5
HEAVEN-and-Earth is not sentimental;
It treats all things as straw-dogs.
The Sage is not sentimental;
He treats all his people as straw-dogs.
It treats all things as straw-dogs.
The Sage is not sentimental;
He treats all his people as straw-dogs.
Between Heaven and Earth,
There seems to be a Bellows:
It is empty, and yet it is inexhaustible;
The more it works, the more comes out of it.
No amount of words can fathom it:
Better look for it within you.
There seems to be a Bellows:
It is empty, and yet it is inexhaustible;
The more it works, the more comes out of it.
No amount of words can fathom it:
Better look for it within you.
Translated by John C. H. Wu
Interpretation by Bill Bernsen
TEST
My blog
Is like bellows
The more I write into it
The more ideas
Come out of it
I am being treated
Like a straw dog
This means
I am connected
Supported
By the lineage
Being tested
By Master
Tai Chi Chuan
Provides
Gestures life
Virtue nurtures them
Master forms them
Situation improves them
A piece of fruit
Will sacrifice its body
For the seed
Within
Between
Spirit/gravity
I am like
Like a bellows
Empty of intent
Yet inexhaustible
The more I practice
Tai chi Chuan
The more comes
Out of me
Just think
Of the wrist
As a bellows
Masters spirit
Can fill it
Spirit then
Enters my bones
Where it turns
Into chi
So my joints
Are alchemist
Make Tai Chi Chuan
Gestures
Like a bellows
Gather air (chi)
Then let it out
In one direction
In and out
Out and in
Thru out/in
Always honor
And respect
My teacher
Even die for him
Otherwise
I will fail the test
Of worthiness
If I am not important
Then I am uninhabited
Because people
Will only try
To use that which
Is important
Must die
So new feeling/idea
Have room
Inside me
If I am hollow
No intent
Techniques
In push hands
Are everlasting
More I practice
The more I
Become like a
Inexhaustible
Bellows
Taking in air
Letting out air
Like a sneeze
Very powerful
Use it as an example
Of gathering
And discharging
In Tai Chi Chuan
Spirit/gravity
Without discrimination
Spirit treats
Like a clay dragon
Gravity treats
All like water
The two (spirit/gravity)
Are two handles
To a bellows
Man operates
The handles
When I lose my spirit
I collapse
To gravity
When I lose
My body (gravity)
My spirit floats away
More
Bellows works
More comes
Out of it
Air in the bellows
Is what flames
The fire
(Supports the fire)
Jing is like fire
Must have substance
To burn (body)
Ground to support
Substance
Air (chi)
Heat (thought)
A straw dog
Is made of real straw
A clay dragon
Is made of real clay
Nothing is worthless
Between
Heaven/earth
There is elasticity
Man
My heart is
A bellows
Above is spirit
Below is gravity
My heart = bellows
Take in spirit
Sink with gravity
Release Jing
When reaching out
Doing push hands
My gesture is
A straw dog
Hands/arms
Are straw dogs
My heart
Is a bellows
Bellows
Between heaven/earth
Is my waist
Waist is
the bellows
Of the body
Secret to the bellows
Is in the sacrum
My worries
Are straw dogs
(Clay dragon)
If I feel like the Masters
Are treating me like
A straw dog
It is probably because
I am connected
Practicing
As if I am bellows
Being between spirit
(Masters)
And gravity
(China)
I am hollow
Of intent
My practice
Is inexhaustible
The more
I practice
The more
Chi I get
It is all within me
If I am connected
To the Masters
Between
Masters/China
Is a Gesture
A bowstring between
Above/below
Below rooted
To heaven
Above spirited
To earth
Words cannot measure
The distance
Express within me
Gravity
Does not discriminate
Treast every objective/thing
Equally
Spirit is influence
By the Subjective
Does favor
Become a bellows
Discriminate
My favorite
If I am
Not practicing
I am a
Non-functioning
Bellows
More I practice
The more ideas
Masters bestow
Upon me
Be an active bellows
For the art
Master has my handles
I should be able
To handle it
Build a stronger
Bellows
Master
Is not emotional
He views
All students
As transitory
Change with Change
