The Dao De Jing as a Guide to Daoist Meditation Part 7
by Tom Bisio December 23, 2025
In this seventh 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 16: How to Return to the Root and Chapter 19: How to Return to Purity
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 16: How to Return to the Root
If one reaches the extreme of emptiness,
If one keeps quietness and firmness,
All things together rise.
We thereby see their return.
Now the full bloom of things,
Everything returns to its root.
To return to the root means to rest.
This is called to return to life.
To return to life is called lasting eternally.
Who knows the eternal is called all-embracing.
To be all-embracing is to be universal.
Universality is royalty.
Royalty is heaven.
Heaven is Tao.
Tao is lasting.
To lose the body is not dangerous.
He Shang Gong’s commentary explains that the extreme of emptiness comes from diminishing feelings and driving out desires, so that the five interiors are quieted down and cleared. The “Five Interiors” (wu nei) refers to the five internal organs and their spirits. If one can embrace deep silence, there is quiet and clarity. Then, all things together rise. “Rising” means to “to live,” all things are together brought to life, and it is possible to see that all living things return to their origin. Therefore, one must regard the origin as something important – a foundation that is solid and weighty.
Things blossom and come to fruition and then wither and die only to revive and be reborn by returning to the root, returning to rest, to stillness and silence. The commentary says that the root is peaceful and pliant. Modestly it remains below. Therefore, it does not return to death. Instead, one reverts to one’s “destiny.” The text here uses the character Ming ( ), referring to one’s destined life-span or life-force, and tells us that to return to, or recover one’s life force through quiet and stillness, is to fulfill one’s nature, thereby becoming constant and eternal. He Shang Gong says that then one will not die.
What does this mean? He Shang Gong is saying that in returning to stillness, through inner contemplation, the five spirits become quiet and one revives and gives life to the body’s true energies and true consciousness. One regains the quality of having a ready insight into things, one attains an illumination.
This chapter contains many subtleties that are not immediately apparent on first reading. Ming, our life force (vital energy), the movement of Qi in the body, is related to the Primordial Qi or Yuan Qi (“Original Qi”). The character for Ming is also found in Ming Men (“life gate”). Therefore, Ming is associated with one’s life force and one’s existence, and even more specifically, one’s lifespan, the duration of one’s life. Commentators over the centuries have commented on the interplay of Ming and Xing in this chapter. Xing refers to our inner, human, and spiritual nature – our mind, consciousness, and spirit. In this sense Xing references our individual inner nature. This includes both a person’s instinctive animal nature and the human qualities we associate with our higher self. An important part of Xing is related to how we understand ourselves, our tendencies, openness, adaptability to change and the ability to transform.
Xing and Ming work together. In relation to meditation and internal cultivation practices, Ming can be understood as operational because it contains the practices. But to actually do these practices you must also have Xing, the ability to have focus. However, in relation to returning to the root, Lao Zi is also referencing Xing as one’s True Nature/True Wisdom (consciousness) and Ming as one’s True Qi. Cultivating the mind, with the intention of removing the blocks that prevent one from seeing one’s True Nature, is rooted in Xing, while cultivating mind and spirit, purifying various components of the body in order to increase one’s life force, is rooted in Ming.
Wang Bi’s commentary describes this state of return and illumination as “perspicacity” – a penetrating discernment, a clarity of vision or intellect which provides a deep understanding and insight.”[1]
Stillness and inner contemplation allow a return to the root or the origin. Once they [have reached] stillness, then they return to [their original] life endowment. That is why [the text] says “return to life endowment!” Once they have returned to [their original] life endowment, then they are getting hold of the Eternal [essence] of their innate nature and life endowment. That is why [the text] says “the Eternal”![2]
Sinologist D.C. Lao gives us a very useful perspective on this chapter:
Early on I used to think I had to control my mind and rid myself of thoughts, which led to an endless inner battle. Remaining “still” like a stone and watching my thoughts “return to their separate roots” brings the peace I seek.
