Dao De Jing as a guide to Daoist Meditation, Part 6

By Tom Bisio, Internal Arts International 

Parts 1-5 can be found below, begging with August, 2025

Part 6:

In this sixth 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 12: How to keep Off Desires  and Chapter 15: How to Display Te

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.

Chapter 12: How to Keep Off Desires

The five colours make men’s eyes blind.

The five notes make man’s ear deaf,

The five tastes cause man’s mouth to lose

Chasing and hunting makes men’s hearts go mad.

Treasures difficult to obtain make man’s behavior hurtful

Therefore the saint takes care of his belly.

He does not take care of his eyes.

Therefore he flees this and chooses that.

In earlier chapters, the text and commentary told us that when feelings and desires are diminished, the five organs and their spirits are quieted and one reaches a place of stillness and emptiness. Then the Jing, the Qi and Breath, and the spirits are harmonious. For most people, the eyes are the dominant sense receptors. Therefore, our visual senses have a powerful effect on us and easily distract us. Striving for beauty, emphasizing visual stimulation, damages the spirits. Craving sounds and music, prevents the heart from listening to the “sounds of soundlessness.”[1] In order to nourish the spirits, one should look within (to Dantian) and at the powers within oneself, rather than be diverted by external pleasures and delights. This does not mean we should not look and hear and move and taste.

The eyes can’t help seeing and the ears can’t help hearing and the mouth can’t help tasting and the mind can’t help thinking and the body can’t help acting. They can’t stay still. But if we let them move without leaving stillness behind, nothing can harm us. Those who are buried by the dust of the senses or who crave sensory stimulation lose their way.[2]

This passage has much congruency with the teachings of Ma Dan Yang, a 12th century Daoist master who told his disciples that the most important practice is “nourishing Qi.”

Even if songs and lyrics sing about dragon and tiger, Child and Maiden, these are simply words. Therefore, if you long for the wondrousness of the Dao, nothing is better than nourishing qi. But people drift and drown in profit and reputation and in the process squander and ruin their qi. Those who study the Dao do not concern themselves with anything other than nourishing qi. Now, if the ye-fluids in the heart descend and the qi in the kidneys ascends, eventually reaching the spleen, and the enlivening influence of original qi is not dispersed, then the elixir will coalesce. The liver and lungs are pathways through which [the fluids and qi] come and go. If you practice stillness for a long time, you yourself will know this. If you do not nourish qi, even if you carry Mount Tai under your arm and leap beyond the Northern Sea, this is not the Dao.”[3]

Therefore the saint takes care of his belly. He does not take care of his eyes. He flees the incorrect, distracting use of the eyes and instead looks inward, focusing his attention and his “gaze” on the internal energies in Dantian and Mingmen. This references the importance of meditation and of looking, listening and sensing inward rather than outward. Daoist scholar Louis Komjathy comments on the passage from Ma Dan Yang (about nourishing Qi) as follows:

Nourishing qi is accomplished, first and foremost, by sealing oneself off from every source of dissipation. By sitting in silent meditation, emptying and stilling excess emotional and intellectual activity, one begins to return to one’s original condition of energetic aliveness and integration. One is no longer swayed by concerns with profit and reputation. The above passage suggests that the cultivation of stillness and concentration on the lower elixir field initiates an inner alchemical process. It is unclear if there are specific neidan techniques being employed, but Ma does suggest that actual practice must supersede discourse and concern over esoteric technical language. Through consistent meditative praxis, the adept will gain direct experience with shifts in his or her psychosomatic condition. This involves the descent of fluids from the heart and the ascent of qi from the kidneys, which eventually leads to original qi becoming complete and the elixir of immortality forming. It also results in orb [the organs and their global interconnections] harmony and a general state of well-being.[4]

Dao De Jing Chapter 15: How to Display Te

Those of yore who ably were masters

[Where] subtle, and mysterious [thus] penetrating the dark one.

The depth cannot be fathomed

Now as it cannot be fathomed, therefore I endeavor to make it accessible.

Cautious like crossing a stream in winter.

Suspicious like afraid of the four neighbors.

Reticent like a guest.

Dissolving like ice that is going to melt

Simple like unworked wood.

Empty like a valley.

Muddy, o, like turbid water.

Turbid water by being quieted gradually becomes clear.

The quiet by moving it gradually becomes quickened

Who keeps this Tao does not want fullness.

Now who is without fullness, is thereby able become worn out without being newly mended.

The first four lines of the text tells us that those who obtain the Dao (saints/sages/immortals) had inner natures that were subtle, abstruse, mysterious, penetrating – too deep to be understood. Because they cannot be understood we can only observe them as they appear to the outside world.

Early Daoists were often recluses who escaped or fled society to dwell in the mountains and forests, thereby avoiding the evils and distractions of the human world. However, it is hard to remain aloof from the world while living in it, and as the world and events are complex, no matter how well one hides, there are always things that cannot be avoided – in these cases fleeing and escaping does not work. As it says in the Zhuangzi: to leave off making footprints is easy, never to walk on the ground is hard.[5] In the Dao De Jing, Lao Zi attempts to reveal the laws underlying the changes of things. By understanding these changes and regulating one’s actions in conformity with them, the sage can still live in the world and turn events to one’s advantage.[6]

In affairs and undertakings one (the sage) should cautious and aware of the difficulty, proceeding slowly and meticulously – like crossing a stream in winter. The sage’s approach is to blend in as though adhering to an established system,[7] or adhering to the rules like one transgressing the law and afraid his neighbors will find out. Hence, he is reticent like a guest standing in awe within a powerful person’s house, naturally respectful but not obsequious.[8]

Daoists keep knowledge to themselves, while avoiding conflict with those who worship the more well-known or popular gods. It is better to be discrete in order not to be drawn into these beliefs. If invited to participate or even officiate in the festivals and rituals that others use to celebrate and honor their gods, he or she does not dispute or attempt to rectify misunderstandings, but rather neutralizes the influences of these gods, reintegrating them into the energies of his own body in order to purify and convert them.[9]

Daoism contains a healthy skepticism of the ability of deliberate planning and social structures to mediate the complexities of the world. By trying to control the natural movement within ourselves and in the myriad things in the world though planning and structures, the more unwieldy these plans and structures become. In the end, these plans and structures are unable to cope with the fluidity of natural changes and transformations.

The sage resembles ice melting and dissolving. What dissolves breaks up. What melts vanishes.[10] What is flowing must dissolve and vanish. If our emotions flow properly, they pass on, then our desires diminish and we become more empty. Dissolving energetic and emotional blockages, and returning them to flowing Qi, is a part of the ongoing meditative process.

The sage is simple as un-worked wood and empty as a valley. Un-worked wood has not been carved. Simplicity also refers to being candid and sincere, made of real substance[11] and without pretensions. Within one ought to take care of the spirits [12] – the vital spirits and Qi of the internal organs. The valley is empty, wide and vast: He Shang Gong says that a valley is empty, without Te and merit and fame, without a place.[13] Its existence it impossible to grasp, yet at the same time there is nothing it does not embrace. [14]

The first part of chapter six in the Zhuangzi (Chuang-Tzu, 369—298 B.C.E.) expands on some these themes in relation to the Zhen Ren (“true” or “genuine” person – the sage). The Zhen Ren is a person in tune with the cycles of nature. He or she is not upset by the vicissitudes of life. Like Laozi’s sage, the True Person, simultaneously unified with things, and yet not tied down or bound by them. He or she is in tune with the cycles of nature, and with the cycles of yin yang, and is not disturbed or harmed by them.[15] Zhuang Zi’s conception of the sage, or Zhen Ren, was discussed previously in the section on Dao De Jing Chapter Five.

Echoing some of the Dao De Jing’s descriptions of the sage the Zhuangzi describes the Zhen Ren as follows:

The True Man of ancient times slept without dreaming and woke without care; he ate without savoring; and his breath came from deep inside. The True Man breathes with his heels; the mass of men breathe with their throats. Crushed and bound down, they gasp out their words as though they were retching. Deep in their passions and desires, they are shallow in the workings of Heaven. The True Man of ancient times knew nothing of loving life, knew nothing of hating death. He emerged without delight; he went back in without a fuss. He came briskly, he went briskly, and that was all. He didn’t forget where he began; he didn’t try to find out where he would end. He received something and took pleasure in it; he forgot about it and handed it back again. This is what I call not using the mind to repel the Way, not using man to help out Heaven. This is what I call the True Man. Since he is like this, his mind forgets, his face is calm; his forehead is broad. He is chilly like autumn, balmy like spring, and his joy and anger prevail through the four seasons.

This was the True Man of old: his bearing was lofty and did not crumble; he appeared to lack but accepted nothing; he was dignified in his correctness but not insistent; he was vast in his emptiness but not ostentatious. Mild and cheerful, he seemed to be happy; reluctant, he could not help doing certain things; annoyed, he let it show in his face; relaxed, he rested in his virtue. Tolerant, he seemed to be part of the world; towering alone, he could be checked by nothing; withdrawn, he seemed to prefer to cut himself off; bemused, he forgot what he was going to say.[16]

Now returning to the last four lines of Chapter 15, it is clear that they speak to the meditative process:

Muddy, o, like turbid water.

