44

44  

As for your name and your body, which is the dearer?
As for your body and your wealth, which is the
 more to be prized?
As for gain and loss, which is the more painful?

Thus, an excessive love for anything will cost you dear
 in the end.
The storing up of too much goods will entail a heavy
 loss.

To know when you have enough is to be immune from
 disgrace.
To know when to stop is to be preserved from perils.
Only thus can you endure long.

Translated by John C. H. Wu

Interpretation by Bill Bernsen


ENOUGH

Constant apprehension

Will negate

The attitude

Of a fool

Serenity = fulcrum

Contentment = not disgrace

Never shamed

Freedom to change

Not despoiled

To know

Not to move

Support leg

Is to preserve form  

Immune system

Assist

Not only physical

Also mental and emotional

To continue

Is to be connected

One must

Know when to stop

By listening

Being frugal

With energy

Find the fulcrum

To judge everything

Wealth and fame

Will make

The body weary

Listening

Negates

The extreme

Body first

Then belongings

Do just enough

So the Master

Can see where

I am at in the art

Listen to needs

Masters will tell

When to stop

Eventually

Will know

When to stop

Negate entertainment

Enough entertainment

Stop it!

Listen

To self-first

To body first

To foundation first

Enough = freedom

Shrewd is sufficient

Is self-determination

Perceptive

To stay

Is protection

Be conservative

Again getting urge

To write book

Like Tao Te ching

Is written

Have not been

Doing enough

Fame is like a bee

It has a song

It has a sting

It has a wing

Emily Dickinson 19 century poet

To know when

To stay is protection

Practice to stop

Practice

For fame or health

Practice

For health or wealth

Practice

For winning or losing old self

My current

Riding the Dragon

I did not know

When to stop

So the Masters

Stopped me

Via hernia and Lyme disease

This slowed me down

Don’t know when

Enough is enough

When to stop

If connected

The Masters will tell

They know when I am

Do for a loss or gain

Which is dearer?

My house or my health

Quietist student is said

To sit motionless

Silent at the sacrifice

Waiting for the spirit

Of the Masters

To descend

Tai Chi Chuan begins

Raise arms

Open heart

So the Masters enter

During slow set

Wandering thru the ages

Of practice

By the Masters

The Master senses

With every part

Of him right down

To the KD#1

In Tai Chi Chuan

breathing

Is the opening and closing

Of the cells

In the body

Producing friction/energy

Breathing be like

An infant

Baby does not think

About this breath

They just breathe

Womb breathing

Breathing

Inside the womb

Of the universe

Small loss

Small gain

Great loss

Great gain

Same with energy

In fame

Gain too much energy

Must give it back

For balance

Perceive what is sufficient

Becomes a choice

Practice this and endure

To endure

be connected

To the Masters

Stop is sustaining long

Knowing what is enough

Heart felt

Welfare

Health

Happiness

Self is more important

Than material things

Feeling/thoughts are

More important

Than the distraction

Open hip joints more

For stability

Shoulders opened more

If   truly open Masters

Will adjust my posture

And my life  

The Confucius 9 test

The tenth test is understood

Me first!

Follow all senior students

Master follows the lineage too

He never tries to push

Let nothing come

Into opposition

With the significance of

Slow set

To know

When to standstill

Is to be moving

In Tai Chi Chuan

Student satisfied

Has virtue

Can do push hands

Has self-control

Follows and listens

Is never up rooted

When entering

A class

Follows its rules

When entering

A state of mind

Follow the principles

Make it perfect

Perfection = contentment.

Which is more important?

What happens

To my opponent

Or to me

Resentment is like

A very serious injury

It can affect progress

Energy is like water

Same amount in universe

Only location changes

Getting to know others

It shows

In their clothes

And their abodes

Know what

Is sufficient

Is liberty

I get at least

One or two

New ideas each day

Can I take more?.

Am I practicing them enough?

What and how

I handle them (ideas).

Am I only to get them

Write them down

Never truly understand them

Just record it all

Working with Student/teacher

Makes me learn

Twice as fast

Gain new self

Loss old self

Which more powerful

Storing up

Of the many forms

Prior to understanding

Slow set will entail

A heavy loss of students

No intent

Can be peaceful

The eyes and hands

Are always moving

Sit on hands

Look inward

Return to root

To get stronger

Extreme love

Of the root

Will flower

New ideas

If a student or opponent

Goes to places unknown

Caution

Be apprehensive

Return to roots

With elasticity

Follow them

Elastic listening

Health over hedonism

Family or fame

Gain from past

Loss of future

Gaining injury/illness

Losing practice time

Tai Chi

The art

And endure

Mercy; listen

Frugal

Know when

To stop

Not first and follow

Mix and match

Tao Te Ching

A Chinese secret

To the Tao

Same is true

of Tai Chi Chuan

Gesture and applications

Fulcrum

Is more important

Than that it is supporting

(Weighting)

Use the fulcrum

To weight loss/gain

Know fulcrum’s limit

Practice

More important

Than demos

To endure

Don’t’ enjoy

Too much

Weigh all

With Tai Chi

Fulcrum

Listen to

The true Master

By mastering

Yourself

Three of life

First-third accumulate

Second-third organize

Third-third eliminate

Better 

To be healthy

And content

Than wealthy

With contempt

Tai chi

Contentment

Found in

Health

Not wealth

Tai Chi practice

Spirited

Moderation

Leads to 

Anchored

Gestures of 

Awareness 

2-13-24