This series of articles was written by my teacher, mentor and friend, Tom Bisio founder and chief instructor of Internal Arts International. Tom is an accomplished martial artist and Chinese Medicine practitioner. He is also the foremost practitioner and teacher of Baquazhang in the United States. Even though I did not write this I feel is important enough to include here in the hopes that it will reach a larger audience.
The Dao De Jing as a Guide to Daoist Meditation – Part 3
Tom Bisio
July 22, 2025
In this third part of a series of posts that examine the Dao De Jing as a guide to Daoist Meditation, the analysis of these chapters leans heavily on He Shang Gong’s (Ho Shang Kung) commentary on the text. He Shang Gong’s chapter headings read like instructions or guideposts for the practice of Daoist meditation, a bit like a “how to” book. In this post we look at Chapter 6: How to Complete the idea and Chapter 52: How to Return to Origin.
Unless otherwise indicated all Dao De Jing quotes are from: Ho-Shang-Kung’s Commentary on Lao-Tse, translated and annotated by Eduard Erkes. Switzerland: Press of Artibus Asiae Ascona (First published in Journal Artibus Saiae 1950). I highly recommend this translation and commentary if you can obtain a copy.
Dao De Jing Chapter 6: How to Complete the Idea
If one nourishes the spirits, one dies not,
This is called the dark and female.
The gates of the dark one and the female, they are called the root of heaven and earth
Without interruption it is like remaining,
To use it is not fatiguing.[1]
Chapter 6 is one of the most frequently quoted passages of the Dao De Jing. This Chapter contains many important concepts related to Meditation. Hence it is worth comparing several translations and commentaries.
Below are two other translations of Chapter 6, the first by Alan Chan and the second by Richard John Lynn:
Translation 1: Alan K. L. Chan
The spirit of the valley never dies
It is called the mysterious female.
The door of the mysterious is called the root of Heaven and Earth.
Flimsy and continuous, as if barely existing,
Yet use will never exhaust it.[2]
Translation 2: Richard John Lynn
The Valley Spirit never dies, and we call it the “Mysterious Female.” The gate of the Mysterious Female is referred to as the “root of Heaven and Earth.” On and on, with only apparent existence, it functions inexhaustibly.[3]
He Shang Gong‘s commentary, refers to the mysterious as the “dark” or the “dark one”, sometimes differentiating it as yang or Heaven associated, as opposed to yin, associated with Earth.
He Shang Gong relates the dark one to heaven and the nose, and the female to the mouth: Heaven nourishes man by means of the five atmospheres. Through the nose they enter the viscera and penetrate to the heart.[4] Red Pine’s commentary on this passage seems to build off of He Shang Gong’s”
The valley is what nourishes. Those able to nourish the spirit do not die. ‘Spirit’ means the spirits of the five organs. When these five are injured the five spirits leave. ‘Dark’ refers to Heaven. In a person this means the nose, which links us with Heaven. The female refers to ‘Earth’. In a person, this means the mouth, which links us to Earth. The breath that passes through our nose and mouth should be finer than gossamer silk and barely noticeable, as if it weren’t actually present. It should be relaxed and never strained or exhausted.[5]
The Five Spirits are rarefied essences of the Five Qi/Breaths of the five viscera related to the internal organs. The five spirits produce the senses of the body. There are two key spirits. The Hun (spirit associated with the liver) is yang. It is connected to Heaven. Hence, it is mysterious and dark. The Hun relates to the liver and is in charge of what enters and leaves the body through the nose. The Po (associated with the lungs) is related to Earth and yin. The Po nourishes man with tastes, which enter through the mouth. Relative to the rarified vapor of Heaven, foods and the tastes ass0ciated with food, are turbid and dense. They “form” and provide nourishment for the frame of the body – the bones, muscles, flesh, etc.[6] The other spirits are the Yi (Intention) which is linked to the spleen and stomach, the Shen (Heart-Spirit) and the Zhi (Will), linked to the Jing (essence) which is stored in the kidneys.
The Hun and Po are important concepts in Daoist meditation. The sensory perceptions of the eyes, ears mouth, etc, are thought to comprise the Po. When these become Qi they are called the Hun, which is said to have three “spirits” that are akin to the Three Treasures – Jing, Qi and Shen. The Po is said to have seven “souls” that are related to the emotions and senses – joy, anger, pleasure, sorrow, like, dislike, and desire.
In Daoist meditation and internal alchemy the passions of the Po are thought to dominate the Hun in most people. This causes the vital force to decay. Meditation aims to reverse this dynamic, so that one’s desires and sensations become ruled by the Hun. During the day the Hun resides in the eyes, the windows of the Shen (spirit), while at night it resides in the liver. When the Hun resides in the eyes, one can “see”; when it resides in the liver, one can “dream.” In one who “dreams” too much, the Po controls the Hun. In one who is “awake” (i.e.: not ruled by dreams and desires), the Hun controls the Po.[7]
When the Hun and the Po, the yin and yang manifestations of the spirits, are harmonized, one connects or reconnects to an inner unity. This unity is itself a manifestation of the balanced and harmonious breaths of Heaven and Earth moving through us.