Turbid water by being quieted gradually becomes clear.

The quiet by moving it gradually becomes quickened

Who keeps this Tao does not want fullness.

Now who is without fullness, is thereby able become worn out without being newly mended.

He Shang Gong’s commentary on this section tells us that muddiness retains its original purity – the undivided, obscure and dark unity of the origin. Turbid water is not so bright. One ought to unite with the crowd and not keep apart.[17] Although this is often interpreted to mean the sage concerned himself with others it also means uniting the spirits and energies inside the body. In his commentary on this stanza, Sinologist Arthur Waley says that it refers to the common saying – ‘The more you clean it the dirtier it becomes’ – which alludes to the way in which slander ‘sticks’ to a person. However, the Taoist must apply the paradoxical rule: ‘The more you dirty it the cleaner it becomes.’[18]

By assuming murkiness, one in the end becomes still and clear. He Shang Gong instructs us that quieting means to bring to a standstill. If water is turbid, one should bring it to a standstill and quiet it, and gradually it will become clear of itself.[19] By acting slowly and quietly in tune with nature, what is muddy gradually become clear and lipid. Then what is quiet quickens, it energies slowly and gradually increasing to nourish and preserve life.

Sinologist A.C. Graham explains this idea further: Instead of exerting his energies in the active or Yang phase to unravel a problem, the sage lets them withdraw in the passive or Yin phase to an absolute stillness in which he sees the problems unravel themselves. The ‘axis’: the still point at the centre of us from which we can watch the cycles of events as though for the motionless center of a rotating wheel.[20]

The last two lines reiterate a theme present throughout the Dao De Jing, that those who maintain the Dao do not desire fullness. In order to protect the inner energies, their union and their ability to nourish and extend life one should not be extravagant or desire to be exalted and praised. When one is not filled up to the brim, he or she is like a garment that endures all wear and need never be renewed.[21]

Notes

[1] Ho-Shang-Kung’s Commentary on Lao-Tse, translated and annotated by Eduard Erkes, p. 146.

[2] 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. 25.

[3] Cultivating Perfection: Mysticism and Self-transformation in Early Quanzhen Daoism, by Louis Komjathy. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2007, pp.164-65.

[4] Ibid, p. 165

[5] Chuang Tzu: The Inner Chapters, translated by A.C. Graham (Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company 1981) p. p. 69.

[6]  A Short History of Chinese Philosophy: A Systemic Account of Chinese Thought From Its Origins to the Present Day. Fung Yu-Lan (New York, London: The Free Press 1948), p. 65.

[7] The Ho-Shang Kung Commentary on Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Jing, translated by Daniel G. Reid (Montreal: Center Ring Publishing, 2015) p. 100.

[8] Ibid, p.101.

[9] Taoist Body. Kristofer Schipper (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993) p. 124.

[10] Ho-Shang-Kung’s Commentary on Lao-Tse, translated and annotated by Eduard Erkes, p. 36.

[11] The Ho-Shang Kung Commentary on Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Jing, translated by Daniel G. Reid,  p.101.

[12] Ho-Shang-Kung’s Commentary on Lao-Tse, translated and annotated by Eduard Erkes, p. 36.

[13] Ibid.

[14] The Ho-Shang Kung Commentary on Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Jing, translated by Daniel G. Reid, p. p.101.

[15] Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: https://iep.utm.edu/zhuangzi-chuang-tzu-chinese-philosopher/

[16] The Complete works of Zhuang Zi.Translated by Burton Watson (New York: Columbia University Press 2013) pp. 119-122.

[17] Ho-Shang-Kung’s Commentary on Lao-Tse, translated and annotated by Eduard Erkes, p. 36.

[18] The Way & Its Power: A Study of the Tao Te Ching and its Place in Chinese Thought. Arthur Waley (New York: Grove Press Inc. 1958) p. 1

[19] Ibid, p. 36

[20] Chuang Tzu: The Inner Chapters, translated by A.C. Graham (Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company 1981) p. 63.

[21] The Way & Its Power: A Study of the Tao Te Ching and its Place in Chinese Thought. Arthur Waley (New York: Grove Press Inc. 1958) p. 160.

Dao De Jing as a guide to Daoist Meditation, Part 5

By Tom Bisio, Internal Arts International

Parts 1-4 can be found below beginning with August 2025

 Part 5

October 2025

In this fifth 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 10: How to Be Able to Act  and Chapter 11: How to Make Use of Non-Existence.

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.

Part 5:

Dao De Jing Chapter 10: How to be Able To Act

If one sustains the spiritual and animal souls,

And embraces unity, one may be without separation.

If one concentrates the breath, if one produces tenderness,

One may resemble a little child.

By purifying and cleansing, one gets the dark look.

Is one able to be without faults?

In loving the people, in governing the country,

Can one be without knowledge?

The gate of Heaven opens and shuts.

Can one not be a female bird?

If it resplendent penetrates the four quarters.

Can one be without knowledge?

It generates and nourishes.

It acts and does not possess.

It causes growth and does not rule.

This is called the mysterious Te.

The spiritual and animal souls again refer to the Hun and Po respectively. The Hun and Po were discussed in Dao De Jing Chapter 1. The Hun and Po, and their connection to the body are considered to be a microcosm of the Three Powers: Heaven, Earth and human beings. Uniting the yin and yang energies within the body allows that the Three Powers, Yin, the spiritual and animal souls, to integrate into a single unity – the “One.”

Embracing Unity, or “Holding Fast to the One,” is a method of Daoist meditation in which the practitioner seeks to still the mind so that no thoughts, emotions or desires arise. Both the body and mind are still, with the body aligned and the spine straight. This gives one the potential to connect to the primordial, undivided state underlying consciousness. This state of Unity is sometimes referred to as the “mind of the Dao.”[1]

What the Laozi calls the “One,” according to He Shang Gong, refers to the purest and most potent form of qi-energy that brings forth and continues to nourish all beings. This is the meaning of de, the “virtue” or power with which the “ten thousand things” – i.e., all beings – have been endowed and without which life would cease. The maintenance of “virtue,” which the commentary also describes as “guarding the One,” is thus crucial to self-cultivation. A careful diet, exercise, and some form of meditation are implied, but generally the commentary focuses on the diminishing of selfish desires.[2]

If, in meditation, one concentrates on securing and concentrating the original breath, so that the breath and consciousness are not confused or disturbed, then the body becomes supple, tender and pliant like an infant, without worrisome thoughts or politically motivated actions.[3] If one is able to resemble a little child, inwardly without fear and outwardly without action, then the spirits do not flee.[4] By thus purifying the mind and cleansing the heart, it becomes clear and tranquil, profound and silent. When it becomes clear, the mind stays in the dark (mysterious; profound) places, the look knows all its doings. Therefore it is called the dark look.[5] The “dark look” refers to the inward directed gaze associated with meditation. Often it is fixed inside the body below the navel on the perineum, Mingmen/Dantian. If one is tranquil and without lust and desires (“without faults”), then the breath will be saved and concentrated.

Other passages in the Dao De Jing also refer to being like an infant. In Chapter 55, which He Shang Gong entitles “On the Charm of the Mystery,” we are told that:

Who holds the fullness of Te in his mouth,

May be compared to an infant.

Poisonous vermin does not sting.

Wild beasts do not claw. Birds of prey do not grip.

The bones are weak, the sinews are tender, but the grip is tight.

It does not yet know the union of the female and the male, but its membrum is erect.

It cries the whole day without becoming hoarse. This is the perception of harmony.

To know harmony is called eternal.

To know the eternal is called enlightened.

Bu fulfilling life, one becomes daily more happy.

The heart causes the breath daily to become stronger.

Things grow and then become old. This is called without Tao.

Without Tao one soon ends.

Although the infant seems soft and weak, its intention is fixed and does not change, so it can grip things firmly and hold onto them. It does not know of sex yet its essence (Jing) is abundant, hence it has an erect membrum (penis). Jing is associated with reproduction and sexual energy. In Daoist meditation, Jing transforms into Qi/Breath and Qi/Breath transforms into Spirit. Spirit in turn then transforms back into Jing, thereby replenishing it. Thus, abundant Jing is both a requirement for, and a result of, harmonizing the five spirits. Restraining one’s sexual desires also helps to guard the essence.

The infant’s heart is also pure and does no harm to others and so is not harmed by others – poisonous insects do not sting it, nor fierce beasts seize it. The infant’s heart does not force the Qi. This creates and abundance of Qi and breath. As a result, he or she can cry all day without becoming hoarse. Through a natural letting-go (rather than active interference) the infant lets Qi and breath circulate freely and unobstructed.

In traditional Chinese medicine, we recognize that infants are replete with Qi that is pushing outward. Hence infants have chubby cheeks and ruddy faces and their arms and legs look puffy like doughy bread. Infants spike high fever because their surplus of Qi pushes outward forcefully to repel pathogens, and they can run into a wall or fall in ways that would cripple adults, without injury. This is because their bodies are supple and soft rather than hard and rigid.

