55
ONE who is steeped in Virtue is akin to the
new-born babe.
Wasps and poisonous serpents do not sting it,
Nor fierce beasts seize it,
Nor birds of prey maul it.
Its bones are tender, its sinews soft,
But its grip is firm.
It has not known the union of the male and the female,
Growing in its wholeness, and keeping its vitality in its
perfect integrity.
It howls and screams all day long without getting hoarse,
Because it embodies perfect harmony.
To know harmony is to know the Changeless.
To know the Changeless is to have insight.
To know the Changeless is to have insight.
To hasten the growth of life is ominous.
To control the breath by the will is to overstrain it.
To be overgrown is to decay.
All this is against Tao,
And whatever is against Tao soon ceases to be.
To control the breath by the will is to overstrain it.
To be overgrown is to decay.
All this is against Tao,
And whatever is against Tao soon ceases to be.
Translated by John C. H. Wu
Interpretation by Bill Bernsen
HARMONY
HARMONY
To lengthen practice
Relax down
Into roots
While reaching
With the mind
Results
In Elasticity
Secret
To a long life
Looking
For perfect harmony
Cannot have music
Without Instruments
Being in tune
Cannot have
Tai Chi Chuan
Without body
Being aligned
Physically/spiritually
I should
Not engage
In push hands/sex
Unless I am aligned
Water
In the ocean
That becomes
A wave
Soon lands
On shore
If I am virtuous
I know myself
Not interfering
With others
Have virtue
Before knowing
The union
Of a partner
In practice
To hasten
The form
Is to decay
My art
Whatever
Is against
The Masters
Miscarries
Being part
Of the earth/China
Whatever
Is against
The lineage
Soon expires
Only the Masters
Can bring it back
Masters
Will speak
Thru me
Not knowing
Union of male and female
Means I am dwelling
In the insubstantial
Practice
Should have
Elasticity
Always rooted
Continuously reaching
Pliability
Harmony
With the Masters
Looking
For the harmony
Between heaven (spirit)
And earth (gravity)
Realize that man
Is in between
Then
Realize the Tao
To become
A newborn babe
Again
Undo the dos
Over my lifetime
Sinews stretch
Bones bend
Like a bow
Once connected
To the Master’s
Spirit
Earth’s energy
Practice/create
All day
Without fatigue
Morning salute
Makes the connection
The masters
Are returning
To earth/practice
Thru me
Who would ever
Mess with me
I have a sword hidden
In my sternum
Masters
Are controlling it
Looking for perfect
Hollow/harmony
Animals/children
Can tell if one
Has virtue
Master
Join
If I am virtuous
To change with change
Is to know harmony
Changes are found
In a fulcrum
The fulcrum
Retains
Changes
In its support point
Center of gravity
This is true
Supporting harmony
Do not go
Against the Tao
No intent
I have not known
The union/harmony
Of push hands yet
Thinking too much
Leads to worry
Less and less energy
Tired/concern
Negates
Jing/Chi
Must return
To being a child
A neophyte
Gesture
Should be like
A newborn babe
Flexible bones
Supple sinews
Agile muscles
Whatever
Is against
Masters’ wishes
Soon ceases to be
Connecting
To the fish
Try visual
Push hands
With a fish
In an aquarium
Virtue is being
Connected
To the Masters
Can do no wrong
When I feel
Tai Chi Chuan
In every
Tao Te Ching poem
I will become
A Master
Of the art
Tai Chi
Person’s
Body
Is like water
Do not go against
The Tao
Always follow
Harmonize shoulders
Harmonize thorax
Harmonize head
Harmonize heart
Youth
The return
Difficult
As getting old
Yin/Yang circle
Closing is
Returning
To youth
Opening is
Circling back
To youth
Sign of infinity
Act like
A new born baby
Then filled
With goodness
So perfect
Is its harmony
Warrior
Is a child
Cannot be hurt
Emotionally/physically
First expose
My heart
Heart is what
Finds/cultivates
The 6th sense
Which protect
My heart
Push Hands
Is harmony
And not harming
Tai Chi Chuan
Is passive
Master knows
Who is filled
With goodness
Like a baby
After all
A new student is
And infant
Masters
Are born Again
Thru their students
The above
Will make
Me a born
Again infant
It is the key
To the return
Harmony is
Universal mind
Body is a bow
