Nei-yeh (Chinese Self-Cultivation Manual)
14. Awareness (yi) to calm the mind (hsin) & tap into the Tao
1 The Way (Tao) fills the entire world.
2 It is everywhere that people are.
3 But people are unable to understand this.
4 When you are released by this one word:
5 You reach up to the heavens above;
6 You stretch down to the earth below;
7 You pervade the nine inhabited regions.
8 What does it mean to be released by it?
9 The answer lies in the calmness of the mind (hsin).
10 When your mind is well-ordered, your senses are well-ordered.
11 When your mind is calm, your senses are calmed.
12 What makes them well-ordered is the mind.
13 What makes them calm is the mind.
14 By means of the mind you store the mind.
15 Within the mind is yet another mind.
16 That mind within the mind; it is an awareness (yi) that precedes words.
17 Only after there is awareness (yi) does it take shape.
18 Only after there is shape is there a word.
19 Only after there is a word is it implemented
20 Only after it is implemented is there order.
21 Without order, you will always be chaotic.
22 If chaotic, you die.
Commentary
The first half of the Nei-yeh introduces all of the significant word-concepts and some of the relationships between them. The second half of the Nei-yeh offers refinements to these fundamentals. Verse 14 introduces a new process for achieving tranquility (ching) – the non-verbal mind within mind. The first part of the verse focuses upon the Tao.
Line 1-3:
1 The Way (Tao) fills the entire world.
2 It is everywhere that people are.
3 But people are unable to understand this.
The Tao is everywhere and permeates ‘all under Heaven’, a more literal translation of ‘the entire world’. If the Tao is understood to be Heaven's method or processes, the Tao could be likened to the underlying forces of Nature. Although the Tao permeates our existence, people don’t understand this. Why is this ignorance a problem?
Lines 4-7:
4 When you are released by this one word:
5 You reach up to the heavens above;
6 You stretch down to the earth below;
7 You pervade the nine inhabited regions.
To enhance intelligibility for the Western mind, Roth inserts an agent, i.e. ‘you’, into his translation of these passages. The agent subtly alters the meaning. Further, the ideogram that Roth translates as ‘released’ can also be translated as ‘understood’.
Although perhaps less accessible, here is a more literal translation that emphasizes the gerund-like sentence construction of the original Chinese. This translation emphasizes dynamic becoming rather than static being.
4 Understanding this one word (the Tao),
5 Reaching to Heaven above,
6 Stretching to Earth below,
7 Pervading the 9 inhabited regions.
Understanding the Tao presumably enables us to also permeate all under Heaven. Are the processes of ‘reaching’, ‘stretching’, and ‘pervading’ achieved by tapping into Nature’s underlying processes, i.e. the workings of the Universe?
In this context, the Tao represents processes that have universal application. In similar fashion, Newton discovered the force of gravity, which applies to both the heavenly realm, e.g. the planets, and the earthly realm, e.g. falling apples. This passage asserts that the Tao, like gravity, is universal rather than particular.
Lines 8 & 9:
8 What does it mean to be released by it?
9 The answer lies in the calmness of the mind (hsin).
Posing the obvious question: If the Tao is so difficult to understand, how is release achieved? The remainder of the verse answers this question. The secret to understanding and thereby tapping into the Tao seems to surround hsin (our heart-mind). ‘Release’, i.e. understanding, lies in the calmness of hsin, i.e. a tranquil mind. Rather than attempting to think about or analyze the Tao, a better strategy is to calm the mind.
Lines 10 & 11:
10 When your mind is well-ordered, your senses are well-ordered.
11 When your mind is calm, your senses are calmed.
A calm and well-ordered mind results in calm and well-ordered senses. Recall from the preceding verses that aroused senses lead to excessive desires, which drive away jing, shên and the Tao. Conversely tranquil senses neutralize the excessive, thereby attracting these cosmic energies.