The heart and the emotions, if not still and focused, if not harmonious, pull on the reservoir of Qi and Jing, thereby depleting them. This is considered to be going against the Dao. The uninhibited circulation of the internal energies allows one to penetrate the dark mystery, so that the body becomes stronger inside and tender on the outside, like an infant. He Shang Gong adds, that if the harmonious breath disappears from the interior, the body daily becomes harder[6] (ie: less resilient – more brittle). When one has lost the Dao in this fashion one ages and dies. The ideal state is one of trying just the right amount. If one used the mind to force the Qi to move, the inner suppleness is lost, the “harmonious breath disappears from the interior”[7] and the body becomes harder and more brittle.

The implication is that external exercises and excess exertion, while they can make one externally stronger, internally they weaken the body. Hence, in the practice of martial arts, the dilemma of focusing on external strength and combat, rather than on internal cultivation and softness (pliability/suppleness). Training to0 hard pulls on the Jing and causes Qi to leak, so one must train carefully and with great attention to detail.

Xing Yi Master Li Gui Chang told me more than 20 years ago that after age 50 one should avoid sweating when practicing Xing Yi Quan, advice I was unable to accept until my mid-sixties. Pushing the body too hard during internal training, instead of gathering and storing vital force, drains it and ultimately weakens the body. Master Li’s disciple Song Zhi Yong is soft, like a bag of Qi that can move and transform at will.

Internal masters constantly caution the practitioner to not use external strength, and not to focus too much on the external movements. The famous boxer Wang Shang Zhai said that: “a small movement is better than a large movement; no movement is better than a small movement. Stillness is the mother of all movement.” Similarly, Xing Yi legend Guo Yun Shen when discussing Xing Yi’s San Ti Shi Standing Posture tells the student that

Within the posture, it is not your body and legs standing centered that makes it centered. Its centeredness is due to your abiding by the rules of the posture. Withdraw any hyperactive energy, returning it within, so that your true energy can be restored to its original state. There will then naturally be no extra vigor within, for within your mind is emptiness. This is what is called “centering”, and is also called the “Daoist mind”. You are to move in accordance with this.[8]

In regards to training for self-defense internal arts masters, like the great Xing Yi Boxer Liu Qi Lan said that:

There is no fist in the fist and no intention in the intention. The real intention is in the middle of intentionlessness. When there is no heart within the heart the heart is empty. Not empty and yet empty is true emptiness. Although empty, it is substantial. If someone suddenly attacks me I have no intention to strike, I just respond to his intention.[9]

This is similar to the idea of not forcing things in meditation and residing in a place of emptiness. In a style a bit reminiscent of the Dao De Jing, Guo Yun Shen uses the juxtaposition of apparently contradictory statements to force the reader to think outside normal channels in order to seek a point of balance:

One must not be stubborn in training boxing skills. If strength is sought on purpose, it can be restricted by strength. If Qi is sought on purpose, it can be restricted by Qi. If heavy ability is sought on purpose, it can be restricted by heavy ability. If light and floating ability is sought on purpose, it can be dispersed by light and floating ability. Therefore, in those with smooth training forms, strength take place naturally. In those with harmony in the interior, Qi can generate itself and the spiritual intention can return to the Dan Tian area and the body can be as heavy as Mt. Taishan. In those who could transform the spirit into emptiness, their body can be as light as a piece of feather naturally. It is necessary not to seek it on purpose. If something can be obtained by seeking it, it seems to exist but does not exist, and seems to be true, but is false. It is necessary to obtain these things by unhurried and steady steps, without forgetting and assisting them, without thinking and management of them.[10]

For a pithy summary of this way of thinking about internal martial arts in relation to Daoist meditation we can look to the introduction to Pa-Kua: Chinese Boxing for Fitness and Self-Defense, in which author Robert Smith quotes Master Wan Lai-sheng as follows: “If you ask how I strike the enemy, I cannot tell you: I only do my exercise.”[11] In other words, one focuses on self-cultivation or inner cultivation and let its external application take care of itself.

Interestingly one of the Daoist classics on Meditation, the Nei Yeh (Inward Training), gives very similar advice to the martial art masters mentioned above:

When your body is not aligned,

The inner power will not come.

When your mind is not tranquil within,

Your mind will not be well ordered.

Align the body and absorb the inner power,

Then it will gradually come on its own.[12]

Returning to Chapter 10, to be “without knowledge” is sometimes interpreted to mean that one should inhale and exhale without the ears hearing it. The next two lines are: The gate of Heaven opens and shuts. Can one not be a female bird? On a basic level the “Gate of Heaven” references respiration. Sinologist Arthur Waley tells us that the female (i.e. passive) opening and closing of the heavenly gates also refers to the opening and shutting of mouth and nostrils.[13]

Daoist Master Hua-Ching Ni provides another viewpoint on this passage. Ni says that the Gate of Heaven or the “Subtle Gate” opens when one receives life; when it closes, one’s life is transformed. The Subtle Gate is constantly opening and closing; therefore ones destiny is continually changing….The Subtle Gate is a door of no door, a gate of no gate. It is the constantly changing level of the mind which separates the reality of continuous transformability of or destiny from the unsentimental cycle of life. Ni adds that fixed idea ins relation to destiny and our emotions and passions are misconceptions bred by mental tensions.[14]

Daoist Commentator Wang An Shih says: As for Heaven’s Gate, this is the gate through which all creatures enter and leave. To be open means to be active. To be closed means to be still. Activity and stillness represent the male and the female. Just as stillness overcomes movement, the female overcomes the male.[15]

The metaphor of a “female bird” is used to describe one’s ability to open and close the “Gate of Heaven” (meaning, to govern and guide body’s internal energies). This relies on employing a gentle, nurturing, and unforced approach.  A female bird is quiet and still. A bird’s bones are hollow and its body soft and light. As it breathes, the bird’s body naturally expands and fills with the Qi and Breath.

The next lines –If it resplendent penetrates the four quarters. Can one be without knowledge? – intimate that when the energies of the body are replete one’s intelligence reaches in every direction, while at the same time one appears to be without knowledge. Another commentary on these lines by Su Ch’e says: What lights up the world is the mind. There is nothing the mind does not know. And yet no none can know the mind. The mind is one. If someone knew it, there would be two. Going from one to two is the origin of all delusion.[16] Through meditation and stillness one attempts to return to the original undivided state where the two (yin and yang) reunite as a single unified energy and spirit.

When the internal intelligence gains this kind of understanding that is devoid of false distinctions, it can extend in all directions without being deceived or deluded and is able to do so with having a personal interest or investment – then as the last lines of Chapter Ten states: It generates and nourishes. It acts and does not possess. It causes growth and does not rule. This is called the mysterious Te.

Both generating and nourishing, the Dao bequeaths, but does not control. Generation and nourishing become tools and methods for use. Both Dao and De, when present in the heart, are mysterious and invisible. Daoist Commentator Wang Pi says: If we don’t obstruct their source, things come into existence on their own. If we don’t suppress their nature, things mature by themselves. Virtue is present, but its owner is unknown. It comes from the mysterious depths. Hence we call it dark.[17]

The last line in Chapter 10 refers to the “mysterious Te”, or Xuan Te. Te or De is often translated as “virtue.” However, this can be problematic, as in English, virtue implies some kind of morality containing judgments of right and wrong, virtuous and non-virtuous. The ancient explanation of De ( ) could be understood more as “the intrinsic virtue of a thing” – its specific nature, or latent power and ability. This relates to notions of efficacy and or potency. In relation to human beings and meditation practices, De is the life force and its inner potential. In this sense De, is the nature or potential given to all things by Dao.[18] De is often combined with Xuan – Xuan De (literally “dark virtue”). This can be understood as “profound efficacy”, “dark efficacy” or “mysterious efficacy” as in the final line of Chapter 10 (above). Professor Hans G. Moeller translates Xuan De as dark efficacy, which he sees as an affirmation of the inner power of growth that lies within all things themselves, Moeller says:

It is obvious that Dao and De are not creators in the strict sense of the word, but are rather, like the root of a plant, the ‘force’ within the cosmos that sustains all there is…the cosmos is conceived of in terms of biological reproduction and fertility; it is understood as an ‘organic’ process of life. Dao and De are integral elements within that process and not an external origin.[19]

Chapter 11: How to Make Use of Non-Existence

Thirty spokes unite in one nave.

Through what has not, the wheel can be used.

Of suitable clay vessels are made.

Through what it has not a vessel can be used.

By piercing doors and windows are made.

Through what it has not a room can be used

Therefore existence is advantageous

No-existence is useful

Therefore it is said: Empty nothingness is able to work on the existing forms.

Tao is empty.

This chapter talks about the usefulness of non-existence and the importance of emptiness, or “negative space” in functionality. In the three examples mentioned above, the hub of a cartwheel, a clay vessel, and a room, all achieve their functionality through emptiness or nothingness. Functionality resides in what is not there.