As I stay
A fulcrum
My head/torso
Regard the arms/legs
As dispensable
Master
Does not correct me
Unless
I am connected
To the lineage
All corrections
Are really tests
Be hollow of intent
And connected
To receive all
The bellows is me
Pulling up
Earth’s energy
With the spirit
Of the Master
The more I practice
The more chi I have
For repairs
Self and others
Foundation first
Like a bellows
When pressed on
It roots deeper
Spirit/gravity
Are not emotional
They make me
Into a bellows
Empty (hollow)
I am inexhaustible
The more I practice
The more Chi I have
I must feel it
Tests
By the Master
Feels like I am going
Thru sacrificial rites
Those that do not pass
The tests
Are discarded
Lose interest
In the art
Space bellows
Is between
Physical body
And mind
It is empty
The Jing
Is the chi
Coming out
I must move
To have chi
Come out
I must move
To Fa Jing
If I talk
It negates
The Jing
Press from back
By Masters
Press from future
By students
Keep me balance
In between
Master’s
Supply of ideas
Never fails
Work them
Practice them
Movement generates
Master’s ideas
When I get
To the point
Of considering
All things
In heaven/man/earth
As straw dogs
I have reached Tao
Read people’s
Ideas
Thoughts/gestures
Like a gyroscope
Masters’
Pushing hands
Is like two gyroscopes
Meeting
On a string
Gyroscope
Never stops spinning
Where does it get
Its power (idea)
If I stop practices
I fall over
What is amazing
It can balance
On anything
Except water
If the opponent tries
To use me
To balance
I must turn
To water
Like a piece of wood
On water
Sacrifice is what
Comes out
Of the bellows
Considerable dialog
Means fatigue
Better to keep
Thoughts
On a fulcrum
The space
Between
Spirit/gravity
Is a bellows (man)
Must move Tai Chi Chuan
To produce Chi
This brings
Shen
New ideas
1. Spirit
2. Gravity
3. Man = 10,000
Some people
Just get their bellows
Working again
Then talk about it
And lose it
There is a bellows
In the pelvis too
Hold on
To Slow Set
Spirit/gravity
Does not dwell on
It’s past because
It has no past
Nor future
Only now
Man brings
In past/future
Don’t dwell
On new thing
Just let them merge
Into my form
Sentimental = dwell
Not paying attention
To the now
Thinking about
A misalignment or mistake
Takes me
Out of the present
Don’t dwell
Past mistakes
Old injuries Etc.
Just do Tai Chi Chuan
When confronted
With a new situation
Just follow
Don’t push
Same in slow set
Just follow
Listen to what is happening
Inside me
Just follow
Unlearning is empty
And the answers
Are inexhaustible
Cannot think
About those
Who are not
Attending class
Put the energy
Into the ones
Those are here
The ones that are
Not here
But are connected
Deserve attention too
Let them feel
Connected to me
Be the centrifugal weight
They always feel me
Holding on
To the lineage
Like the Master
Be like gravity
To them
This is where gravity
Turns into spirit
It must be
An elastic connection
It takes a man
To mix
Heaven/lineage and earth/China
Interesting
Hell
Is not mentioned
In Tao Te Ching
Because there is no Hell
Only man can
Turn heaven or earth
Into hell
For example;
If I slip and fall on ice
Injure myself
That could be looked upon
As hell on ice
If I become depressed
This could be hell of spirit
So there is no hell
Only what I make
Heaven/earth
Between gravity/spirit
Space/time is man
Man is like
A bellows
Empty
And taking in
What is around him
At the time
Let’s out
Whatever is in him
At that moment
Master says
“Just thinks it
Don’t say it”
I don’t have
To use words
If they are listening
With their hearts
Words are for only those
Who are on the edge
Of understanding
It is as if they are
On a fulcrum
And just the Weight
Of one word
Can bring them
To the understanding side
Once the student
Is connected
They can study
With anyone
But “better to teach”
Teaching is
Like changing teachers
The old teacher remains
The new teacher
Is my new student
All the above
Just poured out of me
Where is it all coming from?
