64 Words

Lacking Form, Empty Image
Whole Body Transparent Void
Accept Surroundings, Self Incinerates (be natural)
West Mountain Suspended Chime
Tiger Roars, Ape Cries
Spring Clears, Creek Silent
Turbulent Delta, Crashing Sea
Cleansed Core, Upright Life

Estimated to have been written circa 961 AD at the end of the Tang or beginning of the Sung Dynasty.
The Tung/Dong family Red Book [translation by Alex Dong, 2003] attributes the poem of "These Words of Experience" to Taoist Monk Lǐ which was given to Yu Nian Zhou.
Lu Shengli [translated by Zhang Yun, 2006] references Lǐ as a Taoist priest from the Nanyan Temple on Wudang Mountain during the Tang Dynasty who practiced Xiantian [Pre-birth] Quan.
32 words reference a high-level relationships among the Dào, Qì Gong, and martial arts.
A core way to understand the poem is that it references Qì ( 氣 ) and the Body.

In this poetic form each of the four-character 'stanzas' relates to the next one.
Each stanza acts as kind of 'stair step' to the next, moving from ''xternal' to 'internal'.
There is a sort of 'Waxing, Waning, Waxing, Release' of the Qì in the second half of the poem

無	wú	Empty, not to have, no, none, not, to lack. Used similar to un- and -less Original Pictogram ( 象形 ) man dancing with oxtails in both hands praying for rain (lack)
形	xíng	Form, shape, outside
像	xiàng	Image (internal or external representation) Thought to be the same word as 象 "elephant" Possibly derives from (lad-mo, 'imitation, to imitate, mimic')

全	quán	Whole Shows a whole piece of jade; pure jade.
身	shēn	Body Originally from a pictograph of a pregnant woman.
透	tòu	to penetrate, pass through, thoroughly, completely, transparent to appear, show Two components derive from 'walking' and 'naked'
空	kòng	Void

應	yīng	Accept Component is 'heart'
物	wù	All of the outside world, excluding oneself Component is grain; seed; lineage
自	zì	Self Originally a pictogram ( 象形 ) of a nose; in China (and East Asia) one points at one's nose to indicate oneself, hence an ideogram (指事 ) of 'self'.
然	rán	Burn away A fusion of 肰 njen, ('dog meat') +火 ('fire') - to burn. When paired with the prior character they indicate ease, 'naturalness', or a kind of unselfconciousness.

西	xī	West Traditionally explained as a pictogram of a bird settling into its nest, which by analogy with the setting of the sun means 'west'.
山	shān	Mountain
懸	xuán	Suspended To hang or suspend, to worry, unresolved, without foundation
罄	qìng	Chime Chime stones, ancient stone or jade pieces hung in a row and struck as a xylophone. Likely in this case singular ones hung in Daoist temples

虎	hǔ	Tiger
吼	hǒu	Roars
猿	yuán	Ape
鳴	míng	Cries
z
泉	quán	Creek
清	qīng	clear
河	hé	Creek
静	jìng	Silent (points again at 'nothing' and 'the void' and 'stillness')
z
翻	fān	Turbulent ('wings') - to flutter
江	jiāng	the left side is 'water' the right side is 'plow'. Often short hand for the Yangtze River. In this context it could be thought of as the place where a large river meets the sea (Estuary/Delta)
倒	dáo	Crashing
海	hái	Sea This set of four characters is a common phrase that represents a kind of environmental chaos
z
盡	jìn	Cleansed ('hand holding a brush') + 灬 ('bristles') + 皿 ('dish') - cleaning a dish with a brush - empty.
性	xìng	Core 心 ('heart') + phonetic 生 - nature, personal quality, hence of the heart.
立	lì	Upright a person standing on the ground;
命	mìng	Life 'to order; to command' > 'order; command' > 'destiny; fate; lot' > 'life'

32 Words (on the 32 Words)
by
Anthony Ho Nan Jie (何南傑)
August 7, 2005 (finalized in 2022)
In Chinese poetry there is a form where two poems reflect each other and act as a doorframe for the reader to 'go through'.
Each of these four character stanzas reflects its parter in the first 32 words.
These 32 are an attempt at a more 'practical/physical/Yin' take on the 'poetic/energetic/Yang' expressions in the first 32 words.

