Chapter Eleven: "When the Four Limbs Are Aligned and the Blood-Qi Is Calm, When Intent Is Unified and the Heart Concentrated, When Ears and Eyes Do Not Wander -- Then Even the Distant Seems Near." -- The Concrete Practice of Cultivation

I. The Sequence of Practice in Five Phrases

These five short phrases describe a complete process of cultivation:

"The four limbs are aligned" -- the body is upright.

"Four limbs" (si ti) literally means the four extremities, here standing for the entire body. "Aligned" (zheng) means upright, straight. The first step in cultivation is to straighten the body -- sit upright, stand straight, with no slouching or laxity.

Why begin with the body$43 Because body and mind are one; the state of the body directly affects the state of heart-qi. If the body is crooked, the channels of qi are blocked; if the body is slack, the spirit is listless. Aligning the body is the prerequisite for aligning heart-qi.

The Lunyu, "Xiang Dang" (In His Village), records the Master's daily posture: "He did not sleep like a corpse; at home he did not sit stiffly." And: "If the mat was not straight, he would not sit on it." The Master's attention to bodily posture reflects the value pre-Qin culture placed on physical uprightness.

"The blood-qi is calm" -- the qi and blood are at rest.

Once the body is aligned, the blood-qi gradually settles. "Blood-qi" (xue qi) in pre-Qin thought is the vital energy at the bodily level, in contrast to "vital essence" (jing qi), which is vital energy at the subtle level.

Calm blood-qi means the body is no longer agitated or tense. Breathing is even, the heartbeat steady, the muscles relaxed -- these are the bodily conditions for entering deep cultivation.

The Lunyu, "Ji Shi," records the Master saying: "In youth, when blood-qi is not yet settled, one should guard against lust; in one's prime, when blood-qi is full and vigorous, one should guard against combativeness; in old age, when blood-qi is already waning, one should guard against acquisitiveness." Blood-qi has different states -- unsettled, vigorous, waning. The cultivator must bring blood-qi to a state of "calm," which differs from these three natural states in being actively achieved through cultivation.

"Intent is unified and the heart concentrated" -- will and heart-mind are gathered as one.

"Unified intent" (yi yi) means the will is single-pointed. "Concentrated heart" (tuan xin) means the heart-mind is gathered and condensed. The earlier discussion treated "concentrating qi" (tuan qi); here, "concentrating the heart" goes further -- not only must qi be gathered, but the heart-mind as well.

The gathering of qi operates at the physiological level; the gathering of the heart-mind operates at the psychological level. When both are unified -- "intent unified and heart concentrated" -- that is true concentration.

This answers the first and second of the Six Questions -- "Can you concentrate$44" and "Can you be one$45" "Intent unified and heart concentrated" is the concrete practice of "both concentrating and being one."

"Ears and eyes do not wander" -- the senses are not let loose.

Yin here means excess, dissipation. "Ears and eyes do not wander" means that the ears and eyes do not chase after external stimuli -- they are not drawn away by external sounds and sights.

Why mention ears and eyes specifically$46 Because they are the primary channels through which external information enters and the principal routes by which the heart-mind is disturbed by the outer world. When ears and eyes do not wander, external stimuli cannot invade the inner heart; when they do not invade, the heart can abide in unity.

Chapter 12 of the Laozi -- "The five colors blind the eye; the five tones deafen the ear" -- is precisely a warning about this.

"Even the distant seems near" -- cognition transcending distance.

When the body is aligned, blood-qi calm, intent and heart unified, and the senses gathered in, the cultivator reaches a cognitive state in which "even the distant seems near" -- things far away are as clearly known as things at hand.

This does not mean that the physical eye can see far away but that the heart-mind's perceptive power has transcended the limitation of space. When the heart-mind is no longer disturbed by external stimuli, no longer confined by the senses, its range of perception naturally expands -- all things are connected to the cultivator through vital essence, and distance is no longer a barrier.

II. The Inner Logic of This Sequence

Body aligned -> qi calm -> intent unified -> senses gathered -> cognition expanded -- this sequence possesses a rigorous inner logic:

The body is the coarsest level and the easiest to work with, so one begins with aligning it. When the body is aligned, qi flows freely and can become calm. When qi is calm, the heart-mind's activity suffers less interference and can become single-pointed. When the heart-mind is one, it no longer needs the input of external information through the senses, and the senses naturally gather in. Once the senses are gathered, cognition is no longer confined to their limited range and naturally extends to what is distant.

This sequence moves from outer to inner, from coarse to subtle, from formed to formless -- a thoroughly reasonable path of cultivation.

III. Similar Cultivation Descriptions in Pre-Qin Literature

The "fasting of the heart" (xinzhai) in the Zhuangzi, "Renjian Shi" (In the Human Realm):

"Unify your intent. Do not listen with your ears but listen with your heart-mind; do not listen with your heart-mind but listen with your qi. Hearing stops at the ear; the heart-mind stops at matching. Qi is empty and awaits things. Only the Dao gathers in emptiness. Emptiness -- that is the fasting of the heart."

This description corresponds closely to the cultivation sequence of the Neiye:

• "Unify your intent" -- intent unified and heart concentrated
• "Do not listen with your ears" -- ears and eyes do not wander
• "Listen with your heart-mind... listen with your qi" -- deepening from heart-mind to qi
• "Qi is empty and awaits things" -- blood-qi calm
• "Only the Dao gathers in emptiness" -- even the distant seems near (the Dao gathers where there is emptiness and stillness; the cultivator who reaches emptiness and stillness can perceive the Dao)

Both share the same principle: transcending from the level of the senses (ears and eyes) to the level of the heart-mind, then from the heart-mind to the level of qi, and finally reaching the state of union with the Dao.

The related passage from Guanzi, "Xinshu Shang":

"Heaven is called emptiness; Earth is called stillness. Thus one does not boast. Cleanse its dwelling, open its doors, banish selfishness and cease speech, and the luminous spirit will seem to be present. How disordered things appear, yet in stillness they govern themselves. Strength cannot stand everywhere; cleverness cannot plan everything. Things inherently have their forms; forms inherently have their names... Abide in one's place and be at peace in one's lodging; cherish qi and live out one's allotted years: the benevolence of Heaven, the righteousness of Earth."

"Cleanse its dwelling" means purifying the residence of the heart-mind (aligning the body); "open its doors" means opening the gates of the senses without letting them run wild; "banish selfishness and cease speech" means removing private desires and stilling the tongue; "the luminous spirit will seem to be present" means the spirit shines as if a divinity were there. All of this flows from the same source as the Neiye's cultivation sequence.