76

76

WHEN a man is living, he is soft and supple.
When he is dead, he becomes hard and rigid.
When a plant is living, it is soft and tender.
When it is dead, it becomes withered and dry.

Hence, the hard and rigid belongs to the company
 of the dead:
The soft and supple belongs to the company of
 the living.

Therefore, a mighty army tends to fall by its own
 weight,
Just as dry wood is ready for the axe.

The mighty and great will be laid low;
The humble and weak will be exalted.

Translated by John C. H. Wu

Interpretation by Bill Bernsen

PLIABLE

Softness helps

Define hardness

And vice versa

The proof is

Elasticity

The more elastic

I am

The more spirit/breathe

(Health)

I have

Elasticity allows me

To move out

Of the way

Of the forces

Of death

Tai Chi Chuan

Keeps

The flexibility

I must be

Like a tree

Soft/yielding

On the top (leaves)

Roots in the bottom

No roots = not soft

Must go deep

Into the roots

Of the form

Deep Into

The history too!

Intent

When projected

Causes lightness

Easy to push over

Whereas apprehension

It makes me heavy

Rooted deeper

I hope

I deepen

My wisdom

A hard

Point of view

It will break

If made flexible

It will changes minds

Mine and others

Soften up

Hard

To ensure

If joints

Are stiff/rigid

Inviting a fall

Tai Chi Chuan

Make the joints

Soft/supple

Inviting a future

Over working

The muscles

Take the time away

From the alignment

Of the bone

Stretching sinews

Misaligned bones

Means

Misaligned mind

No matter

How strong

The muscles are

Useless

Without aligned bones

And pliable sinews

Mastering

Elasticity

Is hard

To realize

Elasticity

Is soft

Intent is hard

Apprehension

Is soft/stable

Put elasticity

Into sword

Can only

Come from

Softness of gesture

The return

To earth

Earth to man

Heaven returns

To man

With spirit/gravity

Man returns

To the future

Elasticity

Is the secret

To life

While changing

With change

Do not show

My anchored ends

Be soft/supple

Masters will enter

Be hard/rigid

Masters will postpone

Be elastic

Heaven (Masters)

And earth (gravity)

Will move me

Being resistant

To change

Interest

Perishes

Everything

I have been doing

Up to this time

Must be

Correct

I am still

Doing Tai Chi Chuan

A Master

Is elastic

Stressed

Becomes rigid

It is as if

The body’s intent

Is committed = chi  

Wait until the chi

Is elastic Jing

Then push  

It is connected

To the center  

Fa Jing

And teaching

Are the same

Just getting

A point across

Be open

Rooted in the art

To teach

Hard = dead

Limp = dead

Elastic = alive

What is hard/soft

At the same time  

Elasticity

Stand-Down

Sit-Up

Soft/supple

To receive

From Masters

And others

If I have force

In my forearms

Then my center

Is revealed  

Softness

In forearms/hands

Means able

To change with change

Tree!

Kow Tow = humble = soft = flexible

Change with change

If problems

Are stuff

Not flexible

Then heat them

To the point

Of burning/pain

Like burning dry wood

The fire

Releases the Jing

Sometimes

Changes

Are like being

Burned alive

Be like a tree

Hands = leaves

Forearms branches

Upper arm thicker

Body the trunk

Feet the roots

Always searching deeper

A new idea

Is soft

At first

As it grows older

Becomes

Unyielding

Less able to

                                       Change with change

The legs must

Be soft/yielding

To earth’s energy

And outside force

The rigid

Must softly reform

Via tai chi Chuan

Humble = elasticity

Stretch to soften!

When a

Tai Chi Chuan student

Is soft/supple

He is rooted deep

Into the art

When the waist

Is open

The upper body

Is soft/supple/yielding

Can change with change

Be supple/yielding!

So chi

Can sink

And return

As Jing/growth

Must be soft

To receive which

Is “hard”

To find

Find it

By softly

Practicing

For many years

When an opponent

Is stiff/hard

He can be easily

Pushed over  

When he

Is soft/supple

He must be twisted

Into hardness

Like pulling a weed

Twist first

Then push over

Heaven/spirit is soft

Earth/gravity is hard

Man is elastic

A mighty

Hand/forearm

Blocks the energy

Both mine and opponents

This is calling ward-off

Be hollow

To heed

Be receptive

To attend

Be merciful

To listen

Stretch comes from

Being soft

Strongly rooted

Relax

It will go away!

Be soft/supple

To be elastic

Soft/supple/yielding

Is elasticity

Cannot break

A bow

By breaking it over

The knee

Can an arrow

Cannot shoot

A string

From a bow

No intent

Soft/supple gestures

Pliable push hands

To change with change

Leaves/branches

Furthest from

Trunk of tree

Are soft

Trunk is solid/rooted

Same with Tai Chi Chuan

Soft/subtle can bend

Rigid and inflexible

Can break

Stretching = softness/subtle

Rigid = dead

Soft = living

Joints that is.

