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Moral Merit as Physiological Technology

Canonical entry drawn from a single source layer in 15_DAOIST_PRECEPTS_ISE_BOUNDARIES_v2_3.md.

Layer 1: Moral Merit as Physiological Technology

Section titled “Layer 1: Moral Merit as Physiological Technology”

Source file: 15_DAOIST_PRECEPTS_ISE_BOUNDARIES_v2_3.md

Entry type: DOCTRINAL-PRACTICAL INTERFACE

The Xiang’er tradition uses bodily imagery to explain morality: the body is compared to a pond wall, essential qi to the water, and good deeds to the water’s source.

A practitioner who:

  1. cultivates qi,
  2. but fails morally,
  3. undermines the very conditions of longevity/transcendence.

This is a useful antidote to modern “energy technique without ethics” reconstructions of early Daoism.