內業 — from the Guanzi
The Inner Training (Nei Ye, 內業) is the oldest surviving text on meditation and self-cultivation in the Chinese tradition. Composed around 350–300 BCE, it predates the received Dao De Jing and preserves a practice-oriented mysticism that later Daoist, Confucian, and medical traditions all drew upon. The title literally means "inner working" or "inner enterprise" — the craft of tending what is within.
The text survives as chapter 49 of the Guanzi (管子), a vast anthology attributed to the statesman Guan Zhong (d. 645 BCE) but compiled over several centuries by scholars of the Jixia Academy in the state of Qi. The Nei Ye stands apart from the political and economic material surrounding it. It is pure contemplative instruction: how to align the body, settle the heart-mind, and receive the vital essence (jing, 精) that is the root of life, intelligence, and spiritual power.
Where the Dao De Jing speaks in paradox, the Nei Ye speaks in practice. It teaches breath cultivation, dietary moderation, emotional regulation, and the stilling of the heart-mind — not as philosophy but as technique. Its key insight is that the Dao is not distant: it dwells within the body when the body is made a fit vessel. "Reverently clean its dwelling," the text says, "and the vital essence will come of itself." The earliest surviving reference to what would later become qigong, neidan, and the entire Chinese internal arts tradition begins here.
This is a Good Works Translation from Classical Chinese, sourced from the Chinese Text Project (ctext.org) edition based on the Sibu Congkan (四部叢刊初編) text of the Guanzi.
The vital essence of all things —
this is what gives them life.
Below, it gives birth to the five grains;
above, it becomes the ranked stars.
Flowing between heaven and earth,
we call it ghosts and spirits.
Stored within the breast,
we call it the sage.
And so this vital breath:
bright — as though ascending to heaven;
dark — as though entering the abyss;
vast — as though dwelling in the ocean;
close — as though dwelling in oneself.
This vital breath —
it cannot be halted by force,
but it can be settled by virtue.
It cannot be summoned by voice,
but it can be welcomed by attentiveness.
Reverently guard it and do not lose it:
this is called perfecting virtue.
When virtue is perfected, wisdom emerges,
and all things are truly grasped.
The form of the heart-mind:
it fills itself, it completes itself,
it gives birth to itself, it shapes itself.
What causes it to be lost
is always worry and pleasure, joy and anger, desire and gain.
If you can cast off worry and pleasure, joy and anger, desire and gain,
the heart-mind returns to its fullness.
The nature of the heart-mind
is to rest in peace and stillness.
Do not trouble it, do not disturb it,
and harmony will come of itself.
Hovering — as though at your side;
elusive — as though it cannot be grasped;
distant — as though beyond all limit.
Yet this is not far away:
we draw on its virtue every day.
The Dao is what fills the body,
yet people cannot hold it fast.
It departs and does not return;
it arrives and does not stay.
Silent — no one hears its voice;
suddenly — it is there within the heart-mind.
Dark — its form cannot be seen;
surging — it is born along with us.
Its form cannot be seen,
its voice cannot be heard,
yet it orders all things to completion.
We call it "the Dao."
The Dao has no fixed place.
In a heart-mind at ease, it loves to dwell.
When the heart-mind is still and the vital breath is ordered,
the Dao can abide.
The Dao is not far away:
people attain it and are born.
The Dao does not depart:
people rely on it and know.
And so — swift! it seems you could search for it.
Faint! it seems beyond all place.
The true nature of the Dao
despises sound and voice.
Cultivate the heart-mind and still the sound,
and the Dao can be attained.
The Dao —
the mouth cannot speak it,
the eyes cannot see it,
the ears cannot hear it.
It is what cultivates the heart-mind and straightens the body.
What people lose and thereby die,
what they gain and thereby live;
what affairs lose and thereby fail,
what they gain and thereby succeed.
The Dao has no root, no stem,
no leaf, no blossom.
Yet all things are born through it,
all things are completed through it.
We name it "the Dao."
Heaven governs what is upright;
earth governs what is level.
Humanity governs what is calm and still.
