The next important writing after the Tao-te-ching in Taoism is the Chuang-tzu, believed to have been authored by a man of the same name. Very little is known of Chuang-tzu, and what little there is, is woven into legend. His name was Chou, and he was a native of Meng, where he once served in the petty position of official of the lacquer garden. He lived in the same time as King Hui (370-319 B.C.) of Liang and King Hsuan (319-301 B.C.) of Ch'i. Chuang-tzu was to Lao-tzu as Saint Paul was to Jesus Christ or Plato to Socrates.
The rhythm of life and its organic vision, an idea poetically put forth in the Tao-te-ching, is brought to perfect expression by the writings of Chuang-tzu.
Most other philosophers of his time (e.g. Confucius) were concerned with laying down the foundation for social norms and ideals for running a good government. Chuang-tzu was different.
Chuang-tzu transcended the illusory dust of the world (whang cheng in Chinese), thus laying down the foundations for a metaphysical state of emptiness or ego transcendence, an extremely important concept in kung-fu combat theory. With great imagination and superb weaving of fantasy, he captured the depth, glory, and color of the Chinese mind.
The essays and stories that constitute the Book of Chuang-tzu go deeper into strategy and mysticism than those found in the Tao-te-ching anthology. It is for this reason that the Chuang-tzu is required reading for kung-fu students.
The Chuang-tzu makes one very important contribution to Chinese philosophy. It clearly defines an age-old concept: the yin and yang.
In the general sense, the yin and yang is a theory of opposition. In the original meaning, it meant sunless and sunny. For example, the southern side of a mountain is yang and the northern side is yin. In time they came to mean male and female. Finally, they became general terms for fundamental and opposing forces or principles of nature.
Thus, yang is all that is good: male, strong, light, inner self, etc.; while yin is bad: female, weak, dark, outer self, etc. Now I am ducking for cover, don’t shoot the messenger lady’s, let me explain.
This is not to say that the ancient Chinese looked at the female as a dark, evil entity. They believed that all life is made up of opposing, interacting forces, giving the universe a substantive reality. Within the person there is both good and evil, consciousness and unconsciousness. The fact that for the creation of a human being you need both female and male led to the idea of these two beings as opposing forces. Thus, there is no implication of the female being evil only the categorization of her being biologically different from a man.
The symbol of the yin-yang is a circle with two opposing tomoe (comma shaped design) or for the layman a circle with a twisted "S" in the center. The wave in the "S" represents the principle of continuous movement-finite movement, of rising-lowering. Within the symbol of the yin-yang is a representation of its philosophy. In the center of the dark area, representing light (yang) is a spot that appears to be an eye. This shows there is a grain of yin in yang. The same holds true of the light side, representing dark (yin); there is an element of yang, showing its presence. It is through the interaction of yin and yang that the universe and reality were created.
In terms of combat, yin and yang are very important. In the execution of a punch, for example, one can never be simply soft or hard. One must be both. The arm is kept soft until the moment of impact; it is then made hard for maximum power. After delivery, the arm returns to its soft state. Thus, there is an interaction of soft-hard (yin-yang) during the execution of every punch. All kung-fu techniques involve an interaction of yin and yang. It is perhaps this distinction that makes kung-fu unique in martial arts.
The Okinawan karate systems of Gojuryu and Uechiryu also utilize the concept of soft-hard, or hard-soft, within the frame work of their respected Ryu-ha, the Japanese or Okinawan equivalent in called In-Yo.
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