Chapter 1

Psychology and Self-Cultivation in
Early Daoistic Thought

One genuinely unexplored area of early Chinese thought is that of psychology. What are the basic elements that constitute the human mind? How do they interact and function together to express innate human tendencies and shape human experience? And how can they be transformed so that human beings can reach the limits of their inherent natures? While most certainly we cannot expect the ancient Chinese to have conceived of psychology in the same ways that we do, there is no doubt that as human beings they wrestled with many of the same problems that we confront today in trying to understand human consciousness and human potential.

In his 1980 book Xianqin xinli sixiang yanjiu 先秦心理思想研究, Yan Guocai 燕國村 differentiates between “psychology” (xinli xue 心理學), which is a century-old science developed in the West without parallels in ancient China, and “psychological thought” (xinli sixiang 心理思想), a broader category of theories about the mind, which does not necessarily contain the same Western assumptions and is definitely represented in pre-Qin thought.1 While I agree with Yan about the need to distinguish between a definition of psychology based exclusively on Western models and a more broadly-based category, which could be called “psychological thought,” I do not think that the mere use of the term “psychology” must carry with it any particular set of assumptions about the nature of the mind from the wide range of Western schools of psychology simply because the term was coined in the West. Indeed, if one did wish to outline the basic ideas of “Western psychology,” one would be hard-pressed to find a consensus on just what they might be. Should Western psychology be characterized by the theories of Sigmund Freud or the theories of B. F. Skinner? Instead of distinguishing between “psychology” and “psychological thought,” as Yan does, should we not make a distinction between psychotherapy and psychology? In that case, I would agree that there is little evidence of anything resembling Western psychotherapy in ancient China, but I would argue that we can certainly find “psychology” there.

Here I use “psychology” as a generic term referring to any theories of the nature and activity of the human mind, independent of any specific model—either Western or Eastern.2 While I agree with Yan that ancient Chinese ideas on psychology include such aspects as knowledge, emotion, intentionality, and human nature,3 I would expand his list to include the entire range of experiences of self-transcendence that usually fall outside the purview of Western psychology and are considered under the general heading of “religious” or “mystical” experience.

This approach implies that ancient Chinese philosophers did conceive of an inner psychic life. Some modern scholars may wish to extend the arguments of Herbert Fingarette about the absence of such “subjective” notions in Confucius to all early Chinese thinkers, but such arguments cannot stand against the overwhelming evidence in the sources examined in the present study.4 In these sources, an inner dimension is not merely present in human beings but is the basis for the complete realization of our inherent potential. Those scholars who question the presence of psychological theories in ancient China reveal more about their own philosophical presuppositions than about any early Chinese thinker. As I understand it, this is precisely Benjamin Schwartz’s critique of Fingarette, and I wholeheartedly agree with it.5

Questions of human psychology were first raised in China during the fourth century BCE and, not surprisingly, were associated with the philosophical debates about human nature. Such questions are mentioned in the surviving writings of Yang Zhu preserved in the Lüshi chunqiu 呂氏春秋 and the Zhuangzi 莊子,6 and are seen as well in the Confucian works of Mencius and Xunzi and the foundational Daoist texts, the Laozi 老子 and the Zhuangzi. Questions of the nature and functioning of the human mind do not figure prominently in any of these works save the last, or “Syncretist,” stratum of the Zhuangzi, of early Han date.7 But each of these texts takes for granted certain common ideas about human psychology, which may have been discussed more directly in other works that are now lost or have not received the same degree of attention from traditional and modern scholars.

One of the most ancient assumptions about human psychology in China is that the various aspects of human psychological experience are associated with, or even based upon, certain physiological substrates or conditions. Interestingly enough, this assumption is initially discussed in some of the most important passages on self-cultivation in early Chinese thought. Mencius alludes to this in 2A2, where he links the continual practice of acting ethically with the “flood-like vital energy” (haoran zhi qi 浩然之氣). The Inner Chapters of the Zhuangzi touch upon this in the relationship between emptiness (xu 虛) and the vital energy in chapter 4.8 The Laozi as well touches upon this assumption in its passing mention of concentrating the vital energy (zhuan qi 專氣) in chapter 10. Yet despite these scattered references, none of the major Warring States philosophical texts explores the physiological basis of human psychology. This is particularly surprising of the Daoist texts, because in them the process of self-cultivation does seem to involve such mental disciplines as “the fasting of the mind” (xin zhai 心齋)9 and “sitting and forgetting” (zuo wang 坐忘).10 It is also surprising in light of later developments in Daoism.

Despite this apparent absence in the early Daoist tradition, the physiological basis of human psychology does play a major role in the theory and practice of the nei dan 內丹, or “physiological alchemy,” which emerged somewhat later when Daoism became institutionalized and took on many of the characteristics we usually ascribe to a religion. The linking of psychological experience to physiological conditions—in this case to the generation and/or manipulation of the vital energy (qi 氣), the vital essence (jing 精), and the numen (shen 神)—contains a significant theoretical assumption.11 If psychological experiences—especially the exalted and desirable ones traditionally attained through meditation—are based upon physiological conditions, then it is possible to attain these states through exclusively physiological means such as dietary control, the consumption of certain physical substances, and even carefully regulated physical exercise. This makes possible a whole range of nei dan practices, which seem to have preceded the Daoist religion but which became fully developed therein.12

One problem that has perplexed those scholars who have investigated the possible links between the Daoist religion and the texts it often claims as foundational, the Laozi and the Zhuangzi, is just when and from what sources did these practices of physiological alchemy enter the tradition? Some, such as Henri Maspero, have found evidence of them in these early philosophical sources.13 Others, such as H. G. Creel and Fung Yu-lan, see them as part of a supposed corruption of Daoist philosophy caused by its intermingling with various superstitious popular elements during the Han dynasty.14 Others-especially Japanese and Chinese scholars (such as Fukui Fumimasu, Sakai Tadao, Yamada Toshiaki, Zhou Shaoxian, and members of the Daoist Association of China)—contended that they were introduced by the shadowy group of fang shi 方士 (Esoteric Masters) who most certainly were involved in various alchemical techniques long before institutionalized Daoism arose.15

It is not my purpose here to assess the validity of each of these approaches. What I would like to point out is that all these interpretations share a common assumption that is misdirected and dooms their efforts to failure: that the Laozi and the Zhuangzi (and for some, the Liezi) define the parameters of early Daoist philosophy. This assumption also largely informs the scholarly attempts to interpret the Huang-Lao 黃老 texts discovered at Mawangdui 馬王堆. To refer to these as sources of “Yellow Emperor Daoism” presupposes that there already existed another, and more basic, form of Daoism—that which has come to be called “Lao-Zhuang 老莊.” This assumption has also led to rather fruitless debates on whether Daoist philosophy is primarily mystical or primarily political and to such distinctions as the one Creel makes between “contemplative” and “purposive” Daoism.16

In fact, the earliest textual and historical sources offer little or no evidence of any lineage of early Daoist philosophy that can be labeled as “Lao-Zhuang.” With one possible exception, the term does not even appear until the third century CE.17 What we find instead, especially in the Shi ji 史記, is evidence of Daoism being equated with the teachings of Huang-Lao (that is, the Yellow Emperor and Laozi), teachings that embraced both mystical and political concerns in a philosophy advocating a minimalistic and naturalistic government overseen by a ruler who has experienced the ground of the cosmos—the Dao—through techniques of self-cultivation.18 Let us look for a moment at what Sima Tan, who coined the term “Daoism” (Daojia 道家), has to say about this teaching:

The Daoist school enables man’s numinous essence to be concentrated and unified, to move in unison with the formless, and to provide adequately for the myriad things. As for its methods, it follows the general tendency of the Naturalists (Yinyang jia 陰陽家), picks out the best of the Confucians and Mohists, and adopts the essentials of the Terminologists (Ming jia 名家) and Legalists. It shifts with the times and changes in response to things; and in establishing customs and in practical applications it is nowhere unsuitable. The general drift of its teaching is simple and easy to hold onto; much is achieved with little effort.19

Sima Tan, who supposedly studied with a Huang-Lao master, elaborates on this favorable assessment:20

The Daoist school takes no action but also says that nothing is left undone. Its substance is easy to practice, but its words are difficult to understand. Its methods take emptiness and non-being as the root, and adaptation (yin 因) and compliance (xun 循) as its practice. It has no set limits, no constant forms, and so is able to penetrate to the genuine basis of things … It blends with the Great Dao, obscure and mysterious, and after illuminating the whole world it reverts to the nameless.21

In light of these definitions, it is clear that Daoism in the Shi ji was not defined as “Lao-Zhuang.” Rather, it was much closer to the philosophy found in a much overlooked text, the early Han compendium, the Huainanzi 淮南子, recognized by some as the principal surviving document of Huang-Lao thought.22

It is further my contention that the “Lao-Zhuang” of the Wei 魏 and Jin 晉 Neo-Daoists—with its emphasis on the mystical and cosmological aspects of these texts at the expense of the political and psychological—has strongly influenced traditional and modern understandings of philosophical Daoism, causing scholars to ignore other aspects of early Daoist thought and other relevant texts. In other words, what I am suggesting here is that Daoist philosophy is more accurately categorized as “Huang-Lao” than “Lao-Zhuang.”23

From the above description by the Han historians, a picture of Daoism emerges that differs from the mystical cosmology of “Lao-Zhuang.” What we find instead is a system of thought that blends a cosmology based on the Dao as ultimate ground of the cosmos with both psychological techniques of self-cultivation leading to immediate experience of the Dao and a political philosophy that elaborates the Laozi’s principle of wuwei 無為 (“effortless action”). Psychological techniques of self-cultivation are centered on such concepts as emptiness (xu), moving in unison with the formless (dong he wu xing 動合無形), and reverting to the nameless (fufan wuming 復反無名), familiar to us from the Laozi and the Inner Chapters of the Zhuangzi. They also include a new element not found in either source, namely enabling man’s numinous essence to be concentrated and unified (shi ren jingshen zhuan yi 使人精神專一). The political philosophy is based upon wuwei but is expanded to include such related ideas as shifting with the times (yu shi qian yi 與時遷移), spontaneous response (ying 應), suitability (yi 宜), adaptation (yin 因), and compliance (xun 循), which are not found in the Laozi or the Inner Chapters of the Zhuangzi. It also demonstrates a thoroughgoing syncretism, signs of which begin to emerge in the later strata of the Zhuangzi, and which attains its fullest expression in the Huainanzi. It is this Huang-Lao teaching that Sima Tan and Sima Qian call “Daoism.”

