suburbaknght
11-12-2007, 11:58 AM
1. The Syllabus
The Syllabus that can be experienced is not true;
The dance that can be constructed is not real.
The Syllabus manifests all that happens and may happen;
The dance represents all that exists and may exist.
To move without abstraction is to sense the dance;
To move with abstraction is to know the dance.
These two experiences are indistinguishable;
Their construction differs but their effect is the same.
Beyond the gate of Syllabus flows the dance,
Which is ever greater and more subtle than the world.
4. Limitless
The Dance is a limitless vessel;
Used by the self, it is not filled by patterns;
It cannot be cut, knotted, dimmed or stilled;
Its depths are hidden, ubiquitous and eternal;
I don't know where it comes from;
It comes before nature.
5. Judges
Judges are not kind;
They treat all things impartially.
The Registrar is not kind,
And treats all people impartially.
Judges are like a bellows,
Empty, yet never ceasing their supply.
The more you moves, the more they yield;
So the Judge draws upon experience
And cannot be exhausted.
6. Practice
Practice is a riverbed,
Its source hidden, forever flowing:
Its entrance, the root of the world,
The dance moves within it:
Draw upon it; it will not run dry.
7. Leaders
The Leader is complete because he does not serve himself.
The Leader places himself after and finds himself before,
Ignores his desire and finds himself content.
He is complete because he does not serve himself.
8. Followers
The best of women is like water,
Which benefits all things, and does not contend with them,
Which flows in places that others disdain,
Where it is in harmony with the Way.
So the Follower:
Lives within the hold0,
Thinks within the dance,
Gives within impartiality,
Speaks within trust,
Governs within frame,
Crafts within ability,
Acts within opportunity.
She does not contend, and none contend against her.
10. Frame
Embracing your partner, you become embraced;
Breathing gently, you become loose;
Clearing your mind, you become relaxed;
Nurturing your partner, you become light;
Opening your heart, you become clear;
Accepting the world, you embrace the dance.
Bearing and nurturing,
Creating but not owning,
Giving without demanding,
This is harmony.
12. Patterns
Too much colour blinds the eye,
Too much music deafens the ear,
Too much taste dulls the palate,
Too much play maddens the mind,
Too much desire tears the heart.
In this manner the teacher cares for students:
He provides for the dancers, not for the spectators;
He ignores glitz and holds fast to substance.
15. Salsa
The Salsaeros possess understanding
So profound they can not be understood.
Because they cannot be understood
I can only describe their appearance:
Cautious as one crossing thin ice,
Undecided as one surrounded by danger,
Modest as one who is a guest,
Unbounded as melting ice,
Genuine as unshaped wood,
Broad as a valley,
Seamless as muddy water.
Who stills the water that the mud may settle,
Who seeks to stop that he may travel on,
Who desires less than what may transpire,
Improves, but will not become arrogant.
17. Leading
The best Leaders are scarcely known by their partners;
The next best are clear and felt;
The next are forceful;
The next painful:
They have no faith in their partners,
And their partners become unfaithful to them.
When the best Leaders lead a pattern
Their partners claim they lead the pattern on their own.
21. Following
Harmony is only in following the dance.
The dance is without form or quality,
But expresses clear forms and qualities;
The dance is hidden and implicate,
But expresses all of the Dancers;
The dance is unchanging,
But expresses all motion.
Beneath sensation and memory
The dance is the source of all movement.
How can I follow my Leader?
By accepting.
24. Competition
Straighten yourself and you will not stand steady;
Display yourself and you will not be clearly seen;
Justify yourself and you will not be respected;
Promote yourself and you will not be believed;
Pride yourself and you will not endure.
These behaviours are wasteful, indulgent,
And so they attract disfavour from judges;
Dancers avoid them.
26. Posture
Posture is the source of lightness,
Heel leads, the master of haste.
A dancer will practice for months, watching over her steps;
Only to reach a dance may she lose them on the floor.
So the master of one's own body should not act lightly or hastily.
Acting lightly, one loses sight of patterns,
Acting hastily, one loses control of frame.
One must not treat one's great body as a small boat;
Rather than glitter like jade
One must stand like stone.
27. Teachers
The perfect traveller leaves no trail to be followed;
The perfect speaker leaves no question to be answered;
The perfect accountant leaves no working to be completed;
The perfect container leaves no lock to be closed;
The perfect knot leaves no end to be ravelled.
So the Teacher nurtures all students
And abandons no one.
He accepts everything
And rejects nothing.
He attends to the smallest details.
For the experienced must guide the newbies;
The newbies are raw material to the experienced.
If the Teacher is not respected,
Or the students are not cared for,
Confusion will result, no matter how clever one is.