Spring, autumn, winter, summer —
these are heaven's seasons.
Mountains, hills, rivers, valleys —
these are earth's branching.
Joy, anger, taking, giving —
these are humanity's deliberations.
Therefore the sage
changes with the times but is not transformed,
follows things but is not displaced.
Able to be upright, able to be still —
then able to be settled.
When the heart-mind is settled at the center,
the ears and eyes are sharp and clear,
the four limbs are firm and strong —
it can become the dwelling-place of vital essence.
Vital essence is the finest part of vital breath.
When vital breath follows the Dao, life is born.
When life is born, thought arises.
When thought arises, knowledge comes.
When knowledge comes, one stops.
In all the forms of the heart-mind:
too much knowledge loses life.
One thing able to transform — we call this spirit.
One affair able to change — we call this wisdom.
To transform without altering one's vital breath,
to change without altering one's wisdom —
only the noble one who holds to the One can do this.
Hold to the One without losing it,
and you can govern the ten thousand things.
The noble one uses things;
he is not used by them.
Grasp the principle of the One:
govern the heart-mind within,
govern speech as it leaves the mouth,
govern affairs as they reach others —
then all under heaven is governed.
One word grasped, and all under heaven submits.
One word settled, and all under heaven listens.
This is called impartiality.
When the body is not upright, virtue does not come.
When the center is not still, the heart-mind is not governed.
Straighten the body, gather in virtue,
and heaven's benevolence and earth's righteousness
will flood toward you of their own accord.
The utmost of spiritual clarity
illuminates and knows the ten thousand things.
Guard the center with righteousness, without error.
Do not let things disorder the senses;
do not let the senses disorder the heart-mind.
This is called "attaining the center."
There is a spirit that dwells within the body.
It comes and goes —
no one can think it into being.
Lose it, and there is certain chaos.
Gain it, and there is certain order.
Reverently clean its dwelling,
and the vital essence will come of itself.
Still your thoughts and contemplate it;
calm your reflections and govern it.
Maintain a dignified countenance and a reverent manner,
and the vital essence will settle into stillness.
Attain it and do not release it.
Let the ears and eyes not stray;
let the heart-mind hold no other designs.
When the heart-mind is upright at the center,
the ten thousand things are all in their proper measure.
The Dao fills all under heaven,
present everywhere among the people,
yet the people cannot know it.
With the liberation of a single word:
above, you survey heaven;
below, you reach the furthest earth;
coiling, you fill the nine regions.
What is meant by liberation? It lies in setting the heart-mind at peace.
When my heart-mind is governed, my senses are governed.
When my heart-mind is at peace, my senses are at peace.
What governs them is the heart-mind.
What sets them at peace is the heart-mind.
The heart-mind contains a heart-mind within it.
Within the heart-mind, there is yet another heart-mind.
In that heart-mind's heart-mind,
awareness comes before words.
After awareness comes form.
After form comes speech.
After speech comes action.
After action comes governance.
Where there is no governance, there is certain chaos.
Where there is chaos, there is death.
When vital essence is preserved, life arises of itself.
Outwardly it shows as a flourishing glow.
Inwardly stored, it becomes a spring at the source —
vast, harmonious, and level —
it becomes a deep pool of vital breath.
When the pool does not dry up,
the four limbs grow firm.
When the spring is not exhausted,
the nine openings flow freely.
Then you can exhaust heaven and earth
and cover the four seas.
Within, no confused thoughts.
Without, no unexpected calamity.
The heart-mind whole at the center,
the body whole without —
not meeting heaven's disasters,
not encountering human harm:
this person is called a sage.
If a person can be upright and still,
the skin grows supple and broad,
the ears and eyes are sharp and clear,
the sinews stretch and the bones grow strong.
Then you can wear the great circle of heaven
and tread the great square of earth.
You mirror yourself in the great purity;
you see by the great clarity.
Reverent, careful, without error,
you renew your virtue day by day.
You know all under heaven;
you reach to the four extremities.
Reverently unfold what fills you within:
this is called "inner attainment."