Does not yet know
An arrow shooting
Have not known
Aiming
Know when to stop
By being a fulcrum
Listening/feeling
Don’t know union
Of push hands
Until mature
When practicing
Give up trying
To control my body
Let the Masters guide
Me to the harmony
Bone bending
Don’t use muscles
Use sinews
Relax
Jing/chi (earth’s energy)
Masters spirit
Will arrive
Have a baby’s
Forearms/hands
Curious
Without intent
Harmony
With the Masters
Thru slow set
Bow and arrow
Body and gesture
Are one
One
Who is
Relaxed/calm/open
Is akin
To new born ideas
Warrior = infant
Virtue
Listen/mercy
Opening center
To the Tao
First be open
By heaven (spirit)
And earth (gravity)
Achieved via one chi
Merge
With the earth/China
No one can
Move me
Secret
To being
Connected
To Masters
Always protected
The virtuous
Cannot
Be hurt
By the chi entering
From others
Don’t use force
Against force
Catcher
Babies
Are relaxed
To receive
Can give out
A yell
If needy
Return
To an infant’s
Body/mind
When doing
Form practice
There must be a harmony
With the Masters
Draining back
To being
A new-born babe
It is against the Tao
Assumes there is an anti-Tao
What could it be
Contrary Tao
Tao = Fulcrum
What is contrary
To a fulcrum
No point to rest on
Hence no balancing
Tao is always balancing
Weighting the yin and yang
Of all thought
Harmony = fulcrum
Baby’s fulcrum
Protects the baby
Whoever looses
Their fulcrum
Loses the Tao
Tao = fulcrum
To hasten
The growth
Of life
Is ominous
Be hollow
Like a new-born babe
Emotions into demo
Happy/sad/upset/fearless
They are different energies
We share
The same moon
As the Masters
As we share
The same energy
Be a Kylin
Return to being
An infant
Then slowly return
To adult
With a youthful body
A wise mind
Unable do the above
Results in death
(Resign Tai Chi Chuan)
Very few
Are strong enough
For the return
New born babe
Cannot be stung
By serpents
Who is a
Bad Kundalini experience
Negate evil
A newborn babe
Knows not evil
It acquires it
From family/friends/foes
Seeking Tao
On the back
Of a Dragon
Undoing past
To become
A child
With wisdom
In the present
And perfect harmony
With the future
This is returning
To youth
Spirit and gravity
In perfect harmony
Is Tai Chi Chuan
Tai Chi Chuan
Richness of subliminal
Virtue
Comparable
To an infant
Toxic/hook/seizers
Warded off
Its sinews are elastic
Control is steady
To be overrun
Is to decline
Family/friends/foes
Cannot sting me
Nor seize/maul me
Tai Chi is passive
Yielding/soft/yin
Harmony/heart
By eternal listening
The Heart
Must be strong enough
To hold up others
Too much practice
Leads too little
Thoughtfulness
Be in harmony
With
Cold/hot
Soft/hard
Up/down
Right/wrong
In other words
Be a fulcrum
Be in harmony
With the laws
Of physics
Which rule Tao
Find harmony
Of the mind/body
Undo 67 years
Of outside
To return to inside
The womb
Learn
To change with change
The changeless
Even while it
Knows not
Of the push hands
Its gestures get aroused
This is the epitome of vitality
Practice all day
Without pain
This is the epitome
Of harmony
Knowing Harmony
Is called constancy
Knowing constancy
Is called clarity
Enhancing life
Is called encouraging
Mind mastering energy
Is called robust
Cannot make
The connection
Without the elasticity
Unless virtuous
No evil intent
Bad ideas fly in
Like wasp
But do not sting it
Ward off/rollback/press/push
Are present
Emotional signs
Spontaneous
Angry/happy/sad/cry/laugh/up/down
All around Tai Chi
Circle of learning
Keep Slow set
Unspoiled
Tai Chi Chuan will
Get me
To being
A new born babe
During Slow set
Arouse entire body
The reason
We are not soft
During ward off
Is that
Ward off implies intent
Intent = hardness
Apprehension with heart
Is ward off too
True apprehension
Inside heart
Will be soft on outside
And hard on inside
Beginning ward off
Is like cynicism hard
Inside and outside
To protect self
Tai Chi eventually
Loses outside hardness
3 in 10 continue
Studying
3 in 10 quit
3 in 10 never start
Only one understands
Students
Who knows how
To study
Will never
Do things that
Threaten their studies
Practice nothing
Can infiltrate
Ward off