I used to think of “destiny” as leaving here and going forward to the future. Along with this was the notion that I would grow, change and succeed. Instead, as the years go by, I find myself “returning” to who I really was since birth. This is “return to my destiny”. It’s taking a lifetime to get to know myself as I am, not as I think I am, or wish I was. The beauty of this is that this “destiny” is my link with everything and everyone. We all share the same “constant”. When I “hold firmly to stillness” I’m connected.[3]
Fu (Return) is Hexagram Twenty-Four in the Yi Jing (I Ching). Fu is said to embody the essence of the Dao. The movement of the Dao is to return, and the ideogram diagrams this explicitly.[4] It is derived from chi (footstep) and fu (go back).
Fu: to go and return, exit and enter, to return, to resume, return to an original state, to retrace, to repeat, recover, restore, to turn over.
The Yi Jing judgment for Fu Gua contains the phrase: “Turn back, return to one’s Dao” (Fan Fu Qi Dao ). This cross-references with Chapter Forty of the Dao De Jing: “How to Abstain From Use.” Chapter Forty reads:
Returning! The movement of the Dao,
Gentle! The Employment of the Dao.
Everything in the world is born from what is,
What is, is born from what is not.[5]
He Shang Gong’s clarifies the first line of Chapter 40 by saying that Adaptation to conditions is the movement of the Tao. Therefore it is said: Subversion is the Tao’s movement.[6] The Dao operates from the principle of being adaptive and gentle, this is what allows it to endure. He Shang Gong also indicates that the root is that by which the Dao moves, and Movement generates all things. If they turn their backs to it they perish.[7]
The Fu Hexagram is composed of Thunder below and Earth above. The bottom yang-solid line of the Fu Hexagram represents the return of true vitality (True Qi) and wisdom to its source at the Hui Yin point in the perineum and its connection to the genitals, Mingmen and Dantian. The single yang line of the hexagram is able to move upward through the open space of the yin lines initiating movement and transformation along the way. Thunder symbolizes movement and transformation emanating from this area.
What is, is born from what is not or existence originates from non-existence. What is fundamental vanquishes that which is external.[8] Wang Bi’s commentary on the Fu Hexagram further clarifies these ideas:
For Heaven and Earth we regard the original substance to be the Heart-Mind. Whenever activity ceases, tranquility results, but tranquility is not opposed to activity. Whenever speech ceases, silence results, but silence is not opposed to speech. As this is so, then even though Heaven and Earth are so vast that they possess the myriad things in great abundance, which activated by thunder and moved by the winds, keep undergoing countless numbers of transformations, yet the original substance of Heaven and Earth consists of perfectly quiescent non-being. Thus it is only when earthly activity ceases that the Heart-Mind of Heaven and Earth can be seen.[9]
Huang Yuan Chi’s commentary (below) on this chapter of the Dao De Jing reminds us that the root, the origin, the place of non-existence is a fulcrum that lies within us – the Dark Gate, which is the root of Heaven and Earth (the door of the mysterious is called the root of Heaven and Earth[10]) is connected to the sexual energies which must be harnessed and transformed through the process of self-cultivation. This gate is said to be 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.
Heaven has its fulcrum, people have their ancestors, plants have their roots. And where are these roots? Where things begin but have not yet begun, namely. the Dark Gate. If you want to cultivate the Great Way. but you don’t know where this opening is, your efforts will be in vain.[11]
As was mentioned earlier in the discussion relating Dao De Jing Chapter 1, the dark gate is the passage between being and non-being, the place where yin and yang communicate. In meditation this again refers to the perineum and to harnessing the energies of the life force for the purposes of self-cultivation.
Specifically in meditation when there are no objects in the heart – when the mind is still and calm, the subconscious mind and the True Spirit can emerge and link, or synchronize with the Lower Dan Tian. Martial arts and Qi Gong master Dr. Yang Jwing-Ming explains this as follows: Once you have cultivated the extreme empty mind and true calmness of the physical body, you will be able to feel the synchronization of the subconscious mind at the upper polarity with the qi in the lower polarity. You can then consciously bring your mind form the upper polarity to the lower one so that the spirit and qi can be united at the real lower dan tian. This is called “unification of mother (qi) and son (spirit),” (mu zi xiang he, ).[11a]
Another way to understand this is as the body returns to a very yin state of complete quiescence, yang is initiated (yang returns). Real, True Qi then acts within the spiritual space and begins to circulate freely through the whole body, including the spinal column and brain, eventually returning to Dan Tian and the “Sea of Qi” (Qi Hai) below the navel. This is returning to the root. In the diagram below, showing the inner circulation of Qi during meditation, the fusion of spirit and Qi, yin and yang is diagrammed using Yi Jing hexagrams to illustrate the transformation of energies in the body as Qi circulates. When quiescence reaches its peak and the mind and spirit connect to Dan Tian and the perineum (this is the Kun Hexagram consisting of six broken-yin lines), then True Qi (true Yang) returns, represented by the single yang line in the Fu Hexagram), and energy begins another circuit of circulation, each circuit strengthening the unification of Qi and Shen (spirit).