But if, having attained this, you do not return to it —
this is the error of a lifetime.
The Dao must be complete, must be close,
must be broad, must be at ease,
must be firm, must be solid.
Guard the good and do not release it.
Expel what is excessive and thin.
Once you know its ultimate point,
you return to the Dao and its virtue.
When the whole heart-mind rests at the center,
it cannot be concealed or hidden.
It shows in the bearing,
it appears in the complexion.
Good vital breath meeting others —
they feel closer than brothers.
Bad vital breath meeting others —
it harms like weapons of war.
The voice that has no sound
is swifter than thunder and drums.
The form of the heart-mind's vital breath
is brighter than sun and moon,
more perceptive than a father or mother.
Rewards are not enough to encourage the good;
punishments are not enough to correct wrongdoing.
When vital breath and intention are attained, all under heaven submits.
When the heart-mind and intention are settled, all under heaven listens.
Concentrate the vital breath as though it were spirit,
and the ten thousand things are all contained within.
Can you concentrate?
Can you be one?
Can you know good fortune and misfortune without divination?
Can you stop?
Can you cease?
Can you stop seeking it in others
and find it in yourself?
Think of it, think of it,
and think of it again.
If you think of it and still do not penetrate,
the ghosts and spirits will penetrate it for you —
not through the power of ghosts and spirits,
but through the utmost reach of vital essence and vital breath.
When the four limbs are upright
and the blood and vital breath are still,
when the intention is unified and the heart-mind is concentrated,
when ears and eyes do not stray —
then even what is distant becomes near.
Deep thought gives birth to knowledge;
carelessness gives birth to worry.
Cruelty and arrogance give birth to resentment;
worry and melancholy give birth to illness;
from illness comes exhaustion, and from exhaustion comes death.
If you think without ceasing,
within you are distressed, without you are worn thin.
If you do not plan for this early,
your life will slip from its dwelling.
In eating, nothing is better than stopping short of fullness.
In thinking, nothing is better than stopping short of exhaustion.
Regulate these to the proper measure,
and it will come to you of itself.
In all human life,
heaven provides the vital essence,
earth provides the body.
These two combine, and a person is made.
When they are in harmony, there is life;
when they are not in harmony, there is no life.
Examine the Dao of harmony:
its vital essence cannot be seen,
its signs are not ugly.
Level and upright, filling the breast —
deliberate governance lies in the heart-mind.
This is the way to long life.
When anger and irritation exceed their measure,
make a design to address them.
Moderate the five desires;
cast off the two misfortunes.
Neither overjoyed nor enraged —
level and upright, filling the breast.
In all human life,
it must proceed from levelness and uprightness.
What causes it to be lost
is always joy and anger, worry and distress.
Therefore: to stop anger, nothing is better than poetry.
To cast off worry, nothing is better than music.
To moderate music, nothing is better than ritual.
To guard ritual, nothing is better than reverence.
To guard reverence, nothing is better than stillness.
Inner stillness, outer reverence:
able to return to your original nature,
your nature will find its great settlement.
The Dao of eating:
too much fills you, harming the body, which loses its soundness.
Too little dries the bones and congeals the blood.
Between fullness and restraint —
this is called harmonious completion.
This is where vital essence lodges
and knowledge is born.
When hunger and satiety lose their measure,
make a design to address them.
When full, move quickly.
When hungry, think broadly.
When old, take the long view.
When full, if you do not move quickly,
the vital breath does not reach the four extremities.
When hungry, if you do not think broadly,
fullness does not come.
When old, if you do not take the long view,
exhaustion comes swiftly.
Enlarge the heart-mind and be bold.
Broaden the vital breath and extend it.
When the body is at ease and does not waver,
you can hold to the One and cast off the ten thousand vexations.
Seeing gain, you are not enticed;
seeing harm, you are not afraid.
Broad, at ease, and benevolent,
you take solitary joy in your own being.
This is called "cloud-like vital breath" —
your intention moves like heaven itself.
In all human life,
it must proceed from joy.
