Chapter Four: "When the Whole Heart Abides at the Center, It Cannot Be Veiled or Hidden. It Will Harmonize with One's Bearing and Appear in One's Complexion." -- The Interpenetration of Heart-Mind and Body

I. The Multiple Meanings of "The Whole Heart Abiding at the Center"

These four characters (quan xin zai zhong), simple as they seem, contain multiple layers of meaning:

First layer: spatial meaning. Zhong means the center of the body. In the pre-Qin era, the heart was understood to reside at the center of the body, the governing organ of the entire person. Guanzi, "Xinshu Shang": "The heart's position within the body is that of the ruler. The nine orifices, each with its function, are the officers." The heart's place in the body is like the sovereign's place in the court -- governing from the center.

Second layer: meaning for cultivation. "The whole heart abiding at the center" means maintaining the heart-mind in a state of completeness, singleness, and centered equilibrium. Another passage of the Guanzi "Neiye" says: "When the upright heart is at the center, all things attain their proper measure." Zheng (upright) means neither leaning nor inclining. If the heart-mind leans to one side -- toward joy, toward anger, toward anxiety, toward fear -- it can be neither "whole" nor "at the center."

Third layer: philosophical meaning. Zhong (the center, the mean) holds a position of supreme importance in pre-Qin thought. The Shangshu, "Counsels of the Great Yu" (Da Yu Mo), records Shun's charge to Yu: "The human heart-mind is perilous; the heart-mind of the Dao is subtle. Be discerning, be single-minded; hold faithfully to the Mean." This is what later generations called the "Sixteen-Character Transmission of the Heart-Mind." "Hold faithfully to the Mean" (yun zhi jue zhong) -- to sincerely grasp and maintain the "center" -- is wholly consonant with the purport of "the whole heart abiding at the center."

II. "It Cannot Be Veiled or Hidden" -- The Dao Cannot Be Concealed

Bi means to cover over; ni means to hide. "Cannot be veiled or hidden" has two layers of meaning:

First: one who cultivates the Dao cannot conceal the state of one's inner heart-mind. Whatever state one's heart is in will inevitably manifest outwardly -- this leads directly to the next phrase, "harmonize with one's bearing and appear in one's complexion."

Second: the Dao itself cannot be obscured or concealed. The Dao fills Heaven and Earth; it is everywhere. One need not deliberately seek it; one need only remove what covers it, and it naturally appears.

III. "Harmonize with One's Bearing and Appear in One's Complexion" -- A View of the Body as Internally and Externally Connected

"Bearing" (xing rong) refers to one's physical form and countenance. "Complexion" (fu se) refers to the skin and facial color.

That the state of the inner heart-mind inevitably manifests in the outward body -- this is an extremely important concept in pre-Qin thought.

Why does the inner state manifest outwardly$34 Because in the pre-Qin understanding of the body, heart-mind and body are not two separate entities but a unified whole connected by qi. The state of the heart-mind is transmitted throughout the body by the circulation of qi and ultimately shows in bearing and complexion.

Guanzi, "Xinshu Xia": "Qi is that which fills the body." Qi permeates the entire body; it is the body's vital substance. The heart-mind governs qi, and qi fills the body -- this constitutes the chain of transmission: heart-mind to qi to body.

The Zuozhuan, Duke Zhao, Year 1, records the physician He's diagnosis of the illness of the Marquis of Jin, setting forth the theory that the Six Qi (liu qi) cause disease: "Heaven has six kinds of qi, which descend and engender the five flavors, manifest as the five colors, are evidenced in the five tones, and in excess produce the six diseases. The six qi are yin, yang, wind, rain, darkness, and light." This shows that by the pre-Qin era a systematic understanding had already formed linking qi to flavor, color, sound, and disease. The Neiye's "harmonize with one's bearing and appear in one's complexion" is the application of this understanding to cultivation practice: the cultivator's inner state of heart-qi will inevitably be reflected in bearing and complexion.

The Shijing, "Airs of Wei, The Tall Lady" (Shuoren), describes the beauty of Lady Zhuang Jiang: "Her hands like tender reeds, her skin like congealed cream, her neck like the tree-grub, her teeth like melon seeds, her forehead like a cicada's, her brows like silkworm-moth antennae -- her artful smile so winsome, her lovely eyes so bright." In pre-Qin thought, such outward beauty was not merely a biological accident but the outward manifestation of inner virtue. The Shijing, "Greater Odes, Si Qi": "The great lady Tai Si carried on the fine reputation, and so bore a hundred sons." The mother of King Wen, Lady Tai Ren, possessed inner virtue and therefore bore a sage son.

Thus, "harmonize with one's bearing and appear in one's complexion" is not merely a physiological observation but a metaphysical proposition: the inner moral cultivation of a person will inevitably manifest in outward form and countenance.

IV. Historical Examples: The Bearing and Presence of the Ancient Sages

Pre-Qin texts record the bearing and presence of many sages, which can serve as corroboration of "harmonize with one's bearing and appear in one's complexion."

The Lunyu (Analects), "Shu Er," records: "The Master was warm yet stern, awe-inspiring yet not fierce, reverent yet at ease." These seven descriptors capture the bearing and presence of the Master (Confucius) -- warm yet serious, majestic yet gentle, respectful yet serene. Such outward presence is nothing other than the natural expression of his inner cultivation.

The Mengzi (Mencius), "Jin Xin Shang," cites the Shangshu's phrase "his countenance as though in deep thought" in discussing the bearing of the exemplary person.

The Zhuangzi, "The Sign of Virtue Complete" (De Chong Fu), contains a series of parables describing men with physical deformities yet replete with inner virtue -- Wang Tai, Shentu Jia, Shushan Wuzhi, Ai Tai Tuo -- who, despite their maimed bodies, possessed tremendous power to move others by virtue of their inner fullness. This corroborates the point of the Neiye from the reverse angle: what truly determines "bearing and complexion" is not outward physical endowment but the inner state of heart-qi.