Returning to text of Chapter 16, He Shang Gong gives us to understand that to not have this return, illumination, and increased perception is to go blindly into disaster. If one does not know the eternal, this disorder causes misfortune to arise. Who does not know how to walk eternally in Tao, is disordered and hypocritical. One then loses connection to the spirits.
Understanding and cognition emerge from the mind: with thoughts and cogitations, the mind yokes the Xing. Responses and reactions emerge from the body: with speech and silence, with sight and hearing, the body burdens the Ming. It is because Ming is burdened by the body that there are birth and death. It is because Xing is yoked by the mind that there are coming and going.
Therefore, according to [Daoist] Li Dao Chun, Xing is harmed by mental activity—thoughts and cogitations—and Ming is harmed by physical activity—perceptions and responses that occur through the physical body and the senses.[12]
On the other hand, who knows the eternal is called all-embracing, meaning that if one lets go of desires and the comings and goings of thought, then one is connected to the spirits and there is nothing that is not embraced, because one connects to a universal impartiality of thought and action, unhindered by the opinions and vices of the multitude – hence the text says that, to be all-embracing is to be universal, because one’s spirits are united. By governing and aligning the body, form is unified and countless spiritual lights then assemble in the body.[13] This is the way of the king, the way of Heaven and the Dao.
The final lines of this Chapter are:
Tao is lasting.
To lose the body is not dangerous
In essence, following the advice of this chapter allows one to increase longevity and last indefinitely through one’s universal connection to the world and the cycles of birth, death and rebirth. One is free from calamity and danger, because having penetrated through to true emptiness, through being still, quiet, pliable and adaptive, one has removed the vulnerability created by striving for life and fullness. This line also references Dao De Jing Chapter 50: “How to Esteem Life” which cautions one against stepping out of the quiet and peaceful interior to enter into the world of feelings, passions, and doubts, which cause us to lose our way. If one maintains inner silence and quiet there is no danger, because there is no place for negative energies to lodge.
Wang Bi’s commentary states this idea poetically:
Negativity [Emptiness] as such cannot be hurt by water or fire, and cannot be shattered by metal or stone. If use of it is made in one’s heart, “tigers” and “rhinoceroses” “will not find a place [on him] to thrust” “their claws” and “horns,” “soldiers” and lances “will not find a place [on him] to insert” their point and “blade” [as the Laozi 50.2 says of those who are good at maintaining their lives]. What danger could there possibly be [for such a person]?[14]
Dao De Jing Chapter 19: How to Return to Purity
Cut off the Saints!
Throw Away Wisdom!
The people will be benefited a hundredfold.
Cut off humanity and throw away justice!
The people return to piety and clemency.
Cut off clever men and throw away the beneficent ones!
There will be no more thieves and robbers.
As to these three,
To have knowledge of them is not sufficient.
Therefore let there be something on which one may rely.
Look at simplicity and hold fast to naturalness.
Diminish egoism.
Leave the desires alone.
