The Huainanzi

by An Liu

In English, the historical background of “heart” in literary and philosophical movements such as Romanticism creates unnecessarily false impressions if xin is consistently rendered as “heart.” For example, when the Huainanzi declares that an individual’s “xin does not understand,” such a statement has none of the many and weighty implications of declaring in English that one’s “heart does not understand.” For these reasons, we have most frequently translated xin where it occurs in the text as “mind,” the only exceptions being where the term clearly refers either to the physical organ or to the locus of feelings, a component of the mind–body system alongside the Five Orbs. Another special case is the phrase “the Heavenly Heart” (tian xin ), a profoundly empathetic state characteristic of the sage, emphasized in chapter 20.

  The choice for “mind” is well justified and unavoidable, but it remains the lesser of two evils. The English word “mind” fails to match the semantic range and conceptual content of xin in certain important respects. The first relates to the deep-rooted heart–mind distinction in English. Translated as “heart,” xin does not denote the romantic emotional center of English usage, but neither does xin translated as “mind” denote a purely rational faculty. The emotional responses are seated in the Five Orbs, but the experience of them penetrates and implicates the xin. Chapter 7 discusses how the emotional responses of the Five Orbs should ideally be regulated by the mind. They may become so intense as to “overthrow” the mind’s regulating function and thus become the controlling impulses of cognition and behavior, resulting in a loss of qi affecting both the orbs and the xin. This raises questions about the exact structural relationship between the orbs and the heart–mind that the Huainanzi never explicitly answers. It would seem, in aggregate, that the mind is a structural matrix of qi analytically distinguishable from, but pragmatically forming a seamless continuum with, those of the Five Orbs. Thus whatever is experienced by any of the orbs coterminously occurs in the “mind.”

  Another problem that makes “mind” an inadequate translation for xin involves the latent Cartesian implication in classical English-language thought that “mind” constitutes an entity distinct from both “body” and “spirit.” Any superficial perusal of the Huainanzi will demonstrate that this is a conceptual model alien to the text. In the Huainanzi’s conceptual framework, the mind and the spirit are likewise analytically distinct but pragmatically inseparable: the spirit (see shen ) is the matrix of super-rarefied qi (see jingshen) constituting the physiological substrate of the mind. The mind is effectively made up of thoughts, memories, skills, and dispositions (learned and unlearned) suspended in the matrix of the spirit like impressions in a wax seal, or the “software” programmed into the “hardware” of the spirit.

  This analytical divide is the root cause of the most perilous human vulnerability. Although by nature (see xing ) the spirit is tranquil and facilitates the mind’s control of the Five Orbs, the structural edifice of the mind itself is unstable and prone to being drawn along aberrant and self-destructive paths. The learned attitudes, dispositions, and biases that help constitute the mind occlude the spirit’s stabilizing power, making the mind susceptible to chronic flights of delusion and emotional excess that expend the qi reserves of the mind–body system. The attitudes, dispositions, and biases in question need not be extreme or extraordinary to create such vulnerability. They include fundamental distinctions acquired in the normal maturation process of almost any ordinary mind, such as that between self and other or life and death. For this reason, one of the chief personal cultivation prescriptions of the text centers on the “Techniques of the Mind” (see xinshu), aimed at “unlearning” cognitive impediments like the distinction between life and death, thereby penetrating beyond the level of the ordinary mind to an unmediated experience of spirit (and thus of the Way, which likewise transcends distinctions such as life and death, self and other).

  In the same way that mind and spirit pragmatically form a seamless whole, this same mind–spirit complex is suffused throughout the bodily physiology and implicated in the same system of qi that animates the entire frame. Once again, an analytical distinction can be made, as the text notes many examples of people whose mind–spirit is ill, even though their physical body is well (and vice versa). Nonetheless, it consistently asserts that the interpenetration of these realms is so thorough that a harmful or beneficial effect in one sphere will produce congruent influences in the other. Any regimen whose goal is to refine consciousness thus cannot neglect the physical well-being of the body.

  xing shape, physical form, military formation

  “Shape” or “form” is an important conceptual category in the Huainanzi, as it is a definitive aspect of the realm of “Something” (you ). Form is contingent on differentiation, and thus any phenomenon that is at all identifiable belongs to the realm of form. The “Formless” (wu xing ) therefore denotes states of both cosmic development and human consciousness that are prior to and more replete with potential power (and thus closer to the embodiment of the Way) than the contingent realities of form.

  In military parlance, “form” literally referred to the shapes into which troops were deployed on the field of battle to produce particular tactical effects; thus when the Huainanzi uses xing in this context, we have translated it as “military formation.” As is common in these cases of homonymic affinity, the Huainanzi makes maximum use of the double entendres that may be derived from the dual significance of xing as both “form” and “formation,” declaring, for example, that although the tactics of the military rely on “form/formation,” military victory is nonetheless rooted in the “formless.”

  xing nature, natural tendencies

  “Nature” was a current and extraordinarily controversial concept in the philosophical literature of the Warring States period, and it became an almost ubiquitous fixture in the lexicon of ancient thinkers across the whole intellectual spectrum. The question of what constituted human “nature” was perceived as basic to the urgent task of determining what types of political and social institutions were best suited to controlling and harmonizing people, both collectively and individually. Although by the third century B.C.E., almost all authors used the term, few defined it in the same way.

