The Mind of Tao occupies a position of foundational importance within the depth-psychological reading of Taoist inner alchemy, functioning as the polar counterpart to the ‘human mind’ (ren xin) and serving as the locus of primordial, unconditioned awareness. Principally articulated in Liu I-ming’s commentary on the I Ching — as translated and introduced by Thomas Cleary — the term designates not merely a philosophical abstraction but an operative psychic reality: a mode of consciousness associated with celestial yang, broadly luminous, stable, and responsive without being reactive. Against it stands the human mentality, characterised by acquired conditioning, instability, and the tyranny of habituated desire. The dialectic between these two modes is not static; the corpus insists that the human mind, though the ‘chief of villains,’ is paradoxically indispensable as the instrument by which the Mind of Tao is recovered — a tension that resonates with depth-psychological accounts of the shadow as prerequisite for individuation. Parallel resonances appear in Alan Watts’s discussions of wu-wei and natural mind, in Jung’s engagement with the Golden Flower, and in the alchemical vocabulary of ‘culling’ celestial energy from behind the veils of conditioning. The term thus bridges Taoist inner alchemy, Chinese cosmological psychology, and Western depth-psychological hermeneutics.
The mind of Tao is in this text associated with ‘celestial’ yang, in contrast to the ‘human mind,’ or human mentality, associated with ‘mundane’ yin. The human mentality is regarded as lacking stability and being subject to acquired conditioning
This passage establishes the canonical definition of the Mind of Tao as the yang-celestial pole of psychic life, structurally opposed to the conditioned, unstable human mentality.
, The Taoist I Ching, 1986thesis
what Chang San-feng here refers to as the true mind is called the ‘mind of Tao.’ The mind of Tao is in this text associated with ‘celestial’ yang, in contrast to the ‘human mind,’ or human mentality, associated with ‘mundane’ yin.
Liu I-ming explicitly identifies the ‘true mind’ of Chang San-feng’s terminology with the Mind of Tao, grounding the concept in the yang-yin cosmological polarity.
, The Taoist I Ching, 1986thesis
Without the human mind, you don’t see the mind of Tao; without the mind of Tao, you cannot know the human mind. Using the human mind temporarily to restore the mind of Tao, even though the human mind is the chief of villains, it is also the chief in merit; it is not an enemy, but really a partner.
This passage articulates the dialectical interdependence of the Mind of Tao and the human mind, positing the latter not as mere obstacle but as necessary instrument of recovery.
, The Taoist I Ching, 1986thesis
When you refine away the human mind, the mind of Tao spontaneously becomes manifest. When the mind of Tao becomes manifest, the mind is illumined; then the vitality, spirit, soul, psyche, and intent all transform into guardian spirits of truth.
Liu I-ming presents the emergence of the Mind of Tao as the direct psychic result of refining away the human mind, transforming the entire inner constellation of faculties.
, The Taoist I Ching, 1986thesis
The mind of Tao is real, the human mentality is artificial. When you use the artificial mind, sensing is inaccurate; yin and yang dichotomize. When you use the real mind, sensing is true; yin and yang commune.
A sharp ontological distinction is drawn between the Mind of Tao as the real mind and the human mentality as artificial, with direct consequences for the accuracy of psychic perception and the harmonisation of opposites.
, The Taoist I Ching, 1986thesis
Emptying the human mind to seek the mind of Tao is wherein lies the liberation of the superior person. The mind of Tao is the mind of the superior person, the human mind is the mind of the inferior person.
The Mind of Tao is identified as the defining characteristic of the superior person, with liberation constituted precisely as the evacuation of the human mentality in its favour.
, The Taoist I Ching, 1986thesis
culling Being alert to make conscious contact with the celestial energy, or mind of Tao, when it emerges from behind the veils of conditioning and mundane preoccupations, then exerting effort to sustain and expand this contact
The glossary entry for ‘culling’ defines a specific contemplative practice oriented toward consciously contacting the Mind of Tao as it surfaces through the obscuring layers of conditioning.