While of course we run the risk of falling under the influence of what may be a retrospective view of early Daoism contained in the Shi ji, it is a viewpoint much closer in time to the origins of Daoism than that of the Neo-Daoists. Let us take as a working hypothesis the definitions of Daoist philosophy provided by the Han historians, and label “Daoist” those teachings that meet their criteria of a cosmology, psychology, and polity based on the Dao, and “Daoistic” those teachings that at least meet the most important of them, that is, those that accept the Dao as the ultimate ground of the cosmos.

By these definitions, the Laozi and the Inner Chapters of the Zhuangzi, while of course still important, are not the sole basis of philosophical Daoism. Other equally important texts contain very early theories discussing the physiological basis of human psychology and focusing on self-cultivation. I include in this list works not traditionally classified as “Daoist”—certain parts of the “Legalist” Guanzi, and the “Eclectic” Huainanzi—as well as works that have been considered at least tangentially “Daoist”—the Syncretist essays of the Zhuangzi and the four short Mawangdui texts tentatively identified as the lost Huangdi si jing 黃帝四經.24 In this study I focus on the “non-Daoist” works because their critical role in the early history of Daoism has gone largely unappreciated. Elsewhere I have explored their relationship to the Syncretist material, and other scholars have begun analysis of their relationship to the “Yellow Emperor” texts.25 By thus broadening our list of sources for early Daoist philosophy, it should become increasingly possible to see more clearly the very definite links this early tradition has with the Daoist religion. Certainly the addition of this psychophysiological element to our picture of early Daoist philosophy provides a bridge to an analogous and very important element in later Daoism, the nei dan.

This chapter examines the theories of the physiological basis of psychology and self-cultivation discussed in three texts from the Guanzi and in the Huainanzi. These theories seem to be presupposed by, and alluded to, in several places in the Laozi and the Zhuangzi (including those mentioned above) and are crucial to any understanding of the origins and development of Daoism. In fact, these texts mark the progressive development of the psychophysiological component of early Daoist thought identified by the Han historians, and demonstrate its relationship to the political component.

The Guanzi Texts

The Guanzi is an extensive and diverse collection of texts currently in seventy-six juan 卷, most of which deal with various aspects of government and political thought. Its traditional ascription to Guan Zhong 管仲, a famous seventh-century BCE prime minister in the state of Qi 齊, is no longer taken literally; rather it is now generally accepted that much of the material was written in Qi and that the Guanzi includes an early basic text produced at the Jixia Academy 稷下, which was established there at the end of the fourth century BCE.26 The extant recension was assembled by Liu Xiang in about 25 BCE and clearly contains material written well into the second century BCE.

The Guanzi was originally classified as “Daoist” in the Han shu 漢書 bibliography, but from the Sui onward it has been included in the Legalist section of dynastic bibliographies, although some scholars have pointed out that its basic orientation disagrees with Legalism.27 This early classification of the Guanzi as Daoist is interesting because the Jixia Academy is regarded by Sima Qian as the home of Huang-Lao thought and because Allyn Rickett notes many parallels between the Guanzi chapters included in his new translation and the Huainanzi.28 This evidence suggests the possibility that both are part of a Huang-Lao lineage and certainly warrants further analysis, which, unfortunately, cannot be attempted here. While Rickett believes that these parallels indicate that some of the extant Guanzi could have actually been written by Liu An’s retainers, the three texts we are about to examine clearly represent an earlier phase of theories of self-cultivation and government than those in the Huainanzi and cannot have been written at Huainan 淮南.

The texts in question, “Xin shu shang, xia” (Techniques of the Mind, Parts I and II 心術上, 下) and “Neiye” (Inward Training 內業), have been the subject of considerable debate as to their origins and dating.29 Liu Jie and Guo Moruo, and most scholars currently working in the People’s Republic of China, take them to be the products of the Huang-Lao philosophers Song Xing 宋鈃 and Yin Wen 尹文, who were active at the Jixia Academy.30 Machida Saburo sees them as late Qin or early Han products of Daoist thinkers, even though they contain some Confucian and Legalist concepts.31 Rickett originally considered them to be Daoist works written in Qi at various times between the early fourth and late second centuries. Now he believes that they are from Chu 楚 and could have entered the Guanzi via Liu An’s court at Huainan.32 Graham prefers not to classify the earliest of the three, “Neiye,” which he believes predates the split between Confucianism and Daoism.33

By the definition established above, I consider these texts to be, at the very least, Daoistic works whose authorship cannot be definitely established. On the basis of their style and philosophical content, it is clear that they were written at different points in time and, though related, represent different stages in the development of theories of self-cultivation. Therefore, they cannot be attributed to Song Xing and Yin Wen. “Neiye,” written in rhymed verse, seems to be the oldest of the three, and there are no compelling reasons not to attribute it to someone at Jixia, as most scholars do. “Xinshu shang” contains two distinct sections. The first third is a basic text, and the remainder is a line-by-line commentary on it, which seems to have been written later, probably at the beginning of the Han.

With “Xinshu xia,” we face a new problem. Close examination reveals that about 65 percent of “Xinshu xia” consists of passages that are virtually identical to about one-third of “Neiye” but are arranged in a completely different order. Did “Xinshu xia” take them from “Neiye” or vice versa? Or are they both different redactions of the same text? Rickett maintains that “Xinshu xia” is an early Han work based on Neiye.34 Guo Moruo sees the two texts as notes taken independently by two students at the lectures of their master.35 My own conclusion is that “Xinshu xia” represents a deliberate abridgment and rearrangement of “Neiye” designed to complement the ideas in “Xinshu shang,” perhaps by the person who wrote the explanatory section of that text. My reasons for this are detailed below.

“Neiye” (“Inward Training”)

Graham regards “Neiye” as “possibly the oldest ‘mystical’ text in China.’ ”36 It is a collection of rhymed verses on the nature of the cosmos, the nature and activity of the human mind, and the practice of several related methods of mental and physical self-discipline aimed at physical health, longevity, and self-transcendence. Because it mentions the same “flood-like vital energy” (haoran zhi qi) as does Mencius and shows no awareness of the Naturalist concepts of Yin and Yang and the Five Phases, scholars have given it a relatively early date. I tend to agree with a late fourth-century BCE date for the text for another reason, namely, that it contains very little advice to the ruler and does not set its prescriptions on self-cultivation in the context of governing effectively. This political element does play a major role in “Xinshu shang” and, to a lesser extent, in “Xinshu xia,” and given what we understand about Daoist philosophy and Huang-Lao thought from the various sources mentioned above, I see this placement of techniques of self-discipline in a political context as indicative of a more developed stage in the tradition. In short, “Neiye” is a manual on the theory and practice of meditation that contains the earliest references to breath control and the earliest discussion of the physiological basis of self-cultivation in the Chinese tradition.

The first section of “Neiye” concentrates on the cosmological principles that form the foundation for its theories and practices of self-cultivation. It presents the Dao as the ineffable ground of the cosmos with ideas we have come to identify as Daoistic:37

The “Dao” is what the mouth cannot speak of, the eyes cannot look at, and the ears cannot listen to. It is that by which we cultivate the mind and align the physical form.38 It is what a person loses and thereby dies, what a person gains and is thereby born. When undertakings lose it, they fail; when they gain it, they succeed.

The Dao

Never has a root or a trunk, Leaves or flowers.

The myriad things are born by means of it

And by means of it develop.

We name it “the Dao.” (16.2a2)39

In addition to the Dao, there is another important cosmic principle, which is closely associated with life and is on an almost equal footing, the Jing, or “vital essence”:

For all things when the vital essence

Coalesces there is life.

Below it generates the five grains,

Above it becomes the constellated stars.

When it flows between Heaven and Earth

We call it daemonic and numinous.

When it is stored within the chest of a man

We call him a sage.

Therefore this vital energy is

Bright!—as if ascending to Heaven.

Dark!—as if entering an abyss.

Vast!—as if present within the ocean.

Lofty!—as if located on a mountain peak.40

Therefore this vital energy

Cannot be stopped by force

But can be secured by the Power (De 德).

Cannot be summoned by sound

But can be welcomed by the awareness (yi 意).41

Diligently hold onto it and do not lose it. This is called “developing the Power.”

When the Power develops and wisdom emerges

The myriad things will to the last one be grasped.42 (16.1a5)

The vital essence is thus that mysterious and elusive aspect of the Dao that is responsible for the generation of life and for maintaining the vitality of living organisms. That it is clearly a concentrated form of the vital energy pervading the cosmos is implicit here and explicit somewhat later in the text, when we find the following definition: “The vital essence is the essence of the vital energy” (16.2a9). It is closely linked with the Power (De), which in Daoistic thought represents the potency that arises in an organism from the concrete manifestation of the Dao within it and yet cannot be secured by any kind of intentional effort.

