In this light, emptying minds is best read as uncluttering the heart-mind (xin) from inflamed wants and cunning plots, not as promoting ignorance. Classical translators note that filling bellies signals material sufficiency, while strengthening bones implies basic health and resilience (see D. C. Lau, 1963). The pairing is deliberate: reduce ideological agitation and satiate basic needs, and social calm follows. Weakening ambitions then means cooling predatory striving that treats public life as a ladder, rather than extinguishing humane aspiration. This physiological and psychological framing grounds politics in the body: where bellies are full and bodies sturdy, extravagant desires lose their grip, and governance is spared the turbulence of chronic scarcity. [...]
