Wednesday, February 24, 2016

45

45  
THE greatest perfection seems imperfect,
And yet its use is inexhaustible.
The greatest fullness seems empty,
And yet its use is endless.
The greatest straightness looks like crookedness.
The greatest skill appears clumsy.
The greatest eloquence sounds like stammering.
Restlessness overcomes cold,
But calm overcomes heat.
The peaceful and serene
Is the Norm of the World.


Translated by John C. H. Wu
Interpretation by Bill Bernsen



IRONY

Look for perfection
Notice imperfection
An endless process
Feel fullness
Notice hollow
Endless process
Straightness
Must have elasticity
This is the circle hidden
In the line
Mastery
Unpredictable
Elasticity
Looks clumsy
Sounds
Have straightness
Our attention
Is elastic
Straightness
Calm fury
Is the endless process


Practice
Over comes
No ideas
Stillness
Overcomes
Too much
Energy
Cold spot
No new ideas
Practice
Hot spot
New idea
Practice
Write it down
To be comfortable
In class
Stay calm/clear
The whole equals
The sum of its parts
The entire slow set
Sum of its gestures
We seem
To look for flaws
In the whole
Watching a demonstration
We look for the flaws
Use this in teaching
Correct them in my mind
If student is connected
They will correct
Balance between
Centripetal/centrifugal
Hub/fulcrum
The greatest ideas
Seem simple
"Why didn't
I think of it before"
I am full
Of others ideas
No room
For the new ones  
Opponent defines
A warrior
His students define
A Master
An art is defined
By its lineage
Listening
Calmly
Overcomes
A heated discussion
The greatest
Square
Is overcome
By roundness
Giving up
To gravity
Makes for calm
And one
With the earth
The greatest stillness
Seem like
It is movement
Because I imagine
Movement
The greatest movement
Seems like stillness
Imagine movement
Great yang
Turns
To yin
Because of the circle
This is the return
Vice Versa
The paradox
Of practice
Perfection
Is perfection
The following words
Are not perfect
Therefore great
Full is full
Not perfectly full
There is more
To say therefore
Stillness
In body/mind
But nature
Is constantly changing
Like time/space
To understand
Straight
One must
Bent the rules
To understand fully
Must empty
Body and mind
Which if totally empty
Becomes still again
Great fullness
Must first be empty
Then when it is filled
I can still recall the
Emptiness
Man is perfect
But seems imperfect
To himself
So he practices
Tai Chi Chuan
To perfect himself
Comparing man
Today
To man
Of the past
Today’s man is perfect
Because of the past practice
Man
Is the practice
Of the past
To pass it on
Use Tai Chi Chuan practice
In the present
Dwelling
In the insubstantial
Is the norm
The greater
The hollow
The more room
To receive
Look for imperfection
Use heart/hands
To heal
The greatest stillness
Is moving
Feel still
But the earth
Galaxy
Universe
Is moving
So is time
It is never still
Neutral
Is normal
Passive/calm
Is the norm body
Dwell deep
In the fulcrum
In my mind
It seems correct
But how does it look
To the Masters
The answer is the
Correction that follows
Spirit triumphs
Over gravity
Gravity supports
Spirit
Look at the worst
Imagine the best
It is my fulcrum
Of the heart
Balancing
Stretch
To maximum
Relax to hollow
Stretch again
Question
To maximum
Relax
To hollow mind
To answer
This is really
New question
Be a fulcrum
With everything
Is the secret
To Tai Chi Chuan
Must open
The heart
To hug
The greatest gesture
Is hollow
Peaceful/serene
Fill the gesture
With love
The greatest idea
Seems simple
So simplify
To create
Look at imperfect
See perfection
Look at everything
As though I am
A fulcrum
The Tai Chi waist
Seems hollow
But full of energy
Tai Chi fullness
Seems hollow
Able
To change with change
Great gestures search
Yet is found
In itself
Greatest fullness
Seems hollow
Yet it is elastic
The greatest square
Looks slightly around
Because I can think
It round
The greatest balance
Is being a fulcrum
Full seems
Hollow
With the use
Of a fulcrum
Yin and Yang
Are always balancing
Using the fulcrum
Peaceful
As a pivot point
Tranquil
As a Tai Chi Point
The extreme end
Is the beginning
Of a new circle
This is pi
The mental fulcrum
Balanced
It is tranquil
Great
Overflowing virtue
Tao by contraries
Tight-fisted
Go until it
