Who founded Tai Chi?

Taiji is an important concept and category in the cultural history of China. As far as the current literature is concerned, it was first seen in Zhuangzi: "Tao is above Tai Chi, not high; Below six poles, not deep; Born, it will not last long; Longer than ancient times, not old. " Later, I saw in the Book of Changes: "It is easy to have Tai Chi, which is to give birth to two instruments. Two instruments give birth to four elephants, and four elephants give birth to gossip. " After Zhuangzi, later generations gradually deduced the mature concept of Tai Chi according to the "Tai Chi" related to the Book of Changes, which really absorbed the essence of Zhuangzi's chaotic philosophy.

Just like Zhuangzi's chaotic philosophy, Tai Chi view, vaguely looking at the phenomenon and essence of everything, this way of thinking itself, in fact, contains sober and wise philosophical thinking. Its ultimate goal is to hope that human activities conform to the supreme morality of Tao and the laws of nature, and will "do nothing" and finally reach an all-inclusive spiritual realm of peace and harmony.

The Book of Changes (the unearthed version of Mawangdui in the Western Han Dynasty) records that "the ancient fu is the king of the world, looking up at the image in the sky, looking down at the law in the earth, looking at the culture of birds and beasts, looking at the suitability of the earth, taking everything near and taking everything far, leading to rumors". It means the process of divination. One is Tai Chi, but before yarrow is separated (yarrow is a tool for divination), after yarrow is separated, two hexagrams of Yin and Yang are formed, which are called two devices. There are four possible images of two hexagrams, which are called four images. Add one to each of them and it will become gossip. The following is the process of drawing gossip. At first, it was related to astronomy, meteorology and regional direction, and later it was further explained by Neo-Confucianism in the Song Dynasty in a philosophical way.