The first line of this chapter opens powerfully with Cut off the saints! The character for “saint” used here is Sheng ( ). The character is composed of (ěr) “ear” and (chéng) “to show” or “assume a form.” In the case of the sage it could be interpreted to mean those who listened to ( ) and understood ( ) the advice given, and therefore became wise; wise, perfect.[15] He Shang Gong’s commentary on this line tells us that by cutting off the government of the saints, one restores the return to the beginning and keeps to the origin. He goes on to say that the Five Emperors are not equal to the “Three August Ones” who used knotted cords instead of writing.[16]
The Three Sovereigns, or Three August Ones, are named in Sima Qian’s Records of the Grand Historian (109 BCE.) They are:
The Heavenly Sovereign (Fu Xi)
The Earthly Sovereign (Nu Wa)
The Human Sovereign (Shen Nong)
The Three August Ones were essentially god-kings who introduced important aspects of Chinese culture such as agriculture, fishing, herbal medicine, writing, and the drinking of tea. Because of their lofty virtue they are said to have lived to a great age and ruled over a period of great peace.
The Three August Ones purportedly used knotted cords and symbols to communicate, although Fu Xi is also said to have created both the Yi Jing symbols (trigrams and hexagrams) and written characters. Nu Wa, is considered to be a kind of “Mother Goddess” who created humankind, and she is the goddess of nature, fertility, order, and marriage. Shen Nong is known as the “Divine Farmer.” Shen Nong is credited with teaching agriculture and farming to the Chinese people.
The Five Emperors listed below are considered by He Shang Gong to be inferior to these three August Ones, because although they were wise, they also promulgated rules and laws.
Huang Di (The Yellow Emperor), c. 2697 – c. 2597 BCE
Zhuan Xu, c. 2514 – c. 2436 BCE
Emperor Ku, c. 2436 – c. 2366 BCE
Emperor Yao, c. 2358 – c. 2258 BCE
Emperor Shun, c. 2255 – c. 2195 BCE
Hence the lines in this chapter of the Dao De Jing, which talk about cutting off wisdom, humanity, and justice, thereby allowing a return to a natural benevolence and kindness, and a return to wisdom and sagacity characterized by Wu-Wei (non-action). In both these lines, and the following line, which refers to cutting off cleverness and beneficence, the text is not saying that wisdom, justice and benevolence are not good, but rather that they are constructs imposed from the outside that interfere with our own ability to sense the correct patterns within ourselves. By distancing ourselves from these patterns, we can return to a state of original knowledge and inner peace, unblinded by greed, and theories about justice and wisdom.
The ideas in this chapter are closely tied to the image of “straw dogs” found in Dao De Jing Chapter 5: How to use Emptiness.
He Shang Gong’s mention of the Three August Ones using knotted cords to communicate, speaks to the idea of conveying wisdom and knowledge without words, because words often obfuscate and confuse things. A transmission on the Yi Jing ascribed to the Hemp Clad Daoist (who was one of the teachers of Daoist Patriarch Chen Tuan) speaks eloquently to this issue.
The way of Changes of the Fuxi Emperor
Embraces and encloses myriad images.
Only when one knows the place of all its symbols
Can they be put to practical use.
The arrangement of the six lines
Is not based on some weird idea.
It follows the cycle of yin and yang,
The course of blood and Qi.
The images of the hexagrams directly speak to people,
They don’t originally have texts or explanations.
They cause all men to live and act
Calmly in accordance with their fortunes on this earth.[17]
The text goes on to essentially say that the Confucians worked with the Yi Jing using words and lost the true meaning. Daoist teacher Hua Ching Ni elucidates this important idea, when he says that Chen Tuan used the Yi Jing as a tool for its principles that underlie the words. Hua goes on to say that in the beginning the sages were inspired by nature. Symbols were used as an interpretation of what they saw. If one wishes to understand the symbols deeply, the real source is to look for the reality of the Pre-Heaven Stage, which is without words. One should therefore start with the pictures and symbols, because they go beyond what language can define.[18] The Hemp Clad Daoist adds:
One must stop with the words
Beyond words see intention deep,
Then glimpse the Dao of Change.
Heaven and Earth and all there is
Are not clear in their law.
Looking now at hexagrams
Their principle shines forth.[19]
Returning to Dao De Jing Chapter 19, the next line says that there will be no more thieves and robbers. Daoist masters refer to the eyes, ears, nose, tongue and body as the ‘Five Thieves’ because they literally ‘rob’ you of the mental attention required to stay with the True Breath and control the mind emotions, thereby. cultivating the internal energy. The five thieves were obliquely mentioned earlier in 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. Daoist and Buddhist syncretism also see the Five Thieves as sexual desire, anger, greed, emotional attachment and egotism.
