淺析太極宗師與長壽
Brief Analysis of Taiji Master’s Longevity
逍遙山人 12-1-2021
1. Foreword (前言)
I have always been interested in the subject of how Taijiquan might add points to practitioner’s longevity. In the year of 2005, I made a first attempt to study it with a database of 58 late masters. The result: a simple average of their lifespan equals 75 years. I was not really impressed; but I knew that my sample space was small and many complex factors were not considered. Now, sixteen years has passed. My database has grown up to 182 members strong. It covers three Chinese major internal martial art systems, namely, Taiji, Xingyi and Baguazhang. So, I decided to revisit the same subject with a more decent statistical analysis, trying to reveal the “myth” that Taijiquan could help one live longer.
俺對太極拳可以延年益壽之興趣由來已久.直到2005年,俺當時收集了58位宗師的生卒年月並作了一次初探.結果是:他們平均壽命為75歲.覺得有點差強人意.不過,俺的數據庫偏小.加上眾多因素均未考慮進去.失望是可以理解的.一轉眼過了16年.俺如今已建立了更大的檔案,含182位已故宗師的生辰.涵蓋三大中國內家拳派(太極,形意,八卦).偶感機緣成熟.俺乃捲起袖子.擬再探前題.作一番比較細緻的統計分析.欲一窺太極延壽的神祕面紗是也!
2. Some Interesting Findings (有趣的發現)
Q1. Names of the top ten masters who enjoyed the best lifespan?
A1. The following table (Table 1) shows the result.
問1. 最長壽之前十位壽星是何方人物?
答1. 請參看下表(表1).
Q2. Names of the bottom ten masters who had the shortest lifespan?
A2. The following table (Table 2) shows the result.
問2. 排名最後之十位大師是哪些人物?
答2. 請參看下表(表2).
Q3. Who was the champion with the longest lifespan?
A3. Grandmaster Wu Tu Nan (1885-1989) who practiced Wu-style Taijiquan. He enjoyed 104 years of good life.
問3. 誰最長壽?
答3. 吳圖南宗師. 享壽104歲(1885-1989). 主練吳式太極拳.
Q4. Who is at the bottom on the list?
A4. The Legendary Grandmaster Yang Chen Fu (1883-1936) who made some monumental contributions to Yang-style Taijiquan. Although he only lived 53 years of life, we knew there were other factors influencing his longevity. We should not link his longevity to his very respectful Taiji kungfu.
問4. 長壽名單何人殿後?
答4.聲名顯赫的一代傳奇泰斗楊澄甫宗師,得年53歲(1883~1936).傳人眾多.他為楊式太極拳作出了巨大的貢獻.功在千秋萬代.其之過早辭世,另有隱情.吾等後生小卒,當謹小慎微,虛懷若谷,大可不必對大師的太極功夫心生疑慮!
Q5. In what years did the 182 masters live?
A5. The answer is in the following table (Table 3) and figure (Figure 1).
問5. 這182位宗師生活的年代為何?
答5. 請看下列之表(表3)與圖(圖1).
Q6. Is there any raw data showing master’s age density?
A6. Yes, the following figure (Figure 2) shows how many lived what years of age.
問6. 請示宗師們年歲統計,有多少人活了若干歲?
答6. 答案請看下列之圖(圖2).
Q7. The above figure appears to behave like a normal distribution. Is this true?
A7. Yes, quite a bit. I have an empirical Gaussian distribution equation to try here. However, I used a 3-bar moving average on the raw data to do the fitting. Please see the following figure (Figure 3). Please feel free to explore additional interpretation.
問7.上圖有些像是正常鐘形分佈線, 是嗎?
答7.正是,俺有一支經驗公式(高斯公式),可以套用.不過,俺將原汁原味的數据稍作加工.俺用了三支移動平均線作底.其與高斯公式之企合令人滿意.現在,請看下列之圖(圖3).各位看官,若君有意,請逕自惴摩圖中暗藏之其他玄機.
Q8. So, what is the simple average age of the 182 masters?
A8. Their simple age average is 79 years. But their Gaussian model shows their most probable life expectancy is 80 years.
問8.那麼,182位大師們的平均年歲是啥呢?
答8.其平均年齡是79歲. 但其高斯摸型表示其最大機率為80歲.
Q9. Can you compare the masters’ lifespan with their national average?
