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Dhammapada · narration sample

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Tao Te Ching · 1 of 81

Chapter 1

The Tao that can be trodden is not the enduring and unchanging Tao. 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.

Asked of Guide

If the Tao can't be named or fully described, why does Lao Tzu open with words about it at all?

Lao Tzu starts with words to show their limit: language can point to the Originator of heaven and earth yet only grasp the “outer fringe.” The chapter uses the contrast between unnamed and named—“having no name” and “having a name”—to show two ways we experience the same source, one as the deep mystery, one as the mother of things.

The opening does what a teacher does in silence by using speech: it marks the gate to what is subtle and wonderful so readers know where to listen. Chuang Tzu makes this move too, treating existence and non-existence as ways of knowing the same reality, and both texts invite practice that leans toward the unnamed depth.

Guide is the guide inside the Gnosis app, where every book on these shelves is free to read. Guide is the part you pay for — your guide has read all of them, and answers about the passage you’re actually on. Ask your guide your own question.

Echoes elsewhere

Chuang Tzu · Taoismknow the skill of the skilful, and in doing this they have (the idea of) what the want of skill is. 2. So it is that existence and non-existence give birth the one to (the idea of)Tertium Organum: The Third Canon of Thought · Esotericditends to the inner and not to the outer; he puts away the objective and holds to the subjective. The sage occupies himself with inaction, and conveys instructions without words. The Sayings of Lao Tzu · TaoismTHE Sage occupies himself with inaction, and conveys instruction without words. Is it not by neglecting self-interest that one will be able to achieve it? Purge yourself of your pr