Original Text
Can the soul and body unite as one, never to separate? Can gathering vital energy to achieve softness be like a newborn baby? Can washing away the dust of thoughts make the mind as broad as a spotless mirror? Can loving the people and governing according to the Way maintain the state of non-action? Can the natural opening and closing of the mouth and nose, with gentle breathing, remain soft and quiet like a female? Can one navigate all directions without resorting to cunning or intellect? Nurturing all things without claiming possession, achieving great merit without taking credit, and sustaining all things without acting as their master—this is the profoundest virtue.
Analysis
This chapter discusses the methods and process of cultivating the Dao and nurturing simplicity, with the realm gradually advancing from "embracing the soul and holding to oneness" to "understanding and reaching the four directions." The realm of the Dao is synchronized with one's own virtue; "profound virtue" indicates the unity of self-virtue with the Dao, representing the highest state of virtue. Through six rhetorical questions, it summarizes the role of the Dao in self-cultivation and governance, setting requirements for ordinary people and rulers. Literally, the latter part of each sentence seems to be a question, but the question itself is the best answer. Laozi believes that whether in form or spirit, subjective effort or objective reality, people cannot be completely consistent. However, in real life, people should unify spirit and body without deviation, maintaining harmony between physical and spiritual life. To achieve this, one must calm the mind, cleanse distractions, eliminate false views, understand natural laws, and enhance self-cultivation. Only in this way can one truly "love the people and govern the state."
Humans are called "nature's masterpiece," "the creator's finest work," and "the paragon of all beings" mainly because they possess spirit and will, enabling independent thought and judgment. Thus, humans develop their own criteria for evaluating the world around them, and their subjective consciousness subtly exerts agency, transforming their surroundings through this subjective-objective contemplation and personal preferences. However, the power of the human soul and consciousness has significant limitations, so mistakes are inevitable, sometimes causing irreparable losses, leading to frequent regret and suffering.
It should be said that possessing emotional experience is one of the most significant distinctions between humans and other living beings. Why is there this difference between humans and other creatures? What is the reason? Why do other creatures not suffer pain and worry? This is mainly because our human soul and body are often in a state of separation, unable to fundamentally achieve a state of unity. The soul has wings; it can always soar to the heights of dreams, while the body, in comparison, appears rather heavy and cannot fly along with the soul, resulting in the soul being in one place and the body in another. People can also liken the soul to ideals and the body to reality. In fact, there is always a great distance between ideals and reality, and beautiful ideals often become fragile and vulnerable in the face of harsh reality. Ideals and reality are frequently in a state of separation, thus causing people pain, helplessness, and confusion.
In fact, the reason humans experience emotions like pain and regret is because they possess the seven emotions and six desires; when their emotional needs and personal desires are not fulfilled, they feel lost, disappointed, confused, and sorrowful. The root of such emotional experiences lies in the disunity between the body and the soul. Other living beings are different—their body and mind are unified; they lack a complete psychological and spiritual system, cannot think independently, cannot make conscious judgments, and are not sensitive to anything, thus they do not feel loss or pain.
We humans often use the phrase "worrying about imaginary troubles" to describe unnecessary pain and anxiety. Because of mediocrity, one feels pain without cause—though the cause exists, it is so trivial that it is not worth fussing over. In real life, how many people can avoid being troubled by trivial matters? To put it bluntly, there are only two kinds of people in the world who are not disturbed by ordinary trifles: sages and infants. Infants are ignorant of worldly affairs, everything is clear yet their minds are muddled; they do not know what things are or what events mean, only eating when hungry and sleeping when tired, without thinking, following their natural instincts. Naturally, they have no worries or pain because their soul and body are one. Sages, however, are not born that way; they must have gone through the stage of mediocrity and tasted the bitterness of pain and anxiety. But unwilling to suffer further, they wisely choose to align with the "Great Way": achieving a high degree of harmony and unity between soul and body, attaining the softness of an infant through focused breath control, maintaining a pure and flawless state of mind, and transcending the limitations of knowledge to comprehend the essence of truth.
"Focusing your vital energy to achieve softness" means to concentrate your spirit and inner vitality. If we can gather our internal energy and maintain the supple, soft state of an infant, we can remain ever vigorous. We must engage our mind to unite spirit and vitality; the mind is like a mirror, reflecting the myriad phenomena of the universe without omission. This mirror must be constantly wiped clean of dust to clearly perceive the world's complexities. For a ruler, governing a state follows the same principle: be like an infant, free from desire and action, aligning with nature's inherent way without imposing any artificial elements. Only through non-interference governance can true governance be achieved. Adopting forceful measures not only fails to stabilize the people's hearts but leads to great chaos. Therefore, by following the people's own natural rhythms, better results can be attained. When one's mind is open and fully awakened, everything aligns with nature and its laws—this is the "profound virtue." Like the universe, it holds deep, encompassing content, embraces all, yet does not dominate others. This is the essence of Laozi's teaching on focusing vital energy to achieve softness.