The text then discusses how the mind is naturally filled with the vital essence and naturally tends to generate and develop it. Yet the mind inevitably loses this essence because of emotions, desires, and selfishness. But if the mind can discard such disturbances, it will follow its natural tendency toward equanimity and harmony (16.1a11).

Next, the Dao is described as that ineffable and constantly moving force responsible for the vital essence filling the mind. This essence comes and goes with the Dao and is just as mysterious. Yet if we abandon the attempt to hold onto it and just still the mind (xin jing 心靜) and guide the vital energy (qi li 氣理) through breath control, this Dao can be secured (16.1b10). With this groundwork in place, the text then discusses the theory and practice of self-cultivation and the benefits obtained therefrom. These practices are based on stabilizing the mind:

If one can align the mind and make it still,

Only then will it be stable.

When inwardly the mind is stable,

The eyes and ears will perceive clearly,

And the four limbs will be firm.

One can thereby make a lodging place for the vital essence.

The vital essence is the essence of the vital energy.

When the vital energy follows the Dao, there is vitality.

With vitality, one can think,

With thought, there is knowledge.

But when you have knowledge, you come to a stop.

In general, when the mind has excessive knowledge,

It loses its vitality. (16.2a9)

This passage establishes an important link between mental stability and the vital essence. The state of tranquility creates the conditions for lodging or accumulating the vital essence within the mind and is thus intimately associated with this essence. This is further developed in the following:

In general a person’s vitality

Depends on his peace of mind.

When one is anxious, one loses the guiding thread.

When one is angry, one loses the tip of this thread.

When one is anxious or sad, pleased or angry,

The Dao has no place to settle.

Love and desire: still them!

Folly and disturbance: correct them!43

Do not push it! Do not pull it!

And its blessings will naturally settle in.

And that Dao will naturally come to you,

To rely on and take counsel with.

If one is still, it will be obtained.

If one is agitated, it will be lost.

This mysterious vital energy within the mind,

One moment it arrives, the next it departs.

So fine, nothing can be contained within it,

So vast, nothing can be outside it.

The reason we lose it

Is because of the harm caused by agitation.

When the mind can adhere to stillness,

The Dao will be naturally stabilized. (16.5a4)

Here once again we see the Dao (and the vital essence) conceived of as constantly moving into and out of the human mind. But if this Dao is the ultimate ground of the cosmos, how can it ever separate from any one part of it? Rather than taking these descriptions literally, I interpret them as metaphorical references to one’s experience of the Dao. That is, for example, when the mind is still, it seems as if the Dao is present, and when the mind is agitated, it seems as if the Dao has departed. Also, the Dao is so intimately associated with the vital essence (herein called “mysterious vital energy” (ling qi 靈氣) that in this and other passages (e.g., 16.1a6 and 16.1b7), identical metaphors are used to describe them. The mental tranquility needed to stabilize the Dao is attained by casting aside all emotions, desires, and deliberate attempts to force it under one’s control. With the Dao grounded in one’s mind, the vital essence is also lodged therein, and health and well-being develop:

When the vital essence is present, there is a natural vitality.

And one’s exterior is calm and healthy.

Stored within, we take it to be the wellspring.

Flood-like (haoran), it harmonizes and equalizes.

And we take it to be the source of the vital energy. When the source is not dried up,

The four limbs are firm.

When the wellspring is not drained,

(The vital energy) freely circulates through the nine apertures

One can then exhaust Heaven and Earth

And spread over the four seas. (16.3a8)

The vital essence is thus seen as the source of the vital energy within the organism, and its free circulation is associated metaphorically with a higher level of comprehension of the entire cosmos. This association is further developed when the text speaks of stability and stillness leading to the ability to “carry the great circle (of Heaven) … tread over the great square (of Earth) … contemplate the ultimately transparent (da qing 大清) … and see through to the ultimately luminous (da ming 大明).” This is known as “daily renewing one’s Power” (16.3b2). We here encounter metaphors for metaphysical knowledge, which this text often associates with the shen, the numinous power present within the mind:

By concentrating your vital energy as if numinous,

The myriad things will all be contained within you.

Can you concentrate? Can you unify?

Can you know good and bad fortune

Without resorting to divination?

Can you stop? Can you halt?

Can you not seek it without

But attain it within?44

If you think and think, and think further about this

But still cannot penetrate it,

The daemonic and numinous (gui shen 鬼神) in you will penetrate it.

It is not due to the inherent power of the daemonic and numinous,

But rather to the utmost development of your vital essence. (16.4a2)

This passage is important for establishing a link between the numinous state within, which is viewed as a concentrated form of vital energy, and the vital essence, which somehow confers on the numinous the ability to foreknow. This type of metaphysical knowledge is a defining characteristic of the numinous state and differentiates it from the vital essence, which is responsible for this knowledge but does not of itself know. This link is further discussed in the following:

The numen naturally resides within.45

One moment it goes, the next it comes,

And no one is able to conceive of it.

To lose it inevitably implies chaos;

To attain it inevitably implies order.

Diligently clean out its lodging place [the mind],

And the vital essence will naturally come to you.46

Still your attempts to imagine and conceive of it.

Relax your efforts to reflect on and control it.

Be reverent and diligent,

And the vital essence will naturally become stable.47 (16.2b9)

The attainment of the numinous metaphysical knowledge is thus associated with the stabilizing of the vital essence through the stilling of thought and the cessation of all efforts to control this essence. This process is metaphorically described as “cleaning out the lodging place of the numinous,” that is, the mind. This is associated with the advice, mentioned earlier, about relinquishing desires and emotions in order to attain stillness and mental stability. Such advice is found in other traditions of meditation and is especially clear in Buddhism. “Neiye” goes even further in linking this advice to what can only be a form of breath-control meditation. Elaborating on how one might “daily renew one’s Power” and “attain it within,” the text says:

In general [to practice] this Way

One must coil, one must contract,

One must uncoil, one must expand,

And one must be firm and regular [in this practice].

Hold fast to this excellent [practice];

Do not let go of it.

Chase away the excessive [in sense perception].

Abandon the trivial [in thought].48

And when you understand the ultimate levels

You will return to the Way and its Power. (16.3b6)

The regularized practice of coiling and uncoiling, of contracting and expanding, is clearly a method of controlled breathing, with coiling/contracting referring to exhalation and uncoiling/expanding to inhalation.49 Regular breathing, however, is not, in and of itself, a goal. It is a method of meditation for calming the mind and reaching the Dao inherent within. To my knowledge, this passage contains the earliest reference to the practice of breath-control meditation in the Chinese tradition. Another passage links this practice with the vital essence:

In general in the life of human beings

Heaven brings forth the vital essence,

Earth brings forth the body.

Unite these two to make a whole person.

When they are in harmony, there is vitality;

When they are not in harmony, there is no vitality.

If we scrutinize too closely the Way of harmony [between the two],

Its truth is not seen,50

Its evidence is not categorized.

But if one evens out and aligns [the breathing] within the chest,

The vital essence will flow freely within the mind.51

This confers longevity. (16.4a11)

The practice of regularized and controlled breathing is thus the foundation of mental tranquility and hence of physical well-being, metaphysical knowledge, and the lodging of both the vital essence and the Way and its Power. Significantly, this practice is here also associated with the attainment of longevity. This indicates that, “Lao-Zhuang” to the contrary, there was an interest in extending the term of life at the very origins of Daoistic thought.

In addition to breath control, “Neiye” recommends one other concrete method for lodging the vital essence. The method, called “the way of eating,” involves avoiding the extremes of overeating and starvation and keeping to a mean so that the vital energy can flow freely and harmony can be achieved. Eventually this method enables one to enlarge the mind, expand the vital energy, and sit calmly and motionlessly in order to “guard the One” (shou yi 守一) and discard all mental clutter (16.4b7). This is probably the earliest reference to this meditation technique of “guarding the One,” which later became so important in Daoist and Buddhist practice.52 Hence the practice of moderate eating complements the practice of controlled breathing. Both lead to the emotionless, desireless experience of mental tranquility associated with the vital essence and with the Way and its Power.

Thus, “Inward Training” is very much a manual for the theory and practice of self-cultivation. The physiological basis for the psychological states of calmness and stability is to be found in the unencumbered circulation of the vital energy and in the accumulation of the vital essence, that mysterious aspect of the Dao ultimately responsible for the birth and vitality of all living organisms. This accumulation of the vital essence is further accompanied by the attainment of the metaphysical knowledge of the future and of all things within Heaven and Earth that is linked to the numen and to the experience of the ground of the cosmos, the still and silent Dao. “Neiye” makes little attempt to recommend this “inward training” to the ruler. Occasionally it refers to such Confucian ideas as humaneness and “rightness” (16.2b7), and ritual and music (16.4b6), but it subordinates them to the superior methods that develop stillness and stability. Hence “Neiye” must be considered an important source of Daoistic thought that had a significant influence on the early history of this tradition, an influence that leads through the two parts of “Techniques of the Mind” to the theories of self-cultivation in the Huainanzi.

“XINSHU SHANG” (THE TECHNIQUES OF THE MIND, PART I)

“Xinshu shang” is very different from “Neiye.” It is less than half as long as “Neiye” and for the most part is not written in rhymed verse. It is divided into a basic text, which constitutes about one-third of the overall work, and a line-by-line explanation of it. Furthermore, although it adopts the general guidelines for self-cultivation found in “Neiye,” it places them in the context of advice to the ruler on how to govern effectively. This advice is placed in the cosmological framework of the Way and its Power and so meets our minimum criteria for Daoistic thought. And it centers on a number of specific ideas from the Laozi and on others that are listed by Sima Tan and Sima Qian in their discussions of Daoist philosophy.