Hard inside
Thoughts
Soft outside
Thoughts
Practicing desperately
Is like being
Confronted
Physically and mentally
Master
Is Invincible
Why
He is impeccable
Look for impeccable form
Virtue = circles
Is akin
To the new-born babe
Nothing can
Hurt him
Immersed
In circling virtue
Bendable bone
Elastic sinews
Result in
Circling gestures
Changing with change
Elasticity
Comes from
The heart
Have no desire
To push
Yet receive
The force
To do so
This is the drum effect
Journal
Writing down
To the bones
New born babes
Are made
Of primal stuff
Come in contact
With them
Become virtuous
Become a child
To do push hands
Bones are tender
Its sinews soft
Thru show set
Grasp of the art
Is firm
Worthy students
Practices
All day long
Without getting tired
Because they express
Perfect harmony
Thru slow set
To know harmony
Practice slow set
Prior to push hands
Consistent practice
Is to have awareness
Do not compete
It is against
The slow set
No push hands until
Harmony of body/mind
To have harmony
In sex
Excited/physical essence
To do Tai Chi Chuan
Perfect physical essence
Via slow set
To do push hands
Look for the perfection/arousal
In oneself first then others
Harmony
The unchanging
Slow Set
Changes with
Each practice
Ultimately
To Tai Chi Chuan
Master
Has immunity
From danger
Via ward off
Reputation
Integrate
A new idea
Into Tai Chi Chuan
Is to know
Changeless
A Tai Chi Chan student
Should have no desire
To push/Fa Jing opponent
Yet can
Be filled with Jing
Not to know
Push hands
Is not to have given self-up
To others yet
First
Get that unique feeling
Of being physically
Prevailing
To get relaxed
Have strength
This only comes
Thru proper form
Means good alignment
Can only be gotten
Thru the lineage
Finally lineage comes
From being
Worthy/virtuous
The idea
Cannot be attacked
For it does not
Physically
Exist yet
The new idea
Must become part
Of me first
Mentally and physically new
Ideas
Are the lubricant
Of the body
Until fully absorbed
Don’t share
With others
No push hands
Until completely
Formed in self
If organ (body)
Is aroused
Do not share
With others yet…when?
Once totally
Understood
Results in
Perfect harmony
Vital force (chi)
Is at its height
To understand
The yin and yang of
The new idea is
To know constancy
Then to enlightenment
And being able
To apply it
To the art
Unable
To make room
For next new idea
Means being
Too occupied
New ideas
With age
Intensify
In insight
Do not try
To force
New ideas
Upon self or others
Results in
Ill omen
If students
Reach their prime
They begin
To loss interest
Opposing the art
They perish
Thinking
Of old shortcomings
Bad acts and evil ways
Should terminate
Is contrary
To the Tao
The union
In push hands
Only friends push hands
With friends
Shares
Tai chi
Physics
Thru teaching
Looking
For shortcuts
Is being
No longer interested
In Tai Chi Chuan
Slow set
Harmony
Thru harmonious
Gesture
Learning
Too many forms
Become over developed
Will deteriorate
Become aroused
First in Slow Set
Later in push hands/weapons
Passion
Is the secret
To understand harmony
Is to know the always
To be illumined
What takes me strength
Is trying to protect self
From environment
By not resisting \
Environment
Save energy
The worthy student
Is exempt from evil
Because he listens
To the lineage
Act like
A new born baby
Filled
With goodness
The baby can
Wail all day without
Becoming hoarse
Do to perfect
Its harmony
Look for harmony
During practice
When practicing
Give up trying
To control own body
Let the Masters
Guide
To harmony
Whatever is against
The lineage
Rapidly terminates
Those that quit
Tai Chi Chuan
Have gone
Against the lineage
Lots of resistance
During learning period
The resistance is a test
How it is handled
Is the teacher
Virtue
As ward off
Harmony
Is aligning
And connecting
Spirit to gravity
To speed up spirit
Loss of balance
To totally give up
To gravity = fall
If worthy
Masters treat me like
A new born baby
Masters ward-off all
To safeguard
Slow set becomes
Perfect harmony
Took me 35 years to prove
I did not hasten growth
10 years to learn Knife
20 sword
25 2nd knife
36 stix
40 lance?
