An Analysis of 'Shen' and 'Zhi' in the Core Passage of Guanzi: Neiye, and an Inquiry into Pre-Qin Philosophy of Mind and Human Nature
This article offers a deep reading of the core passage in the Guanzi: Neiye — 'That which can transform a single thing is called shen (spirit); that which can adapt to a single affair is called zhi (wisdom)' — systematically tracing the philosophical categories of shen, zhi, jing, qi, and dao in the pre-Qin era, elucidating their pivotal role in the cultivation of mind and character and in the Way of inner sageliness and outer kingliness, striving to recover the original intent of the ancients.
Chapter Twelve: "The Dao Fills All Under Heaven; It Is Present Everywhere Among the People, Yet the People Cannot Know It" to "Filling All the Nine Provinces"
This conclusion gathers all under the heading of the Dao's omnipresence. The Dao pervades all things yet people cannot perceive it -- not because the Dao conceals itself, but because people are blocked by their own limitations.
The Xici shang: "The hundred clans use it daily and do not know it." The Zhuangzi: Zhi bei you: Master Zhuang says the Dao is everywhere -- in ants, in weeds, in rubble, even in excrement.
"With a single word of understanding, one may survey the heavens above, reach the earth below, and fill all the Nine Provinces" -- because "the One" is the common root of all things. Grasping it, one grasps the law of all things.
Summary of the eight parts:
- Shen and Zhi theory: Two supreme capacities; "holding to the One" as the key.
- Theory of governance: Governing mind -> speech -> affairs -> universal peace.
- Theory of gong: Impartiality as the root of peace.
- Form and virtue: Their mutual dependence.
- Spiritual illumination: "Attaining the center."
- The spirit within the body: Its loss or preservation determines order or disorder.
- The abode of essence: Concrete steps of cultivation.
- The Dao's omnipresence: The capstone.
Together these form a complete system: ontology, cultivation, epistemology, political philosophy, axiology, and cosmology.