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The name that can be named is not the eternal name.
The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth. ~ Laozi
Ever desiring, one can see the manifestations. ~ Laozi
Tao (or Dao) is a term used for concepts central or fundamental to many Chinese and eastern philosophies, especially Taoism, where it is comparable to some notions of Logos, the Monad, or God in western philosophies, some notions of Dharma or Brahman in Indian philosophies, and some notions of the Great Spirit (or "Great Mystery") in Native American traditions. The word itself translates as "way", "path", or "route", or sometimes more loosely as "doctrine" or "principle", and is often used to signify the fundamental or true nature of Reality.
- The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao;
The name that can be named is not the eternal name.
The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth.
The named is the mother of ten thousand things.
Ever desireless, one can see the mystery.
Ever desiring, one can see the manifestations.
These two spring from the same source but differ in name;
this appears as darkness.
Darkness within darkness.
The gate to all mystery.- Laozi (Lao Tzu), in Tao Te Ching Ch. 1, as translated by Gia-Fu Feng & Jane English (1972)
- Tao has reality and evidence but no action or physical form. It may be transmitted but cannot be received. It may be obtained but cannot be seen. It is based in itself, rooted in itself. Before Heaven and Earth came into being, Tao existed by itself for all time. It gave spirits and rulers their spiritual powers. It created Heaven and Earth. It is above the zenith but is not high. It is beneath the nadir but is not low. It is prior to Heaven and Earth but is not old. It is more ancient than the highest antiquity but is not regarded as long ago.
- Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu), as quoted in A source Book in Chinese Philosophy (1969) by Wing-tsit Chan, p. 194
- The sage roams freely in the realm in which nothing can escape and all endures. Those who regard dying a premature death, getting old, and the beginning and the end of life as equally good are followed by others. How much more is that to which all things belong and on which the whole process of transformation depends (that is, Tao)?
- Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu), as quoted in A source Book in Chinese Philosophy (1969) by Wing-tsit Chan, p. 194
- Take, for instance, a twig and a pillar, or the ugly person and the great beauty, and all the strange and monstrous transformations. These are all levelled together by Tao. Division is the same as creation; creation is the same as destruction. There is no such thing as creation or destruction, for these conditions are again levelled together into One. Only the truly intelligent understand this principle of the levelling of all things into One. They discard the distinctions and take refuge in the common and ordinary things. The common and ordinary things serve certain functions and therefore retain the wholeness of nature. From this wholeness, one comprehends, and from comprehension, one comes near to Tao. There it stops. To stop without knowing how it stops – this is Tao.
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