Spirit/gravity knows
That all things
Never seem
Scheme to be
Energy is constant
It only changes
Time/space
Same inside
The human body
The energy
Is constant
Only thru Tai Chi Chuan
Can I learn
To control
The energy
Eventually move it
Sleep
Is the only way
To calm down
The energy
Perhaps
In time I
Can do with
Less sleep
Because just a nap
Can settle
The energy
Very quickly
I must be will rested/calm
To get control
Of my energy
It is like metal
As I heat it
It becomes excited
The atoms move faster
Must get control
Of the atoms
When I do fast set
I can move
As fast
As a thought
In time and space
Slow set
Gives gestures life
Practice nurses them
Students shape them
Environment/class/home/camp etc.
Perfects them
Some students
Want Master
To command them
Be like a parent
Order them around
For there is
Sanctuary in that
What really happens
Their real character
Starts
To reveal itself
Sometimes
Spontaneously
If they don’t’ like
What is revealed
They get upset
With the teacher
If what reveals itself
Is not acknowledged
This is why
So many fail
Anything
That interferes
With the operation
Of the bellows feeling
Is wrong
A bellows
Cannot work
If the hinge
Is tight
Man cannot work
If his joints/mind
Is tight
Thru Tai Chi Chuan
One loosens up his
Joints and mind
Resulting in elasticity
If I am hollow
I do not lose
My connection
To the Master
When practicing
Master gives me
More ideas
As a bellow’s
Moving
I must let go
Of the old
Make room
For the new
Whatever a bellows
Takes in
It also lets out
If I are taking in
Foul ideas /feeling
That is what
I will let out
Guard against
Foul things
Entering
Use Tai Chi Chuan
Ward-off
The more
I practice
The more new ideas/feeling
I get
Also I lose
Old problems
I become
Childlike
With spontaneous wisdom
Wisdom
Of not being sentimental
It only slows me down
Perhaps being sentimental
Is a way
To be relaxed /calm
It is what
I am familiar
Anytime I am not familiar
I feel like a straw dog
I must become
Calm when
I am a straw dog
All the uncomfortable things
That happen to me is
A test by the Master
We are used (straw dogs)
To test the way
For the Master
Can sense the future
But he cannot
For certain know it
Hence
We are used a straw dogs
If we listen/receive
By being hollow
Like a bellows
Master’s teachings
Will be inexhaustible
The more
We work
The more
Comes out of us
Heaven is spirit
Earth is gravity
I obey spirit
And follow gravity
Kow tow to both
The only thing
That can
Overcome spirit
Is gravity
And spirit
Can lift gravity
Tai Chi is finding
The pivot/fulcrum
Of spirit and gravity
Should always
Be in balance
Tai Chi Chuan
Will reveal
The balance
If I stay
The same height/speed
This poem applies perfectly
To my current situation
My torso and pelvis
Is not sentimental
It treats legs and arms
As straw dogs
Tai Chi Chuan
Is the way
To get bellows (body)
In a condition that will
Allow it
To be able
To handle
All energy coming
Function properly
Be a bellow
Stay a fulcrum
Spirit and gravity
Pull you apart
Waist hub
Is the bellows
I am a clay Dragon
Riding a Dragon
Remain a fulcrum
Ready to translate
Tao Te Ching
Into
Tai Chi Chuan
Terms
Must be worthy
To be a straw dog/ clay dragon
Constantly tested
Because I am the bellows
For the Masters
They are heaven/earth
Spirit/gravity
Masters/China
Be a clay Dragon
I must merge
With spirit/gravity
Become a bellows
