{"id":2254,"date":"2011-12-31T02:00:35","date_gmt":"2011-12-31T06:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dontow.com\/?p=2254"},"modified":"2014-12-12T18:27:37","modified_gmt":"2014-12-12T22:27:37","slug":"taiji-wuji-modern-physics-and-cosmology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.dontow.com\/2011\/12\/taiji-wuji-modern-physics-and-cosmology\/","title":{"rendered":"Taiji, Wuji, Modern Physics, and Cosmology"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Taiji and Wuji: <\/strong>The word Taiji (\u592a\u6975) in Chinese means “Great Poles” or “Grand Ultimate.”\u00a0 The word Wuji (\u7121\u6975) in Chinese means “without pole” or “without opposite” or “the ultimate of nothingness.”\u00a0 Taiji was invented as a martial art; so in this article I try to explain Taiji and Wuji from a martial arts perspective, instead of from a philosophical perspective.\u00a0 In Taiji one tries not to oppose an opponent’s attacking force head on, because then whoever is bigger and stronger will win.\u00a0 The opponent’s attacking force is called a Yang force, usually associated with a strong force.\u00a0 Instead of opposing the opponent’s attacking force head on, the defender first deflects the attacking force by applying a small force at a small angle from the attacking direction; this can successfully deflect the attack (i.e., an effective defensive movement) because this small deflecting force has a component that is perpendicular to the attacking direction and the attacking force has no component along this direction [2].\u00a0\u00a0 This small deflecting force is called a Yin force.\u00a0 Furthermore, the component of this Yin force that is along the direction of the attacking force, if enlarged, can use the attacker’s momentum to get him off balance (i.e., also an effective offensive movement).\u00a0 The fact that the Yin force is a defensive movement that also can lead to an offensive movement means that there is a component of Yang in Yin (and vice versa).<\/p>\n

In addition, Yang and Yin are not static, and they evolve into each other.\u00a0 For example, in the above example, when the opponent senses that his attacking force has been deflected and he is being pulled off balance, he changes direction and tries to pull back and move his attacking arm in the opposite direction.\u00a0 In that instance, he changes his attacking Yang force into a retrieving Yin force.\u00a0 On the other hand, upon sensing that the attacker is trying to retrieve his arm and move in the opposite direction, the defender also changes direction and attacks with a Yang force along the direction of his opponent’s retrieving movement.\u00a0 Thus, the original attacker now becomes the defender, and the original defender now becomes the attacker, with corresponding changes of Yang and Yin forces.<\/p>\n

In the above discussion, the attacking Yang force of the opponent and the complementary Yin force of the defender can be considered as two opposite poles.\u00a0 Similarly, the retrieving Yin force of the opponent and the now attacking Yang force of the original defender can also be considered as two opposite poles, except that the poles associated with the two people have reversed.\u00a0 Furthermore, in order for each person to be able to change direction quickly, there has to be a small component of the Yin force residing in the Yang force.\u00a0 Likewise, there has to be a small component of the Yang force residing in the Yin force.\u00a0 The revolving nature of Yang and Yin and the fact that each contains a small component of the other are clearly illustrated in the traditional Taiji symbol:<\/p>\n

$\"\"$ <\/a><\/p>\n

The black and the white parts represent, respectively, the Yang force and the Yin force.\u00a0 If you rotate the above diagram, the Yang force becomes the Yin force, and the Yin force becomes the Yang force.\u00a0 Saying it in another way, the Yang force tapers to a Yin force, and the Yin force tapers to a Yang force.\u00a0\u00a0 Furthermore, residing in the Yang force (the black fish-like part of the diagram) is a small Yin force (the white dot), and residing in the Yin force (the white fish-like part of the diagram) is a small Yang force (the black dot).<\/p>\n

This simple discussion of a small set of movements already captures the essence of Taiji, and it is already reflected in just the second form, “Wild Horse Shakes Its Mane,” in one of the simplest Taiji form sets, the Simplified Yang Style 24 Form Set.<\/p>\n

If “Wild Horse Shakes Its Mane” is Form #2 in the Simplified Yang Style 24 Form Set, what is Form #1 “Opening Form”?\u00a0 The beginning part of “Opening Form” is when the Taiji practitioner just stands upright with hands by his side, with both his body and mind relax.\u00a0 His weight is equally distributed between his two legs.\u00a0 He is still, and not moving in any direction.\u00a0 He is not in a defending position or an attacking position.\u00a0 There are no poles associated with his body.\u00a0 His mind is relax and empty.\u00a0 He can be considered to be in a Wuji state, i.e., no poles and no opposites, in a state of nothingness.\u00a0 So the beginning of the Opening Form corresponds to a Wuji state.\u00a0 As the Taiji practitioner proceeds with the rest of Form #1 and into Form #2, he changes from a Wuji state to a Taiji state.\u00a0 The rest of the movements in this Form Set has the Taiji practitioner moving from one Taiji state to another Taiji state, until he gets to the last form, “Closing Form.”\u00a0 At the end of the Closing Form, he changes back to a Wuji state.\u00a0 This transformation, from a Wuji state to a Taiji state then to various Taiji states and finally back to a Wuji state, occurs in every Taiji form set in every Taiji style.<\/p>\n