Breathing continuously, infinitesimally and smoothly is the door that connects us with the fundamental essences of Heaven and Earth, which in turn harmonizes and nourishes the spirits. He Shang Gong describes the breath as being performed uninterruptedly and in a mysterious way, as if one could flee and return, as if one did not exist. In using the breath, one should proceed with ease and not to make haste and to make oneself tired.[8]
Some commentators consider the “mouth”, related earth, to actually refer to the anus and genitals. During meditation, one inhales through the nose and gathers Qi (energy), but by controlling desire and holding up the anus one prevents leakage of the vital force accumulating in the center of the body.
In the text the Mysterious Female is referred to as Xuan Pin ( ). Xuan means “black”, “dark”, “profound”, or “abstruse”, while Pin refers to female (yin). The Xuan Pin “Gate” is referred to as the origin of the universe, and the place where vitality resides, hence the source of the Dao. This gate is formless, infinite, and eternal, a realm that transcends time and space. Entering this gate is to transcend the mundane world and reach the Dao, thereby attaining both wisdom and energy.[9]
This term appears at the end of the first chapter of the Dao De Jing. In the He Shang Gong version it is as follows: The one still darker than the dark one, the gate of every mystery. Below are three other interesting translations of this line:
The mystery upon mystery, and gateway of all subtleties.[10]
Darker even than darkness, gate of multiple subtleties.[11]
The obscurest of the obscure, they are the swinging gateway of the manifold mysteries.[12]
According to some scholars, the Chinese oracle bone character for Xuan depicts hands turning something, creating a kind of spinning whirl, a vortex, which is deep and dark and is associated with the mysterious downward spiraling of water. The whirl functions as a gate that lets things in and out like a cosmic source through which everything passes.[13]
Xuan Pin is the passage between life and death, between being and non-being, the place where Yin and Yang communicate. These concepts are illustrated in an ancient representation of the Xuan Pin depicted below:
The “Valley” is like the low ground where water collects without effort. Han Dynasty commentator Wang Bi’s describes the Valley as the “nothingness in the center of the valley”, which has neither form nor appearance.[14] Sinologist D.C. Lau writes that “the valley is but the empty space between two mountains, and so it only seems as if it were there.” After the mountains wear away, the space is still there.[15] This void space is also compared to a deep dark gorge, the place from which Heaven and Earth emerged. This can be a metaphor for the Dao. It conjures up the image of a still pool, which can be likened to the cultivation of stillness in meditation – when the outward senses are withdrawn to look inward and the mind moves only within itself.[16]
Although Gu Shen taken literally means “Valley Spirit”, Howard Dewar feels that Gu Shen refers to the energy center in the perineum – in Chinese traditions it is also called Hui Yin (“Yin Meeting” or “Convergence of Yin”), Yin Qiao (“Yin Motility” or “Yin Bridge” and Pin Men (“Female or Yin Gate”). Brewer goes on to postulate that: this center is actually the place where a human being connects to the universe, it is the gate of heaven and earth. While most religions emphasize the heart as the seat of human nature, the Daodejing says that a human being, whose ultimate being is a manifestation of energy tracable to the dao, connects to the dao via the xuanpin center.[17]
Other commentators also agree that the door of the mysterious is called the root of Heaven and Earth, refers to the vagina and the penis. The vagina is the gate, or doorway, the organ of life and death. Hence it is called the root. The penis is also called the root. Therefore the root that one must guard and attend to is in the genitals.[18]
The Daoist text, The Embryonic Breathing Classic (Gaoshang Yuhuang Taixi Jing) references several chapter of the Dao De Jing including Chapters 6 and 52. The text of The Embryonic Breathing Classic is short and to the point:
The embryo comes from the Qi forged[19] within the breath
The Qi possesses the embryo within the breath.
When the Qi enters the body, this is life.
When the Shen leaves the body, this is death.
Knowing Shen and Qi one can live long.
Therefore, guard empty nothingness in order to nourish Shen & Qi.
When Shen moves, Qi moves. When the Shen abides, Qi abides.
If you desire longevity, Shen and Qi must mutually concentrate.
When the mind does not give rise to thoughts, it is without coming and going.
Without entering and exiting and entering. It will naturally abide.
Diligently practicing this is the way of the Dao.