Taking in first
Then letting out
I am being treated
Like a clay dragon
With a bellows
Of emotions
In – up – out – down
Lots of teaching
Means much exhaustion
Better to solo practice
Teaching to confirm
Between Masters and China
Is the worthy student
Hollow inexhaustible
More practice
More understanding
Stay receptive
Moments of depression
Are when I am being
Treated like a straw dog
Prior to an epiphany
A test by the Masters
It is like a bellows
Depress then expand
Elastic band
Anchored between
Spirit and gravity
Masters and China
Masters testing
The bow
Bow testing
The string
To break
More tests
Stronger string
Waist = bellows
Hollow to full
Full to hollow
Elasticity in
Thought
Tai Chi transition
Is undoing
That which others
Have bestowed upon me
More Slow Set practice
More undoing
Unworthy students
Will be discarded
They are paper dragons
“Dragging me down”
Fist to chest
Body becomes
A bellows
Masters pressing
Fist/their knowledge
Into heart
Jing/Chi coming out
Heart is
A bellows
Learning to
Change with change
With just
A thought
Once understood
Always changing
Secret to Tai Chi Chuan
Copious Jing/Chi
Passes thru
Body/conduit
Like a bellow
In both directions
Between
Spirit and gravity
There is a bellows
It is the Master
Heaven/earth
Heaven/earth
Spirit/gravity
Masters/China
Must have elasticity
To connect
Kidney channel
Is like a bellows
Inexhaustible
The Masters
Are working
My body
Like a bellows
More corrections in
More Jing/Chi out
Slow Set
Is like
A bellows
More practice
More Jing/Chi
Tai Chi Chuan
Is like a
Bellows fulcrum
Balancing
Yes and no
Be a ball
Ready
To bounce
Tai Chi Chuan
waist
waist
Is like
A bellows
Golden Ratio
Gesture like
A balloon/bellow
Press on it
To get a reaction
Ephemeral
Epiphanies
Are forever
Yu Pei Shih
Expanding
Eternal
Existence
In a bellows
Exiting air
Must be dispensable
To make room
For the incoming
I am a bellows
Between
Spirit/gravity
Treat past practice
As replaceable
Makes room
For present practice
And future insight
Being
A bellows
Of ideas
Heart
Is a bellows
Current
Transitioning
Back to youth
For the future
Spirit
To gravity
Percussion
Tai Chi
gestures
Between
Master and student
Is elasticity
Stay connected
The waist
Is a bellows
More it works
More Jing/Chi
Added
Tai Chi
Sacrificial
Sacrament
Leads
To success
Practice more
Despair less
Like a bellow
Less
Primes
More
Riding
The Dragon
Can lead
To despair
Or elation
Desolation
Percussion
Rejuvenation
Bilious
Annulment
Consequence
Innovation
Despair
To Clarification
To Desolation
To enlightenment
Riding
The Dragon
Heart
Is like Pi
Inexhaustible
Abandon bias
To clear
Body/conduit
Between
Masters and China
Tai Chi gestures
Start
In waist
Not
In wrist
Human body
Is like a bow
With a string
In between
Spirit and gravity
Inexhaustible
Jing/chi
Tai Chi waist
Betwixt
Spirit and gravity
An inexhaustible
Bellows
Between
Masters and China
Is the student
More practice
More art
Evolves
Between
Spirit and gravity
Human body
Is like a
Coil springs
Compressed
It produces
Jing/Chi
Be as a tree
Spirit being leaf
Gravity root
Spirit/sun xylem
Gravity/root
Jing/Chi
To gesture
Tai Chi Chuan
Between
Spirit and gravity
Is elasticity
Anchored one
Rules gesture
Other one
Application
Between
Spirit/gravity
Heart
Decides
Gestures of
Love or hate
Rumination
Prerequisite to
Creating
Copious
Insights
Improvements
2-7-24