The ‘Dao’ (or ‘Tao’) is the core of the Dao De Jing (or Tao Te Ching). The entire text, composed of roughly five thousand Chinese characters, is dedicated to explaining this ‘Dao.’ Yet, Laozi laments from the very beginning that the ‘Dao’ cannot be clearly defined. It is akin to truth or reality—no definitive conclusion can ever be drawn about them. No matter how earnestly we strive, we only approach them incrementally, never fully grasping eternal truth or reality. Thus, Laozi chose to speak of the Dao by describing what it is not.
The Dao that can be trodden is not the enduring and unchanging Dao. The name that can be named is not the enduring and unchanging name. (Conceived of as) having no name, it is the Originator of heaven and earth; (conceived of as) having a name, it is the Mother of all things.
Always without desire we must be found,
If its deep mystery we would sound;
But if desire always within us be,
Its outer fringe is all that we shall see.
Under these two aspects, it is really the same; but as development takes place, it receives the different names. Together we call them the Mystery. Where the Mystery is the deepest is the gate of all that is subtle and wonderful.
The name ‘Dao’ is merely a form or symbol of the Dao; it is not the Dao itself. Names are tools to help us describe and understand the Dao. The same applies to all other labels. We should not cling to names and titles.
Being and non-being are two gateways to the Dao. Through them, we come to understand the Dao. The universe emerges from non-being and takes shape through being. Being and non-being are fundamentally the same; they differ only in appearance. For instance, if you cannot perceive something, you assume it does not exist, and vice versa. Being and non-being generate each other and cannot exist independently. Being alone is meaningless, but when it transforms into non-being, its effect is realized. Traditional Chinese arts, such as classical music, painting, and calligraphy, embody this idea of expressing being through non-being, emphasizing the latter.
Within the constant interplay of being and non-being lies the gateway to all wonder.
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