The commentary on the text states that one binds together or forges the Qi within the Dantian or Lower Elixir Field – the area also ascribed to the Xuan Pin (Mysterious Female) – and guard the Shen (spirit) within the body so that Shen and Qi merge to form the mysterious fetus (or mysterious womb) within the body. The commentary goes on to describe the intimate interconnection between spirit and qi by saying that spirit is the mother of qi, and qi the mother of spirit. It further explains that “when the womb-mother (the qi in the belly) has formed, the spirit-child can breathe on its own and thereby the primal qi does not scatter.”[20]
In essence, when you calmly concentrate inwardly on upon the Qi concentrated in the Lower Elixir Field, one “conceives” within the core of your being, a fresh innocent consciousness (spirit) that is endowed with pristine vitality.[21] In defining mother and child commentary of the Embryonic Breathing Classic is also referencing the first four lines from Dao De Jing
Chapter 52: How to Return to Origin
The world had a beginning.
It is thereby the world’s mother.
If one knows one’s mother, she in turn knows her child.
If she knows her child, it in turn keeps to its mother.
To lose the body is not dangerous.
By closing one’s openings,
By barring one’s gate,
One finishes the body without trouble.
By opening one’s openings,
By completing one’s doings,
One finshes the body without rescue.
Dao De Jing Chapter 52 is included here because it also directly or indirectly references concepts in the Embryonic Breathing Classic and its commentaries, which talk about guarding the Qi within so that it does not escape by coming and going. One inhales softly without exhaling so that Qi settles inside the body and the internal primal Qi is retained – this is sometimes called “whole body breathing” or “pore breathing.” This is “closing the openings and barring the gate.” The commentary on Embryonic Breathing expresses this idea as follows:
After you have carried out the exercise of embryonic breathing, your joints open up and interpenetrate, and the hair on your head and body flows smoothly. Thus you just lightly draw up qi through your nose, and it exits through the hundred pores of your four limbs, and does not return. After the qi continues to arrive as you jut draw it in without expelling it, earnestly and slowly. Even though it can be said that you do draw it in but do not expel, what you draw in does not enter into your throat, but rather subtly disperses. In this way the inner qi also flows and scatters downward [into the body] (or, “does not flow and scatter out of the body”?).[22]
Xing Yi Master Hu Yao Zhen (1897-1973) gives us practical advice on the practice of the Pre-Heaven or Embryonic Breath. Hu was also well versed in acupuncture, Chinese medicine and various kinds of Nei Gong, and practiced and taught martial arts and Chinese medicine for many decades. Hu’s advice is as follows:
The characteristic of this Nei Gong is to free yourself from breathing through the nose and mouth. Do not interfere with the breath more than is necessary and concentrate on the apertures. The principal apertures (Qiao) or cavities (Xue)[23] on which you must concentrate are Zhong Dantian (Navel), Jia Ji (under the 12th thoracic vertebrae), and Ming Men. In general, when one talks about Dantian, it refers to Middle Dantian [the navel].[24]
Hu goes on to say that one should not pay attention to breathing through he nose and mouth. One should find a comfortable posture (sitting or standing) and take a moment to fix and calm the Heart-Mind and make sure one’s breathing is regular and even. Then “look” inside the Middle Dantian (navel), and listen to it. Take the attention away form the normal breathing through the nose or mouth and place in on the navel and Mingmen.
“Inhale” the Qi of the navel (Middle Dantian) towards Mingmen. Inhale until you feel the joining of the Qi of these two zones. When you can no longer “inhale”, wait until the Dantian naturally “exhales” the Qi toward the front. Then inhale the Qi again naturally toward the back. Hu stresses that breathing must conform to the natural respiration of the Dantian, that one should not pay attention to the belly as it inflates and deflates. You do not need to coordinate Dantian breathing with the breathing of the nose and mouth. Avoid making this breath happen through intention, just search for and observe this “Pre-Heaven Breath.”[25]
This “Pre Heaven Breathing” will be much slower than the normal breathing through the nose and mouth. Ba Gua Master Lu Zi Jian who died at the age of 118 adds that this method of connecting the two acupoints – Shen Que (Ren 8: Navel), the “Gate of Spirit and Ming Men, the “Gate of Vitality”, located in the middle of the lower back – the Water Element associated with Ren Mai (Conception Vessel) and the Fire Element associated with Du Mai (Governing Vessel), interweaves and combines Water and Fire so that sex and vitality merge. Lu says that this practice transforms Qi into Shen.[26]
Hu Yao Zhen offers the following verse regarding practice:
First fix the Heart-Mind,
When the Heart-Mind is fixed, the Spirit (Shen) condenses.
When the Shen condenses, the Heart-Mind becomes still.
When the Heart-Mind is still, you are calm.
When you are calm, you do not intervene (Wu Wei).
When you don’t intervene, the Qi circulates.
