The Garment of Beyond

Dr Chi Chiang-Tao, my master's most significant Tai Chi teacher, translated the first sentence of the Tai Chi Classics as “Light and nimble – like a monkey.” It is by far the best translation I've seen and it's a great shame he didn't bother with the rest of the Ching – he may possibly have managed to breathe a bit of life into it. Light/nimble comes from spirit. Spirit is expressed in the eyes. Softness however comes from heart and soul, and we're beginning to realize that it is a far more fundamental and important quality than either lightness or spirit. Spirit dances, it's playful and mischievous, you need to rouse it to get the most out of whatever situation you're in. Quick wits. You can also buy it in bottles. Just take a swig and almost instantly your spirits rise and hey presto you're able and inclined to communicate and interact. Heart and soul aren't so shallow. Soul is deeper than deep. It resides in the sacrum. It's misty and damp to spirit's fire. The holy ghost. It is already connected and cannot be contained or separated. It receives its nourishment from the earth and from the common soul and it feeds the heart. Heart is like the living expression of soul. It's warm, it beats, it opens, embraces and gives. It's what life is all about. Without it there is no life. John once asked Dr Chi the highest level of Tai Chi. Dr Chi thought for a while and then said just one word – Nothing. Softness is the expression of Nothing. It just means there's nothing in the way – the path is clear – heart to heart, the mingling soul. Mind is firstly the awareness of heart, and secondly the awareness of things. One bite of the apple and the mist clears and things are seen in their discrete glory. (Apples do have this effect – I use them to clear and lighten the mind – they cleanse.) Our original sin isn't that we take that bite but that we so willingly allow the mind to run away with itself and become a separate entity – we put it on a pedestal it doesn't deserve. When you're correctly stacked the sacrum resides in the earth, the heart in the sacrum and the mind in the heart. Then you are correctly coordinated and the mind is just a door back into the mists of your being rather than the creator of constructs and conceits to impress and intimidate. We've all known soulful people – I think of John and Assi and Roberto and Pip – old souls – you feel you've known them for thousands of years and will continue to know them for thousands of years. Timeless relationships. They're shrouded in what my teacher calls the garment of beyond – "a raiment bedecked with jewels" – you always have the feeling you can't get that close to them but you don't need to because they're already inside.