Shape, Vapours and Spirit

布形候氣，與神俱往

Deploying the body and awaiting the arrival of vapours, entirely bound for the spirit

布 to spread, to deploy, to disseminate, to dispose, to arrange, cotton cloth

形 form, shape, body

候 to await, to attend, to wait upon, to inquire after, to serve (by extension, in 伺候)

氣 vapours

與 used to introduce 神 the recipient of the action, with, to follow, to assist

神 spirit

俱 all, entirely, without exception

往 in the direction of, towards, bound for, to go

From a basic understanding, such statement can be expanded or modified to decipher even more out of it.

I. Basic Understanding

One could use such sentence for training or fighting.

1.1 Training

The phrase summarises the basic method of internal arts, first taking care of the external, the shape, then taking care of vitality, vapours, to finally train one's spirit. It insists on the fact that everything is ultimately targeted at one's spirit.

布 is interesting because it stresses the fact that it is not just training the body but more organising it, hence a question of angles for which training postures is one of the means used. Furthermore, to spread is a reminder of the fascia issues, fascias have to be stretched.

候 seems to emphasise on a natural way, in the sense of letting things happen. Indeed, a correct posture will make the body warm up automatically, hence creating vapours. It is also an indication that the Lady of Yue was training a so-called regular practice, vitality with the absence of thoughts or intent, having to come from nothingness. Hence, visualisations and the rest were not her method used to deal with vitality.

If we take 與 in the sense of "to follow", the phrase basic understanding can also be "..., following the spirit, they all go". Indeed this is similar to an understanding found in the Huainanzi* "夫形者，生之所也；氣者，生之元也；神者，生之制也。", "The shape, where life is; vapours, the origin of life; spirit, what controls/makes life." In this sense body and vapours are seen as passive, organised through postures, while the spirit is the active part of the process. Following this, a lot of martial arts give a special place to intent, 意, in their training.

1.2 Fighting

As far as fighting principles are concerned, the foremost is to position oneself correctly, 布形. Then "wait upon" stresses on the necessity to also wake one's vitality, 候氣. Still both posture and vitality are just there to assist one's spirit in all its moves, 與神俱往.

Such statement can also be further expanded.

II. Expanding

Training and fighting principles can both be expanded.

2.1 Training

For 布 and since the topic is martial arts, one cannot but think about the word 布陣 which basically means battle array or formation. In this sense, organising one's body is exactly like putting an army in formation. Hence the sayings using military terms for the body like "心為令，氣為旗，腰為纛" (the heart commands, vapours are the flag and the waist the banner).

布 also means cotton cloth. One of its properties is to have a good air permeability: it allows the skin to breathe. Expanding then 候 to the meaning of serving, one can get to the understanding that having a body as soft as cotton (when not tensed of course) main goal is towards vapours, 氣, hence vitality. Indeed, first it is a question of improving skin breathing. In this sense, the more one's skin will be soft, the more air permeability it will have, the easier skin breathing will be. The second benefit of softness is, of course, to improve the flow of vapours and let them disseminate (another meaning of 布) everywhere. Therefore, one of the numerous breathing techniques to recoup vitality used in the old days would be to lie on the floor and bring one's body to a physical relaxation close to sleeping, 布形, while keeping one's spirit awake, 與神俱往. Hence, in The Demon's Sermon on Martial Arts and Other Tales**: "The soft contains living ch'i and performs function." and "First, lie on your back, relax your shoulders, let your chest and shoulders open up to the right and left, and stretch your arms and legs out comfortably."

2.2 Fighting

Fighting principles can be externalised, i.e. applied to the opponent. Therefore, one will first pay attention to the posture an opponent takes, 布形. Indeed, it is not one particular part of the body which has to be taken into account. Hence a lot of old practices used an overlooking gaze, almost as if not caring for the opponent.