Student
Connected
To the lineage
Is sheltered
From all
Is in accord
With all
Caution
Ego leads
To decay of all
Virtue/harmony
Is the connection
To the Masters
Worthy ones
Are virtuous
Can practice
The Tao
Via Tai Chi Chuan
Must have virtue
To have Tai Chi Ward-off
Ward-off evil/entertainment
Enjoy Wu Wei
Nothing, but oneness
With the Tao
Life
Virtue = health
Virtue = harmony
Virtue = heartfelt
Integrity
To harvest
Harmony/ Constancy
The worthy
Will have harmony
With the lineage
The return/repairs
Not halted
If worthy
To continue
Back
To the future
It is immunity
Harmony
In spirit/body
Will negate harm
In self/others
Ward off
Family, friends and foes
Then after repairs
Virtue and vitality
Arrives
Without intent
Only
Virtuous
Are worthy
With worthy
Comes wisdom
Lineage
Protects
The worthy
Virtue
Is the emollient
For the body bellows
Tai Chi Chuan
Returning to
A child
With wisdom
Of an adult
Slow Set
With ward-off
Using earth’s energy
Humbly expressed
Goal of
Tai Chi Chuan
A warrior’s virtue
Is found
In apprehension
Secret to
Ward-off
Rollback
Press/push
Is elastic
Virtue
Worthy
To ward-off
Rollback/press/push
One who
Is passive
Senses danger
Sixth sense
Is heartfelt
Enlightenment
Eternal
Elasticity
Riding
A Dragon
Back to the future
Of my Childhood.
At harmony
With spirit
And gravity
Sharing life
With lineage
Yu Pei Shih
Is awareness
Of self-first
Then the other
Practicing
Slow Set
Each time
It advances
Student back
To youth
Slow Set
Find
Harmony
In changing
With change
Celibacy
In applications
Until constancy
In Slow Set
Gestures
Is mastered
Tai Chi Chuan
Being in harmony
With aura
Is the ultimate
Self defense
Slow Set
Plumb postures
In practice
Is a fulcrum
Listening
Linearly
Heartfelt
Gestures
Virtuous
Applications
Eternal
Endeavour of
Tai Chi Chuan
Practice
Is found in
Tao #55
Union of
Spirit and gravity
At waist/tan tien/c.o.g.
Resulting in
Harmony
Of gestures
Slow Set
First to
Know self
Ward off
Negative thoughts
Rollback injury/illness
Press practice
Push hands
Later to
Know others
Slow Set
Once Tai Chi
Ward off is
Achieved
Thru merging
Spirit/gravity
Applications
Not needed
Slow Set
Seek
Change with change
Until
Consistent
Awareness
Tai Chi Chuan
Worthy/loyal
Student’s spirit is
Changeless
So, their
Gestures can
Change with change
Ward off
Adversaries
Rollback
Shortcomings
Press
Harmony
Push
Earnest
Endeavors
Ward off with
Jing/Chi
Rollback/press with
Change
Press persistent
Practice
Master
Bestows
Slow Set in
Three sections
Only
Student
Can add
Fourth section
Virtue
Slow Set
Hidden in
Each gesture is
Potential for
Bones to Bend
Tai Chi Chuan
Practicing
Weapons/push hands
Too soon
Leads to
Decay of
Slow Set