Comment by lukan

" they claimed that they had learned them from some older master exactly in the form that they demonstrate, and that the older master had in turn learned them exactly in the same form from even more ancient masters."

Yeah, that is a old thing I guess. The more mysticism around his ancient mystic technics, the more respect for the master. But it used to be worse I think, the boxer rebellion cleaned up with lot's of superstition in the area in general, as martial arts masters turned out not to be bullet proof either https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxer_Rebellion

(I learned that fact actually in a Tai Chi book)

I just know that I don't care about ancient wisdom/tradition, but about things that work here and now. And Tai Chi people taught me good things and I know some of them were also good fighters. And the non fighting technics are useful as well.