To achieve Jing (‘quiet, stillness, calm’) and Ding (‘concentration, focus’) in self-cultivation, one must turn attention inwards and cut off external sensory input, thereby muzzling the “Five Thieves”. Within that silent stillness, one concentrates the mind and focuses attention, usually on the breath. This develops a focused ‘one-pointed awareness’, and an undifferentiated mental state, allowing the development of intuitive insights and spontaneity.
Ba Gua Practitioner and Daoist adept Sun Xi Kun (1883-1952) advises one to sit in a quiet room on a thick cushion, loosening the clothing and belt so that Qi can circulate smoothly.
Sitting in a quiet room without disturbance or noise and burning incense, with sincerity, it is possible to connect to the mysterious Qi. Stop distracting thoughts. Extinguish all rash thinking. If even a few scattered thoughts exist, the spirit is not pure Yang. One who forgets emotion becomes unconscious of the boundary between oneself and the external world. Forgetting emotion one’s forgotten nature is recovered, the mind becomes bright and sharp. Close the Heart-Mind and use the breath to forget the Heart-Mind and to enliven the Shen, so that the Heart Mind is sharp and clear.[20]
The next line in Chapter 19 – As to these three, to have knowledge of them is not sufficient – refers to three things mentioned earlier – saints, wisdom, and humanity and justice. Knowledge of these things is not sufficient or useful, because they serve as mere decoration.[21] Therefore they are inadequate and it is difficult to identify with them and rely on them. So, one should hold fast to one’s innate simplicity and inner truth, and not rely on external things as models. He Shang Gong adds that one should diminish the ego and be content with having enough.
Notes
[1] 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. 76.
[2] A Chinese Reading of the Daodjing – Wang Bi’s Commentary on the Laozi with Critical Text and Translation. Rudolf G. Wagner (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2003) p. 171.
[3] DC Lau: https://www.centertao.org/essays/tao-te-ching/dc-lau/chapter-16-commentary/
[4] Yi Jing by Wu Jing Nuan, Washington DC: The Taoist Center, 1991, p. 114.
[5] The Ho-Shang Kung Commentary on Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching, Dan G. Reid, translation (Montreal: Center Ring Publishing. 2015) p. 174.
[6] 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) p. 77.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Ibid.
[9] The Classic of Changes: A New Translation of the I Ching, as interpreted by Wang Bi, translated by Richard John Lynn. New York: Columbia University Press, 1994, p. 286.
[10] 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.
[11] Laotzu’s Taoteching: translated by Red Pine with selected commentaries of the past 2000 years (San Francisco: Mercury House, 1996) p. 32.
[11a] The Dao De Jing – A Qi Gong Interpretation. Dr. Yang Jwing-Ming (Wolfeboro, NH: YMMA Publication Center, 2018) p. 104.
[12] Daoism: Religion, History and Society Destiny, Vital Force, or Existence? On the Meanings of Ming in Daoist Internal Alchemy and Its Relation to Xing or Human Nature. Fabrizio Pregadio. ( No. 6, 2014) p.157–218.
[13] The Ho-Shang Kung Commentary on Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching, Dan G. Reid, translation (Montreal: Center Ring Publishing. 2015) p. 105.
[14] A Chinese Reading of the Daodjing – Wang Bi’s Commentary on the Laozi with Critical Text and Translation. Rudolf G. Wagner (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2003) p. 172.
[15] Wenlin Software for Learning Chinese. Version 3.4.1 Wenlin Institute Inc.
[16] Ho-Shang-Kung’s Commentary on Lao-Tse, translated and annotated by Eduard Erkes, p.41.
[17] Chen Tuan: Discussions & Translations. Livia Kohn (Thee Pines Press, 2001) pp.121-22.
[18] Life & Teaching of Two Immortals (Vol 2): Chen Tuan. Hua Ching-Ni (Santa Monica: Seven Star Communications, 1992) p. 31.
[19] Chen Tuan: Discussions & Translations pp.122-23.
[20] Ba Gua Quan Zhen Chuan (Genuine Transmission of Ba Gua Zhang) Sun Xi Kun.
[21] 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. 82.