The prescriptions for government by the sage are principally based on the concept of wuwei, which is extended to several closely related ideas such as spontaneous response (ying), adaptation (yin), compliance with natural guidelines (xun li 循理), and the principle of assigning tasks suitable (yi) to the individual. These concepts are developed in the Huainanzi and included in the descriptions of Daoism in the Shi ji as well. The prescriptions on how to attain the state of mind needed for practicing these principles center on achieving stillness (jing) and emptiness (xu); on relinquishing wisdom, desires, and preferences; and, finally, on cleaning out the mind in order to lodge the numen and develop the vital essence.

The text begins by drawing an interesting macrocosmic microcosmic parallel between the ruler, who governs his officials through non-action, and the mind, which governs the flow of the vital energy through the senses:

The location of the mind in the body is analogous to the position of the ruler. The supervision [of the circulation of vital energy] by the nine apertures is analogous to the responsibilities of the officials. When the mind rests in its Way, the nine apertures will comply with natural guidelines.

When lusts and desires fill the mind to overflowing, the eyes do not see colors and the ears do not hear sounds. When the superior departs from his Way, the inferiors will make mistakes in their affairs.53 Therefore we say “the techniques of the mind are to take no action and yet to control the apertures.” (13.1a5)54

This passage sets the themes that dominate the remainder of the text. The ruler should take no action contrary to the Dao, and his officials will adhere to their own responsibilities, just as the mind takes no action and the nine apertures follow their inherent guidelines. A further aspect to this parallel is that in order to accomplish this non-action, the ruler must literally empty his own mind so that it will function naturally in controlling his senses, thus allowing him to avoid interfering with the duties of his officials. Hence the internal mental discipline of non-action permits the external practice of non-action as a principle of government. The former is also referred to as the “techniques of the mind,” which is also the title of the text.

However, before the ruler can put these practices into effect, there must be certain basic principles of social organization. For these, the text recommends some familiar Confucian and Legalist concepts, which are placed in a Daoistic framework:

That which is empty and formless, we call the Dao.55 That which transforms and nurtures the myriad things, we call the Power. That which is involved in the interactions between ruler and minister, father and son, and among all human beings, we call rightness. That which determines the various levels of status, courtesy, and familiarity in relationships, we call ritual.56 That which selects things both great and small for execution and extermination, for prohibition and punishment, according to a single standard (Dao), we call laws. (13.lb2)57

The explanatory section of the text discusses these seemingly non-Daoistic ideas in terms of what, in my opinion, are two of the predominating concepts of early Han Daoism, suitability (yi) and conforming to natural guidelines (xun li):

“Rightness” means that each rests in what is suitable to it. “Ritual” is that which follows the genuine feelings of human beings by going along with the natural guidelines of what is right for them, and then creating limitations and embellishments. Therefore ritual means “to have natural guidelines.” Natural guidelines clarify distinctions in order to explain the meaning of rightness. Therefore, ritual is derived from rightness; rightness is derived from natural guidelines; and natural guidelines are derived from what is suitable.58

Law is that by which uniformity is produced so that people will have no other alternative than to do what is so. Thus execution and extermination, and prohibition and punishment, are used to unify them. Therefore human affairs are supervised by law, law is derived from authority, and authority is derived from the Way. (13.3a8)

This explanatory passage clearly demonstrates the incorporation of Confucian and Legalist concepts into a framework fully consistent with the Daoist philosophy described in the Shi ji and the Huang-Lao thought expressed in the Huainanzi. The principle of suitability is particularly important in the latter text, as has been discussed thoroughly by Roger Ames.59 The Huainanzi, however, elaborates on this principle by incorporating it into the Naturalist philosophy of Yin and Yang and the Five Phases of vital energy, and is thus more sophisticated than “Xinshu shang.” Nonetheless, the presence of these ideas in “Xinshu shang” enables us to situate it firmly within the syncretic Daoist tradition of the early Han. This position is further confirmed by its prescriptions on how the ruler acts in conformity with the principle of non-action:

Therefore the superior person is not enticed by likes nor oppressed by dislikes. Calm and tranquil, he takes no action, and he discards wisdom and precedent. His responses (ying) are not pre-arranged. His movements are not deliberately chosen. Mistakes are caused by direct intervention. The fault here is that one alters things instead of adapting to them (yin).

Therefore, as for the ruler who is grounded in the Dao: at rest, he seems to have no knowledge; when responding to things he seems to fit together with them. This is the Way of stillness and adaptation. (13.2a3)

The ruler must therefore develop the facility to respond spontaneously to all situations, to avoid the temptation of intervening directly in them, and simply to follow along with them as they evolve. This is developed in the explanatory section as involving the relinquishment of self-interest so that one can simply respond when stimulated (gan er hou ying 感而後應) and follow along with natural guidelines (13.4a6). His response is so perfectly natural and spontaneous that it resembles the shadow’s imaging of a shape, and the echo’s responding to a sound. To do this, the ruler must be grounded in complete emptiness (13.4a14), and to be so grounded he must follow methods of self-cultivation fully consonant with those of “Neiye”:

The Dao is not far off, but it is hard to reach its limit. It rests together with man, but it is hard to grasp. Empty out your desires, and the numen will enter its abode. If the abode is not thoroughly swept clean, the numen will not remain there.60 (13.1a10)

The explanatory section, in elaborating on these ideas, shows the influence of “Neiye”:

The Dao lies with Heaven and Earth. So vast there is nothing beyond it; so small there is nothing within it. Therefore the text says, “it is not far off, but it is hard to reach its limit.”

Rest in it and there will be no gap between the Dao and man. Only the Sage is able to rest in the Dao. Therefore the text says, “it rests together with man but is hard to grasp.”61

That which the Sage directs is his vital essence.62 Relinquish desire, and the mind will be expansive. When it is expansive, it will be still. When it is still, the vital essence is present. When the vital essence is present, one experiences complete solitude (du 獨). In complete solitude there is clarity (ming 明). With clarity comes the numen. The numen is the most honored. Thus when the abode is not cleaned out, the honored one will not dwell in it. Therefore the text says, “if it is not thoroughly swept clean the numen will not reside there.” (13.2b5)

Just as in “Neiye,” here there is a close relationship between the experience of the Dao achieved by “cleaning out the lodging place,” that is, by emptying the mind of desire and knowledge—and the stillness associated with the vital essence. The presence of this essence is linked to the experience of complete solitude, which is an important technical term in the Zhuangzi. I understand it as a metaphor for the unitive consciousness attained in many of the world’s great mystical traditions.63 After solitude comes clarity, a term in “Neiye” that I take to refer to the light that develops in states of meditative trance and the clarity of mind it imparts when one emerges from such states. Finally, this clarity is associated with the numen, the source of metaphysical knowledge that transcends selfhood and rationality. Here we are but one step removed from the Huainanzi’s concept of the numen as the locus of the Dao within all human beings.

In only one other instance does “Xinshu shang” discuss self-cultivation (13.1b6), and it adds little to the above. It recommends “cleaning out the dwelling” and adds to this the prescriptions to “open its doors” (the senses), “relinquish selfishness” (chu si 出私), and “stop talking.” This confers numinous clarity (shen ming 神明). Unlike in “Neiye,” this advice is placed firmly within the context of how the sage is to rule and how he is to develop the ability to be responsive, impartial, and unconfused. Finally, one other passage (13.3a3) discusses the vital essence and links it to the Power, the lodging place of the Dao within phenomena that generate life.

Hence the physiological basis of self-cultivation is not a major topic in “Xinshu shang.” There can be no question, however, that what is discussed is clearly based on “Neiye.” And, most importantly, when self-cultivation is discussed, it is placed within a political context fully consonant with the syncretic nature of Daoist thought in the late Warring States and early Han. Perhaps because “Xinshu shang” scarcely touches on self-cultivation, the author of its explanatory section found it necessary to borrow about one-third of “Neiye” to form the basis for the second part of “Xinshu.”

“XINSHU XIA” (TECHNIQUES OF THE MIND, PART II)

As mentioned above, about 65 percent of “Xinshu xia” is virtually identical with the middle part of “Inward Training” (16.2b–4b), but the material is presented in a completely different order. More precisely, this middle part can be divided into several sections. The order of these sections is totally different in “Xinshu xia.”

The first difference one notices between the two texts is that “Xinshu xia” lacks the passages from “Neiye” that describe the Dao as the ultimate ground of the cosmos. If indeed “Xinshu xia” was created to complement “Xinshu shang,” this is to be expected, because such passages are already included in “Xinshu shang.”64

The second striking difference is that whereas “Neiye” contains virtually no application of self-cultivation to the problems of governing, such an application is one of the primary concerns of “Xinshu xia.” Passages on the use of self-cultivation for governing constitute the 35 percent of “Xinshu xia” that has no parallel in “Neiye.” These passages seem to serve the purpose of linking the sections on self-cultivation and setting them in a political context.

An excellent example of this occurs toward the beginning of “Xinshu xia.” It is located after a section on how to develop “inward Power” by aligning the flow of vital energy within the organism:

Therefore, only after the awareness and vital energy are stabilized will the body be aligned.65 The vital energy is what fills the body. The alignment of the vital energy is the standard pattern of its movement.66 When what fills the body does not move according to a standard, the heart will not attain it [the Power].67 When the movement of the vital energy is not aligned [in the ruler], then the people will not submit.

Therefore the sage is like Heaven: selflessly he covers; he is like Earth: selflessly he supports. Selfishness is what disrupts the world of human beings.