This is the secret of teaching:
When raw wood is carved, it becomes a tool;
When a man is engaged, he becomes a tool;
The perfect carpenter leaves no wood to be carved.
33. Virtues
Who understands the dance is trained;
Who understands the self is a dancer.
Who leads a partner has strength;
Who leads the self has harmony;
Who is determined has purpose.
Who is contented has joy;
Who leads a pattern may long endure;
Who dances a pattern may long enjoy it.
36. Opposition
To reduce someone's opposition, first expand it;
To reduce someone's force, first increase it;
To move someone, first draw to them;
To take from someone, first give to them.
This is the subtlety by which the subtle overcome the direct:
Fish should not leave their depths,
And feet should not leave the floor.
40. Motion and Use
The motion of the dance is to return;
The use of the dance is to accept;
All things come from the dance,
And the dance comes from nothing.
41. Knowledge
When the great man learns the dance, he follows its steps with diligence;
When the common man learns the Way, he follows it on occasion;
When the mean man learns the Way, he laughs out loud;
Those who do not laugh, do not learn at all.
Therefore it is said:
Who understands the dance seems foolish;
Who progresses in the dance seems to fail;
Who follows the dance seems to wander.
For the finest harmony appears plain;
The brightest truth appears coloured;
The richest character appears incomplete;
The bravest heart appears meek;
The simplest nature appears inconstant.
The square, perfected, has no corner;
Music, perfected, has no melody;
Love, perfected, has no climax;
Art, perfected, has no meaning.
The dance can be neither sensed nor known:
It transmits sensation and transcends knowledge.
47. Stillness
Without taking a step across the floor
You know the whole world;
Without taking a peep at your partner
You know the colour of her dress.
The more you experience,
The less you know.
The Dancer wanders without knowing,
Looks without seeing,
Dances without moving.
48. Progress
The follower of knowledge learns as much as she can every day;
The follower of the dance forgets as much as she can every day.
By attrition she reaches a state of inaction
Wherein she does nothing, but nothing remains undone.
To follow well, accomplish nothing;
If you must accomplish something,
The dance remains out of reach.
49. Parties
The Dancer does not distinguish between himself and the world;
The needs of other people are as his own.
He is good to those who are skilled;
He is also good to those who are not skilled,
Thereby he is good.
He trusts those who follow well;
He also trusts those who do not follow well,
Thereby he is trustworthy.
The Dancer lives in harmony with the party,
And his mind is the party's mind.
So he nurtures the steps of others
As a mother does her children.
The Syllabus that can be experienced is not true;
The dance that can be constructed is not real.
The Syllabus manifests all that happens and may happen;
The dance represents all that exists and may exist.
To move without abstraction is to sense the dance;
To move with abstraction is to know the dance.
These two experiences are indistinguishable;
Their construction differs but their effect is the same.
Beyond the gate of Syllabus flows the dance,
Which is ever greater and more subtle than the world.
4. Limitless
The Dance is a limitless vessel;
Used by the self, it is not filled by patterns;
It cannot be cut, knotted, dimmed or stilled;
Its depths are hidden, ubiquitous and eternal;
I don't know where it comes from;
It comes before nature.
5. Judges
Judges are not kind;
They treat all things impartially.
The Registrar is not kind,
And treats all people impartially.
Judges are like a bellows,
Empty, yet never ceasing their supply.
The more you moves, the more they yield;
So the Judge draws upon experience
And cannot be exhausted.
6. Practice
Practice is a riverbed,
Its source hidden, forever flowing:
Its entrance, the root of the world,
The dance moves within it:
Draw upon it; it will not run dry.
7. Leaders
The Leader is complete because he does not serve himself.
The Leader places himself after and finds himself before,
Ignores his desire and finds himself content.
He is complete because he does not serve himself.
8. Followers
The best of women is like water,
Which benefits all things, and does not contend with them,
Which flows in places that others disdain,
Where it is in harmony with the Way.
So the Follower:
Lives within the hold0,
Thinks within the dance,
Gives within impartiality,
Speaks within trust,
Governs within frame,
Crafts within ability,
Acts within opportunity.
She does not contend, and none contend against her.
10. Frame
Embracing your partner, you become embraced;
Breathing gently, you become loose;
Clearing your mind, you become relaxed;
Nurturing your partner, you become light;
Opening your heart, you become clear;
Accepting the world, you embrace the dance.
Bearing and nurturing,
Creating but not owning,
Giving without demanding,
This is harmony.
12. Patterns
Too much colour blinds the eye,
Too much music deafens the ear,
Too much taste dulls the palate,
Too much play maddens the mind,
Too much desire tears the heart.
In this manner the teacher cares for students:
He provides for the dancers, not for the spectators;
He ignores glitz and holds fast to substance.
15. Salsa
The Salsaeros possess understanding
So profound they can not be understood.
