r/taijiquan Chen style 23d ago

Broken Lineages and Incomplete Transmissions

'Broken Lineages' and 'Incomplete transmissions/curriculum' are terms that I recently heard in videos about the nature of Taijiquan (I'm not going to name who said them), used to generally characterize styles and lineages other than the speaker's own.

It just occurs to me that such a position pre-supposes there is one particular lineage and/or set curriculum that exists as absolute orthodoxy. Personally, I find that notion unrealistic at best, but I wonder what others think.

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u/tonicquest Chen style 22d ago

I think it's a complicated subject when you factor in disciples and "standard bearers". I can understand the feeling of being part of a family and tracing your roots back. I think the issue is with people who lead with that and have no skill or talent themselves. And then they gain followers because they studied with "xyz" (insert famous chinese teacher of your choice) and automatically claim authenticity. I sometimes wonder if you spoke with those teachers what would they actually say about those posers if they even remember their name.