Laozi uses water as a metaphor for the Dao for their shared characteristics. Water has no fixed shape, conforming to its container. This mirrors the Dao’s formless nature.
The Dao, in its pure state, eludes labels of existence or void, motion or stillness, opposition or alignment. Human minds, bound by dualities, craft these distinctions. Our perceived world—a construct of senses and thought—veils reality’s true face.
An ancient Chinese proverb warns: “Fullness begets loss,” a principle that echoes the Daoist axiom from Chapter 40: “The movement of the Dao lies in reversal.” Every phenomenon contains within itself the seeds of its own transformation into its opposite.
Chapter 7 of the Dao De Jing (Tao Te Ching) articulates a fundamental principle of Laozi: “The movement of the Dao lies in reversal.” Every phenomenon inherently contains the seeds of its own negation.