charles wrote: Like Willie, I much prefer an explicit approach...
To be clear, that I prefer an explicit approach, one that Willie stated he prefers, doesn't mean that I agree with anything and everything that Willie states, nor that he agrees with anything and everything that I state.
Willie wrote:
The tree branch sits in it's relaxed state and then it starts to snow outside.
The tree branch starts to bend from the weight of the snow, it is now under tension and NOT relaxed.
The molecules in the top part of the branch are being stretched and the bottom compressed.
This creates Peng. It is also a bow. It also is yin and yang in one limb...
As you can see "relax" is not the correct understanding.
windwalker wrote:Do you agree with this explanation of the metaphor ?
An explicit approach likely wouldn't involve a metaphor or a simile. Just saying.
Human limbs aren't the same as tree limbs and don't behave the same way. It is a metaphor [similie], rather than an explicit instruction on what to do or not do. "Root like a tree" and "Bend like a pine needle" are metaphors, not explicit instructions on how to behave. Not that there isn't value in metaphors/similies, but it's important to distinguish between the two.
A tree limb, essentially, is a cantilevered beam. The upper surface of the tree branch, when loaded, is in tension while the lower surface is in compression. Somewhere between the two is a neutral axis that is neither in tension nor compression. I don't think that the molecules, themselves, are in tension or compression.
The first law of mechanical engineering is, "You can't push on a rope". (Unless it is frozen.) Rope-like muscle tissue can't voluntarily be put in compression. If you hold your arm out, "like a tree branch", the mechanics involved differ from a tree branch. It's a metaphor. (I think I've stated that enough times now that it is clear that it is not an explicit instruction on what to do or how to do it.)
It notes that the peng is not there until its stressed is does this make sense ?
Repeatedly, throughout this discussion of "song", people have blurred a distinction between "Peng" and "song". I've purposely avoided addressing it: if there is that much controversy on something as "basic" as "song", and its meaning, discussing Peng is, I believe, largely ineffective. Ask 10 people what Peng is and you'll get 11 different answers.
Is peng "a bow"? Is it "yin and yang in one limb"? Is "relax" Peng? Not as I've understood it. One down and 10 different opinions/interpretations to go.
[Correction: That's two down and 9 to go.]