Modern Physics and Cosmology: <\/strong>The transformation from a Wuji state to a Taiji state, or from a state of nothingness to a state with poles, actually has some analogs in modern physics and cosmology.\u00a0 In modern physics, there is a concept known as “vacuum polarization.”\u00a0 In quantum electrodynamics, the vacuum is no longer a simple concept, i.e., the nothing in the vacuum can be transformed into something.\u00a0 In particular, the vacuum can be thought of as a sea of equal number of electrons and positrons.\u00a0 The vacuum can generate a virtual electron-positron pair which can then annihilate each other.\u00a0 Since the virtual electrons and positrons are charged, in the presence of an external charged particle or electromagnetic field, the existence of these virtual electron-positron pairs affects, actually reduces, the charge or electromagnetic field of the external charged particle.\u00a0 Such effects have been experimentally observed, and the experimental results match the theoretical predictions.\u00a0 When these virtual electron-positron pairs appear, the vacuum changes from a Wuji state (without pole) to a Taiji state (with poles).\u00a0 When these virtual electron-positron pairs annihilate, the vacuum changes back from a Taiji state\u00a0 to a Wuji state.<\/p>\n

In modern cosmology today, the most prevalent theory is the theory of an “Inflationary Universe,” which is very similar, except for two differences, to the traditional Big Bang theory,\u00a0 that states that the universe started from a small volume and then expands.\u00a0 One difference is that very near the beginning of the Big Bang, the universe underwent an enormous expansion (thus the term “inflationary”) for a small fraction of a second.\u00a0\u00a0 Another difference is that unlike the traditional Big Bang theory, all the matter\/energy of the universe did not have to be present during the original Big Bang, but most of the matter\/energy can be created during the brief period of inflation or later during the expansion of the universe.\u00a0 Even though this theory might seem ad hoc, it does provide an explanation of several experimentally observed phenomena which otherwise could not be explained.<\/p>\n

Astronomical observational data during the last 20 years also strongly suggest that not only that the universe is expanding, but the rate of expansion actually increases with time, and that the energy density of our universe is approximately 20 times larger than the traditional energy density associated with normal matter like galaxies, stars, planets, asteroids, inter-galactic gases, etc. \u00a0 To explain these surprising data, astronomers and physicists postulate that there is something called “Dark Matter” and “Dark Energy” that make up, respectively, approximately 25% and 70% of the universe’s energy density.\u00a0 Dark Matter\u00a0 interacts very weakly with ordinary matter.\u00a0 Dark Energy is especially unusual in that it is gravitationally repulsive.\u00a0 One possibility is that Dark Energy is a new kind of energy associated with the vacuum that is gravitationally repulsive.\u00a0 As the universe expands, more space, or more vacuum, is created, and thus more energy can be created.\u00a0 The vacuum is in a Wuji state, and when matter is created from the vacuum, it is in a Taiji state.\u00a0 Currently we still know very little about Dark Matter and Dark Energy.\u00a0 Hopefully with more theoretical and experimental advances, we can determine whether these postulates are valid.<\/p>\n

Summary:<\/strong> Wuji means without pole or the ultimate of nothingness.\u00a0 Taiji means great poles.\u00a0 In Taijiquan, we usually start in a Wuji state, standing erect with equal weight on both feet, with body and mind relax; thus we are in a state with no pole.\u00a0 Then we move from a Wuji state to various Taiji states.\u00a0 In each Taiji state, weight is often non-uniformly distributed between the two legs, arms are usually raised or lower or extended, more emphasis is usually placed on exhaling or inhaling, and the mind is much more alert and focus. \u00a0 We are either in an attack (Yang) mode, or a defense (Yin) mode, or poised to move directly to an attack or defense mode.\u00a0 At the end of the form, we move back from a Taiji state to a Wuji state.<\/p>\n

This has some analog in modern physics and cosmology.\u00a0 The vacuum corresponds to nothingness (Wuji state), but it can transform into particle-antiparticle pairs (Taiji state).\u00a0 In modern cosmology, the transformation of the vacuum to energy\/matter (Wuji state to Taiji state) may hold the key to understanding modern cosmology in the form of an inflationary universe with accelerating expansion.<\/p>\n

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[1] Taijiquan is another name for Taiji.\u00a0 When more emphasis is put on Taiji as a martial art, the term Taijiquan is often used instead of the term Taiji.\u00a0 Taijiquan literally means the “fist of Taiji.”<\/p>\n

[2] This is the meaning of the classic Chinese saying that “four ounces can deflect a thousand pounds.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"