The poet sets out ways for the ruler to engage in meditation. He is to let the world be, and in this way alone can he truly govern it. The earthy soul is that aspect of a person that sinks into the ground at death. In meditation the Sage carries it, as it were, on his head. Concentrating qi to its weakest: the image here is masculine: qi is the force that flows through the body and the world, but it is also the male seed, and the idea here is that the penis is small like that of a baby boy. The birth of a male child represents the rise of yang. Opening and closing: here the image is female: the gate clearly being a reference to the entrance to the womb.
Supporting the earthy soul, hugging the One, can you ensure they are not lost?
Concentrating qi to its weakest, can you be a baby boy?
Washing and cleaning the dark mirror, can you make it without stain?
Loving people and giving life to the state,* can you do it without knowledge?
Opening and closing heaven’s gate, can you do it like a woman?
Discerning to the four directions, can you do it without knowledge?
She generates them; nourishes them;*
She generates yet does not own them;
She quickens yet does not possess them;
She stewards yet does not master them.
She is called ‘abstruse life force’.*