The five postures · wu tai

In brief

The five postures are the five human types of chapter 72: the greater yin, the lesser yin, the greater yang, the lesser yang, and the man of yin and yang at peace. The word is not 形 or 體 but 態 — bearing, the way a man carries what is inside him. Shao Shi gives each type twice: first by temper, then by body. The greater yin man is greedy and unfeeling, 下齊湛湛，好内而惡出; the lesser yin man is small-greedy and treacherous, pleased at another’s loss; the greater yang man talks of great affairs and cannot do them; the lesser yang man is conceited and likes office; the man of peace is quiet, yielding, and 譚而不治 — he talks and does not govern. The second pass gives the body that goes with each: 黮黮然黑色 for the greater yin, 清然竊然 for the lesser yin, 軒軒儲儲 for the greater yang, a man who stands looking up and walks shaking for the lesser yang, and for the man of peace the string of adverbs that ends 衆人皆曰君子. Needling follows the type: drain the full, fill the empty, and above all do not rob a man of the yin he has little of.