Nei Yeh: Internal Training
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The Nei Yeh is a treatise on inner transformation dating from the 4th century BCE. Preserved within the Guanzi but clearly predating the classical Taoist school, it establishes a doctrine entirely centered on the inner functioning of the human being. Unlike the Daodejing or the Zhuangzi, which unfold political, cosmological, or poetic modes of thought, the Nei Yeh is concerned almost exclusively with spiritual physiology: how vital essence, breath, and spirit unite; how order or disorder arise; and how the Way can dwell within a human being.
The text does not operate on the level of abstraction but on that of direct experience. It begins with a foundational insight: the human being carries within himself a vital essence that comes from Heaven and a bodily form that comes from Earth. When these two dimensions harmonize, life is complete and vitality circulates; when this harmony breaks, vitality declines. The Dao is not an external idea: it is the silent force that permeates the body and supports the spirit, but it can abide only in an ordered heart. Disturbance of the heart expels the Way; tranquility brings it back.
The entire text describes this subtle mechanism. Vital essence is the deep root of life; it is lost through anger, excessive joy, worry, or desire, because such movements scatter the heart and break internal unity. The preservation of essence never occurs through force but through a subtle balance of breath and heart. When the breath becomes stable, gentle, balanced, and aligned, it settles in the chest, unites with the spirit, and generates inner longevity. This breath becomes the pivot of the work: it nourishes the heart, harmonizes the limbs, stabilizes perception, and opens the way for the appearance of the numinous.
The Nei Yeh introduces a fundamental idea absent from the other classics: the presence of the “numinous” within the human being. It is a consciousness prior to words, more subtle than thought, capable of perceiving things directly without passing through the senses or reasoning. It “intuitively” knows the ten thousand things. This consciousness is naturally present but unstable: one moment it arrives, the next it vanishes. Its presence depends on the purity of the heart and the absence of sensory dispersion. As soon as the mind becomes agitated, the numinous slips away. As soon as the senses excite the spirit, it loses its dwelling. When the heart again becomes tranquil, the numinous returns and illuminates everything.
The notion of the “One” is the principle of internal cohesion. The person who maintains the One—who does not divide himself inwardly—can transform situations without spending his essence and can act without exhausting his intelligence. The Nei Yeh insists, however, that this unity is not an effort of will, but a state in which one ceases to scatter. When the being is unified, external things can no longer act upon him; he acts upon them without agitation, for he is no longer carried away by their movements.
Inner order necessarily produces outer order. When the spirit is stable, speech becomes stable, actions become stable, and everything around the person naturally reorganizes itself around his presence. The text states that true power comes neither from rewards nor punishments, but from the radiance of an intact heart. A unified spirit influences the world faster than speech and more deeply than thunder. Human relationship is described as an energetic phenomenon: a harmonious flow of vital breath inspires benevolence; a troubled flow attracts hostility.
As the being becomes clear, the body becomes the mirror of this transformation: the skin softens, the bones strengthen, the senses sharpen, perception becomes transparent. The aligned being “supports the Great Circle and walks upon the Great Square,” that is, he comes into accord with Heaven and Earth. Perception is gradually freed from emotional distortion: what is distant appears near, what is complex becomes simple, and things appear in their proper perspective.
The text repeats a truth in many forms: thinking too much disperses vitality. Deep thought, rooted in tranquility, is correct; compulsive thought destroys the interior, empties the breath, weakens the body, and troubles the spirit. Likewise, overeating stifles the breath, while excessive restriction exhausts the essence; only the proper middle nourishes life and opens the door to knowledge.
At a more advanced stage, when the heart becomes vast, the breath relaxes, and the body remains immobile, a particular phenomenon appears: the vital breath begins to “turn” by itself. This movement is not directed; it arises when nothing obstructs it. In this state, one sees profit without being seduced, sees danger without being frightened. One becomes open without becoming vulnerable, sensitive without becoming agitated. Solitude becomes a joy, for inner presence is complete.
The final stanza of the Nei Yeh describes the destination of the path: a mysterious breath, at once infinitesimal and boundless, resides in the spirit. It appears when the heart is tranquil and vanishes as soon as it stirs. When tranquility becomes stable, the Dao naturally establishes itself. In one who has reached this state, the Dao penetrates the pores, permeates the hair, diffuses throughout the body; the chest remains invincible, for nothing external can disturb a heart without fissure. The text concludes by affirming that the reduction of sensory desires is the foundation of this invulnerability: one who is not drawn outward by appearances cannot be harmed by the ten thousand things.
Thus the Nei Yeh presents itself as a coherent system of practices and principles, describing a complete energetic anthropology: essence, breath, spirit; numinous, heart, tranquility; alignment, the One, inner power. It proposes neither harsh asceticism nor esoteric mysticism, but a gradual clarification of the interior through the removal of the superfluous.
Its teaching can be summed up in one simple formula:
The Dao is not conquered—it reveals itself when being ceases to scatter.I offer a complete translation and commentary for €200 in December, over 180 pages.
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