. As the question, "What did I look like before I was born?" can never be solved, you have to repeat it over and over again for a long time. Gradually your heart and mind will become peaceful and quiet, and only one thing will be left to think of—"What did I look like before I was born?" Finally you forget even the words you are concentrating on, so your heart and mind will be all empty; your body will be completely relaxed; the ch'i will sink and abide in the tan-tien, and the blood will circulate through the whole body without hindrance. It is good for the health, and also the way to metamorphose into a Buddha.

It is the same with practicing T'ai-Chi. In T'ai-Chi the ascent to the highest level is divided into four steps:

1. When beginning the practice of T'ai-Chi, you will have to memorize the number of beats, the directions, the practical uses of each posture and the ten guiding points as described in my book. You will breathe naturally, and will not use music.
2. After you have mastered all the points mentioned above, you will have to use beats, music and breathing (proper methods of inhaling and exhaling) for concentration, and get rid of all the rest.
3. At the next stage you will use only music for concentration and skip the others.
4. After practicing T'ai-Chi with music for a sufficient time you will forget the music, the movements, even yourself—although you are proceeding as usual. At this stage you are in a trance; your five attributes (form, perception, consciousness, action and knowledge) are all empty: this is meditation in action and action in meditation. When you finish and come to the end of the postures, suddenly you are back. Where have I been? What have I been doing? I don't know and I don't remember. This is complete relaxation of body and mind—truly good for your health, and also the way to immortality.

Of course if one can reach the highest level while practicing T'ai-Chi without music, so much the better. But I cannot do it because I am a human being, an ordinary ignorant person with heart like a monkey and mind like a horse. So I must use music as a means of concentration, as a stepping stone to the highest level of T'ai-Chi.

I have been learning and practicing T'ai-Chi with music for more than thirty-five years. After the first five years I though I knew everything and started to criticize this man as no good, that man as no good, and to consider only myself as really good. After another ten years of learning and practicing I began to realize that I knew only a little. Instead of criticizing others I started to criticize only myself, because I was not qualified to criticize others with my superficial smattering of knowledge—and besides, I had no time for criticizing others. After continuously practicing and painstakingly learning from teachers, books and Classics, and seriously criticizing myself for another twenty years, I understood that I was not qualified and dared not to criticize others because the more I practiced, the more I wanted to learn from teachers, books and Classics; and the more I learned, the less I felt I knew. The theory and philosophy of T'ai-Chi are so profound and abstruse, and the functional use is so subtle and ingenious that I must continue studying and practicing T'ai-Chi with music forever and ever. It is the only way to improve and better myself.

I like music, especially soft music, because it is in a human being's nature. It can relieve one's tension and anxiety, produce happiness and relaxation, improve harmony and coordination.

I have been teaching and practicing T'ai-Chi with music for thirty years. During these thirty years I have taught in many universities, colleges and high schools and have had thousands of students study with me. They all say that T'ai-Chi with music is good, and they have all benefited from it because they are human beings and to like music is in their nature. If T'ai-Chi with music were no good and were extraneous to the essence of T'ai-Chi I would have disappeared from this world thirty years ago. I am now eighty-one; I am still living and enjoying perfect health because as a human being I like music and have chosen to continue practicing T'ai- Chi with music and have chosen to continue practicing T'ai-Chi with music to prolong my life.

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