Baoyi
Glossary: baoyi 抱一, 'embracing the One' — the Daodejing's phrase for holding to unity, the verbal root of the whole guarding-the-One (shouyi) family.
Baoyi (抱一, bàoyī) — “embracing the One,” the Daodejing’s earliest verb for holding to unity: “carrying the soul, embracing the One — can you keep them from parting?” (ch. 10). Ch. 22 extends it from practice to conduct: “the sage embraces the One and becomes the pattern of the world” — the held unity as both the meditative posture and the public bearing.
Usage note: baoyi is the verbal root of the shouyi family — 抱 (embrace, clasp to the chest) and 守 (guard, keep watch over) name the same holding from two angles: the embrace is its beginning, the guard is its continuation. When the Han Taiping Jing and Ge Hong’s Baopuzi systematize shouyi as a chamber protocol, they are building the house whose cornerstone is this line. This site keeps the two terms distinct in spelling (baoyi for the Daodejing’s phrases, shouyi for the later method) and linked in reference.
Sources
- Daodejing ch. 10: 'carrying the soul, embracing the One — can you keep them from parting?' (载营魄抱一，能无离乎)
- Daodejing ch. 22: 'therefore the sage embraces the One and becomes the pattern of the world' (是以圣人抱一为天下式)