The Chinese word for heart is xin and mind hsin are the same. Confucius taught that true knowledge lies in the heart and his teachings emphasized human-heartedness. The Chinese call the heart the king of all organs and "the thinking heart". The wisdom of the Tao states that a balance and order in the heart will influence all other senses. In Chinese medicine, the heart is the command center of consciousness and intelligence.
Confucius taught an ethical system that was heart-oriented. His concept of jen included the capacity to affirm others as you would want to be affirmed. If one attained chun tzu (humanity at its best) and li (right behavior), one had rightness of heart. "For Confucius, how people treated one another in this life took precedence over concerns of otherworldly things" (Goodwin, 2001).
After two and a half thousand years the Tao Te Ching, written by Lao-Tzu, is still being translated and read. Tao means "the way or path" or "the way in which one does something". Through wu wei (quietude) one may become in tune with the tao.
"Confucians work for balance… Taoists respect the dynamic imbalance, from yin to yang and back, as being the very essence of life – which you might as well get in harmony with, since you exist inside its melody" (Goodwin).
Chinese medicine is both philosophical and physiological with its holistic approach to the mental, emotional, behavioral, social, and spiritual aspects of the individual. Practitioners of Chinese medicine look for imbalance within each system and in the complex connections between the different body systems. Of the five systems, the heart is the most important. The yin (receptive) and yang (active) must be in balance for all aspects of health. Adjectives used to describe imbalance in heart energy include:
Heart Full always too tired
Heart Large cardiac failure
Heart Small coronary artery disease
Heart Tight angina
Heart Closed restricted energy
Calligraphy image ~ http://mindfuldiscipline.blogspot.com/2012/11/from-heart-to-hand-traditional-chinese.html
See Bibliography category for references