Lao Tzu 1

4 min read

Introduction

Probably at some time in the second or third century B.C. a collection of writings called the Tao Te Ching appeared, attributed to Lao Tzu. This name means the old master, and there is little historical evidence to further identify the author. Ssu-ma Ch’ien, the Grand Historian of China, born in 145 B.C. gives three different accounts of Lao Tzu’s identity, without being able to decide which one if any is correct. There is good reason to suppose, in fact, that the Tao Te Ching is an anthology of Taoist ideas from various periods in Chinese history.

The writings, however, have a special place in the development of ideas as they provided an explanation of the origin of the universe free of divine intervention. For Lao Tzu, the universe emerges out of nothing in accordance with the tao or unvarying way. This is a foreshadowing of current theories that see the universe created by a quantum fluctuation in the vacuum or as a random fluctuation in the submicroscopic foam of space-time. Lao Tzu has the same relationship to such theories as Democritus has to atomic theory—both are at the starting point of a long and complex development that leads to modern ideas.

My interpretation of the gnomic statements that Lao Tzu makes about the unvarying way is that it is the underlying law that makes the universe lawful. Under the action of this law, the universe exists as a coherent, evolving entity rather than as a nonsensical, transient freak. The same law continues to act in the biological realm. The Taoist viewpoint is that one should live in conformance with this law, in conformance with the harmony of nature. The unvarying way is the way things are.

The topics in the Tao Te Ching are presented in what appears to be a somewhat haphazard sequence. The sequence has been changed in the following extracts. A cross-reference is given at the end of the chapter.

Origination

1 There was something undefined and complete, before heaven and earth. How still it was and formless, standing alone, and undergoing no change, reaching everywhere and in no danger of being exhausted!

2 Having no name, it is the originator of heaven and earth; gaining a name it becomes the mother of all things.

3 Beneath these two aspects all is the same, even as things and their names multiply. Put together, we see the mystery they hold: mystery wrapped up in mystery—the subtle gateway.

4 I do not know its name, so I speak of it as the unvarying way (the tao). Making a further effort to label it, I call it great.

5 The unvarying way that can be preached is not the enduring and unchanging way. The name that can be named is not the enduring and unchanging name.

6 We look at it, and we do not see it, and we name it 'the invisible.' We listen to it, and we do not hear it, and we name it 'the inaudible.' We try to grasp it, and do not get hold of it, and we name it 'the intangible.' With these three qualities, it cannot be made the subject of description; blended together they are a unity.

7 The unvarying way is all pervading, it may be found on the left or the right.

8 The unvarying way is hidden, and has no name; but it is the way things are, which is skillful at imparting to all things what they need to make them complete.

9 All things depend on it and it does not desert them. Ambitionless, it may be found in the smallest things. It clothes all things, but does not act as a master. Always without desire, it may be called insignificant. All things return to it: it may be named great.

10 Heaven and earth under its guidance unite together and send down the sweet dew, which, without the directions of men, reaches equally everywhere as of its own accord.

11 Likewise, the relation of the unvarying way to all the world is like that of the great rivers and seas to the streams from the valleys.

12 There is nothing in the world more soft and weak than water, and yet there is nothing better for attacking things that are firm and strong. There is nothing so effectual for causing change.

13 Water has the highest excellence. It benefits all things, and occupies without striving the low place which all men dislike. Hence it is close to the way things are.

14 The unvarying way relies on non-action, and so there is nothing which it does not do.

15 The way things are is to act without thinking of acting; to conduct affairs without feeling the trouble of them; to taste without consuming; it considers what is small as great, and a few as many; and it recompenses injury with kindness.

16 The unvarying way moves by contraries, and weakness marks the course of its action.

17 As soon as the way is expressed in a creative act, it has a name. When it once has that name, men can know how to come into equilibrium with it. When they know how to come to equilibrium, they can be free from risk of failure and error.

Sources

The text is based on Tao Te Ching as translated by James Legge, as it is available via FTP from Project Gutenberg in electronic form. Further notes on sources are given in Lao Tzu II.

Cross-reference: (paragraph to Tao Te Ching chapter)
1 25.1; 2 1.2; 3 1.4; 4 25.2; 5 1.1; 6 14.1; 7 34.1; 8 41.3; 9 34.2; 10 32.3; 11 32.5; 12 78.1; 13 8. 1; 14 37. 1; 15 63. 1; 16 40.1; 17 32.4.