The opening of the mysterious female is called the root of heaven and earth.
(Lao Tzu)
The female in history
Most of the worlds philosophical traditions adopt a dismissive attitude
towards women.
Women are patronised or ignored.
The traditions are often sexist in the extreme and consider women to be
inferior.
Sadly, this has permeated culture.
But change is slowly occurring in the world.
A different attitude
Taoism
adopts a very different attitude towards women than other traditions.
Rather than stem from
opinion and conjecture, it arose from the observation
of nature, from watching existence and considering the principles that
operate.
The early taoists identified the
qualities in women that made them equal to
men; and this was expressed by the
tai chi
symbol which contains both elements.
Neither man nor woman was seen as 'better', simply different.
Water
Zen and taoism have long revered qualities that are considered
'female' and the
most feminine symbol of all is water.
It was thought to suggest the very nature of
tao.
Water is used as a representation of tao because it always seeks the
path of least resistance.
It does not compete; it finds the easiest path and follows it.
Nothing can oppose water; it will carve through rocks and
flow around anything
that resists it.
Water is
strong because
it lets go - it uses gravity and
yielding - never
tension.
Reverence of the female
Unlike most philosophical traditions, taoism values
women.
The attributes of women were carefully watched and examined.
Men tend to be direct and confrontational, often clumsy and aggressive,
whereas women can be gentler, more subtle and intelligent.
These same female characteristics are to be found in tai chi chuan.
The female in tai chi
In taoism,
women
were regarded as being as strong as men, albeit through different means.
Tai chi
stemmed from this...
Instead of using hard, muscular
strength and brute force, it adopts another approach.
Your body must be
relaxed and
fluid, yielding and pliant, yet retain a strong
inner core,
connected through a framework of soft tissue.
You must yield to force and retain a calm
composure
during self defence practice.
These attributes are seen as yin, or female.
Page created 3 January 1999