Seems empty
Stretch straight
Until I bend
The greatest
Skill is
To keep reaching
Stretching
For perfection
This is always
Testing
My limit
When working on
New sinews/measles
Appears clumsy
Because I am
Gone into a new area
Discover something new
Find it very difficult
To put it in words
That people understand
During perfection
Feel/look
For imperfection
It would not be perfect
If it where not
For Imperfection
If it does not
Feel clumsy
Then I am
Not improving
What is most full
Physically seems
Mentally empty
Straight mentally
Feels crooked
Physically
Right is right
Wrong
This wrong is right
If cold
Move inside
If hot
Stop inside
Chi that is
While observing
Something perfect
Don’t look for
Or
Hope for mistakes
Like watching
A Master
Demonstrating
Tai Chi Chuan
This moment is
Not suited for
The next moment
Because the thought is
Already part of the past
How can I be drained
If I am empty and open
So don’t hold on to
Anything to long
Because something new
Might be trying to enter
If I hold
Onto a thought
Longer
Then necessary
Period of time
To understand it
Then I am blocking
The new
Great
Thoughts can be
Altered
By adding to it
Or subtracting
From it
This is bending
The mind
By letting go
Of the previous thought
Others see this as
Being clumsy
But it takes great skill
To go into the next move
Or thought
This is like walking blindly
Into the future
Must open and step
The mouth can
Never move fast
As the mind
Eventually the body can
But never the voice
Find the energy
Control it
Then I can send it
To where it is needed
First in myself
Then in others
Eventually
A great distance
If cold and
Lacking energy
Try practice
We are looking
For the mistakes
In the perfection
This is the imperfection
In us
When full
We predict
The empty  
We want to fell
The curved
In the straight
This give us power
Great skill
Feels awkward
Thinking
About the skill
All my words
Seem paradoxical  
.When reading about
The Tao Te Ching
Go into Yu Pei Shih
Preparatory position
Endlessly empty
Makes me always
Hungry for more
Perfect seems
To have something
Missing
Perhaps the mistake
This will come soon
It is the mistake
To think this
Look at a cup
Notice that it is empty
Not fulfilling its purpose
Most of us feel
This most of our lives
What is going
Into the cup
Nourishment
Water
Poison (booze)
It is up to me
Careful of what others
Put into my cup
Don’t let it over flow
Yin cup or yang cup
In the morning
What I pick up
Is what you will
Be that day
Yin or Yang
Have a cup find  
Some fluid
To put into it
Have a fluid
Look for a cup
To put it into
Capture
Opponent’s Jing
Thru capturing
His intent
By appearing
Clumsy
Clumsy/toppling
Is what heightens
Alertness
So I can hear
Opponent’s intent
Step back over
Sleeping tiger
Is the extreme alert
And retreat
A great gesture
Is not ever perfect
Not perfect
But I can imagine
It perfect
As I can imagine
The following
Solid to flexible sternum
Straighten arm
As bent
Awkward ability
A great alignment
Stammering speech
As articulate
Over come cold
Imaging movement
Thinking stillness
Over comes heat
Practice
Overcomes “Can’t”
Beginning
Paradoxical
Writing ends
The perfect alignment
Seems misaligned
Practice
Full Jing/Chi seems
Insufficient
Practice
The ball/earth
On a fulcrum/Tai Chi
Never stop balancing
Ball on fulcrum
Is the norm
Paradox
Is a partner
Of the Master
Errors
Are sometimes
Epiphanies
Me
Myself
I
Practicing
Tai Chi Chuan
Heaviest gesture
Seems light
Why?
Because I am
Thinking about
The next gesture
The principle
Of the lever
I being the fulcrum
Invariant
Connection
To the lineage
Is the secret
To Tai Chi Chuan
All art
Eternal
Elasticity
At ease
A fulcrum
Between extremes
Is Tai Chi Chuan
Shortcomings
Are part 
Of the search
For oneness

Observe 

Incorrect

Think to
Correct  

Spirit/gravity

Plumbness

Pursuing

Perfect 

Practice

Slow Set
Seems same

Every practice

But different

Every spirited

Gesture

Slow Set

Practice

Is the remedy

For poor

Weapons

Performance

The greatest

Tai Chi gesture

Seems incomplete

Until it becomes

An application

Perfect

Gesture seems

Imperfect/incomplete

Until applied

To an application

12-30-23

 



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