Soft Soft184
The sky above and the lake below
give us the image of treading.
A noble one sorts high from low
and soothes the people's will.
Yijing, Image of hexagram 10: Walking
185
The water is soft. It's hard to know what to pursue.
The clouds come out. I don't want to go back again.
Melancholy spring wind, pained at river sunset.
This mandarin duck is alone—never with a flock.
“Farewell,” Yu Xuanji (844–869)
When others are hard, I am soft;
that's called going.
When I follow, then others are hampered;
that's called sticking.
When others attack quickly, I respond quickly.
When others move slowly, I follow at leisure.
Although ten thousand variations may occur,
there is only one principle from start to finish.
Once this is familiar, you will slowly realize a strong
understanding.
Once you realize a strong understanding, you will reach
marvelous levels.
But unless you avoid using physical strength over a long
period of time,
you will never have the flash of enlightenment that ties it all
together.
Shanxi Wang Zongyue's Taijiquan Treatise
187
Put the strong and big below,
put the soft and weak above.
Daodejing 76
The valley spirit never dies.
Call it “Mysterious Female,”
or a gate, the root
of heaven and earth.
It remains softer than soft
and serves you with ease.
Daodejing 6
189
If you want to reduce,
you should first expand.
If you want to weaken,
you should first strengthen.
If you want to topple,
you should first raise high.
If you want to remove,
then first give.
This is called “reducing the bright.”
The soft overcomes the hard
and the weak overcomes the strong.
Daodejing 36
A feather cannot be added.
A fly cannot land.
Others cannot know me,
but I alone know others.
A hero is unrivaled
because all possibilities have been covered.
Shanxi Wang Zongyue's Taijiquan Treatise
191
At birth, we are soft and weak.
At death, we are hard and strong.
All things are this way.
Young grass and trees are soft and weak,
and at death are hard and strong.
Death follows the hard and strong.
Life follows the soft and weak.
Daodejing 76
192
A bully is always a coward.
Proverb
Thunder and lightning
are the image of biting and cracking.
The ancient kings made fines clear
and decreed the laws.
Yijing, Image of hexagram 21: Biting and Cracking
194
There are many approaches and systems.
Although powerful and with different techniques,
they generally don't go beyond the powerful bullying the
weak
and the slow losing to the fast.
The strong beating the weak
and the slow hand losing to the swift hand
are a matter of innate ability
and have nothing to do with what can be learned.
Shanxi Wang Zongyue's Taijiquan Treatise
Tao is absolute but has no name.
Although it is simple and subtle,
no one has yet governed with it.
If rulers could hold to it,
everyone would yield to them.
Daodejing 32
196
Nothing in the world is softer and weaker than water,
yet for attacking the hard and strong, nothing is better.
Anything in the world can be changed.
Everyone knows that soft overcomes hard
and that weak overcomes strong,
but who can practice that?
Therefore, the wise say
one who takes on a nation's filth
becomes lord of fields and grain.
One who bears a nation's woes
becomes this world's ruler.
Right words seem odd.
Daodejing 78
Earth is the origin, our very basis,
amply birthing ten thousand things.
It submissively meets heaven.
Earth greatly supports everything.
Its complete power is unlimited.
What it holds is immense; its brilliance is huge.
It conducts each thing and creature completely and
smoothly.
The mare is a creature of the earth.
It gallops the earth without boundaries.
It is mild and submissive, good and pure.
The noble ones travel far.
If they take the initiative, they lose their Tao.
If they follow and submit, they find constancy.
Yijing, Hexagram 2: Earth
198
A three thousand meter dike can break
because of one ant's hole.
Proverb
Earth is very soft, but in moving it is hard and strong.
It is most still, yet its virtue is direct.
By following, it gains control, and yet it is constant.
It holds the ten thousand things, and yet its changes are
brilliant.
Earth's Tao is to be submissive:
it receives heaven throughout the changing seasons.
Yijing, Hexagram 2: Earth
200
Fire is beautiful.
The sun and moon are beautiful in the sky.
Hundreds of grains, grasses, and trees are beautiful on the
earth.
Great brightness is also beautiful and right.
There is change, and all under heaven is complete.
Soft beauty is central and correct
and thus all goes smoothly.
Nourish being as docile as a cow.
Yijing, Hexagram 30: Fire
A noble one knows
what's nascent and knows what's manifest,
knows the soft and knows the hard,
and so ten thousand people look to them.
Yijing, The Great Treatise II
202
Can you carry yourself
with your mind and soul as one
and not let them separate?
Can you keep your breath whole and soft
and become like a newborn child?
Can you cleanse your mystic vision
and become flawless?
Can you act without intellect
to love the people and rule the state?
Can you be gentle
in opening and closing
heaven's gate?
Can you reach an understanding
in all directions without “knowledge”?
Daodejing 10