Because they cannot be understood
I can only describe their appearance:
Cautious as one crossing thin ice,
Undecided as one surrounded by danger,
Modest as one who is a guest,
Unbounded as melting ice,
Genuine as unshaped wood,
Broad as a valley,
Seamless as muddy water.
Who stills the water that the mud may settle,
Who seeks to stop that he may travel on,
Who desires less than what may transpire,
Improves, but will not become arrogant.
17. Leading
The best Leaders are scarcely known by their partners;
The next best are clear and felt;
The next are forceful;
The next painful:
They have no faith in their partners,
And their partners become unfaithful to them.
When the best Leaders lead a pattern
Their partners claim they lead the pattern on their own.
21. Following
Harmony is only in following the dance.
The dance is without form or quality,
But expresses clear forms and qualities;
The dance is hidden and implicate,
But expresses all of the Dancers;
The dance is unchanging,
But expresses all motion.
Beneath sensation and memory
The dance is the source of all movement.
How can I follow my Leader?
By accepting.
24. Competition
Straighten yourself and you will not stand steady;
Display yourself and you will not be clearly seen;
Justify yourself and you will not be respected;
Promote yourself and you will not be believed;
Pride yourself and you will not endure.
These behaviours are wasteful, indulgent,
And so they attract disfavour from judges;
Dancers avoid them.
26. Posture
Posture is the source of lightness,
Heel leads, the master of haste.
A dancer will practice for months, watching over her steps;
Only to reach a dance may she lose them on the floor.
So the master of one's own body should not act lightly or hastily.
Acting lightly, one loses sight of patterns,
Acting hastily, one loses control of frame.
One must not treat one's great body as a small boat;
Rather than glitter like jade
One must stand like stone.
27. Teachers
The perfect traveller leaves no trail to be followed;
The perfect speaker leaves no question to be answered;
The perfect accountant leaves no working to be completed;
The perfect container leaves no lock to be closed;
The perfect knot leaves no end to be ravelled.
So the Teacher nurtures all students
And abandons no one.
He accepts everything
And rejects nothing.
He attends to the smallest details.
For the experienced must guide the newbies;
The newbies are raw material to the experienced.
If the Teacher is not respected,
Or the students are not cared for,
Confusion will result, no matter how clever one is.
This is the secret of teaching:
When raw wood is carved, it becomes a tool;
When a man is engaged, he becomes a tool;
The perfect carpenter leaves no wood to be carved.
33. Virtues
Who understands the dance is trained;
Who understands the self is a dancer.
Who leads a partner has strength;
Who leads the self has harmony;
Who is determined has purpose.
Who is contented has joy;
Who leads a pattern may long endure;
Who dances a pattern may long enjoy it.
36. Opposition
To reduce someone's opposition, first expand it;
To reduce someone's force, first increase it;
To move someone, first draw to them;
To take from someone, first give to them.
This is the subtlety by which the subtle overcome the direct:
Fish should not leave their depths,
And feet should not leave the floor.
40. Motion and Use
The motion of the dance is to return;
The use of the dance is to accept;
All things come from the dance,
And the dance comes from nothing.
41. Knowledge
When the great man learns the dance, he follows its steps with diligence;
When the common man learns the Way, he follows it on occasion;
When the mean man learns the Way, he laughs out loud;
Those who do not laugh, do not learn at all.
Therefore it is said:
Who understands the dance seems foolish;
Who progresses in the dance seems to fail;
Who follows the dance seems to wander.
For the finest harmony appears plain;
The brightest truth appears coloured;
The richest character appears incomplete;
The bravest heart appears meek;
The simplest nature appears inconstant.
The square, perfected, has no corner;
Music, perfected, has no melody;
Love, perfected, has no climax;
Art, perfected, has no meaning.
The dance can be neither sensed nor known:
It transmits sensation and transcends knowledge.
47. Stillness
Without taking a step across the floor
You know the whole world;
Without taking a peep at your partner
You know the colour of her dress.
The more you experience,
The less you know.
The Dancer wanders without knowing,
Looks without seeing,
Dances without moving.
48. Progress
The follower of knowledge learns as much as she can every day;
The follower of the dance forgets as much as she can every day.
By attrition she reaches a state of inaction
Wherein she does nothing, but nothing remains undone.
To follow well, accomplish nothing;
If you must accomplish something,
The dance remains out of reach.
49. Parties
The Dancer does not distinguish between himself and the world;
The needs of other people are as his own.
He is good to those who are skilled;
He is also good to those who are not skilled,
Thereby he is good.
He trusts those who follow well;
He also trusts those who do not follow well,
Thereby he is trustworthy.
The Dancer lives in harmony with the party,
And his mind is the party's mind.
So he nurtures the steps of others
As a mother does her children.