The Nei-yeh’s initial verses introduce all the significant word-concepts. These include: 1) the cosmic energies, jing, chi, shên united as the Tao, that we want to attract to our center (zhöng), 2) hsin, an individual’s personal heart-mind, 3) te, the mental restraint muscle that we employ for self-cultivation, 4) ching (tranquility) and cheng (alignment), the twin aims of self-cultivation practice, and 5) shêng (vitality), the consequence of ching and cheng. The middle verses instruct us how to naturally exert a positive effect upon the world.
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.
Lines 1-8 focus upon the Tao. It is everywhere, and permeates all under Heaven. If the Tao is understood to be Heaven's method or processes, the Tao could be likened to the underlying forces of nature that the scientific community is exploring.
The Tao is everywhere, but people don’t understand it. If they could but understand this one word, they could be released and then permeate our earthly realm. But what does it mean to be released?
The remainder of the verse focuses upon the importance of hsin (our heart-mind) to tap into the Tao. The secret to release lies in the calmness of hsin, i.e. a tranquil mind. In other words, mere understanding is not enough.
A calm and well-ordered mind results in calm and well-ordered senses. Recall from the preceding verses that aroused senses lead to aroused desires, which drive away jing, shên and the Tao.
But how do we achieve a calm 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 observer mind, the self-reflective mind, the infinite regression of mind looking at mind looking at mind.1
We must tap into an awareness 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.
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.
Without order, chaos reigns and we die.
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.”2
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.
Verse 15 refines issues first posed in Verse 1. How to become a Sage? Recall that those that have jing (life force) at their center are Sages. This verse proclaims the virtues of preserving jing. Those who both preserve and naturally generate jing are tranquil outside and have a 'well-spring' of vitality inside.
This internal, ‘flood-like’ wellspring of jing both ‘harmonizes and equalizes’ the world. This inner jing is the ‘fount of ch’i.’
If this jing is not dried up or drained, the body is firm and ch’i flows freely.
The verse ends with the characteristics of the Sage, one who has nurtured his or her jing (life force). Those who maintain an unimpaired body and mind (hsin) don’t experience natural disasters or harm from others. These people are Sages.
Ch’i flow is not confined to the body. The passage refers to ch’i flow through the body’s 9 apertures. These include all of our body’s openings to the external world, the 7 sense apertures in our head, 2 nostrils, 2 eyes, 2 ears, 1 mouth, plus our anus and vagina or penis.
We take this to mean that ch’i energy is exchanged freely with the external world. In addition to our body’s ch’i flow, we are able to tap into the ch’i of both Heaven and Earth.
According to the Chinese belief system, the interaction of Heaven and Earth creates Humans. It is important to both balance and cultivate the energies from these 2 fundamental sources. How do we cultivate these energies?
As Master Ni said: “Should practice sung/relaxation at all times. If any tension anywhere in Body, then Energy from Heaven and Earth will be blocked at that point.”
This Ni quotation suggests there is permeability between our Body and the external world. In other words, the Body’s energy is not merely biological. If we are mentally and physically relaxed, we can partake of external energies, i.e. those of Heaven and Earth. Presumably if our body is aligned and our mind is tranquil, we will be relaxed enough to tap into this universal power source.
In terms of this verse, Sages are those who are able to release tension to experience the energy of Heaven and Earth.
Verse 16 reiterates the importance of ching (tranquility) and cheng (alignment). Those with ching and cheng have smooth skin, supple muscles, and strong bones. Further their senses are acute and clear. They mirror things purely and perceive things with great clarity. They also support the Circle of Heaven and walk the Square of Earth.
If we reverently maintain awareness of the Way (the Tao) of ching and cheng and do not waver from these practices of inner cultivation, our te (inner power) is renewed daily.
When these daily practices bring forth the effulgence, i.e. the wellspring of energy, this is called ‘inner attainment’.
If we fail to return to this practice of the Way, our vitality (shêng) will waver. In other words, the state of 'effulgence' is not permanent, but instead requires daily practice to maintain it. In similar fashion, our house does not remain clean, but instead requires daily attention to reverse the innate entropy of dust, degeneration and disorder. Our inner lodging place (shé) also requires regular attention to reduce mental turbulence.
(Note: Verses 15 and 16 employ the character nei (inner) from the title of the book Nei-yeh (inner cultivation) for the first time. In verse 15, nei is associated with the flood-like vitality of our inner world when it contains jing. In this verse, it is associated with inner attainment. Both are very significant usages.)
Verse 17 is very significant in that it suggests physical practices are an important feature in the development of the te of the Tao, the inner power of the Tao. The first few lines suggest that we must follow the method (the Tao) of coiling/contracting and uncoiling/releasing. This snake-like image evokes the physical practices of both Tai Chi and Martha Graham’s Modern Dance, not yoga or weightlifting.
We must be both regular in this excellent practice and maintain our inner spirit house (shé), presumably its emptiness. If we also chase away the excessive and abandon the trivial, we will reach the ultimate limit and return to the Tao and its Te (inner power).
This is the second time that Tao and te are linked. The Nei-yeh’s usage suggests that a plausible translation of Tao te Ching is ‘The Classic of the Tao’s Inner Power’. While the Lao Tzu tells us about the features, the Nei-yeh tells us how to attain it.
This verse seems to suggest that we must engage in some kind of regular practice that involves coiling and uncoiling. It also alludes to the importance of creating an inner space, presumably to attract the Tao. Finally we must avoid the excessive and trivial in order to maintain the One, our inner integration. In this way we are able to tap into the te (the inner power) of the Tao (the Way).
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 making 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 ‘modern’ 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.
Another way of viewing this Mind within Mind is that of Body Consciousness. While our verbal mind is associated with our central nervous system, Body Consciousness is associated with our connective tissue system. Enclosing and within every cell, our connective tissue is able to transmit both energy and information orders of magnitude quicker than the central nervous system. If we could remove everything but our connective tissue, we would still recognize what remains as ourselves.
By tuning into this bodily network, it is possible to escape the mental traps that lead us into emotional hell. Jing is associated with the Connective Tissue system. By attuning Consciousness to jing, we can escape the automatic behavioral patterns associated with hsin. With such a method, we could neutralize the desires and resulting emotional turbulence that is an anathema – a repellant – to the cosmic energies that we hope to cultivate.
• Connecting some dots: V14. To be released by the notion of the Tao, we must have a calm mind (hsin). A calm mind is achieved by entering the non-verbal state, presumably through meditation. This calmness both quiets our disruptive senses and generates a well-ordered mind. In turn, this state generates the well-ordered thoughts and actions that inevitably lead to a well-ordered world (from previous verses).
1 The self-referential feature of the human experience is the essence of an iterative recursive function - referring back to itself. The traditional functions that characterize material systems so perfectly are neither recursive, i.e. self referential, nor iterative. This mathematical feature separates material systems from living system.
2 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.