In all cases, things already come bearing names (ming 名). The sage adapts and uses these, and so the world of human beings is well governed. If actualities (shi 實) are not injured [by their names], then the world of human beings is not disrupted and will be well-governed. (13.4b9)

This passage seems designed to bring out the political benefits of developing “inward Power.” It also mentions several concepts that pertain to the behavior of the sage-ruler in “Xinshu shang”—being selfless or impartial, being adaptable, and making use of names and actualities (not previously discussed but found at 13.3b9). “Xinshu xia” then returns to its “Neiye” parallels and brings together two verses on mental concentration that are separated in “Neiye” (16.4a6 and 4a2). The second of these, the passage on concentrating and unifying the vital essence translated above, talks of developing the numinous ability to foreknow that is associated with the utmost level of the vital essence (13.5a2).

“Xinshu xia” continues with another section from a different location in “Neiye” (16.2b2) but alters the opening line to comment on the vital essence. “Neiye” reads: “What unifies things and is able to transform, call it “the numen” (yi wu neng hua wei zhi shen 一物能化謂之神). “Xinshu xia” instead reads: “What unifies the vital energy and is able to change, is called the vital essence” (yi qi neng bian yue jing 一氣能變曰精).

The next line is virtually identical in the two sources: “What unifies affairs and is able to alter in unity with affairs is called knowledge.” However, “Xinshu xia” inserts the following connective, which is absent from “Neiye”:

Compiling and selecting are the means of classifying affairs.68 The utmost level [of the vital essence] and (the ability] to change are the means of responding (ying) to things. Compile and select, and there will be no disorder. Develop the utmost vital essence and be able to change, and there will be no annoyances. (13.5a8)

Once again “Xinshu xia” provides a comment, which brings out the political implications of the theories of self-cultivation that are taken from “Neiye.” Furthermore, there are several other passages in which “Xinshu xia” connects verses that are separated in “Neiye,” thus enabling the second of these verses to comment on the first.69 This seems to me to be a deliberate effort to rationalize the text of “Neiye” and to place it in a political context. The politicization of self-cultivation and the absence of cosmology in “Xinshu xia” suggest that “Xinshu xia” has deliberately abridged and reorganized material on self-cultivation from “Neiye,” probably to complement “Xinshu shang,” which generally ignores the topic of self-cultivation but contains cosmology.

Therefore, while “Xinshu xia” does not add to our understanding of the physiological basis of psychology and self-cultivation in early Daoistic thought, it does show evidence of a conscious attempt to incorporate these theories into a political context, an attempt that links it to the Daoism of the Laozi and of the early Han historians. When it is considered together with “Xinshu shang,” we have a text that contains the three basic elements of Daoism as defined in the Shi ji: cosmology, psychology, and political thought.

By contrast, “Neiye” is almost exclusively concerned with cosmology and psychology. It is therefore “Daoistic,” according to our definition, but not yet “Daoist.” Its influence on both parts of the “Daoist” “Xinshu” is undeniable. By incorporating the psychology and cosmology of “Neiye” into a political context, the “Xinshu” texts mark a significant turning point in early Daoist history, the point where “Daoistic” becomes “Daoist.” All three Guanzi texts are part of a philosophical lineage that is related to both the Laozi and the “Syncretist” chapters of the Zhuangzi and leads directly to the Huainanzi. Future studies will no doubt demonstrate that the “Yellow Emperor” texts from Mawangdui are part of the same lineage. It is this lineage that the early Han historians call “Daoism.”

The Huainanzi

The themes thus far discussed in the three Guanzi texts are continued and greatly developed in the Huainanzi. The physiological basis of psychological experience is a constant concern in this text as part of its discussions of the theory and practice of self-cultivation. As in the two “Xinshu” texts, self-cultivation is presented in the context of enabling the ruler to govern effectively in accord with Laozi’s principle of wuwei and the related concepts of spontaneous response (ying), suitability (yi), adaptability (yin), and compliance with natural guidelines (xun li), all of which are found as well in the Shi ji description of the Daoist school of philosophy.

The Huainanzi has another characteristic of the Daoists mentioned in the Shi ji but seen only sporadically in the Guanzi texts; namely, it utilizes ideas from other pre-Han schools of thought. This is undoubtedly the principal reason why the Huainanzi has been traditionally overlooked as a major source of Daoist philosophy and why since the Han shu bibliography it has been classified as Eclectic (zajia 雜家).70 Because of this classification, it is only relatively recently that scholars have begun to appreciate its unifying aspects: that despite the presence of Confucian, Legalist, and other strands of thought, the dominant outlook in both cosmology and political theory remains Daoist. In light of the frequent (fifty-seven) quotations from the Laozi and the overall orientation toward minimalistic and naturalistic government by a Daoistically perfected ruler, it appears that the Huainanzi authors considered themselves the inheritors of the teachings and spirit of the Laozi. They ranged far and wide in pre-Han thought in their effort to adapt this teaching to the times and to provide the Daoist ruler with a compendium of knowledge about the nature of the cosmos and the human beings inhabiting it.

After the Laozi, the next most pervasive influence on the Huainanzi is the Yin-yang/Five Phases philosophy, which was supposedly systematized by Zou Yan, and which Joseph Needham calls “Naturalism.”71 In the Huainanzi, this philosophy appears for the first time in Chinese intellectual history as an all-encompassing paradigm for phenomenal change. As such, it is relevant to the complete spectrum of human endeavors.72

The Huainanzi is a work of twenty essays on a wide variety of topics from cosmology and astronomy to warfare and government. A twenty-first essay, most likely written by Liu An, the sponsor and editor of the text, provides a summary of the other essays and a rationale for their inclusion and arrangement. In addition to Liu An, history records the names of eight of the other authors. These came from a larger group of scholars and fang shi, whom Liu had assembled and supported at his court in Huainan beginning in about 150 BCE. Liu An presented the text to his nephew, Han Emperor Wu, in 139 BCE, seventeen years before Liu met his end (perhaps by his own hand) when Wudi sent a contingent of troops to Huainan to quell Liu An’s incipient rebellion.73

The Huainanzi is one of three known philosophical works written at Huainan: the “Inner Book,” as opposed to an “Outer Book” of thirty-three chapters lost since the Han, and a “Central Book” of eight chapters devoted to the techniques of inner alchemy, which is extant today only as fragments assembled into reconstituted redactions by a number of late Qing scholars.74 The presence of fang shi at Liu An’s court, along with the Huang-Lao philosophers who wrote the Huainanzi, is the first clearly documented historical evidence for interaction between the two groups most influential in the later rise of the Daoist religion. Needless to say, it is also possible that these two groups were in contact long before this time.

The physiological basis of psychology and self-cultivation is discussed throughout the Huainanzi, but it is given particular attention in the seventh essay, “Jingshen” 精神 (The Numinous Essence). Internal evidence suggests that the authors of the Huainanzi were aware of the three Guanzi texts analyzed above. In the twenty-first essay, “Yao lüe” 要略 (Summary of the Essentials), a “book of Guan Zhong” is mentioned. This indicates that at least one recension of the Guanzi had taken shape by the middle of the second century BCE, and that a copy was present at Huainan. Rickett affirms this likelihood as well.75

There are four specific references to the “techniques of the mind” (“Xinshu”) in the Huainanzi, and they occur in the context of discussions on the benefits to the ruler of possessing a cultivated mind. The first essay, “Yuan Dao” 原道 (Getting to the Source of the Way),76 explains that Xu Yu refused to accept Yao’s offer to govern because he believed it was first necessary to clarify what was within himself:77

The essentials of ruling the empire:

Do not lie in other things,

They lie in the self.

They do not lie in other men,

But in one’s own person.78

Once one finds one’s person, one will find all the myriad things therein.

Once one thoroughly understands the essay on the techniques of the mind, the desires, likes, and dislikes all become extraneous.79 (1.15a1)

This theme is continued in the fourteenth essay, “Quanyan” 詮言 (Inquiring Words):

Zhan He80 said: “I have never heard of a case in which one’s person was put in order and the state was chaotic …” When one gets to the source of the Decree of Heaven, orders the techniques of the mind, makes likes and dislikes conform to natural guidelines, and acts in accordance with one’s true conditions and nature, then the way of order (zhi dao 治道) is comprehended. When one gets to the source of the Decree of Heaven, then one is not deluded by bad or good fortune. When one orders the techniques of the mind, then one is not led astray by pleasure and anger.81 When one makes likes and dislikes conform to natural guidelines, then one does not desire what is useless. When one acts in accordance with one’s true conditions and nature, then desires do not exceed their appropriate limits. If one is not deluded by bad or good fortune, then in activity and in stillness one will conform to natural guidelines. If one is not led astray by pleasure and anger, then rewards and punishments will not affect one. If one does not desire what is useless, then one does not interfere with one’s nature by desire.82 If desires do not exceed their limits then one understands what is sufficient to nourish one’s nature. Of these four principles of action, do not seek them from outside and do not borrow them from others; return to the self and they will be attained.83 (14.2a2)

Two other references to the techniques of the mind occur in similar contexts in chapters 7 (7.11al) and 21 (21.4b2). Quite clearly, for the authors of the Huainanzi, the techniques of controlling the mind consist in relinquishing desires and making emotions conform to guidelines emerging from one’s inherent nature. In fact, this concept of human nature is one of the Huainanzi’s principal elaborations on the theories from the Guanzi texts. The other major development in the Huainanzi pertains more directly to the physiological basis of human experience and involves the term jingshen. These are both discussed below.