Music is composed of tones, but it is the space between them that gives them life and rhythm. In art, the negative space is what allows the image to be seen. Words unsaid can have a powerful impact. In the martial arts it is the space between the postures, and applications that makes them unfold so smoothly that an observer only sees the endpoint and the transitions are hidden or invisible.

Sinologist Hans-Georg Moeller tells us that the image of a wheel and the hub are also a metaphor of the Dao:

That the Dao is depicted as a wheel, as the wheel of a cart, shows right away that the Dao is not static, that it is not something that eternally stands still, but rather something that moves – even though it does not change its shape. The wheel is not merely a thing, it is a kind of event, it is rotation and motion. The wheel is a running, it is a “pro-ceeding,” a “pro-cess” (i.e., literally a “going forwards”).[20]

Moeller expands on the idea of the hub and spokes as follows:

The hub is not made of something. All the spokes are made of a material substance, whereas the hub is nothing but an empty space; it does not have any positive qualities. Because the material the spokes are made of is necessarily always a specific one, it is exchangeable. The wood of this tree or that can be used, one can even use something other than wood. No matter which material is used for making the spokes, the hub remains untouched. It is always made of the same nonmaterial. Materials like wood grow and wither, metal is cast and rusts. An empty space neither withers nor rusts. It is there or not; emptiness cannot increase or diminish in substance. There are no degrees of emptiness.[21]

The  hub is empty within, yet it unites all the spokes of the wheel. In meditation, one gets rid of feelings and desires, thereby allowing the five viscera (the interior of the body) to be empty. When the interior is empty, the spirits can return and reside inside the body. The center of the hub of the wheel stands still. The wheel turns, but the empty hub is unchanged, still, doing nothing, yet by doing nothing it unites the spokes and the rim and allows them to turn and move. Stillness in the center, having an empty space inside, allows movement and change to occur and allows the spirits to be receptive.

Similarly in Ba Gua Zhang, while circling one seeks to find the empty infinitesimal center (axis) around which the turning revolves. Ba Gua legend Sun Lu Tang compares this to the mysterious gateway, the Xuan Pin, which was discussed earlier in this series of posts.

Ba Gua Quan is the left turning and the right turning. Both hips are like a picture that has no corners inside. The eyes gaze at the index finger tip of the front hand, which is opposite the center of the circle. This is the appearance. The turning is not fixed like the Tai Ji One Qi. Therefore Ba Gua Quan, in this picture, corresponds to Heaven. In Heaven is completed the form. Therefore the empty center of the Ba Gua Quan picture seeks the dark mystery. It is also compared to a mysterious gateway.[22]

The Daoist classic on Inward Training, the Nei Yeh, also stresses the importance the structured internal stillness and emptiness, similar to the metaphor of a cartwheel, or an empty clay vessel, but here employed in meditation and self-cultivation.

When you are properly aligned and can be still

Then you can be stable and settled

With a settled heart/mind at the center,

 Your ears and eyes are sharp and clear,

Your four limbs are firm and sturdy

You can become a dwelling for essence [Jing].

This essence is Qi.[23]

Stillness is not just sitting in meditation. It also refers to refraining from engaging in purposeless, restless activity for its own sake.[24]

Wang Chuan Shen, a philosopher in the Ming Dynasty, explained the importance of stillness very succinctly when he said: the quiescent state is actually quiescent movement. It is not motionless. Therefore quiescent exercise is essentially quiescent movement. So entering the quiescent state is essentially quiescent movement.[25] Quiescent movement is “movement within stillness.” This movement within stillness is different from ordinary movement and can bring about psychological and physiological changes, one of which is that energy consuming processes change to energy storage, thereby retarding the aging process.[26]

In Vita Contemplativa, philosopher and cultural theorist Byung-Chul Han, takes a very similar viewpoint when he stresses the importance of inactivity and contemplation. Inactivity is not the opposite of activity. Rather, activity feeds off inactivity. He goes on to say that in creative people, it is the proportion of inactivity in their activity that makes possible the emergence of something altogether different, something that has never been there before. Only silence enables us to say something completely unheard of.[27] Earlier in the text Han describes inactivity as being time-consuming. One cannot seek short-term result, but must simply let things unfold or come to fruition in their own time. In Han’s view, this kind of “inactivity” requires a long whiling, an intense contemplative lingering.[28]

Notes

[1] The Shambhala Guide to Taoism by Eva Wong, Boston & London: Shambhala Publications Inc. 1997, p. 201.

(2] http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/laozi/

[3] 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. 143.

[4] Ho-Shang-Kung’s Commentary on Lao-Tse, translated and annotated by Eduard Erkes, p. 26.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Ho-Shang-Kung’s Commentary on Lao-Tse, translated and annotated by Eduard Erkes, p. 98

[7] Ibid.

[8]    Authentic Explanations of Martial Arts Concepts. Sun Fuquan [Lutang], March, 1924. Translation by Paul Brennan, April, 2013.

[9]     Authentic Explanations of Martial Arts Concepts. Sun Fuquan [Lutang], March, 1924. Translation by Huang Guo Qi.

[10]     Authentic Explanations of Martial Arts Concepts. Sun Fuquan [Lutang], March, 1924. Translation by Huang Guo Qi.

[11] Pa-Kua: Chinese Boxing for Fitness and Self-Defense, Robert Smith (Tokyo, New York & San Francisco: Kodansha International Ltd, 1967) p. 10

[12] Original Tao, Harold Roth (New York: Columbia University Press, 1983) p. 66.

[13] The Way and Its Power: A Study of the Tao Te Ching and its place in Daoist Thought. Arthur Waley (New York Grove Press Inc. 1958) p. 154.

[14] I Ching: The Book of Changes & The Unchanging Truth. Hua-Ching Ni (Santa Monica: North Star Communications 1990 and 1994) p. 508.

[15] Laotzu’s Taoteching: translated by Red Pine with selected commentaries of the past 2000 years (San Francisco: Mercury House, 1996) p. 21.

[16] Ibid.

[17] Ibid.

[18] Cui, Xiaojiao. 2023. The Understanding and Translation of De   in the English Translation of the Daodejing    . Religions 14: 1418. p. 5-6. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14111418

[19] Dao De Jing: The New Highly Readable Translation of the Life-Changing Ancient Scripture formerly known as the Tao Te Ching. Hans-Georg Moeller (Peru IL: Open Court Publishing, 2007 )p. 120.

[20] Daoism Explained: From the Dream of the Butterfly to the Fishnet Allegory.  Hans-Georg Moeller (Chicago and LaSalle Illinois: Open Court Publishing, 2006) p. 27.

[21] Ibid, p. 28.

[22] Classical Baguazhang, Volume XIII: Sun Style Baguazhang (Ba Gua Quan Xie and Ba Gua Jian Xue) by Sun Lutang.Translated by Joseph Crandall, Smiling Tiger Martial Arts: Pinole, CA. 2002, p. 16.

[23] Original Tao: Inward Training (nei-yeh) and the Foundations of Taoist Mysticism. Harold Roth

(New York: Columbia University Press, 1999) p. 66.

[24] Life And Teachings of Two Immortals (Vol. 1): Kou Hong. Hua Ching-Ni (Santa Monica: Seven Star Communications 1992).

[25] Qi Gong Essentials for Health Promotion. Jiao Guorui. (PR China: China Reconstructs Press) p. 61.

[26] Ibid, p. 66

[27] Vita Contemplativa – In Praise of Inactivity, Byung-Chul Han (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2024) p. 17-18.

[28] Ibid, p. 10-11.

Dao De Jing as a guide to Daoist Meditation, Part 4

 (By Tom Bisio, Internal Arts International)

Parts 1-3 can be found below, beginning with August, 2025

Part 4

Dao De Jing Chapter 10: How to be Able To Act

If one sustains the spiritual and animal souls,

And embraces unity, one may be without separation.

If one concentrates the breath, if one produces tenderness,

One may resemble a little child.

By purifying and cleansing, one gets the dark look.

Is one able to be without faults?

In loving the people, in governing the country,

Can one be without knowledge?

The gate of Heaven opens and shuts.

Can one not be a female bird?

If it resplendent penetrates the four quarters.

Can one be without knowledge?

It generates and nourishes.

It acts and does not possess.

It causes growth and does not rule.

This is called the mysterious Te.

The spiritual and animal souls again refer to the Hun and Po respectively. The Hun and Po were discussed in Dao De Jing Chapter 1. The Hun and Po, and their connection to the body are considered to be a microcosm of the Three Powers: Heaven, Earth and human beings. Uniting the yin and yang energies within the body allows that the Three Powers, Yin, the spiritual and animal souls, to integrate into a single unity – the “One.”