Cannot yield

Without roots

When an epiphany

Arrives

It is supple/soft

When a new idea

Is born

It is soft/flexible

Can be

Altered/changed/developed

Old idea cannot

Be changed or moved

It is dead

Drop it

A new student

Is flexible/movable/open

Old students

Are stiff and closed

Remain original

Solid Earth

Is under

Supple movement

Hard/rigid muscles

Are not Tai Chi Chuan

Soft/supple bones are

Get a new idea

Stretch it into

The next idea

Into

Previous idea

Never keep

The idea to self

It will become

Rigid and die

Experiencing

Tai Chi Chuan

Take the Masters’

Fist into chest

Remain soft/supple

Masters do this

To only

Paper dragons/straw dogs

Suppleness

A companion

of being

A bullet cannot

Go thru a piece

Of silk

Don’t push

To soon

While still stiff

And undoing

I have built a tree

Now people

Want to use it

For shade

This is o.k.

The more spirited

The suppler

The waist

The more spirited

The lighter

The torso

Elastic

Can

Change with change!

Listen

To hard/rigid inside

Make it soft

Includes bones, joints,

Muscles, sinew

Emotions  

I believe

That the allostatic system

Is like a fulcrum

Looking

For elasticity

Hard

Elastic soft

Rigid

Flexible limp

Rigid pelvis/sacrum

Negates movement

Impedes energy

In both directions

                                                                Some students

Get old

Close

Awareness/joints/quit

Elasticity

A companion

Of existence

Force/intent force

Is antagonistic

To tai chi Chuan

All things when born

Are supple/changeable

Includes

Ideas/thoughts

The longer I live

With something

The resistance to change

It becomes

There is a word

It is called a habit

Body

Is open/soft/flexible

It will change

Slow set realized

At birth a person

Is soft/yielding

At death stiff/hard

An idea at birth

Is soft/changeable and

Later stiff/unchangeable

One reason people

Quit Tai Chi Chuan

They are not

Open anymore

Old problems

Are companions

Of the death

Pushing to soon

Upshots in

Stiff/rigid/taut

The resistance/intent

I feel in students

During “circles”

Is due to

Stiffness/hardness

In me

Thru show set

Reestablish

Soft/yielding

All it takes

Is one joint/emotion

To cause resistance

In circles

Slow set eliminates

The stiffness

in body/mind

Becomes more playable

To take on

The outside

Is to no avail if

Not soft/supple

The tree trunk

Is at the bottom

Very thick/rigid

Always growing/listening

The roots/history of Tai Chi Chuan

Is very deep

Go into the earth/China

Of ideas

When a student

Starts class

He is soft inside

His heart listens

But hard outside

His body is rigid

As the student progresses

The hardness decreases

Loss of the old self

Dwindles

Causing the changes

Sometimes the changes

Will cause the heart

To harden

So keep the heart

Of a beginner

Master checks

To see who is dead

Who is elastic

The yin principle

As gentleness/suppleness

Accompanied

With endurance

Be as soft

As a feather and fly

Not hard like

A broken bone and die

The upper body will

Not be soft and receptive

Until the foundation

Is establish,

Rooted to earth

The humble listens

Water is softer

Than land

Must be supported

By land

Found at the bottom

Of the sea

The deeper

The water/body

Goes the more

Pressure it felt

Death

Supports life

Lineage

Retains living

Be a tree

Starting a gesture

Should be open/receptive

Receiving from the Tao (Masters)

The sword is hard

But feels pliable

So it can change with change

Same during push hands

“Song”

Feeling body elastic

Stretch/Anchor

Past

Anchor/stretch

Future

Rooted fulcrum

Present

Like a tree

If limp or hard

Lifeless

Seek elasticity

As a leaf

Being blown

In place

By eternity

Tree roots

Down and outward

Leaves

Up and outward

One cause

The other

Practice

Tai Chi lance/longevity

With a live tree

Borrowing its Jing/Chi

Strong trunk

Soft leaves

Will I ever

Be able to do

A gesture

As strong and supple

As a tree

Be a live

Tree

Not a dead

Log

Not hard

Not soft

Be elastic

Be like water 

Hydrate

To hinder

Hardness

The beginner

Is soft/receptive

Masters learns

From apprentices

Elevator up

To open heart

Elevator down

To receive Master

To heart

Tai Chi Chuan 

Secret

Is shi2 Jua3n

Rock Roll

Supple

Waist

Supple

Gestures

I sing

The body

Elastic

Listen

Like tongue

Touches/taste

Not hard

Like teeth

Crushes/defeats

Ponder

Sword

Pliable

To change

With change

Supple leaf

Stems from

A firm seed

Sun/soil/water

Sprouts seed 

To be a tree

Slow Set

Elasticity in 

Practice

Survives

Gestures 

Forever

Slow Set

After years of

Civil/soft/supple

Gestures

A metamorphose

Of martial

Applications

Evolve