Still, one has to go beyond what the posture externally looks like and concentrate on the opponent vitality, 候氣. But, finally, all will be decided by the opponent spirit, 與神俱往. This understanding leads to the techniques where one is to discern the opponent intent, which would lead him/her to move before the opponent takes action for example. Sayings like "敵不動我不動，敵一動，他先動。"'If my opponent does not move, I don't either; if he/she moves, I move first", are the embodiment of training aimed at feeling the opponent intention. One of the basic ones, sometimes called the mirror, is a training where one imitates all the moves of his/her partner. By doing so, he will get his/her pace until the opponent intent becomes so clear that one can anticipate his/her every move.

III. Deciphering

Another way to look further into the saying is to use some of the deciphering methods where the order of the characters are changed, whether by linking them according to their order in each statement or changing the order in each statement.

1.1 Linking

Linking them in order would make the following two new statements:

布與形神，候俱氣往

Deploying assists body and spirit, inquiring after all the going vapours

Old practices believed that postures, and especially when taking into account one's organs, had not only an impact on the body but also a direct one on the spirit. A spirited posture would change one's gaze. Both body and spirit were also seen as two parts of the same coin, the ultimate aim was actually to reunite them as shown in this month saying. Furthermore, since vitality was a question of vapours, the issue was also to avoid losing them, hence 往, to go, as opposed to 來, to come. Going vapours actually refers in this sense mainly to emotions. The idea was that, through posture, one would not only learn the best angles for the body but also how to quiet the heart, thus controlling one's emotive state. One exercise was to take a low posture and resist when, because of the strenuous effort, both for the legs and one's spirit (remaining still), the heart started to beat wildly. The idea was to use one's breath to calm down the heart and keep being totally static a little bit longer. 

The exact same passage from the Huainanzi* contains another sentence which can help furthermore:  "故夫形者非其所安也而處之則廢，氣不當其所充而用之則泄，神非其所宜而行之則昧。", "Hence, if the shape is not placed in a suitable position, it will be then a waste to handle it; vapours do not serve their filling purpose, they will then disperse when used; if the spirit is not suited, he will then behave in confusion" (a simple translation, one could actually write a lot about this quote).

Indeed, in training posture, one would first train to 定形, fixing the shape, in order to ultimately improve motion, then 定心 fix the heart in order to keep one's spirit at ease whatever is done. Hence, deploying is meant to have effects on both the body and the spirit. As for vapours, the first issue is to avoid depletion, hence paying first attention to what would lead them to disperse.

1.2 Order

Changing the order would make the following two new statements:

不(布)候形氣，與俱神往

Not awaiting for the shape or the vapours, following without exception how the spirit goes.

Here, there is a pun on the homophony of the original 布候, which does not really mean anything, and 不候 which means not waiting for. 

This meaning is pointing to one of the aims of internal practices, to be formless. Quoting again the Huainanzi***: "無形而制有形，無為而應變，雖未能得勝於敵，敵不可得勝之道也。", "Formless creates/controls form, inactive and yet adaptable to the changes, even if one is not able to reach victory over one's foe, neither can the enemy find the path to victory."

Whether training, moving while fighting or taking the opponent into consideration, it becomes mainly a question of spirit at the end.

Hence, if one can reach the ultimate formless, all what has been trained before may seem useless. This is a common mistake, formless comes from form, it is a never-ending process resumed in "無中生有，有中生無", "From nothing comes existence, existence gives birth to nothingness", which is similarly described in many old texts, including the Huainanzi. 

Shape, vapours and spirit form a trinity often found in old practices. One can notice that in this trinity, there are one external issue, the shape, for two considered as internal, vapours and spirit. Finally, it may be interesting to link such sentence with the known "外練筋骨皮，內煉精氣神", "Externally training fascias, bones and skin, internally refining essence, vapours and spirit" or equivalents.

*Huainanzi, Teachings on the Original Path, 淮南子·原道訓

**The Demon's Sermon on Martial Arts and Other Tales, Issai Chozanshi, translated by William Scott Wilson. 天狗芸術論, 佚斎 樗山子

***Huainanzi, Teachings on Military Strategy, 淮南子·兵略訓