Embracing Unity, or “Holding Fast to the One,” is a method of Daoist meditation in which the practitioner seeks to still the mind so that no thoughts, emotions or desires arise. Both the body and mind are still, with the body aligned and the spine straight. This gives one the potential to connect to the primordial, undivided state underlying consciousness. This state of Unity is sometimes referred to as the “mind of the Dao.”[1]

What the Laozi calls the “One,” according to He Shang Gong, refers to the purest and most potent form of qi-energy that brings forth and continues to nourish all beings. This is the meaning of de, the “virtue” or power with which the “ten thousand things” – i.e., all beings – have been endowed and without which life would cease. The maintenance of “virtue,” which the commentary also describes as “guarding the One,” is thus crucial to self-cultivation. A careful diet, exercise, and some form of meditation are implied, but generally the commentary focuses on the diminishing of selfish desires.[2]

If, in meditation, one concentrates on securing and concentrating the original breath, so that the breath and consciousness are not confused or disturbed, then the body becomes supple, tender and pliant like an infant, without worrisome thoughts or politically motivated actions.[3] If one is able to resemble a little child, inwardly without fear and outwardly without action, then the spirits do not flee.[4] By thus purifying the mind and cleansing the heart, it becomes clear and tranquil, profound and silent. When it becomes clear, the mind stays in the dark (mysterious; profound) places, the look knows all its doings. Therefore it is called the dark look.[5] The “dark look” refers to the inward directed gaze associated with meditation. Often it is fixed inside the body below the navel on the perineum, Mingmen/Dantian. If one is tranquil and without lust and desires (“without faults”), then the breath will be saved and concentrated.

Other passages in the Dao De Jing also refer to being like an infant. In Chapter 55, which He Shang Gong entitles “On the Charm of the Mystery,” we are told that:

Who holds the fullness of Te in his mouth,

May be compared to an infant.

Poisonous vermin does not sting.

Wild beasts do not claw. Birds of prey do not grip.

The bones are weak, the sinews are tender, but the grip is tight.

It does not yet know the union of the female and the male, but its membrum is erect.

It cries the whole day without becoming hoarse. This is the perception of harmony.

To know harmony is called eternal.

To know the eternal is called enlightened.

By fulfilling life, one becomes daily more happy.

The heart causes the breath daily to become stronger.

Things grow and then become old. This is called without Tao.

Without Tao one soon ends.

Although the infant seems soft and weak, its intention is fixed and does not change, so it can grip things firmly and hold onto them. It does not know of sex yet its essence (Jing) is abundant, hence it has an erect membrum (penis). Jing is associated with reproduction and sexual energy. In Daoist meditation, Jing transforms into Qi/Breath and Qi/Breath transforms into Spirit. Spirit in turn then transforms back into Jing, thereby replenishing it. Thus, abundant Jing is both a requirement for, and a result of, harmonizing the five spirits. Restraining one’s sexual desires also helps to guard the essence.

The infant’s heart is also pure and does no harm to others and so is not harmed by others – poisonous insects do not sting it, nor fierce beasts seize it. The infant’s heart does not force the Qi. This creates and abundance of Qi and breath. As a result, he or she can cry all day without becoming hoarse. Through a natural letting-go (rather than active interference) the infant lets Qi and breath circulate freely and unobstructed.

In traditional Chinese medicine, we recognize that infants are replete with Qi that is pushing outward. Hence infants have chubby cheeks and ruddy faces and their arms and legs look puffy like doughy bread. Infants spike high fever because their surplus of Qi pushes outward forcefully to repel pathogens, and they can run into a wall or fall in ways that would cripple adults, without injury. This is because their bodies are supple and soft rather than hard and rigid.

The heart and the emotions, if not still and focused, if not harmonious, pull on the reservoir of Qi and Jing, thereby depleting them. This is considered to be going against the Dao. The uninhibited circulation of the internal energies allows one to penetrate the dark mystery, so that the body becomes stronger inside and tender on the outside, like an infant. He Shang Gong adds, that if the harmonious breath disappears from the interior, the body daily becomes harder[6] (ie: less resilient – more brittle). When one has lost the Dao in this fashion one ages and dies. The ideal state is one of trying just the right amount. If one used the mind to force the Qi to move, the inner suppleness is lost, the “harmonious breath disappears from the interior”[7] and the body becomes harder and more brittle.

The implication is that external exercises and excess exertion, while they can make one externally stronger, internally they weaken the body. Hence, in the practice of martial arts, the dilemma of focusing on external strength and combat, rather than on internal cultivation and softness (pliability/suppleness). Training to0 hard pulls on the Jing and causes Qi to leak, so one must train carefully and with great attention to detail.

Xing Yi Master Li Gui Chang told me more than 20 years ago that after age 50 one should avoid sweating when practicing Xing Yi Quan, advice I was unable to accept until my mid-sixties. Pushing the body too hard during internal training, instead of gathering and storing vital force, drains it and ultimately weakens the body. Master Li’s disciple Song Zhi Yong is soft, like a bag of Qi that can move and transform at will.

Internal masters constantly caution the practitioner to not use external strength, and not to focus too much on the external movements. The famous boxer Wang Shang Zhai said that: “a small movement is better than a large movement; no movement is better than a small movement. Stillness is the mother of all movement.” Similarly, Xing Yi legend Guo Yun Shen when discussing Xing Yi’s San Ti Shi Standing Posture tells the student that

Within the posture, it is not your body and legs standing centered that makes it centered. Its centeredness is due to your abiding by the rules of the posture. Withdraw any hyperactive energy, returning it within, so that your true energy can be restored to its original state. There will then naturally be no extra vigor within, for within your mind is emptiness. This is what is called “centering”, and is also called the “Daoist mind”. You are to move in accordance with this.[8]

In regards to training for self-defense internal arts masters, like the great Xing Yi Boxer Liu Qi Lan said that:

There is no fist in the fist and no intention in the intention. The real intention is in the middle of intentionlessness. When there is no heart within the heart the heart is empty. Not empty and yet empty is true emptiness. Although empty, it is substantial. If someone suddenly attacks me I have no intention to strike, I just respond to his intention.[9]

This is similar to the idea of not forcing things in meditation and residing in a place of emptiness. In a style a bit reminiscent of the Dao De Jing, Guo Yun Shen uses the juxtaposition of apparently contradictory statements to force the reader to think outside normal channels in order to seek a point of balance:

One must not be stubborn in training boxing skills. If strength is sought on purpose, it can be restricted by strength. If Qi is sought on purpose, it can be restricted by Qi. If heavy ability is sought on purpose, it can be restricted by heavy ability. If light and floating ability is sought on purpose, it can be dispersed by light and floating ability. Therefore, in those with smooth training forms, strength take place naturally. In those with harmony in the interior, Qi can generate itself and the spiritual intention can return to the Dan Tian area and the body can be as heavy as Mt. Taishan. In those who could transform the spirit into emptiness, their body can be as light as a piece of feather naturally. It is necessary not to seek it on purpose. If something can be obtained by seeking it, it seems to exist but does not exist, and seems to be true, but is false. It is necessary to obtain these things by unhurried and steady steps, without forgetting and assisting them, without thinking and management of them.[10]

For a pithy summary of this way of thinking about internal martial arts in relation to Daoist meditation we can look to the introduction to Pa-Kua: Chinese Boxing for Fitness and Self-Defense, in which author Robert Smith quotes Master Wan Lai-sheng as follows: “If you ask how I strike the enemy, I cannot tell you: I only do my exercise.”[11] In other words, one focuses on self-cultivation or inner cultivation and let its external application take care of itself.

Interestingly one of the Daoist classics on Meditation, the Nei Yeh (Inward Training), gives very similar advice to the martial art masters mentioned above:

When your body is not aligned,

The inner power will not come.

When your mind is not tranquil within,

Your mind will not be well ordered.

Align the body and absorb the inner power,

Then it will gradually come on its own.[12]

Returning to Chapter 10, to be “without knowledge” is sometimes interpreted to mean that one should inhale and exhale without the ears hearing it. The next two lines are: The gate of Heaven opens and shuts. Can one not be a female bird? On a basic level the “Gate of Heaven” references respiration. Sinologist Arthur Waley tells us that the female (i.e. passive) opening and closing of the heavenly gates also refers to the opening and shutting of mouth and nostrils.[13]

Daoist Master Hua-Ching Ni provides another viewpoint on this passage. Ni says that the Gate of Heaven or the “Subtle Gate” opens when one receives life; when it closes, one’s life is transformed. The Subtle Gate is constantly opening and closing; therefore ones destiny is continually changing….The Subtle Gate is a door of no door, a gate of no gate. It is the constantly changing level of the mind which separates the reality of continuous transformability of or destiny from the unsentimental cycle of life. Ni adds that fixed idea ins relation to destiny and our emotions and passions are misconceptions bred by mental tensions.[14]

Daoist Commentator Wang An Shih says: As for Heaven’s Gate, this is the gate through which all creatures enter and leave. To be open means to be active. To be closed means to be still. Activity and stillness represent the male and the female. Just as stillness overcomes movement, the female overcomes the male.[15]

The metaphor of a “female bird” is used to describe one’s ability to open and close the “Gate of Heaven” (meaning, to govern and guide body’s internal energies). This relies on employing a gentle, nurturing, and unforced approach.  A female bird is quiet and still. A bird’s bones are hollow and its body soft and light. As it breathes, the bird’s body naturally expands and fills with the Qi and Breath.

