The cultivation of the body of the ruler is the main theme of Lűshi chunqiu 呂氏春秋(Master Lu’s Spring and Autumn Annals, c.239 BCE), an eclectic anthology of philosophical thoughts of the pre-Qin period. Lű Buwei 呂不韋 (291-235 BCE), the wealthy merchant, politician and philosopher, responsible for the compilation of Lűshi Chunqiu, was critical of the rise of the Qinshi Huangdi. Lűshi chunqiu sets out a philosophy of statecraft which exalts the ruler as the exemplar of humanity who holds the pivotal position between Heaven and Earth. It is through the ruler’s self-cultivation that the harmony of his state can be established. Movement plays an important part, and this later became an influential concept of daoyin:
流水不腐，戶樞不蠹，動也。形氣亦然，形不動則精不流，精不流則氣 鬱。
Flowing waters do not stagnate and door hinges do not get mole crickets, because they move. The ethers (qi) and bodily frame are also like this. If the bodily frame does not move, the vital essence does not circulate, and if it does not circulate, the ethers will coagulate.
Elsewhere in Lűshi chunqiu, there is a quotation set during the period of Emperor Yao 堯帝, one of the five mythical rulers (wudi 五帝) in prehistoric China:
昔陶唐氏之始，陰多滯伏而湛積，水道壅塞，不行其原，民氣鬱闊而滯著，筋骨瑟縮不達，故作為舞而宣導之。
At the beginning of the reign of Taotang shi, there was an excess of yin which accumulated and stagnated. Water courses were blocked; the water could not return to its origins. The qi of the people was depressed and stagnant, their sinews and bones were seized up; they lacked flexibility. Dances were performed to disperse the qi and alleviate their problems.
Rather than factual information about a historical event which took place around 2000 BCE, this passage is more likely to refer to the political ambitions of the Qin Emperor, Qinshi Huangdi 秦始皇帝 (re. 221–210 BCE) and his desire to legitimise his claim as ruler of Qin China. One of his major projects was the Dujangyan 都江堰 (Capital River Dam) irrigation system, which facilitated agriculture in the Shu 蜀 area (modern Sichuan 四川) and the subsequent rise of Qin. That an excess of yin, resulting in water blockage, was troubling the political power of Yao may simply be an oblique reference to the power invested by the Qin Emperor in water management.