Worry loses the thread;
anger loses the beginning.
In worry, grief, joy, and anger,
the Dao has no place to dwell.
Love and desire — still them.
Folly and confusion — correct them.
Do not pull, do not push,
and good fortune will return of itself.
The Dao comes of itself;
you can rely on it and take counsel from it.
In stillness, you attain it;
in agitation, you lose it.
The numinous vital breath within the heart-mind —
it comes once, it departs once.
So fine it has no interior;
so vast it has no exterior.
What causes it to be lost
is the harm of agitation.
When the heart-mind can hold to stillness,
the Dao will settle of itself.
The person who attains the Dao:
the pattern fills them, yet nothing leaks away.
Within the breast, nothing is ruined.
The Dao of moderating desire:
the ten thousand things bring no harm.
Colophon
Good Works Translation from Classical Chinese. Translated by Neko, Secretary of the New Tianmu Anglican Church, April 2026. Independently derived from the source text; no existing English translation was used as a base.
The Nei Ye (內業, Inner Training) is chapter 49 of the Guanzi (管子). Composed circa 350–300 BCE at the Jixia Academy in the state of Qi, it is the oldest surviving text on meditation and breath cultivation in the Chinese tradition. Harold D. Roth's landmark study Original Tao (1999) established the Nei Ye as the foundational document of Chinese mystical practice, predating the received Dao De Jing. Existing English translations include Roth (1999), W. Allyn Rickett (1998), Robert Eno (2005), and Bruce R. Linnell (2012).
Source text from the Chinese Text Project (ctext.org), based on the Sibu Congkan (四部叢刊初編) edition of the Guanzi. Blood Rule compliant.
Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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Source Text: 管子·內業
Classical Chinese source text from the Chinese Text Project (ctext.org), based on the Sibu Congkan (四部叢刊初編) edition. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.
凡物之精，此則為生下生五穀，上為列星。流於天地之間，謂之鬼神，藏於胸中，謂之聖人；是故民氣，杲乎如登於天，杳乎如入於淵，淖乎如在於海，卒乎如在於己。是故此氣也，不可止以力，而可安以德。不可呼以聲，而可迎以音。敬守勿失，是謂成德。德成而智出，萬物果得。凡心之刑，自充自盈，自生自成；其所以失之，必以憂樂喜怒欲利。能去憂樂喜怒欲利，心乃反濟。彼心之情，利安以寧，勿煩勿亂，和乃自成。折折乎如在於側，忽忽乎如將不得，渺渺乎如窮無極，此稽不遠，日用其德。