The next lines –If it resplendent penetrates the four quarters. Can one be without knowledge? – intimate that when the energies of the body are replete one’s intelligence reaches in every direction, while at the same time one appears to be without knowledge. Another commentary on these lines by Su Ch’e says: What lights up the world is the mind. There is nothing the mind does not know. And yet no none can know the mind. The mind is one. If someone knew it, there would be two. Going from one to two is the origin of all delusion.[16] Through meditation and stillness one attempts to return to the original undivided state where the two (yin and yang) reunite as a single unified energy and spirit.

When the internal intelligence gains this kind of understanding that is devoid of false distinctions, it can extend in all directions without being deceived or deluded and is able to do so with having a personal interest or investment – then as the last lines of Chapter Ten states: It generates and nourishes. It acts and does not possess. It causes growth and does not rule. This is called the mysterious Te.

Both generating and nourishing, the Dao bequeaths, but does not control. Generation and nourishing become tools and methods for use. Both Dao and De, when present in the heart, are mysterious and invisible. Daoist Commentator Wang Pi says: If we don’t obstruct their source, things come into existence on their own. If we don’t suppress their nature, things mature by themselves. Virtue is present, but its owner is unknown. It comes from the mysterious depths. Hence we call it dark.[17]

The last line in Chapter 10 refers to the “mysterious Te”, or Xuan Te. Te or De is often translated as “virtue.” However, this can be problematic, as in English, virtue implies some kind of morality containing judgments of right and wrong, virtuous and non-virtuous. The ancient explanation of De ( ) could be understood more as “the intrinsic virtue of a thing” – its specific nature, or latent power and ability. This relates to notions of efficacy and or potency. In relation to human beings and meditation practices, De is the life force and its inner potential. In this sense De, is the nature or potential given to all things by Dao.[18] De is often combined with Xuan – Xuan De (literally “dark virtue”). This can be understood as “profound efficacy”, “dark efficacy” or “mysterious efficacy” as in the final line of Chapter 10 (above). Professor Hans G. Moeller translates Xuan De as dark efficacy, which he sees as an affirmation of the inner power of growth that lies within all things themselves, Moeller says:

It is obvious that Dao and De are not creators in the strict sense of the word, but are rather, like the root of a plant, the ‘force’ within the cosmos that sustains all there is…the cosmos is conceived of in terms of biological reproduction and fertility; it is understood as an ‘organic’ process of life. Dao and De are integral elements within that process and not an external origin.[19]

Chapter 11: How to Make Use of Non-Existence

Thirty spokes unite in one nave.

Through what has not, the wheel can be used.

Of suitable clay vessels are made.

Through what it has not a vessel can be used.

By piercing doors and windows are made.

Through what it has not a room can be used

Therefore existence is advantageous

No-existence is useful

Therefore it is said: Empty nothingness is able to work on the existing forms.

Tao is empty.

This chapter talks about the usefulness of non-existence and the importance of emptiness, or “negative space” in functionality. In the three examples mentioned above, the hub of a cartwheel, a clay vessel, and a room, all achieve their functionality through emptiness or nothingness. Functionality resides in what is not there.

Music is composed of tones, but it is the space between them that gives them life and rhythm. In art, the negative space is what allows the image to be seen. Words unsaid can have a powerful impact. In the martial arts it is the space between the postures, and applications that makes them unfold so smoothly that an observer only sees the endpoint and the transitions are hidden or invisible.

Sinologist Hans-Georg Moeller tells us that the image of a wheel and the hub are also a metaphor of the Dao:

That the Dao is depicted as a wheel, as the wheel of a cart, shows right away that the Dao is not static, that it is not something that eternally stands still, but rather something that moves – even though it does not change its shape. The wheel is not merely a thing, it is a kind of event, it is rotation and motion. The wheel is a running, it is a “pro-ceeding,” a “pro-cess” (i.e., literally a “going forwards”).[20]

Moeller expands on the idea of the hub and spokes as follows:

The hub is not made of something. All the spokes are made of a material substance, whereas the hub is nothing but an empty space; it does not have any positive qualities. Because the material the spokes are made of is necessarily always a specific one, it is exchangeable. The wood of this tree or that can be used, one can even use something other than wood. No matter which material is used for making the spokes, the hub remains untouched. It is always made of the same nonmaterial. Materials like wood grow and wither, metal is cast and rusts. An empty space neither withers nor rusts. It is there or not; emptiness cannot increase or diminish in substance. There are no degrees of emptiness.[21]

The  hub is empty within, yet it unites all the spokes of the wheel. In meditation, one gets rid of feelings and desires, thereby allowing the five viscera (the interior of the body) to be empty. When the interior is empty, the spirits can return and reside inside the body. The center of the hub of the wheel stands still. The wheel turns, but the empty hub is unchanged, still, doing nothing, yet by doing nothing it unites the spokes and the rim and allows them to turn and move. Stillness in the center, having an empty space inside, allows movement and change to occur and allows the spirits to be receptive.

Similarly in Ba Gua Zhang, while circling one seeks to find the empty infinitesimal center (axis) around which the turning revolves. Ba Gua legend Sun Lu Tang compares this to the mysterious gateway, the Xuan Pin, which was discussed earlier in this series of posts.

Ba Gua Quan is the left turning and the right turning. Both hips are like a picture that has no corners inside. The eyes gaze at the index finger tip of the front hand, which is opposite the center of the circle. This is the appearance. The turning is not fixed like the Tai Ji One Qi. Therefore Ba Gua Quan, in this picture, corresponds to Heaven. In Heaven is completed the form. Therefore the empty center of the Ba Gua Quan picture seeks the dark mystery. It is also compared to a mysterious gateway.[22]

The Daoist classic on Inward Training, the Nei Yeh, also stresses the importance the structured internal stillness and emptiness, similar to the metaphor of a cartwheel, or an empty clay vessel, but here employed in meditation and self-cultivation.

When you are properly aligned and can be still

Then you can be stable and settled

With a settled heart/mind at the center,

 Your ears and eyes are sharp and clear,

Your four limbs are firm and sturdy

You can become a dwelling for essence [Jing].

This essence is Qi.[23]

Stillness is not just sitting in meditation. It also refers to refraining from engaging in purposeless, restless activity for its own sake.[24]

Wang Chuan Shen, a philosopher in the Ming Dynasty, explained the importance of stillness very succinctly when he said: the quiescent state is actually quiescent movement. It is not motionless. Therefore quiescent exercise is essentially quiescent movement. So entering the quiescent state is essentially quiescent movement.[25] Quiescent movement is “movement within stillness.” This movement within stillness is different from ordinary movement and can bring about psychological and physiological changes, one of which is that energy consuming processes change to energy storage, thereby retarding the aging process.[26]

In Vita Contemplativa, philosopher and cultural theorist Byung-Chul Han, takes a very similar viewpoint when he stresses the importance of inactivity and contemplation. Inactivity is not the opposite of activity. Rather, activity feeds off inactivity. He goes on to say that in creative people, it is the proportion of inactivity in their activity that makes possible the emergence of something altogether different, something that has never been there before. Only silence enables us to say something completely unheard of.[27] Earlier in the text Han describes inactivity as being time-consuming. One cannot seek short-term result, but must simply let things unfold or come to fruition in their own time. In Han’s view, this kind of “inactivity” requires a long whiling, an intense contemplative lingering.[28]

Notes

[1] The Shambhala Guide to Taoism by Eva Wong, Boston & London: Shambhala Publications Inc. 1997, p. 201.

[2] http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/laozi/

[3] 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. 143.

[4] Ho-Shang-Kung’s Commentary on Lao-Tse, translated and annotated by Eduard Erkes, p. 26.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Ho-Shang-Kung’s Commentary on Lao-Tse, translated and annotated by Eduard Erkes, p. 98.

[7] Ibid.

[8]    Authentic Explanations of Martial Arts Concepts. Sun Fuquan [Lutang], March, 1924. Translation by Paul Brennan, April, 2013.

[9]     Authentic Explanations of Martial Arts Concepts. Sun Fuquan [Lutang], March, 1924. Translation by Huang Guo Qi.

[10]     Authentic Explanations of Martial Arts Concepts. Sun Fuquan [Lutang], March, 1924. Translation by Huang Guo Qi.

[11] Pa-Kua: Chinese Boxing for Fitness and Self-Defense, Robert Smith (Tokyo, New York & San Francisco: Kodansha International Ltd, 1967) p. 10

[12] Original Tao, Harold Roth (New York: Columbia University Press, 1983) p. 66.

[13] The Way and Its Power: A Study of the Tao Te Ching and its place in Daoist Thought. Arthur Waley (New York Grove Press Inc. 1958) p. 154.

(14] I Ching: The Book of Changes & The Unchanging Truth. Hua-Ching Ni (Santa Monica: North Star Communications 1990 and 1994) p. 508.