When the Qi circulates, you move.[27]
In relation to Qi Gong and movement Hu says that with emptiness there is awakening and with awakening, circulation. If there is circulation there is change and transformation leading to empty-stillness. If there is empty-stillness, there is transcendence. When one enters completely into a state of tranquility, the brain becomes more alert, and Intention and internal Qi circulate more freely. Guided by Intention and Qi, the body then moves spontaneously and transforms, and with these changes the Heart-Mind becomes calmer and more empty. As a consequence, the body movements become lighter more flexible nad more natural.[28]
The martial arts and Qi Gong scholar and teacher Dr. Yang Jwing-Ming give us another view of the “Valley Spirit.” Dr. Yang feels that the Shen (spirit) resides in the space between the two lobes of the brain, where the limbic system is located. He describes this space as being like a valley between two mountains –this space traps Qi and resonant vibrations, which correspond to energies outside of itself. Dr. Yang says that the spiritual valley governs the energy vibration of the entire body.[29]
Notes:
[1] Ho-Shang-Kung’s Commentary on Lao-Tse, translated and annotated by Eduard Erkes, p. 22-23.
[2] Two Visions of The Way: A Study of Wang Pi and the Ho-shang Kung Commentaries on the Lao Tzu, by Alan K.L. Chan. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1991, pp. 139-140.
[3] The Classic of the Way and Virtue Tao-Te-Ching of Lao Zi as interpreted by Wang Bi, Richard John Lynn (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999) p. 62
[4] Ibid. p. 22.
[5] Lao-tzu’s Taoteching: with Selected Commentaries of the Past 2000 Years, translated by Red Pine (Bill Porter). Townsend WA: Copper Canyon Press, 2009, p.13.
[6] Two Visions of The Way: A Study of Wang Pi and the Ho-shang Kung Commentaries on the Lao Tzu, by Alan K.L. Chan. p. 140.
[7] Daoist Sleeping Meditation: Chen Tuan’s Sleeping Gong. Tom Bisio (Denver: Outskirts Press 2018) p. 74.
[8] Ho-Shang-Kung’s Commentary on Lao-Tse, translated and annotated by Eduard Erkes, p. 22.
[9] https://www.webnovel.com/ask/q333371448681480
[10] The Classic of The Way and Virtue: A New Translation of the Tao-Te Ching of Laozi as interpreted by Wang Bi, translated by Richard John Lynn, p. 52.
[11] Dao De Jing: The New, Highly Readable Translation of the Life-Changing Ancient Scripture Formerly Known as the Tao Te Ching, translation and Commentary by Hans-Georg Moeller, p. 3.
[12] Daodejing, “Making This Life Significant”: A Philosophical Translation, Roger T. Ames and David L. Hall, p. 77.
[13] Dao De Jing. Hans-Georg Moeller, p. vii.
[14] The Classic of the Way and Virtue Tao-Te-Ching of Lao Zi as interpreted by Wang Bi, Richard John Lynn, p. 62.
[15] D. C. Lau. https://www.centertao.org/essays/tao-te-ching/dc-lau/chapter-6-commentary/
[16] The Way and Its Power, A Study of the Tao Te Ching and its Place in Chinese Thought, by Arthur Waley. New York: Grove Press Inc., 1958, p. 57.
[17] Sweetness &Light: What Laozi is Really Saying in the Daodejing, Howard Dewar, 2004, p. 9.
[18] Daoism, Meditation and the Wonders of Serenity: From the Latter Han Dynasty (25-220) to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). Stephen Eskildsen (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2015) p. 69.
[19] The Chinese ideogram Jie ( ) can mean to forge, knot, bind, weave or join together.
[20] Daoism, Meditation and the Wonders of Serenity: From the Latter Han Dynasty (25-220) to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). Stephen Eskildsen (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2015) p. 260.
[21] Ibid.
[22] Daoism, Meditation and the Wonders of Serenity: From the Latter Han Dynasty (25-220) to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). Stephen Eskildsen (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2015) p. 262.
[23] Qiao: means aperture, hole, orifice, opening, key (to a problem); Xue: means cavity, cave, acu-point. These openings correspond to the areas of the body through which breath and Qi pass, which should be open and unblocked.
[24] The Game of the Five Animals – Health Method by Jiao Guo Rui, Dai Ye Tao and Hu Yao Zhen, translated by Grégory Mardaga (Éditions Chariot d'Or, 2005) p.157-158.
[25] Ibid. p.157.
[26] Bagua Hunyuan Yang Sheng Gong – Healing Secrets of Daoist Immortals. Lu Zijian p. 14
[27] The Five Animals Game – Health Method by Jiao Guo Rui, Dai Ye Tao and Hu Yao Zhen, p. 158
[28] Ibid, p. 162-163.
[29] The Dao De Jing A Qi Gong Interpretation. Dr. Yang Jwing-Ming (Wolfeboro, New Hampshire: YMMA Publication Center Inc. 2018) p. 40.
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