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August 2007 
Journey into Tao Te Ching Three: 2
Posted on Sep 17th, 2006
by 
Gray Raven
Gray Raven
Three: 2
Jonathan Star, 2001
Thus the Sage rules
by stilling minds and opening hearts
by filling bellies and strengthening bones
He shows people how to be simple
and live without desires
D C Lao, 1963
Therefore in governing the people,
the sage empties their minds but fills their bellies,
weakens their wills but strengthens their bones.
He always keeps them innocent of knowledge and free from desire,
Lok Sang Ho, 2002
Thus the Sage’s governance
Satisfies the real needs of people,
While emptying their minds of desire;
Builds up the inner strengths (bones) of people
While weakening their vain ambitions
Commentary
Lao Zi uses the metaphor of bones – the skeleton, as Lok Sang Ho notes in his translation, for the inner source of strength. Lao Zi also uses the metaphor of the belly and later Daoist traditions expand upon this metaphor.
Lu Nung-Shih [1042 – 1102, a High court official] “The mind knows and chooses, while the stomach doesn’t know but simply contains.” [From the commentary collection compiled and translated by Red Pine, 1996]
As explained in ‘The Gold (or Yellow) Pavilion’, Huang-t’ing Ching, a Daoist treatise written by Wei Hua-ts’un/Wei Huacun), by a woman Daoist priest living in around 330 C E at the court in Nan Jing, which was then called Jin Ling “Gold Hill”; there are three centers of the body. These are the three cinnabar fields. The lower cinnabar field, hsia tan-t’ian/xia dantian, is the true center of the body. It is the seat of yin and thus intuition, wisdom and direct awareness of reality not filtered through the mind and the heart – the locations of the other two cinnabar fields. The location of the lower cinnabar field is found two or three inches below the navel and two or three inches inward.
The lower cinnabar field, the belly, is thus the seat of yin. The belly is the receptacle of the body; things of nature physically are put into the body through the mouth and come to reside in the belly. Thus the metaphor of “filling the belly” is to fill the mind/body with the wisdom of the Dao by receiving it into oneself – hence yin.
The heart is the middle cinnabar field, chung tan-t’ian/zhong dantian. Here resides yang, considered the source of will, desire, hatred and love. Here is the conceptions of the mind get translated into assertive action and reaction to the outer world.
The upper cinnabar field, shang tan-t’ian /shang dantian, is one aspect of what we in the West would describe as attributes of the mind, the location in the brain for this field is the pineal gland – and synchronistic note – in the West Descartes in his mind and body split, his separate duality system, choose the pineal gland for the point of connection between his physical body and the non-physical mind. This upper cinnabar field is where Qi/Ch’i resides. This is one’s mental energy, thought, discernment, imagination, judgment, and many other activities associated with the mind in the West, take place.
Michael Saso, offers a translation and commentary to this Daoist treatise of the Lady Sage Wei Huacun in his book “The Gold Pavilion: Taoist Ways to Peace, Healing, and Long Life”, 1995, Charles E. Tuttle Co., Inc.
I offer this summary of the three cinnabar fields:
Upper cinnabar field = Qi/Intellect/processing into words/mind
Middle cinnabar field = Yang/Will/outer assertive actions and reactions/heart
Lower cinnabar field = Yin/Intuition/inner receptive actions and reactions/belly
We have a question to ponder Jonathan Star in line 8 refers both to minds and hearts, while D C Lao and Lok Sang Ho refer only to mind.
Actually the problem first arose in line 6 where the word first appeared and was translated as ‘mind’. The Chinese word is hsin/xin. Which is it, heart or mind? The Western/English translators used the term ‘mind’ while for Lao Zi the word xin would be the anatomical/metaphoric word ‘heart’. As we learn from Wei Huacun the heart is the Middle cinnabar field, the dwelling place of Yang, will and desire.
Therefore in this line Lao Zi is describing the ‘emptying’ and ‘stilling’ of the heart. What does this mean’? The answer is found in line 12 referring to being simple or innocent of knowledge and free from desire. It is in innocent knowledge, simplicity and lacking desire that the heart can be stilled or emptied.
The continuum seems to be innocence/simplicity at one end and at the other sophistication/complex recognition. Our level of desire increases according to Lao Zi with increase in our discernment of complex recognition and sophistication. We desire things when we choose and evaluate them as being best. When we keep it simple and fail to make final judgments such as what is best, then we dwell in simplicity and we will still our desires and our ‘vain ambitions’, as Lok Sang Ho translated.