  The Huainanzi defines “nature” as all the inborn propensities, capacities, and dispositions that both guide the long-term growth and maturation of the human being and inform a person’s cognition and behavior from moment to moment. Thus the fact that we grow two sets of teeth, that we have the ability to develop language skills, and that we are disposed to feel emotions like anger and joy all are “nature.” The Huainanzi does not distinguish between material and metaphysical aspects of nature, as became common in late imperial Neo-Confucian philosophy. All aspects of nature are treated as instantiated in the matrix of qi that constitutes the human being from birth

  The Huainanzi does not generally concern itself with the question (much debated in the intellectual lineage of Confucianism) of whether human nature is “good” or “evil.” Instead, the text emphasizes the role of nature in instilling and impelling vitality, health, and longevity to the near exclusion of any discussion of nature as a moralizing agent. According to the Huainanzi, it is human beings’ nature to grow and live long, although how long varies from person to person. In this latter regard, nature is closely allied to “fate” (see ming ). At birth, a certain maximum life span is hard-wired into an individual’s physiological bequest as a matter of nature.

  Because one of the functions of nature is to sustain an individual in fulfilling his or her “fated” life span, the normative dynamic workings of nature provide a guide to the forms of behavior and mental states that will be most conducive to vitality and longevity. For example, it is natural for our minds to be still unless stimulated by external stimuli, and thus the maintenance of the stillness of the mind (through avoiding overstimulation, indulgence, excess, and the like) is conducive to health and vitality. The cultivation of the ability to delibera
tely sustain and/or return to stillness on encountering external things (see yang xing) is even more beneficial to the long-term flourishing of the mind–body system.

  Although it may serve as a guide to preserving vitality, nature is fraught with vulnerability. Responsiveness to external stimuli is inherent to nature (see qing), but nature does not foreordain how such responses will translate into behavior. Dysfunctional learned attitudes, preconceptions, or dispositions fixed in the mind (see xin) can cause emotional responses to be manifested in behavior that destroys health and vitality. Long-term persistence in and habituation to such behavior can cause these aberrant responses to become “second nature,” creating a vicious cycle in which the individual becomes more and more inclined to self-destructive behavior even while shortening his or her potential life span.

  This inherent vulnerability of nature is matched by countervailing potential. All the workings of nature come from and express the dynamic impulses of the Way itself. Therefore, the more one strips away the impediments to the free and unobstructed operation of nature, the closer one comes to embodying the Way. In ultimate terms, nature thus contains not only the template for vitality and longevity but also the potential that, if unlocked, may transform the human being into a sage.

  xingde harm and benefit, recision and accretion, punishment and reward (when context clearly demands this sense)

  The binome xingde became a standard trope in the statecraft and cosmological writings of the Warring States and Han periods. Its earlier meaning was two fundamental modes of state power. Xing literally means “punishment,” and de () literally means “Moral Potency.” These two terms signify the basic choice between rule by coercion or by moral suasion or, more broadly, the state’s power to inflict harm or bestow benefits on its subjects collectively or individually. In practical terms, xingde were most often not treated as opposites but as complementary components of a single program of rule. Therefore, rather than “coercion and moral suasion,” they colloquially refer to the more mundane state functions of punishment and reward (what in today’s parlance might be called “hard” and “soft” power).

  The term was adopted by cosmological theorists to denote opposing processes of harm and benefit observable in the workings of the natural world. Its most common use in this context in the Huainanzi is to denote the “recision and accretion” of yang throughout the calendar year. From the winter solstice to the summer solstice, yang energy accretes, figuratively likened to the cosmic dispensation of “rewards” to the living world in the form of light and warmth. From the summer solstice to the winter solstice, yang energy recedes, figuratively likened to the cosmic dispensation of “punishments” to the living world in the form of darkness and cold. This cycle of recision and accretion can be charted (for example, for astrological purposes), especially through the movement of the sun but also through observations of the moon, the planets, and the constellations. Accordingly, many astronomical phenomena are identified for astrological purposes in terms of their place in a “recision and accretion” model of celestial mechanics.

  xingming form and name

  The basic significance of “form and name” was found in ancient linguistic theory: a language was held to maintain functionality to the degree that the names of phenomena (see ming ) consistently matched their actual form. This idea lent its name to a prescribed technique in statecraft theory. Within the newly routinized systems of authority designed by ancient Chinese statecraft theorists, the smooth functioning of a bureaucratized governmental structure depended on the ruler’s consistent matching of each official’s “name” (that is, the title of his office) with his “form” (that is, the systemic powers and responsibilities delegated to his office). For example, if an official bore the title of “minister of waterworks,” the ruler was to periodically check to make sure that he was neither falling short of the entailed duties of his title (by, say, allowing dikes to fall into disrepair) nor exceeding them (by trespassing on the authority of the minister of roads). “Form and name” became shorthand for this basic principle of routinized governmental functionality, and it is mentioned frequently in the Huainanzi as one of the indispensable technologies of statecraft in the latter age.