, The Taoist I Ching, 1986supporting
the human mind is perilous, like the two yins being outside one yang in water the mind of Tao is faint, like the one yang fallen between two yins in water. With yang fallen into yin, the mind of Tao is burdened by the human m
Liu I-ming employs the I Ching hexagram trigram imagery to illustrate the subordination of the Mind of Tao when yang is overwhelmed by yin, mapping cosmological structure onto inner psychological states.
, The Taoist I Ching, 1986supporting
sweep away the human mind and hold onto the mind of Tao, having no trouble even in difficulty. This is being firm and not getting into trouble.
Practical instruction frames the disciplined maintenance of the Mind of Tao, over against the human mind, as the operative method for navigating danger without falling into difficulty.
, The Taoist I Ching, 1986supporting
after that the mind of Tao will arise. Only after the mind of Tao has been restored will a great matter be auspicious.
The restoration of the Mind of Tao is presented as the precondition for auspicious outcomes, linking its emergence to the broader soteriological narrative of inner alchemy.
, The Taoist I Ching, 1986supporting
persistence in keeping the mind of Tao is not single-minded, and where there was the mind of Tao one again gives rise to the human mentality. This is sensitivity losing the mind of Tao.
The vulnerability of the Mind of Tao to displacement by reviving human mentality is illustrated through the hexagram analysis of sensitivity, showing how loss of single-mindedness constitutes its forfeiture.
, The Taoist I Ching, 1986supporting
if one does not understand the process and tries to forcibly control the human mind, that will on the contrary obscure the mind of Tao — to go on thus would mean trouble.
Liu I-ming warns that coercive suppression of the human mind paradoxically conceals the Mind of Tao, recommending instead a nurturing, indirect approach to its cultivation.
, The Taoist I Ching, 1986supporting
by having correspondence with yang one follows the mind of Tao and not the human mind — this is like dispersing the self. Regret derives from having the human mentality; when there is the human mentality, there is self.
Selflessness is identified with the Mind of Tao by way of the equation: human mentality equals self-hood, and its dissolution through correspondence with yang equals alignment with the Mind of Tao.
, The Taoist I Ching, 1986supporting
even though the human mentality arises, the mind of Tao is stable; this is like running to support upon dispersal — though there be regret, it can be eliminated.
The stability of the Mind of Tao is distinguished from the fluctuations of human mentality: its persistence in the face of arising human impulses models the practitioner’s ideal psychic resilience.
, The Taoist I Ching, 1986supporting
‘What is the Tao?’ The master replied, ‘Your ordinary [i.e., natural] mind is the Tao.’ ‘How can one return into accord with it?’ ‘By intending to accord you immediately deviate.’
Watts’s citation of the Nan-ch’üan exchange presents the Zen parallel to the Mind of Tao — the ‘ordinary natural mind’ — while capturing the paradox that deliberate intention to recover it produces immediate deviation.
, The Way of Zen, 1957supporting
The Tao is accessible only to the mind which can practice the simple and subtle art of wu-wei… trusting it to work by itself.
Watts links accessibility of the Tao to the practice of wu-wei and spontaneous non-action, providing a correlate to the Mind of Tao’s quality of responsiveness without contrivance.
, The Way of Zen, 1957supporting
To restore the mind to its unfragmented origin, sit quietly and meditate: First count the breaths, then tune the breath until it is imperceptible; be mindful of the body as like the undifferentiated absolute
The contemplative methodology for restoring the mind to its unfragmented origin is outlined, providing the practical context within which the Mind of Tao is cultivated.
, The Taoist I Ching, 1986supporting
‘That which exists through itself is called the Way.’ The Hui Ming Ching begins with the words: ‘The subtlest secret of the Tao is human nature and life’
Jung notes the untranslatability of Tao for the Western mind, gesturing toward the depth of the concept’s implication for consciousness and providing a hermeneutic frame for cross-cultural reading.
, Collected Works Volume 3: The Psychogenesis of Mental Disease, 1907aside
He whose actions are in harmony with Tao becomes one with Tao. Therefore the perfected sage liberates himself from the opposites, having seen through their connection with one another and their alternation.
Jung’s paraphrase of Taoist sources equates union with Tao with liberation from opposites, providing a psychological parallel to the Mind of Tao’s transcendence of the human-mind dichotomy.
, Psychological Types, 1921aside