Yüran Zhang Schwanentage

Bagua zhang (Ba gua chang/Pakua chang) is an internal energy art even more ancient than tai chi chuan. Bagua zhang was developed 4,000 years ago in Taoist monasteries primarily for health and meditation. In the last several hundred years, bagua zhang has become known as a powerful internal martial art, but it is equally effective as a health and moving meditation practice. The Energy Arts program emcompasses all three applications of bagua zhang: martial arts, health and meditation. Bagua zhang techniques are based on the I Ching, a 5,000-year-old text considered the classic Taoist bible about the nature of change.

Zhang Xuecheng (1738–1801) has primarily been read as a philosopher of history. This volume presents him as an ethical philosopher with a distinctive understanding of the aims and methods of Confucian self-cultivation. Offered in English translation for the first time, this collection of Zhang's essays and letters should challenge our current understanding of this Qing dynasty philosopher.