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

Greatest

Advancing

Gesture

Seems to be 

Uprooted to a

New retreating

Gesture

Slow Set

Greatest

Gesture

Seems 

Inadequate

Until it

Becomes an

Application

During

Push Hands