HUMAN NATURE

A series of interlocking ideas form the basis for theories of psychology and self-cultivation in the Huainanzi, and the most basic of these is the concept of human nature (xing 性). This is one of the central concerns of the Huainanzi, and despite the variety of topics in the half-dozen essays in which this concept is discussed in detail, there is a fairly consistent understanding in all of them.84 To the authors of the Huainanzi, as to earlier thinkers, this term referred not only to the basic abilities with which human beings are born, but also, as Graham points out, to the spontaneous tendencies of a living organism throughout its lifetime.85 This concept, so important in the Yangist and Confucian writings of the later Warring States period, is totally absent from the Laozi and most of the Zhuangzi.86 Yet it is one of the most critical ideas in the Huainanzi.

The development of this predominantly non-Daoist concept by the authors of the Huainanzi is undoubtedly related to the interest in human psychology in late-Qin and early Han Daoist circles that is attested to by the three Guanzi texts analyzed above. However, despite this interest, the Guanzi texts virtually ignore the concept of human nature. Because the Huainanzi does not ignore human nature, it represents a further level of development in this Daoist lineage of thought.

In the Huainanzi, the concept of human nature is intimately connected with two of its main themes—government and self-cultivation—as the following passage, which sounds like a Daoist version of the Daxue (“Great Learning”), shows:

Those who are able to be in possession of the empire certainly do not neglect their states. Those who are able to be in possession of their states certainly do not lose their families. Those who are able to regulate their families certainly do not neglect their persons. Those who are able to cultivate their persons certainly do not forget their minds. Those who are able to reach the source of their minds certainly do not impair their natures. Those who are able to keep their natures whole certainly have no doubts about the Dao.

Therefore Guang Chengzi said:87 “Diligently protect what is within you; fully prevent it from being externalized. Excessive knowledge is harmful. Do not look! Do not listen! Embrace the numen by being still and the body will be naturally aligned. There has never been anyone who was able to know the other without first grasping it in himself.” (14.2b7)

Thus for the ruler, the basis of effective government is found in self-cultivation, which itself involves keeping one’s inherent nature unimpaired and whole. Precisely why this is important stems from the basic characteristics of one’s nature:

Clarity and serenity constitute the nature of human beings. (18.1a4)

The nature of water is clear but soil muddies it.88 The nature of human beings is calm and still, but lusts and desires disrupt it … (2.10a8)

Human nature has no aberration. But when it is immersed in customs for a long time, it is replaced; and when it is replaced, man forgets his foundation and identifies with what seems to be his nature. Therefore the sun and moon desire radiance, but floating clouds cover them. Great rivers desire clarity, but sand and stones muddy them. Human nature desires equanimity (ping 平), but lusts and desires interfere with it. Only the sage can abandon external things and return to himself. (11.4a9)

Thus human nature is the serene and pure essence of one’s being; it is impaired by the passions and replaced by the various customs that are external to it. It is further conceived of as a dynamic essence that is extremely beneficial when actualized in one’s daily life:

To act in accord with one’s nature is called the Way. To grasp one’s heavenly nature is called the Power. When this nature is lost, only then is benevolence esteemed. When this Way is lost only then is rightness esteemed … Therefore when benevolence and rightness are established, the Way and the Power are exiled. (11.1a4)

If someone who has become lost sailing and does not know East from West sees the Pole Star, then he realizes his position. Our nature is the Pole Star of human beings. If one has the means to see it oneself, then one will not mistake the true condition of other things.89 But if one lacks the means to see it oneself, then in every move one will be deluded. If one follows desire and thus loses one’s nature, then one’s movements will never be properly aligned. If one regulates the self in this way, there will be danger; if one governs the state in this way, there will be chaos; if one directs the army in this way, there will be defeat. Therefore if one does not hear the Way, one is unable to return to one’s inherent nature. (11.4a11)

Therefore, the inherently serene and pure nature within human beings not only can, but must, be used as a basis for action in the phenomenal world. It serves as an inner guide in all of one’s interactions. For governing the state it is particularly important because it enables one to see the “true condition of other things” (wu zhi qing 物之情). The ninth and eleventh essays build on this idea to develop the governing technique of suitability, in which the ruler assigns tasks that are appropriate to the nature and talents of the individual. Only the ruler grounded in his own inherent nature is able to see clearly into the true nature of others. The self-cultivation of the ruler that enables this clarity of mind is discussed in the following:

Therefore in the perfect man’s way of ordering, the mind dwells together with the numen, and the physical form and nature are harmonized. In stillness, he embodies the Power; in movement, he flows freely with natural guidelines (tong li 通理). He follows his spontaneous nature (ziran zhi xing 自然之性) and goes along with inevitable transformations. Being clear, he takes no action (wu wei), and the empire is naturally harmonized. Being tranquil, he has no desires, and the people are naturally innocent (zi pu 自樸). (8.4b5)

This passage links the experience of stillness with the embodiment of the Power, which, as previously stated (11.1a4), means to realize one’s inherent nature. It also establishes that this nature is the basis for spontaneous action that fully accords with li, the natural guidelines or patterns present in any situation. This concept of li refers to those invisible and fundamental guidelines, or patterns, inherent in the cosmos that establish the boundaries for the development of phenomena and for their interaction with one another. It is another important idea in the Huainanzi. As chapter 21 states: “This book and its essays are the means by which we learn to flow freely with the various natural guidelines” (21/1a4–5). It is through their inherent nature that human beings are directly connected to these cosmic patterns. When human beings can ground their actions in this nature and thereby act spontaneously, they always act in accord with these patterns and hence in harmony with the cosmos. What we have here is a theory that provides a basis for the notions of non-action and spontaneity established in the Laozi and the “Inner Chapters” of Zhuangzi. It explains just why these concepts are valid and how they work. The effects on human experience of being grounded in one’s nature are dealt with in detail in passages such as these:

Stillness and quietude, and placidity and tranquility, are the means by which we nourish our nature. Harmony and serenity, and emptiness and nothingness, are the means by which we nourish the Power. When the external does not becloud the internal, then human nature will attain what is suitable to it. When one is tranquil, unmoving, and harmonious, then the Power secures its position.90 To nourish the nature and thereby rule in the world, and to embrace the Power and thereby last out one’s years, may be called embodying the Way.91 If you can act in this manner, the blood will flow without obstruction and the five orbs will not have excessive vital energy. Bad and good fortune will not confound you, and praise and blame cannot soil you. (2.11b8)

The sage relies on his mind: the multitude rely on their desires. The superior person manifests aligned vital energy; the inferior person manifests aberrant vital energy.92 That which inwardly goes along with one’s nature and outwardly accords with what is right, and which in its movements complies with natural guidelines and is not bound up in external things, this is the aligned vital energy. That which is stimulated by fragrances and tastes, excited by sound and color, evoked by pleasure and anger, and which if you are not careful leads to trouble, this is the aberrant vital energy. Aberrant and aligned vital energy injure one another; desire and nature interfere with one another. Both cannot be established together. When one flourishes, the other falls away. Therefore, the sage relinquishes desire and preserves his nature.93 (14. 7a10)

These selections establish a definite relationship between human nature and the vital energy that is the basis of human physiology. In the first, by nourishing one’s nature through stillness and tranquility, one establishes a proper flow of vital energy throughout one’s being. In the second, by spontaneously going along with this inner nature, one generates true vital energy and acts in a proper and suitable fashion. Thus the mechanism by which the spontaneous action that emerges from one’s inner nature and operates in harmony with the natural guidelines inherent in any given situation is conceived of as correctly aligned vital energy (zheng qi 正氣). These ideas are clearly related to those passages in the three Guanzi texts that discuss the benefits to one’s health and well-being gained by stilling the mind, circulating the vital energy, and accumulating the vital essence. In the Huainanzi, these ideas are tied together by the concept of a pure and tranquil inner nature, which spontaneously connects human beings to the natural guidelines governing the movements and interactions of all phenomena in the cosmos.

Another idea that is frequently repeated and echoes the Guanzi texts is that desires and emotions are harmful and interfere with the realization of the inner nature. For example:

Joy and anger are aberrations of the Way. Anxiety and grief are lapses of the Power. Likes and dislikes are excesses of the mind. Lusts and desires are the fetters of human nature. When a person is extremely angry, the Yin is damaged. When a person is extremely happy, the Yang collapses. Weak vital energy causes dumbness. Shock and fright bring about madness. When anxiety and grief abound, rage builds up. When preferences and annoyances abound, misfortunes follow one another.

Therefore when the mind does not grieve or rejoice, this is the perfection of the Power. When it is absorbed (tong 通) and does not alter, this is the perfection of stillness.94 When lusts and desires do not fill it up, this is the perfection of emptiness. When there is nothing liked or disliked, this is the perfection of equanimity. When it is not confused by external things, this is the perfection of purity.95 Those who are able to practice these five will be absorbed in the numinous light (shen ming). Those who are absorbed in the numinous light are those who actualize what is within them. (1.12b6)

In the practice of self-cultivation, when one attempts to develop stillness in order to become grounded in one’s pure nature, both emotions and desires are harmful. However, unlike the Guanzi, which advocates the complete elimination of both emotions and desires, the Huainanzi differentiates between the two. Whereas desires are not inherent in human nature and actually impair it, the emotions are harmful only when they are unnatural or excessive. Another essay speaks of emotions as being spontaneous:

Moreover joy and anger, and sadness and happiness, arise spontaneously when stimulated. Therefore the outburst of sobbing from the mouth and the outpouring of tears from the eyes are both things that build up on the inside and take shape on the outside. By way of illustration it is like water flowing downwards and smoke burning upwards … (11.5a6)

Now three years of mourning force a person to do what he cannot naturally do, and so he is using what is false to support what is genuine. But three months of mourning cut off grief and stifle one’s nature. The Confucians and Mohists have not sought the beginnings and ends of man’s true feelings but instead endeavor to practice restrictions that are mutually contradictory. (11.6a8)

To the extent that emotions represent a spontaneous response to a given situation, they are part of one’s nature. This passage makes clear that only when emotions are forced to be unnatural—by the unsuitable mourning rituals of the Confucians and Mohists, for example—do they actually go against human nature. Desires, by contrast, are always to be abjured. They never derive from one’s inherently pure nature and are not conducive to stillness. In an interesting way, this attitude echoes the first chapter of the “Doctrine of the Mean,” which speaks of both the mental equilibrium experienced before the arising of the emotions and the harmony experienced after they attain the appropriate degree of fulfillment. Both are aspects of following one’s inner nature, and they are paralleled by the concepts of inward stillness and the proper outward expression of emotion found in the Huainanzi.

