What is Embracing the One in Taoism?
The term originates from Laozi’s Dao De Jing:
“Can you embrace your soul and body and hold the One without departing?”
“Ying po” (camp soul) refers to the ethereal soul and corporeal soul; when the two abide as one, body and spirit are united, and human life is sustained.
What is Embracing the One in Taoism?
Taoism absorbed Laozi’s philosophy into its own teachings, taking “the One” as the foundation of Heaven and Earth.
Laozi states:
“Heaven obtains the One and becomes clear;
Earth obtains the One and becomes tranquil;
Spirits obtain the One and become efficacious;
Valleys obtain the One and become full;
All things obtain the One and come to life;
Princes and kings obtain the One and become the rectifiers of the world.”
Early classics such as Laozi Xiang’er Zhu, Taiping Jing, and Ge Hong’s Baopuzi expanded on this, equating the One with the Dao and regarding it as the original source of Heaven, Earth, and humanity.
Practitioners of the Dao must abide with the One. Thus “embracing” developed into “guarding the One,” with a set of specific methods known as “the method of guarding the One” or simply “guarding the One.”
Cloud Nook Book Signatures · On Original Qi explains “the One” as the true, primordial pure yang qi, identical in mind with the great Dao and in nature with Ziran (Nature).
The Scripture of the Five Kitchens says:
“To attain the One means to internally preserve the unified qi to nourish the spirit, and externally maintain the body as its abode. Then the unified qi flows freely and harmonizes with the great peace within the body.”
Holding the One means preserving the original qi within the body so that it is not dissipated, thereby perfecting both spirit and form and achieving the goal of longevity.
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