  xingming nature and life circumstances, nature and fate

  Xing and ming are closely related concepts in the Huainanzi and antecedent texts, principally because both denote forces that affect the individual from birth. “Nature” refers to all natal factors that are intrinsic to the genetic makeup of the human being and that continue to operate throughout the human lifetime (see xing ). “Fate” may also be intrinsic (for example, it includes one’s predetermined maximum life span, which is hard-wired into the physiological constitution of one’s mind–body system) but includes extrinsic factors such as one’s inherited status at birth or the political climate of the age into which one is born (see ming ).

  xing ming zhi qing the instinctive responses evoked by one’s nature and life circumstances, the innate tendencies of nature and destiny, the emotional responses evoked by nature and fate, the dispositional responsiveness evoked by one’s nature and life circumstances, the essential qualities of one’s nature and life circumstances

  Xing ming zhi qing is a phrase that occurs frequently in the Huainanzi and that presents unique difficulties for translation. It is not original to the Huainanzi but appears in earlier texts such as the Lüshi chunqiu and the “outer chapters” of the Zhuangzi. Xing ming zhi qing has two related meanings, neither of which is amenable to elegant phrasing in English, and both of which make sense only with a particular understanding of emotional or dispositional responses (see qing) and nature (see xing ).

  In the Huainanzi ’s conceptual framework, all emotions are understood as responses to external stimuli. The basic template of an emotional response is hard-wired into our nature, but the actual real-time expression of an emotional response is subject to the distortional influence of many factors. For example, an innately appropriate fear response to a fatal threat is encoded in your nature, but your actual feelings and behavior in the face of such a threat are informed by the attitudes, values, and dispositions that you acquire during your lifetime. If your learned values and acquired habits had conditioned you to love life too dearly, your response to such a threat might be expressed as paralyzing cowardice rather than healthy fear. In this example, the latter response of “healthy fear” would exemplify what the Huainanzi refers to as xing ming zhi qing, the emotional response that arises from nature and fate rather than the emotional response (in this case, paralyzing fear) that arises from dysfunctional attitudes, values, and habits. “Fate” is implicated in this conceptual construct in two ways. First, the innately appropriate responses that are hard-wired into one’s nature are part of the “mandated” (see ming ) bequest that forms one’s genetic makeup at birth. Second, the same responses are most conducive to the fulfillment of a person’s fated life span (as in the preceding example, you will live longer if you take flight from healthy fear than if you freeze from paralyzing cowardice).

  The second sense of xing ming zhi qing arises from both the theory of qing that informs the text and the general semantic range of the term itself. Qing is often used to denote “an essential quality [of a thing],” and in the Huainanzi’s understanding of nature, the inborn disposition to particular emotional responses are among nature’s most definitive and essential qualities. Occasionally when the Huainanzi uses the term xing ming zhi qing, it is referring to qing in this more abstract sense (a usage that, as explained earlier, is nonetheless consistent with the more particular meaning of qing as “emotional response”). Where this occurs, we have translated it as “the essential quality of one’s nature and life circumstances.”

  In either sense, xing ming zhi qing denotes a key conceptual concern in the Huainanzi as a whole. The text frequently exhorts the practitioner of personal cultivation to “penetrate the innate tendencies of nature and destiny.” This is one of the paramount goals of t
he Huainanzi’s program of self-transformation: to jettison the dysfunctional tendencies acquired through learning or habit and to actualize the spontaneously efficacious responsiveness that is innate in the mind–body system.

  Occasionally, the text shortens this phrase to xing zhi qing rather than xing ming zhi qing. We have rendered these occurrences as the “emotional responses of nature, “or the “essential qualities of nature “as appropriate to each case. In practical terms, however, the longer and shorter forms of this phrase signify the same concept.

  xinshu Techniques of the Mind

  The Huainanzi focuses on “techniques” as an essential instrument of rulership (see shu ). Among the techniques it discusses, the “Techniques of the Mind” are given very high priority. The text emphasizes the apophatic personal cultivation of the sage and his ministers as the root from which all normatively functional political processes grow, and within that crucial program of personal cultivation, the Techniques of the Mind are crucial. The Huainanzi does not give detailed descriptions of what these techniques entailed, but they obviously included forms of meditation aimed at stilling and emptying the mind so as to induce the experience of unmediated unity with the Way that might be accessed at the root of consciousness.

  xu emptiness, vacuity

  Emptiness is both a spatial and an existential manifestation of Nothingness (see wu ). Within the cosmos, all spaces devoid of tangible, differentiable objects are empty, although, as indicated in our discussion of qi , no space is ever absolutely empty, as qi itself is all-pervasive. Such spaces are prized in the Huainanzi because they embody the state of the cosmos at its origin and so retain the potential power and dynamism of that seminal moment. The human mind is empty when it is devoid of thoughts and feelings. Such a state is prized because it affords an experience of the Way that forms the original baseline of consciousness. Accordingly, many of the prescriptions of the Huainanzi focus on emptying the mind.