The concept of human nature in the Huainanzi is thus a significant element in its theories of psychology and self-cultivation. The authors of the Huainanzi also explain in detail how mental tranquility, emotions, desires, and preferences develop and function according to the concepts of the vital energy, the vital essence, and the numen. This is discussed in the following section.

The Physiological Basis of Human Experience

Two of the central concepts in the Huainanzi’s presentation of the physiological basis of human experience are familiar to us already from the three Guanzi texts: the vital essence and the numen. To these the Huainanzi adds several concepts not seen in the Guanzi: the numinous essence (jing shen)—the purified, or essential, vital energy of the numen—and the five orbs of vital energy (wu zang 五臟), often translated as the “five organs,” or “five viscera.”96 The Huainanzi’s use of these new ideas often parallels that of the earliest Chinese medical texts, the Huangdi nei jing su wen黃帝內經素問 and Huangdi nei jing ling shu 黃帝內經靈樞, which may have been taking shape when the Huainanzi was being written.

THE VITAL ESSENCE

The concept of the vital essence is similar in the Huainanzi and the three Guanzi texts, but it receives less emphasis in the Huainanzi. In most psychological contexts, it has been replaced by the concept of the “numinous essence” (jingshen). In the Huainanzi, the vital essence is also a concentrated or essential form of the vital energy, and it is found outside the human organism as well as within it, as described in the following passage. (Note that the numinous essence, by contrast, is never naturally found outside of human beings.)

The combined vital essences of Heaven and Earth become the Yin and the Yang. The concentrated vital essences of the Yin and the Yang become the four seasons. The dispersed vital essences of the four seasons become the myriad things … (3.1a8)

Elsewhere the vital essence appears to be the medium through which sound travels and is recognized (16.1b5), the medium through which a ruler’s intention to attack a city is sensed by animals living in it (20.8b3), and the medium through which the aura of the self-cultivated ruler is sensed by his subjects, and which is more effective in governing them than punishments and executions (9.2b3). The operant principle in these usages seems to be the Naturalist concept of gan ying 感應, often translated as “resonance,” by which a thing, when stimulated, spontaneously responds according to the natural guidelines of the particular phases of vital energy engendered in itself and active in the situation. The vital energy is the medium through which this mechanism functions.

When the vital essence occurs within the human organism, it is invariably associated with the numen and its activities:

Therefore the mind is the ruler of the physical form and the numen is the treasure of the mind.

When the physical form toils without rest, it will collapse.

When the vital essence is used incessantly, it will be exhausted.

Hence the sage values and exalts it,

And does not permit it to rush out. (7.4b5)

When the vital essence flows into the eyes, then vision is clear. When it resides in the ears, then hearing is acute. When it rests in the mouth, then speech is appropriate. When it is collected in the mind, then thinking comprehends. Therefore block these four gateways. Then throughout one’s entire life there will be no suffering and the hundred joints will not be sickly, die, be born, be empty, or be full. We call this a “true person.”97 (8.8a1)

The vital essence is responsible for various kinds of acute perception and clear cognition, but can be overused and thereby exhausted. Its relationship to cognition is what links it to the numen, which in the Huainanzi is ultimately responsible for cognition. Perhaps in keeping with the usages above, it serves as a medium for the transfer of information between outside and inside, but the text does not clearly state this. The vital essence is gradually used up by perception and cognition and is conceived of as flowing out of the body during these activities. It is preserved by “blocking the gateways,” which I assume refers to the less strenuous forms of sensory deprivation associated with sitting in silence while being engaged in breath-control meditation. During the periods of meditation, sensory stimuli are reduced to a minimum, thus preventing the egress of the vital essence. In contexts such as these throughout the Huainanzi, the more common term found is jingshen, the numinous essence, and there is reason to believe that in these passages jing also means jingshen, as explained below.

THE NUMEN

The shen, or numen, is the dominant idea in the psychological theories of the Huainanzi, where it receives a fuller treatment than in any other text known up to that time. In the Huainanzi, shen is something ultimately unfathomable, and the authors were probably aware of the basic definition in the Xici zhuan 繫辭傳 of the Yi jing 易經, that the numen is beyond the reach of Yin and Yang (Yinyang bu ce zhi wei shen 陰陽不測之謂神), which are the two most fundamental aspects of the Dao (yi yin yi yang zhi wei Dao 一陰一陽之謂道).98 Just as in the Guanzi texts, the numen is repeatedly associated with metaphysical knowledge, especially knowledge of the future, and this kind and means of knowledge are often referred to by the term shen ming, “numinous light,” the closest English equivalent for which might be “intuition.” It is this numen that must be guarded and preserved, for it is both involved in all forms of mystical experience and the foundation of normal daily cognition. Therefore, the self-cultivation advocated by the authors of the Huainanzi is referred to as yang shen 養神, “nourishing the numen.” This technique basically involves the same prescriptions as those in the Guanzi texts, namely attaining the psychological states of calm and stillness by relinquishing thoughts, emotions, and desires—the same practices referred to above as yang xing 養性, “nourishing the nature.”99 In fact, these are linked together in the following passages:

The highest man puts his person in order by nourishing the numen. The next highest nourishes the physical form.

When the numen is clear,

The attention (zhi 志) is in equilibrium,

And the hundred joints are all in repose,

This is the foundation for nourishing the nature. (20.8b11)

Therefore one who does not hear about the Way will have no means to return to his nature. The sage-kings of old were able to attain it within themselves. Consequently, their decrees were effective, their prohibitions worked, their fame was passed on to later generations, and their Power spread throughout the four seas. Therefore, whenever one is about to undertake a task, one must first put one’s awareness in equilibrium and clarify the numen. When the numen is clear and awareness is in equilibrium, things can be properly aligned [with natural guidelines]. (11.4b4)

In this and other passages, nourishing or returning to one’s nature involves purifying the numen. Furthermore, just as one’s inherent nature can be impaired by thoughts, desires, and emotions, so too can the numen:

When the numen is injured by pleasure and anger, thought and worry, it becomes exhausted, but the physical form remains. (2.2b10)

The nature of water is clear, but soil muddies it.100 The nature of man is calm and still, but lusts and desires disrupt it … When the numen is clear, lusts and desires cannot disrupt it. (2.10a8, 10b5)

To the authors of the Huainanzi, the numen is the locus of the inherent tranquility of human nature. When cultivated or preserved, it can serve as the “pole star” that guides human cognition and actions to accord spontaneously with natural guidelines. The Huainanzi details how this happens by indicating the critical role the numen plays in the process of cognition:

That which is still from man’s birth is his heavenly nature. Movement only after it is stimulated causes this nature to be impaired. When external things arrive and the numen responds, this is the activity of perception. When perception comes in contact with external things, preferences arise from that. When preferences are formed, perception is enticed by externals, one cannot return to the self, and the natural guidelines (tianli 天理) are destroyed. Therefore those who penetrate the Dao do not use the human to replace the natural. They outwardly transform together with things and inwardly do not lose their true state. (1.5a6)

So it is the response of the numen, the inherently tranquil aspect of human nature, to external things that brings about the process of perception, which, if not beclouded by preferences, occurs according to natural guidelines. The numen does not itself perceive, because it resides outside the energetic systems of the human organism. Its role is rather different:

Now why is it that people can see clearly and hear acutely; that the weight of the body can be supported, and that the hundred joints can be bent and stretched; that one’s discrimination can determine white from black and discern ugliness from beauty; and that perception can differentiate similarities and differences and distinguish this from that? Because the vital energy infuses these activities and the numen directs them. (1.17a1)

So the basic human experiences of perception and cognition are guided or coordinated by the numen, as another line also states: “The physical form is the abode of life; the vital energy is what uses life; and the numen is what organizes life” (1.16b6).

The role of the numen in cognition is elaborated on in the following passage:

If someone’s attention is lodged in something and his numen is consequently tied up in it, then even if he stumbles over tree roots or bumps into tree limbs when taking a walk, he remains unaware of what has happened.101 If you wave to him, he cannot see you; if you call to him, he cannot hear you. It is not that his eyes and ears have left him.102 Why, then, can he not respond? It is because his numen has lost its hold. Therefore, when it is lodged in the small, it forgets the great; when it is lodged in the inside, it forgets the outside; when it is lodged in the upper, it forgets the lower; when it is lodged in the left, it forgets the right. When there is nowhere it does not infuse, there is nothing in which it does not lodge. Therefore those who value emptiness take the tip of an autumn hair as their mansion. (1.17a3)

In this passage, the numen has “lost its hold”—presumably its ability to organize and coordinate the cognition of the whole environment in which the person is operating—when the attention becomes occupied with any one element of this environment to the exclusion of the others. This also happens when emotions and desire cloud the mind. Thus emptying the mind and restoring balance or equilibrium to one’s attention help to clarify the numen. The numen is thus closely related to awareness but is not the specific awareness of any one thing. Rather, it is more the element, or principle, of pure consciousness that runs through all awareness, as the following passage indicates:

The numen is the fount of knowledge. When the numen is clear, knowledge is illumined.103 Knowledge is the storehouse of the mind. When knowledge is impartial, the mind is composed. Men never mirror themselves in surging floodwaters; they mirror themselves in still water, because it is tranquil …104 When the mirror is bright, dust cannot sully it. When the numen is clear, desire cannot disrupt it. (2.10a11, 10b5–6)

The mirror-like clarity of the numen is the basis of illumined knowledge and full cognition. Other passages state that it is “easy to make murky but difficult to make clear” (2.12a12) and that wine is one of the things that makes it murky (13.19a9). So the numen is the element of consciousness at the basis of all normal awareness; it is also an agent, or force, responsible for coordinating the various systems of vital energy in the human organism. These systems, in turn, are the physiological basis of human cognition and knowledge. But if this numen is intrinsically pure—and ultimately outside the energetic configurations of the human being—then how can it coordinate them? An answer can be found in some material from the one essay in the Huainanzi that contains a highly specific analysis of the physiological basis of human experience: jing shen.

