A Dialectical Analysis of the Tripartite Qualities of 'Dao' in the Guanzi: Intricacy, Expansion, and Solidity
This paper provides an in-depth interpretation of the opening discourse on 'Dao' in the *Guanzi: Neiye*, analyzing the connotations and dialectical unity of its tripartite qualities: 'intricacy necessitates density, expansion necessitates ease, and solidity necessitates firmness.' It further explores their significance for self-cultivation and mental governance within the context of Pre-Qin and ancient thought.
III. The Relationship Between Neiye and Laozi and Zhuangzi
The intellectual origins of Neiye can be traced back to Laozi.
Chapter Ten of Laozi states: "Holding the vital spirit and embracing unity, can you avoid separation$16 Concentrating Qi to achieve softness, can you be like an infant$17 Cleansing the profound mirror, can you be without blemish$18"
These three questions remarkably echo the "Six Questions" in Neiye:
Can you grasp it$19 Can you unify it$20 Can you know good fortune and calamity without divination$21 Can you cease$22 Can you conclude$23 Can you obtain it from yourself without seeking it from others$24
Both texts employ rhetorical questions and point towards the possibility and ultimate state of internal cultivation. However, Laozi's three questions are more concise, while Neiye's six questions are more detailed and richer in layers.
Consider also Zhuangzi's Human World (人間世): "If you unify your mind, do not listen with your ears but listen with your mind; do not listen with your mind but listen with your Qi. Listening stops at the ears; the mind stops at what it corresponds to. Qi is that which is empty and awaits things. Only the Dao gathers in emptiness. Emptiness is called 'fasting the mind'."
Zhuangzi's discussion of "fasting the mind" (心齋, xīnzhāi) here, in essence, refers to the same cultivation tradition as Neiye's "keeping the whole mind within" (全心在中) and "one intention grasping the mind" (一意摶心). However, Neiye places more emphasis on the cultivation of Qi, while Zhuangzi focuses more on the state of emptiness.