[15] Laotzu’s Taoteching: translated by Red Pine with selected commentaries of the past 2000 years (San Francisco: Mercury House, 1996) p. 21.

[16] Ibid.

[17] Ibid.

[18] Cui, Xiaojiao. 2023. The Understanding and Translation of De   in the English Translation of the Daodejing    . Religions 14: 1418. p. 5-6. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14111418

[19] Dao De Jing: The New Highly Readable Translation of the Life-Changing Ancient Scripture formerly known as the Tao Te Ching. Hans-Georg Moeller (Peru IL: Open Court Publishing, 2007 )p. 120.

[20] Daoism Explained: From the Dream of the Butterfly to the Fishnet Allegory.  Hans-Georg Moeller (Chicago and LaSalle Illinois: Open Court Publishing, 2006) p. 27.

[21] Ibid, p. 28.

[22] Classical Baguazhang, Volume XIII: Sun Style Baguazhang (Ba Gua Quan Xie and Ba Gua Jian Xue) by Sun Lutang.Translated by Joseph Crandall, Smiling Tiger Martial Arts: Pinole, CA. 2002, p. 16.

[23] Original Tao: Inward Training (nei-yeh) and the Foundations of Taoist Mysticism. Harold Roth

(New York: Columbia University Press, 1999) p. 66.

[24] Life And Teachings of Two Immortals (Vol. 1): Kou Hong. Hua Ching-Ni (Santa Monica: Seven Star Communications 1992).

[25] Qi Gong Essentials for Health Promotion. Jiao Guorui. (PR China: China Reconstructs Press) p. 61.

[26] Ibid, p. 66

[27] Vita Contemplativa – In Praise of Inactivity, Byung-Chul Han (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2024) p. 17-18.

[28] Ibid, p. 10-11.

Buddhist Nine Palace Palm Qigong (Fomen Jiu Gong Zhang)

 This is a translated manual for a rare form of qigong that I learned in Zhengzhuo, Henan, China in 1988. It is an unusual form of combined Buddhist and Daoist Qigong. It is very rare and was passed down in secret for generations within the Gong family. As far as I know, it has never been taught outside China. For more information, see my post from Feb. 2022. This is presented for information purposes only. Qigong should only practiced only under the guidance of a qualified instructor. 

Buddhist Nine Palace Palm Learning Materials

Compiled by the Zhengzhou Qigong Association

Author: Gong Zhifeng

1. What is the Buddhist Nine Palaces Palm?

The Nine Palaces Palm originated with Master Baiyun during the Song Dynasty. Drawing on the strengths of both Buddhist and Daoist qigong traditions, he combined their methods into a system of movement and stillness. The practice is based on the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water) and uses the human body’s structure as a foundation.

Externally it corresponds to the Eight Trigrams; internally it relates to the Middle Palace (center of the body, corresponding to the Earth element). It follows the principles of the twelve meridians to maintain health. Through the palms and the “Nine Palaces” of the hands, energy can be projected outward for therapeutic effect.

2. What are the characteristics of the Nine Palaces Palm?

The Nine Palaces Palm maps the “nine palaces” onto the hand, combining the Five Phases and Twelve Meridians. Its practice demands unity of intention, breath, spirit, the Five Phases, and exertion.

According to the Five Phase cycles:

• Metal gives birth to Water

• Water gives birth to Wood

• Wood gives birth to Fire

• Fire gives birth to Earth

• Earth gives birth to Metal

And in the control cycle:

• Metal controls Wood

• Wood controls Earth

• Earth controls Water

• Water controls Fire

• Fire controls Metal

The Eight Trigrams are:

• Qian,

• Dui 

• Li

• Zhen

• Xun

• Kan

• Gen

• Kun.

The Nine Palaces are arranged as:

• 1st Palace (Kan),

• 2nd Palace (Kun)

• 3rd Palace (Zhen)

• 4th Palace (Xun)

• 5th Palace (Center)

• 6th Palace (Qian)

• 7th Palace (Dui)

• 8th Palace (Li)

• 9th Palace (Gen).

Verse for memorization:

• “Wear the Nine around, left three right seven, four shoulders two knees, eight six for feet.”

The Twelve Meridians of the body are then coordinated with this system, beginning with the hand yang meridians (which start from the hands and flow to the head, then to the feet).

Hand Yang Meridians:

• Small Intestine (Hand Taiyang)

• Triple Burner (Hand Shaoyang)

• From chest to hand → connect to the Hand Yang meridians.

Hand Yin Meridians:

• Lung (Hand Taiyin)

• Heart (Hand Shaoyin)

• Pericardium (Hand Jueyin)

• From chest to hand → connect with Hand Yin meridians.

Foot Yang Meridians:

• Stomach (Foot Yangming)

• Gallbladder (Foot Shaoyang)

• Bladder (Foot Taiyang)

• From head to feet → connect to Foot Yang meridians.

Foot Yin Meridians:

• Spleen (Foot Taiyin)

• Kidney (Foot Shaoyin)

• Liver (Foot Jueyin)

• From feet to chest → connect to Foot Yin meridians.

3. Present Situation of the Nine Palaces Palm

Since its creation by Master Baiyun during the Song Dynasty, the Nine Palaces Palm has been a shining jewel in the history of Chinese qigong. Unfortunately, as time passed, the art was nearly lost. Even its definition became obscure, leaving behind only fragments.

My grandmother, of the Mao family, was frail and often ill. Even famous doctors in Central China could not cure her. By chance she encountered a wandering monk who, after receiving gifts from the Mao family, transmitted the “Nine Palaces Palm Method.” He explained that:

“If practiced diligently, this method can prolong life, prevent illness, and provide self-defense. Its palm power is unlimited, but it must never be transmitted to unworthy people (those with improper conduct). This was entrusted to me by the great Bodhisattva.”

Because our family was wealthy and respected at the time, the transmission was preserved.

During chaotic years of war, members of the Mao family were skilled in martial arts and literature, and so used this art to protect the family. It is said that my grandmother once used the Nine Palaces Palm to defend herself against several dozen bandits who could not approach her. From then on, the art was firmly passed down in my family.

By 1961, its healing and protective effects had already reached a very high level: diagnosing illness, relieving disease, sensing messages from afar, and even battlefield applications were all within its scope. But due to harsh political circumstances, my family suffered, and the Nine Palaces Palm was nearly buried in obscurity.

Since the Third Plenary Session [of the Party Congress], especially this year, society has begun to rise again from the mud. The government now pays attention to qigong, the people long for it, and the nation has great hopes. This treasured art cannot be allowed to vanish.

Therefore, I once more summon my strength to bring the Nine Palaces Palm into the light — to benefit the people, spread healing, and give future generations the power of protection.

I also call out: “Among the hidden masters of the Buddhist Nine Palaces Palm — those who are true adepts or immortals — now is the time to step forward.”

Here I can only play a humble role, offering a brick to draw out the jade.

4. How to Learn the Buddhist Nine Palaces Palm

• Maintain the correct attitude:

• Believe that the Nine Palaces Palm can prolong life, prevent illness, and provide self-defense.

• Persevere without slacking, and the skill will naturally be accomplished.

• Memorize the mutual generation and mutual overcoming (cycles) of the Five Elements.

• Be familiar with the Nine Palaces.

• Memorize the fourteen meridian pathways and the principles of treating illness.

5. What is “Qi”?

When speaking of “Qi,” people naturally think of the air we breathe. Air is “Qi”—this is correct, but it does not fully encompass the “Qi” of Qigong. According to measurements by scientists, the “Qi” emitted by Qigong practitioners contains “infrared radiation,” “static electricity,” “particle flow,” and so forth.

Based on the functions of Qigong within the human body, it is believed that the “Qi” of Qigong within the body is a kind of information and its carrier. Moreover, it has been confirmed that this carrier is a kind of material substance.

Therefore, the “Qi” of Qigong is not merely the inhalation of oxygen and exhalation of carbon dioxide, but rather a substance with richer and more complex information and energy content.

In Qigong training, this is often called “internal Qi,” or “true Qi,” to distinguish it from ordinary inhaled air. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that the body’s “true Qi” is the driving force of the body’s life activities. Thus, the “Qi” referred to in Qigong, the refinement of “Qi,” is precisely the refinement of true Qi.

“True Qi” can be classified into “pre-heaven Qi” and “post-heaven Qi.”

Qi

The “prenatal qi can be divided into essence and original qi.

• Essence: This refers to the minute “essence” present at the very beginning of life. It is the basis for the growth of the fetus, and comes from the parents.

• Original Qi: This refers to the fundamental material and activity capacity that sustains the body, maintains tissues, and supports organ function. Original qi forms during the fetal stage, is stored in the kidneys, and is closely connected with life itself.

The “postnatal qi can also be divided into two types:

• Heavenly qi This is the qi of the air we breathe.

• Earthly qi: This is the qi from grains and food, since all living things grow from the earth. In fact, it includes all nutrients. The substances we eat and drink are digested, absorbed, and transformed into the subtle essence that sustains life.

• Heavenly qi and earthly qi combine to fill the body; only then can human life activity proceed.