A9. Yes. Thanks to the Gapminder Foundation which provided me with historical data of China from 1800 till 2010. This allows me to do a good comparative analysis. However, due to special reasons, I choose to cover the data within approximately 100 years window (1900-2010). I want to avoid the Qing dynasty entirely. Figure 4 below shows you the result. The vertical bars represent the national Chinese average. The scattered data points are master’s lifespan in my sample. The line going through the data points is an exponential fit.
問9.可否將大師們的壽命與當時的國民平均值作一比較?
答9.要先感謝Gapminder基金會所提供的全國人壽平均值.其資料涵蓋二百年.不過,基於多种原因,俺刻意迥避前清時期.只選定近百年左右的1900至2010為分析時段.其結果請參閱下列之圖4.圖中直桿子為全國人壽平均值.小三角散點子為宗師們的壽命. 通過散點子的一條曲線為指數擬合線.
Q10. How did you collect the age-data of those late masters?
A10. I collect data and establish my data base in a casual manner. This is because I have been working on a non-solicited voluntary project. Whenever I ran into a data point, I simply uploaded it in my Excel data-base file in my personal computer. My data-base resources include (1) my books about internal martial arts, over one hundred; (2) various Taiji magazines; and (3) various websites over the internet. Below is a list of some well-known Tai Chi websites.
Reference
1. The Chinese Tai Chi Net (ctcc.net.cn)
2. Taiji Net (taiji.net.cn)
3. World Taijiquan Website (tjqworld.com)
4. Taiji Heritage Net (taijiren.com)
5. Taiji Jing Ying Wang (taiji168.com)
6. ROC Tai Chi Federation (cttaichi.org)
問10.你是如何收集那些已故大師的年齡數據的？
答10.我以隨意的方式收集數據並建立我的數據庫。是因為我一直在從事一個非請求的自願項目。每當遇到數據點時，我只需將其上傳到個人計算機的Excel數據庫文件中。我的數據庫資源包括（1）我的內家拳書籍，一百多本；(2)各種太極雜誌； (3) 互聯網上的各種網站。
以下是一些著名的太極拳網站的列表。
Reference
1. The Chinese Tai Chi Net (ctcc.net.cn)
2. Taiji Net (taiji.net.cn)
3. World Taijiquan Website (tjqworld.com)
4. Taiji Heritage Net (taijiren.com)
5. Taiji Jing Ying Wang (taiji168.com)
6. ROC Tai Chi Federation (cttaichi.org)
Q11. Could you make a brief conclusion?
A11. There is a great deal of valuable message in the analysis. I have learned a lot from the study. And I plan to update the database again in the future. Taiji masters appear to outlive their national average people by a large margin. However, this margin has been running on a decreasing trend. Nevertheless, I have been unequivocally convinced that Taiji has significant potential in longevity extension. But, Taiji is by no means an easy exercise. One needs to know how to get there. Thou shalt never take things for granted.
問11.可否作一小結?
答11.此項分析展示了大量含意深遠的資料.俺學到了很多很多.受益匪淺. 俺有意將來還要繼續更新大師們的資料庫.從數字看出來,大師們比一般人更為長壽.不過,此項優勢似乎正處於逐年遞減的趨勢之中.總的說來,太極拳在延年益壽方面的潛力,俺是深信不疑的.最後,借屈原的《離騷》名句為本文作結:“路漫漫其修遠兮, 吾將上下而求索!”
About the Author
Dr. Stephen Tang is an amateur martial artist with over 50 years of experience in Tai Chi practice and teaching. He earned an MS degree from UC Berkeley and A PhD degree from Princeton University, both in Aerospace Engineering and Sciences. He is proud of being the student of his Princeton faculty advisor, Professor John B. Fenn, who was the 2002 Nobel prize winner.
He is the founder of a unique “Xiaoyao Taiji System” based on two celebrated Taiji styles: Hunyuan Chen-style Taijiquan and Water-Nature Taijiquan. He is now a retired senior in his mid-eighties. He enjoys living a simple life guided by “Less is More”. His other quotation is “Xiaoyao is a way of life. Just keep going. You will never be the same again”. He believes egoless and being dynamic will lead to everlasting longevity. In practice, he uses dynamic Taiji to maintain physical fitness and static sitting meditation to control ego and elevate spiritual growth. At the end, one gets ready to seek harmony with the universe.