內業

The vital essence of all things — this is what generates life. Below it generates the five grains; above it forms the arrayed stars. Flowing between heaven and earth, we call it spirits and gods; stored within the breast, we call it sagehood. The qi of the people is brilliant as if ascending to heaven, dark as if entering an abyss, vast as if encompassing the sea, and sudden as if present in oneself. This qi cannot be stopped by force but can be settled through virtue; it cannot be summoned by voice but can be welcomed through inner harmony. Guard it reverently and do not lose it — this is called the completion of virtue. When virtue is complete, wisdom emerges, and all things are truly attained.

The form of the heart-mind is such that it fills itself, generates itself, and completes itself. What causes it to be lost is invariably worry, pleasure, joy, anger, desire, and profit. If you can remove worry, pleasure, joy, anger, desire, and profit, the heart-mind returns to wholeness. The true nature of the heart-mind benefits from tranquility and peace. Do not agitate it, do not disorder it, and harmony will come of itself.

The Way — the mouth cannot speak it, the eye cannot see it, the ear cannot hear it. It is that by which one cultivates the heart-mind and rectifies the body. What people lose and thereby die, what they gain and thereby live; what affairs lose and thereby fail, what they gain and thereby succeed. The Way has no root, no stem, no leaves, no blossoms. All things are generated through it, all things are completed through it — we call it the Way.

Heaven governs rectitude, earth governs levelness, and humanity governs tranquil stillness. Spring, autumn, winter, and summer are heaven's seasons; mountains, hills, rivers, and valleys are earth's resources; joy, anger, taking, and giving are humanity's deliberations. The sage changes with the seasons without being transformed, follows things without being displaced. Only when one can be rectified and still can one then be settled. When the settled heart-mind resides at the center, the ears and eyes become keen, the four limbs become strong — the body can become a dwelling place for vital essence.

Concentrate your qi as though you were a spirit, and all things will be fully present. Can you concentrate? Can you unify? Can you know fortune and misfortune without divination? Can you stop? Can you cease? Can you attain it within yourself without seeking it from others? Ponder it, ponder it, and ponder it again. If pondering does not make it clear, the spirits themselves will make it clear — not through the power of spirits, but through the utmost refinement of vital essence.

The Way fills all under heaven and is present everywhere among the people, yet the people cannot perceive it. With a single word of understanding, one can examine heaven above and fathom earth below, pervading the nine regions. What is meant by 'understanding it'? It lies in the heart-mind's tranquility. When my heart-mind is governed, the senses are governed; when my heart-mind is tranquil, the senses are tranquil. What governs is the heart-mind; what brings tranquility is the heart-mind. The heart-mind contains a heart within it — within the heart-mind there is yet another heart-mind. That innermost heart-mind: its sound precedes speech. Sound precedes form, form precedes speech, speech precedes action, action precedes governance. Without governance there is inevitably disorder, and disorder leads to death.