Nei Yeh

Yup, makes sense to me. Thanks for the clarification.

Nei Yeh (Inner Training), P.101-103, “The Philosophical Foundations of Inner Training”

I agree with what the author says here, but find that there is something missing in his explanation, and also problems due to language and translation.

A large part of the issue is that the Author takes a “philosophical” approach, Whereas I tend to view things as a practitioner.

Western authors tend to confuse the term “Xin” as mind, whereas I think it really refers to the consciousness of the heart, more clearly, the “heart-mind”, or “body-mind”, the consciousness of the five shen (see discussion below).

The author translates “Vital Jing” as “Vital essence”…essence has the connotation in the english language of being a refined and concentrated substance, whereas Jing has the connotation of being a thick and fluid form of energy with regenerative qualities that support the physical form.

He also translates “Tao” as the Way (the path, the only way? destiny, or fate? The flowing unfoldment? this is unclear), that could mean many things, I would therefore translate Tao as The Great Process with connotations of consciousness to it, but ultimately unknowable.

Note that the author does confirm that “Most important for Inner Training, when we can store it within our Heart Mind, we become sages”.

P.101-102:
Harold Roth tends to mix up the terms vital energy and vital essence, or at least always see the essence as the progenitor of the energy, a one-way transformation, and not a two-way process. This is apparent in this quote: “The vital essence, it is the essence of the vital energy”(P.101)…he draws the conclusion that jing gives birth to qi, and so starts inserting that view into places where it is not present: “Therefore this [form of] vital energy [that is, the vital essence] is…”(P.102), then goes on to say “as a cosmic power or force, the vital essence resembles the very Way itself”, which of course is true if one takes a holographic view of the universe, that each particle contains the entirety of the whole, but I would say that it is the interaction between the jing-qi-shen that really resembles the Great Process, the entirety of the process of transformation.

P.103 (Roth):
“Although constantly moving in and out of the mind, the Way can come to abide within it when one cultivates tranquility (quiet, calm, peace) through the regular and systematic practice of breathing meditation. Though beyond dualistic concepts and pronouncements, it can be apprehended directly within this cultivated, or “excellent” mind. These passages do not suggest that the Way is sometimes present within human beings and at other times absent. Rather the way is always present. However, the awareness of this presence enters the human mind only when it is properly cultivated. This emphasis on the potential of people to experience the Way is also paralleled in how Inner Training discusses the Vital Essence…”

Lets see how much the connotations change when a few words are substituted:
(Roth)
“Although constantly moving in and out of the Heart-mind, the Great Process can come to abide within it when one cultivates quiet, calm and peace through the regular and systematic practice of breathing meditation. Though beyond dualistic concepts and pronouncements, it can be apprehended directly within this cultivated, or “excellent” Heart-mind. These passages do not suggest that the Great Process is sometimes present within human beings and at other times absent. Rather the Great Process is always present. However, the awareness of this presence enters the human Heart-mind only when it is properly cultivated. This emphasis on the potential of people to experience the Great Process is also paralleled in how Inner Training discusses the Vital Jing…”

You can see how much the meaning is altered when a few words more familiar to practitioners (rather than scholars) are changed. Let me give a few thoughts on this paragraph:

Breathing meditation? this is suggested within the text, but from the perspective of a practitioner, there is more to it than that that the author has already commented on (storing the shen within the jing).
I would replace “apprehended” with “realized”.
I would also clarify that it is not only the “awareness” of the Great Process entering the Heart-mind, but that the human Heart-mind becomes a microcosm of the Great Process itself, embodying the Process from within the human Heart-mind.

Wow, I think my next profession should be as a daoist scholar.

1. The vital jing of all things:
2. It is this that brings them to life.
3. It generates the five grains below
4. And becomes the constellated stars above.
5. When flowing amid the heavens and the earth
6. We call it ghostly and spirit (shen).
7. When stored within the chests of human beings,
8. We call them sages.

My own paraphrase:

“”Vital Jing gives birth to all form
From the stars above
to the five grains below.
When it flows between Heaven and Earth
We call spirit.
When it is stored in the center of humans,
we call them sages.”

As per your suggestion that “Zhong” refers to movement, thoroughfare as well as middle and center, or “chest” as the author translates it, this produces an interesting combination:

“When shen is stored in the central moving thoroughfare of humans, we call them sages.”

Channel: the course traveled by a body of water
Zhong: center, middle, moving, thoroughfare (a channel!!!)

Humans are already in form, we are birthed from Jing – so for Shen to be stored in their center, it copuld mean that the shen is stored, mergecd and integrated within the Jing.
By saying “when” the Shen is stored within the Jing (form), we call that human a sage, it implies that Shen is NOT ALWAYS stored within the Jing, otherwise we would call all humans sages. We only call humans sages when they do have Shen stored within their center.

Wow, maybe I’ll write a commentary on the Nei Yeh.

“Inner Training”

This title implies that some sort of practice or cultivation is taking place, so the purpose of the book (Nei Yeh – Inner Training) is to teach someone how to cultivate themselves inwardly.

Is the purpose or method of the text to cultivate AWARENESS of the Great Process of Tao, or is it to cultivate Jing, Qi and Shen (a resonant microcosm of the great process)?

It is true I feel, that we are change. Thus Alchemy is only speeding what is. What is the process of change? For that is our process. Yin Yang is a child of us and we are a child of Yin Yang. May your prodigal children come home to rest. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_Prodigal_Son