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Tao Te Ching · 11 of 81

Chapter 11

The thirty spokes unite in the one nave; but it is on the empty space (for the axle), that the use of the wheel depends. Clay is fashioned into vessels; but it is on their empty hollowness, that their use depends. The door and windows are cut out (from the walls) to form an apartment; but it is on the empty space (within), that its use depends. Therefore, what has a (positive) existence serves for profitable adaptation, and what has not that for (actual) usefulness.

Asked of Guide

Why does Lao Tzu praise empty space as more useful than the thing made?

Lao Tzu shows that function depends on absence: the wheel’s hub, a vessel’s hollow, and a room’s interior are practicable because they are empty. He names the visible forms—spokes, clay, walls—but locates “usefulness” in the unfilled space that allows those forms to work.

This chapter treats emptiness as enabling rather than void: emptiness makes adaptation and use possible, so usefulness belongs to what lacks positive substance. Compare Chuang Tzu, which also questions sense-driven value, and points toward the same quiet role of absence in practical life.

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Echoes elsewhere

Chuang Tzu · Taoism12. 1. Colour's five hues from th' eyes their sight will take; Music's five notes the ears as deaf can make; The flavours five deprive the mouth of taste; The chariot course, and t The Religion of the Samurai · Buddhismthem there arise mean desires-the desires to please sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. These five desires are ever pursuing or, rather, driving us. We must not spend our whol The Mahabharata · Hinduism'Alas, this world is full of contradictions! That which shameth the good, gratifieth the wicked! Alas, moved by ignorance and passion and slaves of their own senses, even fools per