The themes of chapter three recall those in chapter two.
Jonathan Star, 2001
Thus the Sage rules
by stilling minds and opening hearts
by filling bellies and strengthening bones
He shows people how to be simple
and live without desires
D C Lao, 1963
Therefore in governing the people,
the sage empties their minds but fills their bellies,
weakens their wills but strengthens their bones.
He always keeps them innocent of knowledge and free from desire,
Lok Sang Ho, 2002
Thus the Sage’s governance
Satisfies the real needs of people,
While emptying their minds of desire;
Builds up the inner strengths (bones) of people
While weakening their vain ambitions
Commentary
Lao Zi uses the metaphor of bones – the skeleton, as Lok Sang Ho notes in his translation, for the inner source of strength. Lao Zi also uses the metaphor of the belly and later Daoist traditions expand upon this metaphor.
Lu Nung-Shih [1042 – 1102, a High court official] “The mind knows and chooses, while the stomach doesn’t know but simply contains.” [From the commentary collection compiled and translated by Red Pine, 1996]
As explained in ‘The Gold (or Yellow) Pavilion’, Huang-t’ing Ching, a Daoist treatise written by Wei Hua-ts’un/Wei Huacun), by a woman Daoist priest living in around 330 C E at the court in Nan Jing, which was then called Jin Ling “Gold Hill”; there are three centers of the body. These are the three cinnabar fields. The lower cinnabar field, hsia tan-t’ian/xia dantian, is the true center of the body. It is the seat of yin and thus intuition, wisdom and direct awareness of reality not filtered through the mind and the heart – the locations of the other two cinnabar fields. The location of the lower cinnabar field is found two or three inches below the navel and two or three inches inward.
The lower cinnabar field, the belly, is thus the seat of yin. The belly is the receptacle of the body; things of nature physically are put into the body through the mouth and come to reside in the belly. Thus the metaphor of “filling the belly” is to fill the mind/body with the wisdom of the Dao by receiving it into oneself – hence yin.
The heart is the middle cinnabar field, chung tan-t’ian/zhong dantian. Here resides yang, considered the source of will, desire, hatred and love. Here is the conceptions of the mind get translated into assertive action and reaction to the outer world.
The upper cinnabar field, shang tan-t’ian /shang dantian, is one aspect of what we in the West would describe as attributes of the mind, the location in the brain for this field is the pineal gland – and synchronistic note – in the West Descartes in his mind and body split, his separate duality system, choose the pineal gland for the point of connection between his physical body and the non-physical mind. This upper cinnabar field is where Qi/Ch’i resides. This is one’s mental energy, thought, discernment, imagination, judgment, and many other activities associated with the mind in the West, take place.
Michael Saso, offers a translation and commentary to this Daoist treatise of the Lady Sage Wei Huacun in his book “The Gold Pavilion: Taoist Ways to Peace, Healing, and Long Life”, 1995, Charles E. Tuttle Co., Inc.
I offer this summary of the three cinnabar fields:
Upper cinnabar field = Qi/Intellect/processing into words/mind
Middle cinnabar field = Yang/Will/outer assertive actions and reactions/heart
Lower cinnabar field = Yin/Intuition/inner receptive actions and reactions/belly
We have a question to ponder Jonathan Star in line 8 refers both to minds and hearts, while D C Lao and Lok Sang Ho refer only to mind.
Actually the problem first arose in line 6 where the word first appeared and was translated as ‘mind’. The Chinese word is hsin/xin. Which is it, heart or mind? The Western/English translators used the term ‘mind’ while for Lao Zi the word xin would be the anatomical/metaphoric word ‘heart’. As we learn from Wei Huacun the heart is the Middle cinnabar field, the dwelling place of Yang, will and desire.
Therefore in this line Lao Zi is describing the ‘emptying’ and ‘stilling’ of the heart. What does this mean’? The answer is found in line 12 referring to being simple or innocent of knowledge and free from desire. It is in innocent knowledge, simplicity and lacking desire that the heart can be stilled or emptied.
The continuum seems to be innocence/simplicity at one end and at the other sophistication/complex recognition. Our level of desire increases according to Lao Zi with increase in our discernment of complex recognition and sophistication. We desire things when we choose and evaluate them as being best. When we keep it simple and fail to make final judgments such as what is best, then we dwell in simplicity and we will still our desires and our ‘vain ambitions’, as Lok Sang Ho translated.
The themes of chapter three recall those in chapter two.
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