Reflections on The Nei-Yeh (内業) - Chapter One

1.       凡物之精            The vital essence of all things:

2.       此則為生。       It is this that brings them to life.

3.       下生五穀            It generates the five grains below

4.       上為列星。       And becomes the constellated stars above.

5.       流天地間必       When flowing amid the heavens and the earth

6.       謂之鬼神            We call it ghostly and numinous.

7.       藏於胸中，       When stored in the chest of human beings,

8.       謂之聖人。       We call them sages.

Chapter 1 of 26 in a collection of philosophical verses entitled Nei-Yeh (内業) or “inward training.”   These are referred to as essential teachings dated to about the middle of the fourth century BCE.   According to AC Graham and Harold Roth this is possibly the oldest mythical text in China and the earliest extant presentation of a mythical text in China. The above translation is from The Original Tao - Inward Training (Nei-yeh) and the Foundations of Taoist Mysticism, Harold D. Roth, Columbia University Press.

It is not my proper place to write these reflections from the perspective of a Classical Chinese translator or scholar.  For I am a layman and have chosen a certain style of freedom and latitude in my approach to ancient texts like these.  From what I have gathered people from 500 BCE China were more imaginative and symbolic in their thinking than modern mankind and thus more likely to perceive reality and communicate in symbolic terms in addition to the literal or linear written language as it has evolved and we read today.  There is a sound, a rhythm and a spirit to these words which must have made the verses easy to remember when you were doing ordinary chores like washing the steps at the monastery or peeling potatoes.  It makes sense to me then to read and understand these texts from a mythopoetic and spiritual basis.  The Nei-Yeh (内業) historically does appear to be a training meditation/cultivation manual of sorts.  I return to its simple yet profound passages often, especially when I am feeling out of sorts, confused or just plain overwhelmed with life.  Or when I feel serious and need to take matters at hand to a deeper level of understanding. 

I view these verses as specific sequences of words and images much like a dream.  They tell a story in a dream-type language which communicates in images, color, number, tone, texture and energy. In Western dream interpretation the basic method is to recall the dream images and then to write down or draw and share our associations.  There is no right or wrong in this process but rather we look at what arises in consciousness.  What does each image bring up for us at this moment of time?  What is it that psyche is trying to convey?  Starting with Chapter 1 there are some images which have captured my imagination.

The opening concept of vital essence 精 jing in Line 1 has always intrigued me.  What is jing exactly and where does it come from?  My latest understanding is that it arises from the Dao and then transforms into Qi which transforms into Xiang or an image which then transforms into the Xing and Qi of body structure and form.   道氣象形器  Dao > Qi > Xiang > Xing > Qi.  精 Jing appears to travel the spectrum from the spiritual and spirits that are emanations of the stars, trees, and rocks etc., to energy that nourishes life and the human body and manifests materially as semen, menstrual fluid, vital seedlings etc.  This vital essence manifests and creates life 生 sheng.  It implies that the universe is a myriad of structures to hold the vital essence.  Animate and inanimate structures.  Stretching from “5 grains below”, which feels very grounded and Earthy to me, to the constellations above, Heaven.  To pause here, for myself just this one thought is very comforting and shows where to place my attention and priorities in life.  It is an original instruction, a reminder, to connect to my life essence.  If I am in the monastery making congee or washing the temple floors, if I am a farmer tilling my field for next year’s potatoes, perhaps I’m at Costco contemplating the purchase of an extremely large bag of corn chips, I often recall this first simple line.  It brings me back to center.  No matter how mundane my life may seem at any moment in time this first line seems to invoke a divine spark.  It creates a lightness in mind and body because it provides a compass direction to re-connect with the source.  When we hear J.S. Bach or a great Indian Ragi playing raag we hear this same divine connection in the raw beauty of the music for their training is to play each note as if connected to the divine or, in Classical Chinese terminology, the Dao.  If in each of my footsteps I connect, if in each breath I connect, if with each thought and feeling I connect then I have found a natural way forward.

I like where this is going and it ends on a nice note…  “When stored in the chest of human beings, we call them sages.”  This brings to mind 精气神(氣) Jing Qi Shen.  精 Jing the vital essence stored in the lower dantian, three fingers beneath the umbilicus, representing Earth and our animal nature.  氣 Qi- the vital essence is stored in the heart, the middle dantian, the heart center, our Human nature.  神 Shen- the vital essence stored in the upper dantian of mind, third eye, pituitary and pineal, our Heavenly nature.  Line 7 of this chapter specifically states “chest” and I would imagine this to mean the middle dantian and the heart.  These inward trainings have given priority to the heart as center as the imperial or the highest seat or perhaps this is just a focal point?  As such Chapter 1 and the 25 to follow are an inward training manual on how understand our Earthly and Heavenly natures and to cultivate a more fully realized human experience. This inward training teaches me to be in touch with my Earthy animal nature and regulate it in my abdomen; they inspire me to reach for the sun, moon and Big Dipper in hopes of catching a bit of my Heavenly nature.  On how to hold the vital essence in my heart and body and let the animated universe flow through me. This text is sympathetic to Chan Buddhist “ancestral practices” where we can see the similarity in the method.  Sit straight, listen to the inhale, listen to the exhale of each breath with both ears.  Close the eyelids down and stare inwards into your heart; let all past and future thoughts flow through the heart until a certain silence and emptiness arrives, a feeling of non-separation.   A unity and clarity of consciousness, a center.  We call them sages.