To the authors of the Huainanzi, the transcendent numen accomplishes its various activities through the medium of its vital essence, which is called jing shen, “numen-as-vital essence,” or “numinous essence.” In his classic work on Chinese medical theory, Manfred Porkert explains what happens to the concept of shen when combined with the word jing:

From the basic definition of shen in the Xi ci, “Something the polarity of which cannot be determined …” it is always inferred that shen by itself is not only inexhaustible but also unfathomable and undefinable. In spite of this to speak of the manifestation of shen is to imply what elsewhere is explicitly stated: the simultaneous presence of a structive complement to shen, either structive capacity (ling 靈) or structive potential (jing 精), in combination with which shen may concretely manifest itself.105

The numinous essence is thus the concrete manifestation of the numen. The concept of numinous essence walks the fine line between mind and body. The numen is sentient; the vital essence is not. So what is the numinous essence? For the authors of the Huainanzi, it is simply the actual stuff that constitutes the numen, its physiological basis. It is what enables the numen to interact with all the energetic systems of the human organism. The numinous essence might be thought of as the interface between the sentient and insentient, or the psychological and the physical. It is a blend of both aspects and thus appropriate for a worldview that did not strongly value such boundaries. Let us examine the mechanism by which the human organism functions, as presented in the Jing shen essay.

THE NUMINOUS ESSENCE

The numinous essence, which is received from Heaven, is ultimately responsible for coordinating the flow of vital energy through the five orbs. The Jingshen essay discusses the development and birth of the human being, at which time the five orbs begin to function. The flow of the vital energy within each orb governs the activity of a specific sense organ. The pulmonary orb governs the eyes, the renal controls the nose, and so on (gallic mouth; hepatic-ears; spleen-tongue). The orbs interact with one another in a complementary manner, and each has its conduits and connections through which flow the two aspects of the vital energy: the material aspect (xue 血, often translated as “blood”) and the ethereal (qi). The coordination of all five orbs is accomplished by the mind (7.2a5). After discussing the parallels between the heavenly macrocosm and the human microcosm, the text presents a model of the healthy functioning of the entire organism:

For this reason, when the material and ethereal forms of vital energy106 can be concentrated in the five orbs and do not rush outward, then the chest and the abdomen will be full and lusts and desires will be removed. When the chest and abdomen are full and lusts and desires are removed, then the ears and eyes are clear and hearing and vision are acute. When the eyes and ears are clear and hearing and vision are acute, then we call it clarity (ming).

When the five orbs can be coordinated within the mind and their flow is not reversed, then mental fluctuations are conquered and the flow of vital energy is not misaligned.107 When mental fluctuations are conquered and the flow of vital energy is not misaligned, then the numinous essence is abundant and the vital energy is not dispersed. When the numinous essence is abundant and the vital energy is not dispersed, then the organism functions according to natural guidelines. When the organism functions according to natural guidelines, then the mind is unperturbed. When it is unperturbed, it is absorbed (tong). When it is absorbed, it is numinous. When it is numinous, there is nothing that vision does not see,108 nothing that listening does not hear, and nothing that action does not accomplish. For this reason, worries and misfortunes cannot enter and the aberrant vital energy cannot intrude. (7.2b1)

The five orbs are coordinated in the mind. The numen, located in the mind, coordinates the activities of the five orbs through the medium of the numinous essence. Therefore, in the passage quoted above (8.8a1), the vital essence, which circulates to the senses and results in perceptual acuity, must be the vital essence of the numen, in other words, the numinous essence.

The text then details the disruption of the harmonious functioning of the human organism, which occurs through overstimulation of the senses. This causes the five orbs to oscillate and the numinous essence to rush out through the nine apertures. One will then have no way to know good or bad fortune in advance (7.2b10). But when the preferences and desires that cause this externalization of vital energy and numinous essence are removed, one becomes still and serene, the numinous essence is preserved, and one can “contemplate the antecedents of the past and observe the aftermath of the future” (7.3a4). Herein is the basis of the metaphysical knowledge that is associated with the numen throughout this work and in the Guanzi texts as well. This knowledge transcends space and time, just as the numen is the pure core of consciousness that transcends its differentiations. In another essay, the experience of transcendence is linked to man’s inherent nature:

For this reason those who have gotten through to the Dao return to clarity and stillness. Those who have thoroughly seen through all things end in Non-action. To use calmness to nourish one’s nature, to use serenity to stabilize one’s numen, is to enter the Gateway of Heaven. That which is called Heaven is pure, simple, whole, and luminous. It has never had any impurities. (1.7b6)

Thus, by nourishing one’s nature and stabilizing one’s numen, one becomes unified with Heaven and ultimately with the Dao. This is only one of many passages in the Huainanzi that links the numen with both metaphysical knowledge and the mystical experience of self-transcendence. The Huainanzi does not often talk directly of techniques to accomplish these mystical experiences, other than recommending the attainment of stillness and the stabilization of the numen, but in several passages it does suggest a form of breath-control meditation:

Now Wang Qiao and Chi Songzi109 puffed out and sucked in, exhaled the old and inhaled the new. They left their bodies behind, cast aside knowledge, embraced simplicity, and returned to the genuine. And so they roamed in the profound subtleties of the universe and had free access to the cloudy sky above. If you now wish to study their Way but do not understand their methods of nourishing the vital energy and stabilizing the numen, and simply imitate their exhaling and inhaling, sometimes bending, sometimes stretching, then clearly you will not be able to ride the clouds and ascend into the distance. (11.8b11)

This passage criticizes those who simply imitate without really understanding these two techniques of famous Immortals. It is similar to the criticism of those who practice Daoist gymnastics in the Jing shen essay (7.6a10), and who nourish the body but not the nature and the numen. Thus specific methods of breath-control meditation were known to the authors of the Huainanzi and were undoubtedly included in their “Daoist arts.” It is worth noting here too that such techniques were associated not just with longevity, but with immortality. This could indicate a relationship between these techniques and the fang shi, the esoteric masters who were present at Liu An’s court and who were pursuing immortality at this time.

Conclusions

The theories in the Huainanzi concerning the physiological basis of psychology and self-cultivation are derived, at least in part, from analogous theories in the three texts of the Guanzi. There are most certainly some differences between these two sources. To begin with, the concept of the vital essence from the earliest of the Guanzi texts, “Neiye,” is much less important in the Huainanzi, where it is largely supplanted in psychological contexts by the numinous essence. Correspondingly, the concept of the numen is much more fully elaborated in the Huainanzi, as is the entire “phase energetic” basis of human experience. Furthermore, the detail with which the Huainanzi discusses the concept of human nature, as well as the entirety of human physiology, was unprecedented in the non-technical literature before that time. Nonetheless, the general orientation of the Guanzi texts to the theory and practice of self-cultivation is continued in the Huainanzi.

The three texts from the Guanzi and the Huainanzi clearly demonstrate that theories of the physiological basis of human experience were present both in China from at least the fourth century BCE and in the tradition of philosophical Daoism from its inception. And at least from the time of the Laozi, they were placed alongside Daoist methods of government. It is simply not accurate to define Daoist philosophy exclusively in terms of “Lao-Zhuang” and to argue over whether it is mystical or political. We have for too long been misled by the weight of tradition.

Rather, the evidence of the sources discussed above shows that Daoist philosophy—the “Huang-Lao” of the Han historians, not the “Lao-Zhuang” of the Wei and Jin literati—embraced both self-cultivation and politics into one coherent system based upon a cosmology of the Dao. And further, early Daoist theories of self-cultivation were grounded in the physiology of human experience. These theories do not represent some alien element injected into Daoism during a supposed corruption in the Han. They were there from the outset. Thus, in addition to the cosmological and the political, there is a psychological, or psychophysiological, element that can be seen in philosophical Daoism when we move beyond the boundaries of “Lao-Zhuang.” This psychophysiological element clearly continues into the Daoist religion in the form of the various techniques of self-cultivation based upon the numen, the vital essence, and the vital energy. Other research has already pointed to close philosophical parallels between the sources discussed in this study and the Syncretist Zhuangzi, and has begun to link these works with the “Yellow Emperor” texts from Mawangdui. Their possible relationship to the early physical cultivation literature from Mawangdui and to the Huangdi neijing must also be explored. Such future research holds the promise of clarifying our understanding of early Daoist history and of finally demonstrating the continuity in the Daoist tradition.

I wish to express my gratitude to Angus Graham and Robin Yates for their careful reading and searching criticisms of earlier versions of this manuscript. I wish also to thank Margaret Taylor for her most helpful editorial suggestions.