Although the Tao is different from all things in heaven and earth, it does not mean that it is completely isolated from them. Instead, the Tao is connected to all things in heaven and earth. This association is visualized as a mother-child relationship. The Tao is the mother of heaven and earth. Heaven and earth are the sons of the Word.
■ | Peng Fuchun
The existence of the Tao as understood by Lao Tzu is nothingness and the existence or non-existence of the general meaning cannot be easily confused. According to the usual understanding, the existence of the Tao, that is, nothingness, is metaphysical, while the existence and non-existence in the general sense are metaphysical. Metaphysical existence, that is, nothingness, transcends the heavens and the earth and all things. Lao Tzu believed that everything under the heavens was born of being, but existence was born of nothing. What is there here is nothing. But metaphysical existence and non-existence are in heaven and earth and in all things themselves. "Thirty paintings, a total of one hub, when there is none, there is a car." When it is not, it is useful for the instrument. Chiseled to think of it as a room, when it is not, it is used for the room. Therefore, some think that it is profitable, and there is no use for it. ”
The presence or absence of the wheels, vessels, and windows here is the existence and non-existence of all things in heaven and earth. They are only distinctions within themselves. Being as a thing is different from being another thing that is missing, that is, nothingness. Nothingness here manifests as emptiness. It looks useless, but it serves to have.
Although the nothingness itself as the Tao cannot be prescribed, it manifests itself. Its apparent activity is distinguished not only from all things, but also from indifference in the sense of one of all things. Thus the manifestation of nothingness is its negation, that is, its negation of all things. However, since nothing is negating another as something, it cannot actually appear as something. It is better to say here that it conceals itself in its own manifestation, that is, the so-called Tao is nameless.
However, the negation of all things by nothingness is secondary, and the fundamental negation of nothingness is the negation of itself. Only in the negation of itself can nothingness become nothingness, otherwise it will become a special form of one of all things, that is, nothingness as opposed to existence. In the self-denial without itself, none of them maintains the sameness with themselves on the one hand, and on the other hand, they also determine the difference from themselves. Thus, the negation of non-self is the generation of the most original nature of non-existence. In this sense, nothingness itself is not nothingness of death, but nothingness of life, and this is the nature of the Tao. Because nothing is generated, everything under the heavens is born of being, and there is birth of nothing, so it is quiet and vivid, forming all things.
If this is the case, then the Tao must be understood as a living. Birth is not one-sided existence, nor one-sided nothingness, but always the opposition between existence and non-existence. On the one hand, nothing is transformed into being, so that existence is not generated from another being, but is generated from nothing, that is, from itself. Thus, it is itself the beginning, the foundation, and the basis, precluding a more primitive beginning. On the other hand, there is a return to nothingness, it does not cling to itself, it stops in itself, but begins a new generation of existence in the context of its reply to nothingness. According to this, the Tao "is born without being, for the sake of not being ashamed, and for the sake of being long and not slaughtering." Only through the eternal opposition and transformation of existence and non-existence can there be so-called endless life. In this sense, the identity of being and non-being becomes a cycle within itself.
The very creation of the Tao itself is embodied in the fact that it creates all things. Therefore, Lao Tzu believed that the Tao was the mother of the world. "There is a mixture of things, born of heaven and earth. Lonely, independent and unchanging, circumnavigating without dying, can be the mother of the world. I don't know its name, but the word for the strong word is the Way. ”
Although the Tao is different from all things in heaven and earth, it does not mean that it is completely isolated from them. Instead, the Tao is connected to all things in heaven and earth. This association is visualized as a mother-child relationship. The Tao is the mother of heaven and earth. Heaven and earth are the sons of the Word. The mother-child relationship is first and foremost a reproductive relationship. "Ceres does not die is called Xuanmu. The Gate of Xuanmu is the root of heaven and earth."
The Tao is nothing, and at the same time magical. Eternally generated as such a Word. The Tao, like the mysterious maternal reproductive organs, has a reproductive function, and it gives birth to heaven and earth as the original place. Fertility is different from general manufacturing. Producers and producers are often separated, but the producers and the betrothed are closely linked. This is the relationship between the Tao and all things in heaven and earth. The Word manifests itself in all things in heaven and earth. #大道哲学 #
The author is a professor of philosophy at Wuhan University, and is the author of a series of academic monographs "Five Books of Guoxue" ("On Guoxue", "On Laozi", "On Confucius", "On Huineng", "On Confucianism and Taoism", all published and distributed by the People's Publishing House). This article is excerpted from "Heidegger and Lao Tzu on the Tao", and the title is added by the editor.