Lines 12-16:
12 What makes them well-ordered is the mind.
13 What makes them calm is the mind.
14 By means of the mind you store the mind.
15 Within the mind is yet another mind.
16 That mind within the mind; it is an awareness (yi) that precedes words.
How do we achieve a calm and well-ordered mind? To answer this question, the verse introduces a new concept - the mind within the mind - a mind that stores itself. This statement implies the existence of the observer mind, the self-reflective mind, the infinite regression of mind looking at mind looking at mind. Applying mind to itself is a method for achieving calm and a well-ordered state.
We must tap into an awareness (yi) of this mind within mind – the mind that precedes words – the mind that precedes the duality. However, this non-verbal awareness is not the ultimate goal, but a starting point – the trailhead.
Lines 17-20:
17 Only after there is awareness (yi) does it take shape.
18 Only after there is shape is there a word.
19 Only after there is a word is it implemented
20 Only after it is implemented is there order.
This non-verbal awareness generates shape, which generates words and then actions, which in turn bring order, presumably to our mind as well as the world. In other words, this action reverses the innate entropic forces that naturally lead to disorder.
Lines 21-22:
21 Without order, you will always be chaotic.
22 If chaotic, you die.
What’s the problem with disorder? Disorder results in chaos, which leads to death. In contrast, the ordering process, i.e. reversing entropy, contributes to and requires vitality, i.e. a strong life force (jing).
Yi (Intent) between Wuji and Taiji
The character for yi (intent) appears in lines 16 and 17. As in verse 2, Roth translates the ideogram as ‘awareness’ – ‘an awareness that precedes words’. Only after this ‘awareness’ does anything take shape. Over 2 millennia later, Master Ni validates and refines this perspective.
Master Ni posed the question: “What is between wuji and taiji?”
Ji is translated as limit. Wuji means without limit. It indicates a formless state of affairs. Taiji means ultimate limit. According to Master Ni,
“From Wuji comes Taiji.”
(He draws a circle with his finger and dots the center.)
“From Nothing comes the One, which splits Wuji into Yin and Yang.”1
The classic yin-yang symbol with the circling black and white fish reflects this perspective. The enclosing circle is wuij: the S-curve is taiji; the black and white fish are yin and yang.
So what is between the limitless (wuji) and the ultimate limits (taiji)? The answer is yi (intent). It seems that yi, non-verbal mind intent, precedes the yin-yang polarity that emerges from taiji, the ultimate limits. Although leading to shape, words, action and order, yi precedes these polarities.
This notion applies perfectly to the arts, music, athletics and the martial arts. Non-verbal yi (mind intent) leads the action. Conscious decision-making is simply too slow to execute movements in a timely fashion, whether for the concert violinist, World Cup soccer player, or the martial artist. Training precedes this seemingly spontaneous movement that arises from yi (mind intent). To achieve mastery in any of these disciplines, we must rely upon and relinquish control to yi, this non-verbal mind intent. Too much verbal consciousness spoils the soup.
Mind within Mind?
The Mind before Words – the Mind that stores Mind. What does this mean? What does it refer to? There are a variety of plausible interpretations.
This inner Mind could be our experiential mind. Scientists have discovered that words are abstractions of our non-verbal emotional-sensory life. Words are the way we make meaning out of mysterious urges and feelings. The classic example: we tend to associate warmth with love and affection because mothers cuddle us in their arms when we were infants.
Under this interpretation the Mind within Mind is a cognitive substrate beneath our more recently evolved verbal mind. If we can but sink to this more primal level of consciousness, then we can escape, or at least more easily deal with, the verbal constructs that generate the emotional turbulence that drives away the beneficent cosmic energies, such as the jing, life force. At this level, we can directly experience reality without the filter of verbal abstraction.
Another view of this inner Mind is that of the Observer. Taking a step back, we observe our Person going about his or her daily affairs accompanied with the attendant emotional turbulence. As the Observer, we don’t attach to these disturbing emotional states. All the trials and tribulations are perceived as if we were watching a movie, of which we play the starring role. Distancing ourselves from the action in this way tends to mute the intensity of our personal drama. In such a way, we can more easily achieve the tranquil mind that is the precondition for vitality.
Footnote
1 Master Ni’s Principles for Tai Chi & Life, don lehman jr., Lulu Press, 2015, p. 36. All of the Master Ni quotes come from this book.