Fasting of the Heart

Reading it step by step

Today we enter the second theme: the fasting of the heart and union with the Dao.

First, the setting. Yan Hui hears that the young ruler of Wei is reckless and his people are suffering, and he eagerly wants to go and set him right. Confucius says it's far too dangerous. Yan Hui proposes method after method: be dignified outside and humble inside; be straight inside and pliant outside; quote the ancients. Confucius rejects them all. Yan Hui's methods might keep him safe, but they can't be counted on to change the ruler, because they still come from wanting something and waiting on something. Finally Yan Hui says, “I have nothing left.” Confucius says, “Then fast first.”

Yan Hui: “My family is poor. I haven't had wine or meat for months. Does that count?” Confucius: “That's the fast for a sacrifice, not the fasting of the heart.” (A food fast means no meat and no wine; a heart fast means no idle thoughts, setting aside your preconceptions until the mind grows simpler and simpler.)

How is it done? There are three levels.

First: listen with the ears. You get only sound.

Second: listen with the heart. You get only appearances. You hear a noise and your mind instantly reports, “That's a plane.” You've understood, but you stop there, with your judgment already attached.

Third: listen with qi. Empty, and waiting for things. The heart is cleared of preconceptions and ready to meet whatever comes. The heart becomes like a clean mirror, reflecting things exactly as they are.

Remember the piping of heaven on Day 6? Listening with qi is the key to it. The goal is emptiness, so complete that Yan Hui says: before I understood, I felt so sure I existed; now that I understand, it's as if I never was. Confucius: “That's it exactly.”

So the fasting of the heart is not an escape from the world. It is walking into the world with an empty heart. If people can hear you, speak. If they can't, stop.