The fundamental triad of Chinese philosophy is Heaven, Earth, & Humankind. Let’s look at what these terms mean as a whole and individually, and how they relate to meditation & qi-cultivation.
Heaven (tiān, 天) in the manifest world is the wide-open sky, but in Chinese philosophy it refers to pure yang – the creative source. Pure motivating light. It’s not some special place where believers go but rather is the original impetus of all manifestation. It relates to spirit/awareness.
Earth (dì, 地) in the manifest world is the solid ground beneath our feet, but in Chinese philosophy it refers to pure yin – a wide-open field. Earth receives the motivating activity of Heaven, enabling it to manifest. While it relates to material like the planetary earth or our body, the meaning is more like the mother that receives a seed from father and nurtures it to life.
Humankind (rén, 人) – or what I prefer to translate more broadly as “sentient beings” – is the fruit of the union of Heaven & Earth. While in the manifest world Heaven is above and Earth is below, the understanding in Chinese philosophy is that first Heaven initiates, then Earth nurtures, then life emerges forth.
Collectively, Tian-Di-Ren represent the vertical structure of the cosmos. But structure isn’t really the correct word, because the Chinese view of the cosmos is not material but energetic. A more appropriate word would be process – the vertical process of how things come into being.
Heaven acts in the field of Earth, then Earth processes it and gives birth to some resultant thing. All life springs up from the Earth below, it doesn’t just fall from Heaven. Even birds nest on the Earth. But just as mother must be fertilized by father, the Chinese understand this springing up of life as an upward bounce from the descending qi of Heaven. (Hence the lines of the Zhou Yi Jing start at the bottom and then rise upward).
In Laozi’s meditation & qi-cultivation, we model our practice on Dao. As Laozi says, “the motion of Dao is return”. So a primary aspect of Daoist cultivation is returning human beings to pure yang. Shifting from the generative to the returning direction is called neidan or internal alchemy.
To embody the returning motion of Dao, we first align ourselves with the vertical axis of Heaven & Earth – in sitting, standing, and/or moving forms. Then we become empty like Earth and let the qi drop all the way down. “Empty the heart-mind and fill the belly.” With regular practice over a period of time, qi will eventually stir in the lower dantian and start to rise on its own. This is the reverse bounce. According to neidan, a true human is one who not only lives as a result of Heaven acting upon Earth, but who can reverse the generative process of Heaven & Earth – drop the qi all the way down and bounce back to Heaven.