fú
Float

tiān
Heaven

shùn
Flow

shí
Know

tuō
Hold

rén
Person

bèi
Ebb

jǐ
Self

tài
Greatest

地
dì
Earth

qián
Positive

xī
Understand

shān
Mountain

hé
Unite

kūn
Negative

bǐ
That

wú
No

yī
One

qiān
Thousand

wàng
Forget

wèi
Fear

氣
qì
Energy

jīn
Pound

wǒ
Self

hào
Vast

guàn
String

qiǎo
Skillfully

suí
Follow

rán
Burn

chuàn
Link

bō
Handled

fēng
Wind

Know Yourself (to/and/thus) Understand Other(s)
Forget Yourself (and) Follow The Wind (Nature)
Ebb and Flow of Positive and Negative (Yin/Yang)
1,000 Pounds (catties) skillfully handled
Heaven, Person, Earth - Unite
One Breath strung through (you)
Float The Highest Mountain
(Fearless)

識	shí	Knowledge
己	jǐ	Self (oneself) / Personal (private) - Originally a silk rope and sixth of the ten heavenly stems Paired with above can be thought of in a similar context to: 'Know Thyself'
悉	xī	Ideogrammic compound 釆 ("to distinguish") + 心 ("heart") To know; to learn; to be informed of. Also can mean to exhaust or use up.
彼	bǐ	That/Those/He/She/It

忘	wàng	Forget
我	wǒ	Self
隨	suí	'Follow' It also contains the glyph for 'ear' and can be thought of 'moved towards/by music' and is said to have a 'Yin' quality Names the 17^th hexagram of the I Ching - "Following" ䷐
⾵	fēng	Wind. In this pairing 'follow the wind' asks one to 'follow the way of things'.

順	shùn	Flow with / Smoothly follow
悖	bèi	Go backwards/Oppose These first two characters (when paired) can be a way to look at Yin and Yang, as can the next two characters
乾	qián	This character represents Heaven pairing with Earth. First of the eight trigrams (bagua) used in Taoist cosmology, represented by the symbol ☰ First hexagram of the I Ching, represented by the symbol ䷀
坤	kūn	Earth Eighth of the eight trigrams (Bagua - The Receptive/Field) used in Taoist cosmology, represented by the symbol ☷ Second of the sixty four hexagrams (I Ching - The Receptive/Field) used in Taoist cosmology, represented by the symbol ䷁ When paired with the above character it reads Qiánkūn - Heaven&Earth / Yin&Yang. Tony said he liked the 'playfulness' of having the two pairs say the same damn thing.


千	qiān	Thousand
斤	jīn	A Chinese measure unit of weight (catty) that is a little over a pound
巧	qiăo	Skillfully
撥	bō	Handled, Scattered, Stirred, To Rule

天	tiān	Sky/Heaven/Heavenly
人	rén	Man (human/person)
地	dì	Earth (in this case referencing the five elements, as differentiated from kūn which is 'all yin' balanced with 'heaven' which is 'all yang')
合	hé	Combine/Union. The pictogram is of a mouth - 'to speak in one voice' side note - there was an mixup: another hé that typically represents bringing together, but not unifying. I was told the 'wrong' one was like bringing together water, flour, salt, and sugar in a bowl ; whereas the 'right' one is like them becoming dough.
z
一	yī	One
氣	qì	Energy/Life/Breath
貫	guàn	Through
串	chuàn	String
z
浮	fú	Float
托	tuō	Support
泰	tài	Greatest
山	shān	Mountain Paired with the above it refers to Mount Tai in China. The highest point in Shandong province
z
無	wú	Empty, not to have, no, none, not, to lack. Used similar to un- and -less Original Pictogram ( 象形 ) man dancing with oxtails in both hands praying for rain (lack)
畏	wèi	Fear. In oracle bone script form, this character depicts a ghost holding a stick. The small seal glyph depicts ghost head with part of a tiger, including its claw. The phrase Wúwèi by itself means 'fearless'.
浩	hào	Torrential/Great
然	rán	Original Form: To Burn Suffix forming adverbs, sometimes also adjectives, with an abstract meaning of 'in the manner of, like' When paired with the prievious character: Vast; expansive; overwhelming This four character phrase together indicates Fearless and Awe-Inspiring.