How to Become a “Great Person” (da ren 大人): “Reflection” (si 思) and the Practice of Nourishing the Qi in the Mencius

This paper explores the range of contemplative practices presented in the Mencius and argues that the cultivation of “flood-like qi” through practices like restorative sleep, self-examination, and empathetic extension constitutes the physiological substrate to psychological states of gnosis or noesis that provide revelatory insight into the nature of human goodness endowed by Heaven. Mencius suggests that by engaging in these contemplative practices, one can achieve states of mental calm or an “unperturbed heart” which can serve not only as an enabling condition for noetic insights or “reflection” in regard to the goodness of human nature but can also diminish or weaken other baser impulses like the desire for profit. The promotion of these contemplative exercises along with their attendant spiritual goals suggests that Mencius understood the Way as a holistic process that required both cognitive attunement to the design of Heaven as well as harmonization of one’s psycho-physiological energies.