Kung-Fu - Tai Chi magazine this month had an article where the writer, Sal Canzonieri, attempted to point out how Chen Tai Chi orignially came from Shaolin Kung Fu. Specifically Chen Laojia Yilu form is a modified version of the Shaolin Taizu Chang Quan form.
There are many similarities pointed out between the two, such as the starting is exactly the same, many of the repetitions between the forms follow each other and so on. It is by no means anywhere close to an exact copy, but more of a copy by someone who had a different understanding and modified it.
In addition the article points out the name of the Tai Chi positions comes from a book "Classic Forms of Pugulism" by a Qi Jiguang[1528-1587]. The claim is the position names of the Shaolin form were kept secret and the creators of Chen did not have access to the names. So the originators of Chen Tai Chi matched up the positions with the drawings in the book as best they could and made up the other names. Chen Tai Chi matches 16 of the positions exactly from the book.
I found it to be an interesting article, one of the better ones I have ever seen from that magazine. I have always believed that Shaolin Kung Fu and Tai Chi at extremely skilled levels are almost the same. It appears I may have been closer then I thought about that.
Disclaimer... I do not know the Chen form named nor the Shaolin form named so I can't corroborate how accurate this was. However, the lineage from that Chen form to everything else is well documentated.
There are many similarities pointed out between the two, such as the starting is exactly the same, many of the repetitions between the forms follow each other and so on. It is by no means anywhere close to an exact copy, but more of a copy by someone who had a different understanding and modified it.
In addition the article points out the name of the Tai Chi positions comes from a book "Classic Forms of Pugulism" by a Qi Jiguang[1528-1587]. The claim is the position names of the Shaolin form were kept secret and the creators of Chen did not have access to the names. So the originators of Chen Tai Chi matched up the positions with the drawings in the book as best they could and made up the other names. Chen Tai Chi matches 16 of the positions exactly from the book.
I found it to be an interesting article, one of the better ones I have ever seen from that magazine. I have always believed that Shaolin Kung Fu and Tai Chi at extremely skilled levels are almost the same. It appears I may have been closer then I thought about that.
Disclaimer... I do not know the Chen form named nor the Shaolin form named so I can't corroborate how accurate this was. However, the lineage from that Chen form to everything else is well documentated.