Tao in its Transcendental Aspect, and in its Physical Manifestation

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter one of the Sayings of Laotsu by Lausu, translated
by Lionel Giles. This LibriVox recording is in the public
domain recording by Niuma. Tao in its transcendental aspect and
in its physical manifestation. The Tao which can be expressed

(00:24):
in words is not the eternal Tao. The name which
can be uttered is not its eternal name. Without a name,
It is the beginning of heaven and earth with a name.
It is the mother of all things. Only one who
is ever free from desire can apprehend its spiritual essence.
He who is ever a slave to desire can see

(00:47):
no more than its outer fringe. These two things, the
spiritual and the material, though we call them by different
names and their origin, are one and the same. This
sameness is a mystery, the mystery of mysteries. It is
the gait of all wonders. How unfathomable is Tao. It

(01:08):
seems to be the ancestral progenitor of all things. How
pure and clear is Tao, it would seem to be everlasting.
I know not of whom it is the offspring. It
appears to have been anterior to any sovereign power. Tao
eludes the sense of sight, and is therefore called colorless.

(01:32):
It eludes the sense of hearing, and is therefore called soundless.
It eludes the sense of touch, and is therefore called incorporeal.
These three qualities cannot be apprehended, and hence they may
be blended into unity. Its upper part is not bright,
and its lower part is not obscure, ceaseless. In action,

(01:56):
it cannot be named, but returns again to nothingness. We
may call it the form of the formless, the image
of the imageless, the fleeting, and the indeterminable. Would you
go before it, you cannot see its face. Would you
go behind it? You cannot see its back. The mightiest

(02:16):
manifestations of active force flows solely from Tao. Tao in
itself is vague, impalpable, how impalpable, how vague, Yet within
it there is form, how vague, how impalpable. Yet within
it there is substance, how profound, how obscure. Yet within

(02:42):
it there is a vital principle. This principle is the
quintessence of reality, and out of it comes truth from
of old. Until now its name has never passed away.
It watches over the beginning of all things. How do
I know this about the beginning of things? Through Tao?

(03:03):
There's something chaotic yet complete, which existed before heaven and Earth.
Oh how still it is and formless, standing alone, without changing,
reaching everywhere, without suffering harm. It must be regarded as
the mother of the universe. Its name I know not

(03:24):
to designate it. I call it Tao, endeavoring to describe it,
I call it great, Being great, it passes on, passing on,
it becomes remote. Having become remote, it returns. Therefore, Tao
is great, Heaven is great, Earth is great, and the

(03:46):
sovereign also is great. In the universe, there are four powers,
of which the sovereign is one. Man takes his law
from the Earth. The Earth takes its law from Heaven.
Heaven takes its law from Tao. But the law of
Tao is its own. Spontaneity, Tao, in its unchanging aspect,

(04:08):
has no name. Small though it be in its primordial simplicity,
mankind dare not claim its service. Could princes and kings
hold and keep it? All Creation would spontaneously pay homage,
Heaven and Earth would unite in sending down sweet dew,
and the people would be righteous unbidden and of their

(04:30):
own accord. As soon as Tao creates order, it becomes nameable.
When it once has a name, men will know how
to rest in it. Knowing how to rest in it,
they will run no risk of harm. Tao as it
exists in the world is like the great rivers and
seas which receive the streams from the valleys. All pervading.

(04:53):
Is the great Tao. It can be at once on
the right hand and on the left. All things depend
on it for life, and it rejects them. Not its
task accomplished, It takes no credit. It loves and nourishes
all things, but does not act as master. It is
ever free from desire. We may call it small. All

(05:17):
things return to it, yet it does not act as master.
We may call it great. The whole world will flock
to him who holds the mighty form of Tao. They
will come and receive no hurt, but find rests peace
and tranquility, with music and dainties. We may detain the

(05:39):
passing guest, but if we open our mouths to speak
of Tao, he finds it tasteless and insipid, not visible
to the sight, not audible to the ear. In its
use it is inexhaustible. Retrogression is the movement of Tao.
Weakness is the character of Tao. All things under heaven

(06:00):
are products a being, but being itself is the product
of not being. Tao is a great square with no angles,
a great vessel which takes long to complete, a great
sound which cannot be heard, a great image with no form.
Tao lies hid and cannot be named. Yet it has

(06:22):
the power of transmuting and perfecting all things. Tao produced unity.
Unity produce duality, Duality produce trinity. In trinity produced all
existing objects. These myriad objects leave darkness behind them and
embrace the light, being harmonized by contact with a vital force.

(06:45):
Tao produces all things its virtue nourishes them. Each is
formed according to its nature, each is perfected according to
its strength. Hence there is not a single thing but
pays homage to Day and extols its virtue. The homage
paid to Tao, the six stolling of its virtue, is

(07:06):
due to no command, but is always spontaneous. Thus it
is that Tao engendering all things, nourishes them, develops them,
and fosters them, perfects them, ripens them, tends them, and
protects them. Production without possession, action without self assertion, development

(07:29):
without domination. This is its mysterious operation. The world has
a first cause, which may be regarded as the mother
of the world. When one has found the mother, one
can know the child. Knowing the child, and still keeping
the mother to the end of his days, he shall
suffer no harm. It is the way of Heaven not

(07:52):
to strive, and yet it knows how to overcome. Not
to speak, and yet it knows how to obtain a response.
Calls not and things come of themselves. It is slow
to move, but excellent in its designs. Heaven's net is vast,
though its meshes are wide. It lets nothing slip through.

(08:15):
The way of Heaven is like the drawing of a beau.
It brings down what is high and raises what is low.
It is the way of Heaven to take from those
who have too much and give to those who have
too little. But the way of man is not so.
He takes away from those who have too little to
add to his own superabundance. What man is there that

(08:38):
can take of his own superabundance and give it to mankind.
Only he who possesses Tao the Tao of Heaven has
no favorites. It gives to all good men without distinction.
Things wax strong and then decay. This is the contrary
of Tao. What is contrary to Tao? Soon pair end

(09:03):
of Dow in its transcendental aspect and in its physical
manifestation