• Prenatal qi is the root and the driving force. It must not be lacking.

• Postnatal qi is the material source of life activities. It too must not be lacking.

The relationship between the two:

• Prenatal qi is the motivation of life.

• Postnatal qi is the material support that life depends upon.

All of a person’s life and activity rely on the propulsion of prenatal qi, while depending on the constant nourishment and replenishment of postnatal qi. The two interact, depend on one another, and together form the body’s true qi (  ), which underlies all life activity.

6. What is Gong?

Through training and refining, if the true qi within the body becomes vigorous and flourishes in an orderly way, this is the “gong” of qigong—what is commonly referred to as “kung fu” (gongfu).

Through refining and training, if the true qi (  ) within the human body flourishes vigorously and operates normally, this is the “gong” of qigong—what is commonly referred to as “kung fu.”

The meaning of kung fu is broad. It can refer to:

• the time spent training,

• the quality of the training,

• or the skillfulness of the training methods.

In general, here it refers specifically to the methods of training qi.

The length of time spent in practice reflects the practitioner’s willpower and determination. “Three days of fishing, two days of drying nets” (i.e., inconsistency) cannot bring lasting results. Thus, training in gong “lies in persistence.”

The quality of training is directly tied to the effectiveness of training results. Training in gong is the cultivation of true qi, also called “nourishing true qi.” When true qi is abundant, the body becomes strong.

The refining of true qi must be carried out in three aspects:

• Breathing essence

• Establishing independent spirit

• Strengthening muscles and tendons

(*Based on the Huangdi Neijing, Suwen)

In practice, these three aspects amount to the refining of:

• Intention

• Breath

• Form

7. The Methods of Qigong Practice

The methods of qigong training differ according to schools and traditions. In China, qigong is generally divided into five main schools:

• Daoist

• Buddhist

• Confucian

• Medical

• Martial

Daoist qigong: Training emphasizes “cultivating both body and mind,” also called “dual cultivation of nature and life,” meaning practice balances spiritual and physical aspects.

Buddhist qigong: Methods emphasize “cultivating the mind,” seeking to free the body from external conditions.

Confucian qigong: Focuses mainly on “rectifying the mind” and cultivating qualities such as sincerity and proper intention.

Medical practice methods mainly emphasize healing disease, but also stress strengthening the body and preserving health.

Martial arts practice methods emphasize strengthening the body and developing defensive power, cultivating the ability to strike and protect oneself.

Although each school has its own emphases, in the field of health preservation they all share the effect of prolonging life and benefitting the body. The differences lie in how they integrate health-preserving aspects with their specific goals.

The methods of practice can be summarized in three main types, but they all include: training intention, training breathing, and training form.

Training intention: This means the concentration of the mind. The requirement is that the mind be guided and focused, leading the brain cortex into a special inhibited state. This is called “the guarding of intention.”

Training breathing: This means guided breathing, in which posture and bodily rhythms are regulated.

Training form: This includes moving, standing, sitting, lying, walking, and massage—six categories in total.

Regardless of which method is adopted, as long as one trains under the guidance of a systematic approach, and concentrates on one discipline, one will certainly develop true skill.

8. The Characteristics of the Nine-Cycle Method for Treating Illness

Traditional Chinese medicine believes that the occurrence of human illness arises from two aspects: internal causes and external causes.

Internal causes: The “seven emotions” (joy, anger, worry, thought, grief, fear, shock). These are emotional responses to the environment. When emotions are overly excited or excessively suppressed, they disturb the balance of the internal organs and cause disease. For example, explosive anger damages the liver, excessive joy harms the heart.

Excessive grief injures the lungs; great sorrow harms the heart; overwhelming fear damages the kidneys; constant worry injures the spleen. Because the heart governs the spirit, all of these are also connected to the heart.

Modern medicine holds that 50–80% of illnesses are caused by people’s emotional strain, such as cancer, lung disease, liver disease, high blood pressure, heart disease, gastric ulcers, and so on.

External causes: these mostly refer to the influences of seasonal climatic changes: wind, cold, heat, dampness, dryness, and fire — collectively called the “six qi.” When the body is subjected to the adverse influences of the six qi, its physiology is directly disturbed, leading to imbalance of the body’s systems and the onset of disease.

Through external training of the body’s form, breathing, and refinement, qigong achieves the principle of “motion within stillness, stillness within motion.” This allows the cerebral cortex to become tranquil and calm, thereby regulating the nervous system and reaching the purpose of preventing and treating disease.

(All of the above belongs to the theoretical foundation of qigong. The discussion here draws on the writings of the National Qigong Research Advisor Zhang Zhiwu. His work systematized qigong into the Nine-Cycle Method, aligning it with the twelve meridians and the theory of the five phases. This adaptation is the greatest distinguishing feature of the Jiugong Palm practice.)

“Jiugong Palm” Eight Postures

1. Child Worships Buddha (Tongzi Bai Fo)

Breathing: 

natural inhalation and exhalation.

Posture: 

Stand facing south, feet shoulder-width apart. Loosen the belt, let the body naturally relax. Both hands, palms facing upward, slowly raise diagonally upward. Then from the front, slowly draw the hands back, returning them to the chest.

2. The Whip Sweeps Away the Demons

Posture: 

Step left foot across so that the feet are shoulder-width apart, toes pointing slightly inward. Tongue presses against the upper palate. Hands (except the middle fingers, which point outward) are relaxed with the other fingers naturally curved. Palms face each other. Slowly extend both hands forward from the sides until the middle fingers meet with the palms facing each other.

Visualization:

Imagine drawing in a ball of fire, guiding the fireball with the middle fingers until they come to rest touching the lower dantian. From there it rises up to the heart area where the ball expands and bathes the heart, lungs, and liver with red light From there, lead it through the throat into the upper palate, pass it out through the nostrils to the top of the head (Baihui point), down the back to the coccyx, then to the lower Dantian. Circulate it around in this orbit, then release the tongue.

3. Mother and Child Reunite

Posture  :

Left hand (except the thumb) is curved inward. Slowly extend the palm from the Dantian toward the left side until the arm is extended, head turning toward the left. Visualize a yellow sphere being guided outward. Then bring the palm back in, thumb touching the center of the chest.

Right hand (except the little finger) is curved inward. Slowly extend the palm toward the southwest. Visualize a yellow sphere being drawn in from the little finger, brought inward along the arm to the chest, meeting the left thumb in front of the chest.

(Mind focus for 10 minutes)

4. Golden Elixir (Pellet) Enters the Sea

Posture:

The arms separate and circle around to rest with the palms over the kidneys. Visualize a ball of white light descending from above, entering the top of the head at the Baihui point and traveling down the spine. At the waist it divides, travels to, and bathes the kidneys, then continues on to the Dantian. It again separates and the balls travel down the inside of the legs to the center of the sole of the foot (Yongquan). Repeat the visualization.

5. Mighty Eagle Flaps It’s Wings

Posture:

When the white sphere reaches the Yongquan points, the visualization changes: the sphere becomes black. Both arms extend outward horizontally, palms facing upward like an eagle spreading its wings. The black sphere rises up the outer sides of the legs, through the hips, passing the perineum, back to the lower Dantian. Hands also draw inward to the Dantian, forming a sphere-holding shape.

(Mind focus for 10 minutes)

6. Two Dragons Playing with a Pearl

Posture:

Face east. Slowly extend both palms forward horizontally. Visualize a tall blue forest in front of you, full of blue fruits. Two fruits fall from the trees, like a magician conjuring them. Guide the fruits into both palms, moving them upward along the arms to the shoulders, then into the face—eyes, ears, mouth, nose—finally into the Yintang point (between the brows). There, they transform into a radiant, dazzling jewel.

7. Sphere Practice of the Nine Palaces

A. Circulation of the Nine Palaces

B. Reverse Sequence of the Nine Palaces 

Bring the left foot back, right foot forward (facing zheng / due east). Step forward with the right foot and place the left foot in a "T"-stance. According to the sequence—Si, Wu, Er, Jiu—practice the arrangement of the nine palaces. Result: 7294.

Turn around to face zhen (due east). Step forward with the right foot, left foot forming a "T"-stance. According to the sequence—San, Min, Yi, Qian—practice the arrangement of the nine palaces. Result: 3816.

8. Delivering the Elixir and Bowing to the Buddha

Posture: (Receiving mode) With hands carrying a five-colored sphere, slowly turn toward the front (due east). Inhale deeply through the nose, and gently send the qi into the dantian. Join both palms together in the “child paying homage to the Buddha” position, and softly exhale.

Poem:

The Nine Palaces of the Buddha’s Gate are not ordinary.

Do not pass this method about carelessly.

Refine the Golden Elixir to enter the Sea of Qi,

And in time, you will surely become a Great Luo Immortal.

Application of the Nine Palaces Palm:

It is transmitted only by oral instruction,

and is not to be put into written form.

 Zhengzhou City Nanyang Road Qigong Clinic

Successor of the Buddhist Nine Palaces Palm – Gong Zhifeng