夫道者所以充形也，而人不能固。其往不復，其來不舍謀乎莫聞其音，卒乎乃在於心，冥冥乎不見其形，淫淫乎與我俱生，不見其形，不聞其聲，而序其成謂之道。凡道無所，善心安愛，心靜氣理，道乃可止。彼道不遠，民得以產。彼道不離，民因以知。是故卒乎其如可與索。眇眇乎其如窮無所。被道之情，惡音與聲。修心靜音，道乃可得。道也者，口之所不能言也，目之所不能視也，耳之所不能聽也，所以修心而正形也。人之所失以死，所得以生也。事之所失以敗，所得以成也。凡道，無根無莖，無葉無榮，萬物以生，萬物以成，命之曰道。
天主正，地主平。人主安靜，春秋冬夏，天之時也，山陵川谷，地之枝也，喜怒取予，人之謀也，是故聖人與時變而不化，從物而不移。能正能靜，然後能定。定心在中，耳目聰明，四枝堅固，可以為精舍。精也者，氣之精者也。氣道乃生，生乃思，思乃知，知乃止矣。凡心之形，過知失生。
一物能化謂之神，一事能變謂之智，化不易氣，變不易智，惟執一之君子能為此乎！執一不失，能君萬物。君子使物，不為物使。得一之理，治心在於中，治言出於口，治事加於人，然則天下治矣。一言得而天下服，一言定而天下聽，公之謂也。形不正，德不來。中不靜，心不治。正形攝德，天仁地義，則淫然而自至。神明之極，照乎知萬物，中義守不忒。不以物亂官，不以官亂心，是謂中得，有神自在身，一往一來，莫之能思，失之必亂，得之必治。敬除其舍，精將自來。精想思之，寧念治之。嚴容畏敬，精將至定，得之而勿舍，耳目不淫，心無他圖。正心在中，萬物得度。道滿天下，普在民所，民不能知也。一言之解，上察於天，下極於地，蟠滿九州。
何謂解之在於心安？我心治，官乃治。我心安，官乃安。治之者心也，安之者心也；心以藏心，心之中又有心焉。彼心之心，音以先言，音然後形，形然後言。言然後使，使然後治。不治必亂，亂乃死。精存自生，其外安榮，內藏以為泉原，浩然和平，以為氣淵。淵之不涸，四體乃固，泉之不竭，九竅遂通，乃能窮天地，被四海。中無惑意，外無邪災。心全於中，形全於外，不逢天災，不遇人害，謂之聖人。人能正靜，皮膚裕寬，耳目聰明，筋信而骨強，乃能戴大圜，而履大方。鑒於大清，視於大明。敬慎無忒，日新其德；徧知天下，窮於四極；敬發其充，是謂內得。然而不反，此生之忒。
凡道必周必密，必寬必舒，必堅必固。守善勿舍，逐淫澤薄。既知其極，反於道德。全心在中，不可蔽匿。和於形容，見於膚色。善氣迎人，親於弟兄。惡氣迎人，害於戎兵。不言之聲，疾於雷鼓。心氣之形，明於日月，察於父母。賞不足以勸善，刑不足以懲過。氣意得而天下服。心意定而天下聽。摶氣如神，萬物備存。能摶乎？能一乎？能無卜筮而知吉凶乎？能止乎？能已乎？能勿求諸人而得之己乎？思之思之，又重思之。思之而不通，鬼神將通之，非鬼神之力也，精氣之極也。四體既正，血氣既靜，一意摶心，耳目不淫，雖遠若近思索生知，慢易生憂。暴傲生怨，憂鬱生疾，疾困乃死。思之而不舍，內困外薄。不蚤為圖，生將巽舍。食莫若無飽，思莫若勿致，節適之齊，彼將自至。
凡人之生也，天出其精，地出其形，合此以為人；和乃生，不和不生。察和之道，其精不見，其徵不醜。平正擅匈，論治在心，此以長壽。忿怒之失度，乃為之圖。節其五欲，去其二凶。不喜不怒，平正擅匈。
凡人之生也，必以平正；所以失之，必以喜怒憂患，是故止怒莫若詩，去憂莫若樂，節樂莫若禮，守禮莫若敬，守敬莫若靜，內靜外敬，能反其性，性將大定。
凡食之道，大充，傷而形不臧。大攝，骨枯而血沍。充攝之間，此謂和成。精之所舍，而知之所生。飢飽之失度，乃為之圖。飽則疾動，飢則廣思，老則長慮，飽不疾動，氣不通於四末，飢不廣思，飽而不廢。老不長慮，困乃遬竭。大心而敢，寬氣而廣，其形安而不移，能守一而棄萬苛。見利不誘，見害不懼，寬舒而仁，獨樂其身，是謂雲氣，意行似天。
凡人之生也，必以其歡，憂則失紀，怒則失端，憂悲喜怒，道乃無處，愛欲靜之，遇亂正之。勿引勿推，福將自歸。彼道自來，可藉與謀。靜則得之，躁則失之，靈氣在心，一來一逝。其細無內，其大無外，所以失之，以躁為害，心能執靜，道將自定。得道之人，理丞而屯泄，匈中無敗。節欲之道，萬物不害。
Source Colophon
Source text from the Chinese Text Project (ctext.org), a digital library of pre-modern Chinese texts. The Guanzi text derives from the Sibu Congkan (四部叢刊初編) edition. The Nei Ye is chapter 49 (內業第四十九) of the Guanzi. Freely available at ctext.org/guanzi/nei-ye.
Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.
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