Wednesday, February 24, 2016

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

12-29-22

 

7-26-22

 

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