I’ve been diving deeper into taijiquan and re-reading the classics. It’s been so long I’ve forgotten most of what I read. One reason being I’m coming at them from a translation, in a different time period and culture. So the meaning doesn’t stay with me.

There’s one in particular that I was reading over the weekend, “Songs of The Eight Postures” attributed to T’an Meng-hsien and translated by Lee N. Scheele. It’s a series of short instructional poems on the eight energies. I was inspired to try my hand at making some myself, that are more intuitive to me personally so they might stick with me a bit longer.

I decided the series would be in pairs haikus. One speaking to the internal/personal feel and one speaking to the external/opponents perspective. I want to keep the meaning of classics apparent (as my understanding of them allows) while adding in my own imagery. I hope to revisit these haiku’s as I progress, making changes as needed. My poem is in no way meant to speak like the classics or be authoritative.

This is the first of the set

My Version - Peng

spine long and crown high
sunk deep buoyant chi fills
surging spring, root fed

a thousand pound press
finds a ball on water -
itself floats away

Songs of The Eight Postures - Peng

What is the meaning of Peng energy?
It is like the water supporting a moving boat.
First sink the ch'i to the tan-t'ien,
then hold the head as if suspended from above.
The entire body is filled with springlike energy,
opening and closing in a very quick moment.
Even if the opponent uses a thousand pounds of force,
he can be uprooted and made to float without difficulty.

Other Haiku’s in the series

• Peng * this one
• Lu
• Ji